What's a soulmate? ~ MaNan

Chapter 15

No, you're not dreaming.

Yes, I updated again.

50 comments and I post the next chapter. ;)

Happy reading. I love inline comments. xx

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Nandini

The rest of the month passed with me doing about anything to avoid Manik, until the day I had been dreading rolled up.

It was our anniversary. Mine and Manik's. Which meant, it was six years since we got married, and exactly four years since we separated.

Every year when this day came, I treated it like any other day, keeping myself busy with work and Mia until after desert. I usually allowed myself one scoop of ice cream and sat by the window in quiet acknowledgment of the date and the memories it brought back.

This year, it was different. I hadn't heard from Manik after our conversation at the restaurant or seen him. He sent either Cabir or his assistant to pick and drop Mia both the weekends that followed, as if he was trying to actively avoid me.

I did understand why, but that also didn't stop me from feeling the hollowness of his absence. This was the longest I had gone about without seeing him.

That's what made this date different, and the fact that Mia was at a friend's place for a birthday sleepover, and Chacha-Chachi were spending the weekend away.

It was the first time in four years that I was, well, alone.

I would've dealt with the day just fine if not for the draining thought that Manik wanted me back, and I rejected him.

That's how I found myself in a club that evening, a shiny silver one sided bodycon dress on me that had Navya gushing.

"God damn!" She had whistled when she saw me, and I had twirled around, showing off my very new and very expensive Karl Lagerfeld bag. I looked twenty-five, my own age, something I hadn't looked in a very very long time. To be honest, I hadn't been much of a teenager even when I was a teenager, and before I could navigate adulthood, I was a mother.

I had basically never done this except with Manik sometimes, but there was something about today that made me want to drink and forget, be as young as I could be.

I tapped my manicured nails at the bar counter, ignoring the bartender's flirty smile. "How can I help you ladies today?"

Navya giggled as I linked my arm with her.

"Two shots from your finest bottle of tequila, please," I grinned, passing him a fifty dollar bill. "And keep them coming."

*

Manik

I was working late even though it was a Saturday. I usually left work early on weekends to make as much time as I could for my little ball of sunshine, but since she was at a friend's house, I was all to myself.

I never did anything except work when I was left to myself, but today, I found myself wondering more than ever what Nandini was doing.

I had picked up my phone four times since morning, writing nonchalant small messages but never sending them. Once, I almost called her, but chickened out at the last moment.