|| A tight hug is peace in disguise ||
🔹🔹🔹
"You will remain strong, you will stand strong beside your mumma"
"He is so bad...he left us alone...who will be there for me Nandini?"
"Nandu, let him shoot me, save Dhruv"
""I love you Nandu...leave all this business and make me proud...I believe in you"
All that Nandini could think about were these; these words which remain etched in her memories forever. Twelve years might have been enough to heal the wounds these words have inflicted but the scars, they still remained to tell the daunting tale.
This series of bone chilling remembrance was held up when a gentle touch brought Nandini back to the reality. "Ma'am we are ready for de-boarding", the airhostess said giving her usual polite smile to her. Nandini however stared on as if woken up from a nightmare, "Huh?".
"Ma'am we are here at the Luchthaven Zaventem Airport", she notified. Looking out from the window of her charter plane, the sprawl of white covered land came in Nandini's sight. "It's here", she murmured to herself. It indeed was. Now was time for her to move and conquer the ghost of the past that she has been avoiding since years.
She was here; back to the place where she fled from. She was back at the same airport from where she took a flight to India when eighteen and has never looked backed since. Yet, here she was, for the sake of her love, for the sake of her tomorrow trying to let go of yesterday.
Bidding a courteous goodbye to the staff that attended to her, she stepped out onto the flight of stairs which led her to the ground. The icy winds took her hairs with them, sprawling them across her face which she did not take pains to remove. She was there to take the person who will lovingly remove them.
Nandini pulled the two ends of her black overcoat closer to each other, shielding her chest from the direct winds, but was it just the breeze that she was trying to protect herself from or was it the memories?
Even though the path in front of Nandini was absolutely clear, without any hurdle; there were mental chains holding her back. Too many 'What ifs' were floated around in her head. Call it her fear, nervousness or anything, it was evident by the beads of sweat that appeared on her forehead, when the temperature was below zero.
She has travelled thousands of kilometres, but there was this one last push which was needed to make her travel those extra miles that lead to Manik.
That inevitable push came. It came in an unthinkable form but it came. That push was a proof that Manik and Nandini are not yoked by mind or body, but by something too pure for anyone to understand. By some force, by some magic, by some enchantment, Manik sensed her and her need of him.
I miss you Nandini.
Though the message disappeared with the same speed it came, it gave Nandini what she wanted. All the negatives were sidelined for a moment and the limelight was on Manik. The man she has come to chase, treasure and then not let go.
The flight of stairs, descending which earlier looked like a herculean task to her, was now reduced to a miniscule task. She with the speed of a lightening got down and greeted the man in blazer who was appointed to welcome her.
"Good evening Ms. Murthy, Simon Terry here. I am the general manager of Niran outlet here", Nandini may have a phobia for this country but this doesn't means that she won't expand her business here.
She shook hands with Simon and the first question she asked him was, "Do you know where is Manik?". When Simon was on his way to escort Nandini he had prepared himself for any question that she may ask him because he has been told that Nandini Murthy doesn't like it when her questions goes unanswered. But, never in his dream he was expecting this question.
"Ma'am...umm...I am not...", Nandini gave him a curt nod and in his hands thrusted her mobile with a number on the screen, "Dial and ask". Saying this, she moved ahead towards the airport building with a terrified clueless Simon following her.
Being Nandini Murthy has some advantages. For example, the aura she exudes intimidates almost every person she comes across and the one who hasn't been intimidated by her is the one she is here for. The formalities which would have taken atleast an hour were completed within thirty minutes and Nandini along with Simon was on road in a beasty black limo.
"Ma'am the person said he has left the set and hasn't reached his hotel yet. They don't know where he is", Nandini just hummed. Her mind was back to thinking about all the places Manik could be. It was Manik's first time visiting Belgium. All that he knows about Belgium was through the tales she had told, nothing more and nothing else.
"Where can he go?", she thought, focusing on the places she had once elaborated to him. She kept crossing off the landmarks from her lists until a thought ransacked her mind, and took her back to the time it had happened.
*Flashback*
"Nandini", Manik cooed in her ears while peeping from her shoulders into the laptop that she worked on. It was a much awaited weekend for them and they were there at the Eden.
