MaNan : Aching Smiles|| COMPLETED

6. Melted Ice-cream!

~ Sometimes in a relationship, you need to understand that more than your happiness, it is also about your partner's happiness~

Retreating her steps, Nandini climbed down the stairs, her heart beating so hard that she feared it will rip apart her chest. Somehow she controlled falling down her knees and weeping then and there, and stumbling reached her room. Shutting off the door, she finally collapsed on the bed and cried her heart out. To realize you are in love is a beautiful feeling, but the knowledge that the person you are so in love with, despises your presence and that your face haunts him, is a terribly sickening feeling. Nandini had both the realizations in a matter of few hours and it was like she was burning on the insides but couldn't even scream. Slowly, fatigue took over and she was lured into a restless sleep.

"Mnaik! I want to have an ice-cream", Nandini barged into his room, only to find him lying down with his eyes closed, and his arm covering his eyes.

"Manik!", She shook him again, and he opened his orbs. They were red from the impact of the fever he had since last night.

"So go na nandu, take your other friends with you. I don't feel good", Manik mumbled and turned to the other side. His entire body was paining.

"No, I want to go only with you. And right now you don't have fever also. Come na, please", Nandini requested once, begged twice and forced him to go at the third attempt.

Seeing her misty eyes Manik sat up despite all the protests from his body, and took her to their favorite ice-cream corner. Watching her relishing the taste brought a smile on his face, and for those minutes he forgot his body was not in favour of this little escapade. Yet, seeing his best friend happy was more important to him than anything else, and that was also why, he told his mother it was his stubbornness and not hers to protect her from all the scoldings.

Nandini woke up to the sun rays falling on her face. The chubby cheeks had lost their colour, and her eyes looked red from all the crying. She sat up, and immediately memories form the last night clouded her mind. Why did she have to fall for him? She might not have the answer to that question, but she knew that seeing him with Shivi or for that matter anyone else, made her feel extremely jealous. And Nandini Murthy was not the kinds who step back. If she loved him, she would do anything to keep him with her. Period.

"Nandini! Nandu!", Manik ran to her room, happy and excited. And why not? He had won the 'best sketch' competition and he wanted to celebrate it with his best friend.

He knocked the door and entered to find her lying on her stomach, watching her favourite series on her laptop.

"Nandini! Let's go for ice-cream. My treat!", He sat beside her enthusiastically but she made a poker face.

" You go yaar. I will catch sore throat otherwise. Also I need to finish this season", Nandini said and turned her attention back to the laptop screen.

"Come on yaar nandu. That is our special place yaar", he whinned but she didn't budge.

"So go to some other parlour yaar. I will come after I finish this", she left no room for discussion, and Manik left dejected. He wanted to tell her that he didn't have any other friend except her, unlike her who was the queen bee, but he kept silent and walked back to his house.

"Manik!", A soft voice broke his sleep and Manik opened his eyes to find Shivi staring at him. Last night she could not leave him in that vulnerable state and he had slept in her lap like a baby seeking for some warmth, afraid of the world. Manik sat up, and rubbed his eyes and that gave the opportunity to Shivi to atleast straighten up, since she had spent the entire night sitting.

"If I ask you something, will you consider thinking about it?", Shivi asked very softly and Manik looked up at her.

"I can't forgive her Shivi. It's not as if I have not tried. But I can't. In a way, she had killed me and even after these many years I am struggling under it's impact. It is not easy", Manik sighed and Shivi could feel her own eyes tearing at the essence of pain in his voice.

" Is it only because she was your best friend?", She questioned again and Manik looked down.

"Of everyone else you know it the best Shivi, why are you asking me this? It isn't because she was my best friend, it was because she was the only person my world revolved around. More than her it's my fault too, and I haven't forgiven myself for that", Manik spoke in a trance and Shivi silently rubbed his arm to lend support. Mnaik gave her a half smile and got up the bed, on his way to washroom when Shivi who had also stood up fell down because her legs felt like jellies after sitting for so many hours. Mnaik rushed to her and held her, and even though he wanted to say many things, he kept quiet, as his mind traversed back into memories.

Nandini came running down the stairs as her freind Barkha waited for her downstairs. Manik was sitting on her dining table, relishing a bowl of Payassam made by Nandini's mother, when he heard her scream. In her excitement of reaching down asap, Nandini tripped and fell down, spraining her ankle a little. Manik rushed to her and held her, and then picked her up to make her sit on the couch.

"Where the hell were you lost Nandini? Where was your attention?", Manik scolded her simultaneously applying the ice pack while she pouted at him with glassy eyes. He wiped her tears and gave her a glass of water. A few minutes later, her pain subsided and she stood up ready to go.

"Nandini please take care. And call me if it gets late, alright? Don't go far away places alone, just return after the movie okay? Have lots of fun but don't eat all junk, right?", Manik gave her a list of instructions and she nodded at him, cutely before running outside with Barkha, who was making faces at them.

"What is he? Your boyfriend?", Barkha asked making a disgusting face.

"Nopes. Just a freind", Nandini said, not wanting to loose the cool image she had between all her friends.

"How suffocating yaar! So many do's and don't's. Uff!", Barkha made a face and Nandini gulped.

"He is just a neighbour yaar, and Mom loves him, so I can't tell him to buger off na!", Nandini nervously tucked her hairs behind her ear and was relieved to find Barkha make an understanding face. All she was unaware of was the eighteen year old boy standing behind them, with the pain relief spray in case she needs it, tears rolling off his eyes. All she didn't know was that it was the first time he had cried like that after his father's betrayal. And that was also the incident that made Manik realize that his 'care' actually 'suffocated' people he loved, and that his best friend considered him just a 'neighbour'.

Shivi could see the hesitation and reluctance in his body language. So she adorably held both her ears and smiled at him.

"You can scold me for being careless, I won't mind", she pouted and he smiled, shaking his head at her.

"Who would say you are a famous psychologist of the city, when all you do is behave like a kid?", He spoke and made her sit and she made a thinking face dramatically. Manik laughed at her response before going to the washroom. Shiwali who was better now stood up and descended downstairs where Pakhi was sitting on the breakfast table with Nandini.

All hell broke loose when she heard Nandini speaking to Pakhi.

"Maa, I want to marry Manik!".