MaNan- 5 Years Later...

31• |Unanticipated denouement|

"What is it exactly that you don't tell her?" Avni asked further.

"One sec, ma! I'm just getting out of my car." Nandini requested for a moment to take her phone off the Bluetooth of her car that she had parked in her spot behind the restaurant.

"How many times have I asked you not to talk while driving? Why can't you just listen to me?" Avni scolded Nandini.

"I'll get busy soon and this is the only time I get to talk to you so just forget it." Nandini dismissed her mother's warnings. Nandini was a very careful and responsible driver so she didn't care about it that much.

"I knew that your father's genes would cost me some day and such days just prove it." Avni commented and threw in a dramatic sigh in the end.

"Well, no one asked you to get knocked up but you did so now bear with it." Nandini teased back as she walked towards the kitchen of her restaurant.

"What have I given birth to? You're getting more and more shameless day-by-day, Nandu!" Avni could be really very dramatic when she wanted to be and her entire family found it cute.

"Proudly! Anyway, so as I was saying... Jen feels that I am keeping something about Manik and me to myself and not just that, she has complaints about how she tells me everything but I do not do that." Nandini put all of Jeannette's arguments from morning, all in a nutshell.

"Is that the case?" Avni asked to check if Nandini was actually hiding something about Manik and herself.

"Ugh.... Manik and I have our issues from five years back which came out recently. We were sorting out the misunderstandings which has got nothing to do with anyone other that us so I wanted to keep it between us. But that's not the only problem. This is what triggered Jen. She has had this problem with me for quite some time now as it appears to be." Nandini smartly avoided telling Avni anything about Manik and her. But, Avni wasn't a fool to not notice how Nandini was dodging this topic. She didn't want to push it much so she decided to let this one be, for now.

"Why don't you tell her things?" Avni quizzed. She genuinely wanted to know about why was Nandini so secretive about everything that was going on with her. Avni had noticed this about her daughter but dismissed it feeling that it was normal for kids to hide stuff from their parents but it was beyond her understanding as to why couldn't she be transparent with her best friend.

"It's not a conscious habit, ma. Honestly, the things related to Manik have been the only ones that I've hid from everyone and not just her. I... Manik and I had left things on a bad note, back then and if you know me at all then you'd know that I would go to any extent to just forget the negativity in people which is why I stopped talking about him. Jen and I met much later when Manik wasn't even a part of my life so it never came up. Now, he's back for good and we are trying to be better friends which should not be of anyone else's business." Nandini's words surprised her mother. Avni did not expect her daughter to defend her bond with someone, so fiercely because Nandini was very non-confrontational. Manik meant a great deal to her, obviously, and Avni didn't know what to feel about that.

"I asked you- why don't you share things with Jen in general? Not- why is Manik and your friendship none of her business..." Avni remarked, cautiously. Nandini bit her lip, instantly. She hit her forehead for acting impulsively and getting so defensive about her bond with Manik. It would definitely give away the wrong idea which she did not want.

"I... What I meant was that I do not hide anything, willingly. You ask me something and I'd tell you about it. That is what I do. I find it unnecessary to broadcast every little detail of my life to anyone. I was under the impression that Jen understood that but I guess, I was wrong after all." Nandini felt herself growing more upset with every word that she uttered.