Manik was eagerly waiting for Nandini to complete her last project before he gets her undivided attention. He had very comfortably placed Nandini in between his legs, letting her rest her back on the hardness of his chest. She herself didn't mind.
"Hmm", she replied, least disturbed by the random patterns his fingers were drawing on her arms or by the dwindling he was doing with her hairs. " You are opening your stores in Belgium too?", he asked a bit surprised. "Yeah why?", she asked still unbothered. "Given your history with the country then too?", his words made Nandini's fingers stop their tapping and look at him.
She chuckled looking at his concerned face. "I keep my professional life and private life separate Manik. What happened if I don't share a good history with that country. It doesn't matter. You really don't need to worry", she explained as sweetly as one would explain a child. "That means you have no problem in talking about the country?", questioned Manik. Now that question got Nandini thinking. Is she actually comfortable in talking about Belgium and her life in Belgium?
"I guess I am okay with it. Until the questions don't remind me of the parts I'm trying to forget", there was a curious glint in Manik's eyes which told Nandini a shower of questions was on her way. "I have been wanting to visit Belgium since so longgg. Tell me something about it. What are its speciality? What about its cuisine and street food, and its people?", he asked like a curious cat that he is.
Nandini thought for a moment before answering,"I think the beauty of Belgium doesn't lie in the natural habitat or the marvellous architecture but in the people of the country. They are really quite sweet and hospitable". Even though Nandini came face to face with that minority dark side of people, she knew the actual goodness the people of Belgium house in their hearts for any stranger.
"I have heard so much about the palaces and gardens of Brussels", Manik put forth the little information he had about the country. "Well nothing attracted me. Not the palace or the gardens...but you know what attracted me?", she raised an eyebrow and looked at Manik. He was more than interested in knowing the answer.
(P.S. Can you do this? I can't 😔)
"There was small bridge on the river Senne. Even though it was an old construction it didn't attract any crowd", business and project was long forgotten for Nandini as Manik had opened that box of memories for Nandini which she had kept locked away in her heart.
" Everyday, Appa and I used to go there for our evening walks and spend some time, looking at the river flowing beneath. We sometimes had waffles, sometimes ice cream and sometimes just a bar of chocolate would suffice. It was an unsaid rule for both of us. I would wait for him to come back, all ready to go and he didn't disappoint even once", there was a hint of water in Nandini's eyes which she was trying her best not to drop.
"Even after he was gone, I kept going there. All alone. I would have the same things, sitting at the same place and have a moment just to myself and appa", she looked into Manik's eyes before she began again, "You know Manik, the last place I went to before I came here was that bridge and not Appa's grave".
With these lines, Nandini cleared what importance that small piece of construction held for her. Somewhere, to himself, Manik promised to take Nandini back to that bridge and have a waffle, or an ice cream, or a chocolate. He was sure to do it but all in good time.
*Flashback ends*
"Take me to the Senne Bridge", her sudden scream halted the car while her order made him change the course of his driver. She looked unmoved by the stares she got from Simon or the driver. She was focusing on the larger and more important picture. The picture she has been dying to recreate, the picture of her and Manik together, smiling and finally, HAPPY.
~•~
Manik had no idea that why, with all his sanity intact, ( P.S. According to him he was still sane) he sent that message to Nandini, and then unsent it the next moment. He was trying hard to find some reason behind it, but everytime his brain faded out and his heart beat fastened. He has been gripped by the boughts of anxiousness, as if someone has been calling for him, looking for him, finding him, and he failed to understand who?
His family and friends weren't aware of his these escapade and Maddy knew that he does vanish everytime they go to a new place to shoot. Then who was it? Who is so earnestly looking for him? His consciousness did give him the answer twice or thrice, rather everytime he questioned, yet he refused to believe it. "Why would she be looking or me? She is in Mumbai", he tried explaining it to his poor heart who was going berserk every now and then.
Manik decided it was time to leave that brige or his sanity will jump into the river from the same thing. Keeping his mobile back in his pockets, he hugged his coat as the cold breeze that was blowing, freezed the front part that was exposed.
