The Nerd and The Brat ✔️

31. The Lunch

Nandini chuckled looking at Manik. "Actually these are for the times when I want to avoid people and they wouldn't listen to me. I just go through the pictures sometimes. No patience to read them all."

Cabir was damn sure he was scolded by Manik for taking one of his books and forgetting it to read it. It was during one of his vacations in England and when Manik was in his room to help him pack his bags, after a month of his borrowing the book, the boy gave a huge list of how the books would feel depressed if their owners don't read them. Cabir thought his brother might have lost his mind and when he complained to Nyonika, she brushed him off.

At present, instead of getting offended by Nandini's ignorance towards her books, he threw a very sweet smile at her that the younger twin wanted to yell hypocrite at him. "Can I browse through them, please?", asked Manik.

Nandini shook her head, laughing as she asked him to feel free. There was a fond smile on her face as she watched him going through the books. Cabir rolled his eyes because it was a rare opportunity for him to roll his eyes at someone and rarer at the head girl. Instead of teasing about the oblivious idiots on their way to falling in love as his heart wanted, he followed his brain and dragged her towards the balcony away from Manik.

She pinched his arm, forcing him to release her arm. "Why did you drag me?"

"I wanted to talk to you alone", told Cabir.

He half expected her to ignore him and go inside but Nandini surprised him by taking a seat on the swing. "About what?", she asked.

Cabir slumps down in a chair opposite to her. "Okay, if I am wrong, please don't punch me."

The head girl narrowed her gaze but nodded.

"I think your father is faking affection on you."

Cabir has flirted with a lot of people throughout his lifetime and by now he knew when a girl was impressed by him. Right at this moment, Nandini was as she smiled at him after coming out of her initial shock. "You are not as stupid as you look", said Nandini.

Cabir glared at her. Only Nandini Murthy could somehow praise him using an insult. "I look smart. Anyway, what's up with your father? Is this the reason behind your late-night rides and your mistrust on humans in general?"

When she scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, he felt himself chuckle, the feeling of punching someone growing every minute as he looked at Nandini. "Come on, Nandini, stop offending my intelligence. Anyone can see that you don't trust people much."

She sighed, her shoulders slumping. "To begin with I don't even know where that dog came from. It wasn't there till yesterday when my parents informed me about lunch with one of his business associates and I hate dogs to willingly live with one in my house."

"What?", he asked. He didn't expect her to talk about their dog which apparently wasn't theirs. Why do the Murthy have to act about a dog too? Before he could ask her, he saw a sad smile on her. It was the same look he saw when he first met her on the beach during the initial days after joining college. Back then she was a stranger but now a special friend as she had termed it and it clenched his heart to see her sad. It didn't suit their strong head girl and Cabir understood why it bothered Manik too much.

"That's what my life is, Cabir. Half of it is a pretense in front of the world while the reality is exactly the opposite. Murthy industries was established by my grandfather in his twenties. I was close to him. They are the closest to parent figures I had in my life and everything changed when he died due to a heart stroke. My grandmother died a year prior to him. My parents weren't exactly friendly since childhood but it's as if they flipped 180. I was nine when I was introduced to their hate"