MaNan- 5 Years Later...

34• |Blissful amalgamation|

"I'm waiting for your answer, Alice!" Manik slightly nudged her elbow when she didn't say anything for a good two minutes.

"Why do you think that I let go of my feelings for you, just like that?" Nandini got pissed at him for that part of his speech because he was simply getting ahead of himself. He had no clue of what she went through so he has no right to comment about it as well.

"You never told anyone about your feelings for me and you began dating Randhir soon after so I just connected the dots" Manik answered her but he could get a whiff of how bad he was sounding at that moment.

"First of all, I did not date Randhir until you and Alya were gone from the city. Secondly, you need to shut up about things you do not know. Presumptuous idiot!" Nandini did not shout any of that but he could almost physically feel the anger radiating from her body. In addition to that, her storming off to the kitchen, sent a clear message about her state of mind. He sighed and decided to wait for her.

------

"Feeling better, now?" Manik questioned her when she flumped down beside him after a few minutes.

"I'm still furious at you!" Nandini stated, plainly.

"Sorry! I realize that it's extremely stupid to just assume things. I... This is all very weird for me and I honestly, do not know how to deal with this." Manik apologized, sincerely. He also expressed how he felt about their situation.

Theirs was a situation that one could refer to as a complicated one. They hadn't labeled whatever it is that they shared. They had a lot of unresolved feelings from the past about each other. They had new problems coming up at every nook and corner of life. Everything felt more uncertain than ever to both of them.

"Are you suggesting that we should just be friends because you feel this won't work?" Nandini asked him to know if he wanted to deal with it this way.

"If you keep pushing me away like this then that might be the only way left." Manik deadpanned, making Nandini gulp in an imaginary lump.

"Ughhhh...." Manik groaned when she had nothing to say to him. Why couldn't she ever say anything in words? He knew her to be a strong-headed girl who could be assertive about what she wanted, most of the time. But with him, a totally different version of her would pop up where he'd be scrambling to read between her lines and gestures. This was something that he noticed now, after five years of staying apart.

"Do you need time to figure things out? I know that you've been through a lot in these couple of days so I understand if you need time." Manik asked her, genuinely. He calmed himself a little before asking her that whilst begging god, internally, to not put him through another fortnight of uncertainty and tension.

"No... I just don't understand how we even got to this conversation. I mean, back me up here... You were asking me about how was I feeling about Jeanette moving out and somehow we landed on having the 'talk' about our situation." Nandini commented, looking unsure of how they got to this. Manik gave it a thought and couldn't help but chuckle. Indeed, this was not related in any way to what they were actually discussing yet they got to this point.

"This is a conversation that was long impending so I guess we were just looking for opportunities to squeeze it in, in some way." Manik remarked to which she just nodded in agreement.

"Humph... Look, Manik, it's not like I can change myself in a day or something just because you need me to be in a certain way with you. I've had my guards up for a long time now and every time that I try to let someone in th...." Nandini began saying that only to be cut off by him in the middle.