He had almost reached at one end of the bridge when another surge of the same unknown emotion made him stop, turn and give a last glance at the bridge. Well he didn't find any rationality in doing that. He wasn't new to that area. He had been a frequent visitor since he has landed in the city.
In fact, the first place he checked out was this, and instantly felt a connection. Therefore, this bridge became his spiritual spot too in these weeks. After getting free from his work, he would travel on foot till this place. Have a waffle, ice cream or choclate and leave after seeing the sun set.
Being a follower of his gut feelings, he stopped and turned. Also, mixed with his gut feeling was this movie-holic sense telling him that like this movies he'll find his girl waiting at the other end for him and he'll run to her and then hug her and life her above. Oh how he wished it all becomes true!
Looking behind he found the same brown walls of the abandoned building peering hauntingly at him. No soul was in sight and here he was dreaming about impossible scenarios. He smirked at his situation. He was similar to that abandoned home. Once he had everything he wanted and he was genuinely filled with happiness and there there was today, where he had no idea why he felt so empty from within when he was around everyone. Even if he had an idea, he tried to make his self understand that it wasn't the reason. He can falsely trap his mind for its own sake, can't he?
Disappointed to his core with himself, he had taken only a step more when a loud scream of an extremely familiar voice stopped him in his tracks. His breathes and beats quickened as he tried making himself accept that it was just another hallucination and nothing else. It was his imagination playing a dirty game with him and nothing else.
He heard that voice that, calling out his name and this time, he heard it too clearly to make himself believe anything else than the truth. He turned again, with his eyes closed and his mind cloudy, without any hint of what to expect. Taking a few deep breathes and sweet talking his heart into not getting broken if it's not what it looks like he opened his eyes.
And he was not disappointed. At the other end of the bridge stood Nandini, huffy and a little sweaty, but with relief over her face. "Nandini?", he called with the intention of making his own self believe that she was indeed here, in blood and skin and wasn't a speck of his imagination. "Manik", she called out this time, with all the power she had left in herself after she had come running in a marathon.
The battery which gave warning signals for being low was immediately refilled when she saw Manik at the other end of the bridge. Seeing him was all that was needed as Nandini ran the last lap, to meet her heart, her solace, her love, her Manik.
Let the surroundings be damned as she pounced upon him, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him into her as much as the human limit can take. Both of them had their eyes closed as they tried to take in the reality of the moment along with eachother's presence.
"I am sorry...", Manik heard a soft mumble from Nandini's mouth and he sushed her, "Not now Nandini". Manik wanted his Nandini just to himself for a time being selfishly. Without any words, without any sound just the feel of their hug, their bodies against each other where nothing mattered just them.
This was the moment, the hug, which Manik and Nandini will tell stories of and remember whenever they reach their limits. This hug would be the testimony in the near future of their love, their care and of them, of MaNan.
***
So Nandini is finally here in Belgium.
She has taken just a small step, the bigger picture is yet to be unveiled.
Are you excited for their conversation after this hug?
Will Manik forgive her?
Will Nandini face the demons of her past?
You may find this chapter unnecessary but believe me it is important. Everything I have written in here is. Getting back to a place whose nightmares still haunt you is not easy. I have just tried to show Nandini's emotions and even if I got overboard with it, it was needed.
Another thing is, the much coveted MaNan wedding is coming up soon. I genuinely need suggestions as in what do you guys want to read. The story won't progress ahead much till the wedding tracks goes on so I can focus only on romance and MaNan, for it.
Also there were a few questions that a reader asked me and I think many of you might be having that question. So here they are
So the answer is very short if Manik is shooting even at his worst state why is Nandini expected to sit back? Take it like reality, you have so much going in your head, your life maybe a mess but still you do what you have too. Similarly, Manik and Nandini are professionals who love their work and have commitments to follow. Amd it's not about being insensitive. Nandini isn't insensitive, she just like a normal human being doesn't let it reflect on her work.
Belgium because the time period of Nandini's past is the one where Mafia activities were at the peak, in this country. Being a travel bug and history nerd I keep reading about these things. I came down to two countries, Italy and Belgium out of which I choose Belgium solely because I want to travel there once.
Soo that's all. Next chapter shall be up in the next week or following one.
Thanks for reading ❤️
Stay safe and stay in people 🌸