Stolen Promises|| Completed

4. Reigniting flames?( present)

Half an hour later, a pat on her shoulder broke Nandini's reverie, and that was when she realized she had been staring at him for too long.

"Hey!", Navya greeted her. In a peach pink saree, she looked preety. The girls complimented each other before Navya pointed out the obvious.

"You still miss him, right?", The question took Nandini by a little surprise but she smiled.

" Is is that obvious?", She asked back, making Navya chuckle.

"Yes, by the way you are staying at him, continuously", it was Mukti who joined the conversation in the middle, with a glass of vodka. Nandini bit her lip, suddenly shy.

"But he is not even noticing me", she pouted and Mukti and Navya laughed louder, before getting serious.

"That is because you are trying to find the Manik we all know years ago, in college. This Manik is a lot different, and I personally don't like this change in him at all", Mukti snickered, but looked at Manik fondly. And why not ? They had been bestest friends for years before the physical distance started separating them emotionally too.

"Me too", Nandini complained, but she saw a light flicker of sadness pass through Mukti's face, and it confused her.

Half way through the party, she saw Manik retiring to upstairs. With hastened steps, she walked over to Aryaman and Abhimanyu, who were standing with him a few minutes ago.

"Where did he go?", The sudden question startled them.

"To rest. He got bored of the party!", Aryaman answered, though raising his eyebrows at her.

"Are you kidding me? Manik Malhotra grew bore of a party? Within two hours?", She asked with hands on her hips, her mind faltering to the various nights she had to literally drag him out of parties to go home. He was such a sucker for parties.

Abhimanyu shrugged, not knowing what to answer her, but an immediate question lingered in both their eyes, until Aryaman asked it aloud.

"It has been eight years since you guys broke up Nandini. And I don't think you were in close contact either. Then why this sudden intrest in him?", The question bugged Nandini, simultaneously shocking her. Aryaman had been more of her close friend than Manik, but now it looked like tables had turned.

"Changed parties now, are we?", She questioned him back, but Aryaman was still serious.

"I don't know about you Nandini, you look pretty content and satisfied to me. But I don't want him to get hurt again, that is if you are not genuinely intrested again and just making up for lost friendships", Aryaman was blunt and it made Nandini look at him with wide eyes.

"Did by any chance you meant that the breakup was my fault? Or that it didn't hurt me?", She glared and aksed via gritted teeth.

"No, he didn't mean it. We know Manik broke up with you, and then it was mutual!", Abhi jumped in, trying to calm them dowm but Nandini was already mad at them, and walked away without listening.

"Calm down man! It wasn't her fault!",Abhi chidded Aryaman who balled his fists to control the anger.

"I know it wasn't. But he would have handled things better if she would have stayed with him!", Aryaman kept his glass down with a thud, before moving away too.

Abhimanyu massaged his temples. He hoped for things to not go ugly.

Angry at herself for loosing her cool, Nandini walked up the stairs, not wanting to create any more drama. She hated the fact that she had become such short tempered, like him. The thought made her stop, and she turned towards the suite Manik was staying in.

The door was unlocked, probably because he was sharing it with Kabir. But the lights were off, except the table lamp, that illuminated the room with blue lights. She peeked in, slightly pushing open the door, to find Manik standing by the French windows, occasionally sipping his beer, watching the sky.

"Atleast something has not changed", Nandini commented as she walked to stand beside him, while Manik chuckle at her statement.

She waited for him to say something, anything, but when nothing came, she huffed.

" So I am not even worthy of a compliment anymore?", She snickered and Manik turned to face her.

"You are worthy of a lot more things, Nandini, never think otherwise. And coming to the compliment, you know how gorgeous you look, don't you?", He placed the loose strand away from her face, very softly and it made her blush.

He still had the audacity to say sweetest things to her, and make her go crimson.

"Then why didn't you say it ? You used to tell that to me a thousand times, before?", She questioned again, fighting the red hue.

" That was because hearing it from me made you believe it then. Now you have this coifidence, you know you look gorgeous", he spoke with a very small smile, a curve she would have missed if she hadn't been looking so minutely.

" Are you angry with me?", She asked gently, but it made him frown at her, and he asked her what did she mean by that.

"I don't know. You don't talk to me like before. You don't gossip. You got bored of a party. And you drink!", She exclaimed, and Manik shook his head at her.

Such a baby.

"You are searching for that shade of me, which has faded Nandini. Time brings change, and eight years is a lot of time. Things change, people change. So did I", he finished his beer and smiled at her, but Nandini was not at all satisfied with his explanation. She could see something was off, somewhere.

"You might change Manik, but it doesn't mean I will know you any less, and right now, this is not you", she was still stuck to her point, and Manik just took a deep breath, and let her be.

He didn't have it in him to explain anymore.

"Can I hold you, once? Please?", The request was impromptu, and it started Manik but she didn't even wait for his reply, and wrapped her petite arms around him, resting her head on his chest.

She could feel him go stiff, but she didn't relent. She tightened the grip on him and a few minutes later he hugged her back.

The urgency in his touch, and the way his shoulders dropped, frightened her. Manik didn't speak, but his stance was speaking a lot. She just rubbed his back, until she felt him relax under her touch. Unknowingly, she kissed the nape of his neck, and it broke the trance.

Embarrassed, Manik broke the hug, and looked away.

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to-".

" I meant it", Nandini cut him off before he could ruin the moment. For a flicker of a second, she could see something pass through his all the time neutral eyes. Something she could not keep her finger on.

He simply nodded, before turning his back to her, and Nandini took the cue leaving the room, but determined enough to not leave him alone this time.