Glassy Dreams

Chapter 7

She could try and weave another hundred excuses, but doing what she did in the party and in their bedroom? There was only one real reason, and it was that she missed him. The worst part about missing him though? It wasn't about just the last six months, it was more. It was that one and half month before she left. It was needing him with a desperation of madness and him not being there for her to hold on in that moment. It was those nights she had spent sobbing in their glass house calling his name and his cell phone, but he had been in his studio instead. It was those evenings when she yearned for his touch, to feel the only other person who could share her Grief but coming up empty handed because he was signing new contracts instead.

Nandini Murthy had missed Manik Malhotra so much while they shared a home for so long, that she had eventually been forced to accept her loneliness in her grief. It was that acceptance that had made her take the decision to leave. She couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t miss him and cry for her baby. If she had to grieve the loss of both of them, it was better to actually loose him than cry while having him.

Outside, the party was still in full swing. She could hear the loud music but now that loud sound was messing with her, raising her heart beats. She was profusely sweating.

She was regretting throwing this party now. But a few hours ago,  when she got to know that Manik had announced her name as one of the mentors of the upcoming musicana in SPACE without even asking her or mentioning it to her, it had made her angry. And then when she had found him by the staircase, he had thrown back something at her that had poked an unhealed wound.

“I am speaking from experience - sitting ideal all day at home makes you go crazy”

Was she going crazy? Was that what was wrong with her since all these months? Had she really lost her mind? Was that how people saw her now? Was that how Manik saw her? Was that why he left her in alone so much back then?

Nandini felt the sweat trickle down her spine and she straightened, raising her hand to turn the shower on. Cold water droplets sprinkled down on her, enveloping her in their embrace. She leaned back on the wall, letting the shower wash down her thoughts along with the sweat and her rapid breaths. The cold water also helped calm her aroused body, and she felt better than what she was feeling an hour ago.

She could feel her eyes dropping, she was tired, but it wasn't the kind sleep could help her recover from. It was the bone deep kind, where she felt constantly exhausted all twenty four hours, and if she could sleep and not wake up, she would choose it in a heartbeat.

With a shaking hand, she turned the shower knob off, but she didn't have it in her to stand up and walk out of the washroom. Her limbs felt heavy, her eyes refusing to stay awake. Eventually, she passed out on the cold washroom floor, letting the drowsiness get better of her.

Who knew what the next morning would bring after all?

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Manik signalled the DJ to stop the music and clapped his hands to garner attention from the audience, raising a brow and gesturing to the door, signaling the wrapping up of the party in his signature style. The crowd murmured, a little surprised. Manik Malhotra's parties had a reputation, these used to go on until the crack of dawn if not later, but it was hardly after 2 in the night.

But tonight, Manik's patience was up. He hadn't seen Nandini even once since she walked out of their bedroom after their moment, and he was getting increasingly worried.

He wasn't sure what was going on with her. One minute she would cut him with her sharp words, and another minute wrap him in her arms and ask him to kiss her. Her actions weren't consistent, but he now knew that probably she didn't understand what was happening with her either. Sighing, he saw the last of the crowd walk out and locked the door. The whole house was a mess - beer bottles lying everywhere, chips spilled here and there, the floor looked muddy somehow. Nandini was going to have a field day tomorrow when she saw the after effects of the mayhem.