Let's Make A Night To Remember

Part 6

IN MANIK'S CAR – MOMENTS LATER

Manik is at the wheel. He approaches the red signal at a traffic junction and slows to a stop.

The roads are crowded thick with vehicles of all types and sizes.

The noise and fumes from the neighbouring vehicles muffle out as he pulls up the windows and cranks up the air conditioner.

His eyes are on the road across but his mind...elsewhere.

At the green signal, vehicles from the opposite segment begin to move in.

Manik is distracted from his thoughts by an incoming message on his phone. He checks it.

"Your account has been credited with INR 15,000/- Your current balance is INR 16,575.89"

The corner of his mouth crinkle at the huge mountain of liabilities in hand.

"Home Loan – INR 37,500/-

Credit Cards – INR 2289/-

Personal Loan – INR 4500/-

Car Loan – INR 3478/-

Electricity Bill – INR 6120/-

Phone Bills – INR 2740/-"

Manik keeps his phone aside, leans back and grips the wheel with a shallow sigh. He wrings his hands over the steering and his eyes darts across the junction.

He isn't supposed to be here now. He is supposed to be winding out. Chilling. Maybe at home, spending some quality time with his family. Or at a place of his choice with his friends. Or having a little bit of 'my time' with his laptop on the terrace. But he's on the streets instead. Heading to work. On a holiday. For peanuts.

Home reminds him of Nandini and the situation he left her in. Their argument from last night comes flooding back to him and leaves him feeling very uneasy.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT HOME

Nandini gets busy with the laundry. She has a bucketful of soiled clothes before her. One by one, she pulls it out and inspects the pockets for coins and other items before slipping it into the washing machine.

That's when she pulls out Manik's lucky track pants.

She pauses.

The good spirits she had managed to build through engaging herself in the chores slowly seeps away as the tracks remind her of their argument from last night and their not so healthy relationship.

'You didn't get a chance to DEAL with it? So how many days do you need to get your so-called chance to deal with it? Ten? Twenty? Thirty!!?'

Manik's fury had this thing to leave deep gashes in her. She loved seeing him the other way around. Kind. Funny. Cheerful. Romantic. But it's been a long time since she's seen him that way.