The next two days went on casually for Manvi as she finally concluded that he meant it as a true friend and it was only her reaction which made the situation awkward, and her own physical reaction to his words were pushed way behind for her own sanity.
Virat was yet again left amazed with Manvi's ability of handling their friendship wisely, that was not the first time he made the situation awkward for them, he had been trying to keep things under control, but poorly. He was not good at hiding emotions unlike Manvi, he always failed to pretend and keep things shut inside him, that was one of the main reasons for him to leave Chandigarh, having her so close to him was making it all more difficult, he had been trying his best to keep himself away from her in the name of work pressure, he didn't know for how long he would carry on with this excuse,
"Virat... Will you get late to come back home?" Manvi asked as she took away the dishes from Ramu kaka,
"I'm hoping to come back early... we'll see how it works..." Virat replied giving space for her to serve him food, "Kuch kaam tha?"
"Nahi I just wanted some guidance..." Manvi pulled a chair to join him with the breakfast,
"Like..."
"I was thinking... that there is this vacancy in a company... Not very popular... but fine with me as I don't have any experience..."
"Company..."
"Yeah... I need to find a job to keep myself occupied... Sitting home idly is depressing... And you were okay with it right?" She asked,
"I was okay with you working but not just anywhere..." he took hold of the newspaper she was holding,
"What... I don't understand,"
"Manvi... Look I'm sorry...", Virat held his hand up as she started to speak, "Let me talk please..." She nodded and he moved closer to her with a sigh, "I agree that I kind of have been keeping busy... I rarely spent time with you... I know you would never complain, but I made a promise to you remember? I didn't make it for the sake of it, I made a promise because I wanted to... because I care for you... And when I said that I have no problem in you going out for work... I really meant it... But I just don't want you to go to a random place and start working... And that also doesn't mean that I'm keeping you under control... But I want you to be safe... you understand what I'm trying to say right?" Virat asked as he looked up to meet her gaze only to witness a teary Manvi,
"Hey... Kya hua... Did I say anything wrong... I didn't mean to hurt you..." he tried to reach her hand but was surprised when she lunged forward to hug him, Virat felt his body tense at the sudden contact but all his apprehensions flew away as she started sobbing against his chest, Virat asked nothing but rubbed her arms to make her feel better,
"I missed you..." She whispered softly,
Virat tried to shrug it away by saying that it was only two days he has been busy with work, but his voice refused to come out as soon as Manvi continued speaking,
"Remember... we all planned to go out on a picnic after we finished college, Nanu was making all the preparations back at his home town for us to stay and all that, we both tried contacting you for more than a month, but we never got through. Initially I was so worried, none of us had any details of your house, I felt so stupid... so stupid to not have even a telephone number after having been spoken to your mom and bhai for so many times... Do you know how worried we were..." Virat squeezed his eyes shut as he tightened his grip on her, regretting over his running away even without a 'goodbye'.
"Then I somehow got hold of your residence number via the hostel, but they said that you have moved to Mumbai, Vanshika aunty was not at home at that time and I didn't bother to call back as I was so angry with you for leaving like that," Manvi made a fist against his chest as she hit him lightly to vent the anger on him for leaving like that,
