MaNan~ Tangled Destinies- Hearts to Redeem [COMPLETED]

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A special mention to the readers who commented on 'Her share of feelings!' and not just that but really heart warming messages TheBlueCanvas salriz yashi-ka SrishtiSharma9 and purnima17 😘😘😘

Another mention to the two readers who just took over my heart with their inline comments Ashkiks and SizzPani 😘😘😘

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"How was the sleepover?" Avidaan asked Nandini as she returned back in the morning and then freshened up and came to meet him directly. He pulled her to sit on the sofa. She settled leaning onto the cushion as he picked her feet up to put them on his lap and started to massage them lightly. She smiled at the gesture while he acted as of he did not see her expression.

"It was so great. I'm just so happy that I'm back here." she told him and he nodded pressing her toes gently.

"Joanna called." Nandini informed about a call she recieved just before coming to Avidaan's room from a friend of theirs.

"Why? What happened?" he asked in return.

"Jenny shifted to our apartment with Nate. Apparently, they are going to have some kind of party for that." she told him. This was them. She would wait to tell him everything that she would never tell anyone and he would sit and listen to everything that she had to share even if it had nothing to do with him or her.

"I'm going to miss that place." he told her which was the same that even she would want to say about it. They had so many memories to look back at whenever they'll remember about the apartment. They were about to begin a new phase of life altogether yet deciding to leave what they had was a difficult choice.

"Nandini?" he called.

"Hmm?" she hummed lost in the pleasure that his massage was giving her. She recently, five months ago, had gone through a toe surgery and whenever she walked her legs gave her pain. This massage was almost a regular job for Avidaan since the time she was discharged.

"I was thinking, if these are your friends from High school then that must mean that one of them must be your boyfriend..... I mean ex-boyfriend as well, right?" he asked her. He had been thinking about it since the last night when he saw her enjoying with everyone. Hearing out his question, she snapped out of the mood. She could not answer that question. Afterall, it was his cousin whom she loved in the past. Things could turn really awkward for the three of them and that wasn't even the last thing that she wanted to deal with right now.

"Avi....." she was cut off by ringing of Avidaan's phone from across the beside table to which she was really thankful at that moment. This question would be better if it remained unanswered. Avidaan took his call to the balcony while Nandini used the opportunity to sneak out of the room and busy herself.

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"Hey, what are you doing here?" Manik asked startling Nandini who was sitting on the swing in the terrace. He just happened to drop by as per his routine. Whenever he had no company or had nothing to do, he spent time in the swing all by himself staring into the sky. It's just that today he found his old companion there again reminding his of so many of such times they would sit down at the beach for hours together in each other's arms.

"Nothing in particular. I just wanted to have some 'Me' time." shifting aside to make place for him. Her actions sure did contradict her words and it confused him. Anyhow, he did occupy the space beside her and that's when their biceps brushed against each other making then flinch at the same time.

"If you wanted the 'me' time then why am I an exception to this and being given a place to sit with you." he pricked the topic, anyway.

"You've always been an exception, Manik." she replied looking at him. He knew that earlier he was an exception to her alone time but knowing that it hadn't changed made him happy down the line and reminded him that they could be the best of friends again.

Sometimes, even a long period of time apart cannot change certain stuff between two people. For Manik and Nandini it was the case. They sure aren't together but before anything they were a habit for each other, long time ago. A lot of moments they had weren't just 'relationship-y' but something that words couldn't describe. Awkwardness will always be a part of their time from now on but at certain weak moments like now they can tend to seek comfort in their old ways.

"What's bugging you?" he decided to give asking her a shot expecting with a hope that she'd share.

"I was with Avi, a while ago. He happened to ask me a particular question that just threw me off guard. I'm sitting here since then." now that was Nandini Murthy's special talent that he had equally admired as well as hated in the past. She was too good with the words. She had this trait of being an introvert and whichever she never wanted to share with even her most trusted ones she would just say in in a way that neither of them completely looses.

Every moment since she has returned to India he had been recollecting her minutest of habits. Though she was an introvert, he never failed to understand her earlier. Back then he just would pretend that he was convinced and then later he would find out stuff in his own peculiar ways even if it meant cross-questioning her in manners that she couldn't gauge given the hint of innocence in her.

"Why do I have a feeling that it's related to me or us?" he put forth tactfully and she looked away dropping the hint along. He smiled at that. He was loving to live these bits of the bygone days with her again. He was being unaware of the fact that he was pushing himself into a deep shit that he shouldn't originally be in.

"Fine. You got me." she surrendered. She wanted to talk about the things to someone as it was eating her up as she could not tell this to Avidaan as well. Over the time she had become a little vulnerable as her introvert nature would begin suffocating her in a while. Deepest of her thoughts remained closed for herself but feelings had to expressed every once in a while.

"What is it?" he asked sensing the discomfort in her body language.

"Avidaan knows about my past in India but without the names. As he got to know that you are the bunch of friends I left back he must've figured it out that one of you guys is my ex-boyfriend. He asked about that to me half hour before in his room and I just sneaked out. There would've been no issue in telling him if it was anybody else but then telling him that his cousin is the one that I was in love with and just him in my whole life would kind of freak him out, wouldn't it?" she asked a rhetorical question, chuckling at the irony of the situation she was in.

The only guy she was in love with in her lifetime.

That was the only part that his heart and brain kept concentrating on. For no reason he was very ecstatic to know that piece of information from her.

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Target:- 175 votes ⭐