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"Sorry! I have to take this." Nandini apologized to Manik. Her phone rang before she could answer him and since the call was from her mother, Avni Talwar, she couldn't ignore it.
"No problem!" Manik replied as he watched her answer the phone. She made no attempt to move away which made him smile a little.
Phone conversation:
Nandini- "Hii, mumma!"
Avni- "Hello, kiddo! How's my baby?"
Nandini- "I'm good and definitely not a baby." Manik chuckled slightly as she glared at him.
Avni- "You will always be my baby! Anyway, I'm calling because Saeesha wanted me to confirm if you're still coming over for the weekend."
Nandini- "I don't think, I'll be able to take a leave, ma. I'm starting today, at the other branch and it won't look good if I ask for a holiday, in my first week there."
Avni- "I understand but your sister is going to be very disappointed. She was really looking forward to seeing you."
Nandini- "Don't worry, ma. I'll talk to her! How's dad doing? He texted me yesterday and asked me to call when I free so I was thinking we could face-time tomorrow morning?"
Avni- "He's good and okay, kiddo. Give us a call tomorrow."
Nandini- "Okay, ma! Bye! Love you!"
Avni- "Love you too, kiddo! Take care of my baby, okay?"
Nandini- "Okay, ma. And I'm hanging up before you break your own record of babying me."
Nandini shook her head and put the phone back on the table. "Quit it!" she whisper-yelled at Manik who couldn't stop laughing.
"Saeesha and you have come a long way, haven't you?" Manik asked with a nostalgic look. Manik knew her family history and he also knew all about how Nandini's relationship with her adopter sister, Saeesha Murthy, was. It had become impossible for Nandini to put up with her rudeness and envy so she decided to enrol herself in a boarding school, far away from home with a hope that it would give Saeesha all the space and attention that she needed. It had worked. Being away at Dehradun, so far away from Pune, helped Saeesha realize how much she liked having an elder sister.
Saeesha and Nandini bonded more than ever when Nandini came back home for summer holidays after eleventh grade. Their relationship could actually make use of that distance. To solidify Nandini's beliefs, her parents, Arjun and Avni, who never married, stayed just friends and were co-parenting both her and Saeesha, had decided to move in together for the sake of Saeesha by the end of Nandini's twelfth grade. That was it! Nandini ditched the idea of going back home for college and instead went with Manik and Alya to St Kalys. Not too far yet not close to home.
"Yes, we have! Being away, has made us appreciate each other more. Sometimes, she even calls me her best friend." Nandini stated with a happy glow.
"Happy to hear that!" Manik exclaimed.
"So, where were we?" Nandini asked. It actually slipped her mind because everything that happened with her family, flashed before her eyes, in one moment.
"Randhir..." Manik just said that one word and it was enough to wilt the smile from her face. Manik reconsidered his insistence of knowing, what went wrong between them. He did not want to make her unhappy.
"Look, it's okay if you don't wanna talk about it. I'm not going anywhere so you can tell me whenever you want to, or not if you don't get comfortable. No pressure!" Manik said, considerably.
Nandini sighed audibly. "Randhir and I started dating one month after joining NTL. Initial days were smooth given the phase we were in but seven months into the relationship, things started to get a little rocky. The feelings were obviously there so we kept trying to make it work but being around each other constantly began to lose its lustre. Believe me, it is very important to have personal space when it comes to work. I wanted that for me so I told him that I was thinking of quitting. He obviously thought it was a bad idea so I pushed the idea away until it became unbearable. After working there for two years, I decided to resign because of which Randhir and I got into this huge fight, probably our biggest one till date. I told you yesterday how busy my life got after that, career-wise?" Nandini asked, rhetorically.
"Yeah." Manik acknowledged that she had told him about it the other night.
"That triggered us to have an on and off relationship. We broke up when it felt suffocative and then kept going back to one another when we missed the latter. Eventually, I got fed up and, six months ago, I told him to come back to me only if he's serious and he won't break-up again. He hasn't tried to contact me ever since." Nandini finished narrating her depressing relationship story.
"So, you've broken up?" Manik asked to check because that was not clear from what she said.
"Honestly, I am not sure. I do still miss him, sometimes but I cannot do that whole on and off thing again. It feels like too much work. I wanted a comfort space for a relationship and what we've been doing is clearly the opposite of that." Nandini told him, wholeheartedly.
"Even though, I cannot relate to that, literally, I do understand where you're coming from. Alya was my girlfriend for more than five years which was a long time but still I sometimes think that I couldn't let her in completely. It's not similar to your situation, I know. I guess, I'm trying to say that just because you know someone for a very long time does not imply that they can become our go-to person." Manik shared, insightfully. Nandini nodded, pondering over his words. Maybe that was it! She was with Randhir for a long time but he couldn't become the one, for her and neither could she become that for him.
"Jen has seen how things shaped with Randhir and she has told me countless times to stop trying. She thinks that I'm holding onto it because I am afraid that all my efforts to make it work will go to waste." Nandini said, thoughtfully.
"That is a legitimate argument. You are only human so it's natural to hold onto something that has been such a big part of your life. But maybe, just maybe, it is time to let go and let yourself free. Love will find its way to you, sooner or later." Manik said and rubbed his thumb on her knuckles, making her aware of the fact that he was holding her hand, this entire time. What surprised her most was that she did not feel uncomfortable one bit. It felt very familiar. If it was five years ago then she might not have even noticed it because it was normal for them, back then, but to know that even after so many years, it was still the same, felt comforting.
"I will give that a try." Nandini uttered making him smile.
"This feels so good, you know, catching up with you. This is the closest to feeling at home ever since I stepped foot in this city, again." Manik confessed. Nandini passed him a look of empathy.
"Now that you are back, get ready to bear with me again because mister, I ain't getting off your back anytime soon. You owe me a best friend and five years of your time." Nandini said with a determined look that caused him to chuckle. He needed just that. After Nandini, he could never connect with anyone with as much. It was as if her friendship was all that he needed. He made many friends over these past few years but none came even close to Nandini Murthy. He thinks that was because he grew up and grown-ups lack a certain ability to maintain friendships but he was going to be surprised by what life has to offer him.
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"You wouldn't believe, who is back in town." Dhruv said as he sipped his virgin Pina colada while seated on the slab of the restaurant's kitchen where Nandini had started today as the head chef. It was 11pm in the night when Dhruv dropped by. He was supposed to meet her for lunch but since she was with Manik, she had to cancel. So instead, he came over to have dinner with her. Nandini was almost done with her work and they were all set to leave from there and head home on Dhruv's motorcycle.
"Who?" Nandini guessed whom he was referring to yet she asked just to be sure.
"Manik Malhotra! I don't know how did he get my number but I did get a text from him this afternoon, saying that he is in the city and also that he wants to meet me and everyone." Dhruv informed making her smile, sneakily.
"Yeah, that I know! I gave him your number." Nandini admitted proudly as she wiped her hands clean with a tissue and dumped it in a dustbin.
"Shut up! You met him already?" Dhruv asked her with shock written all over his face.
"Yes, I bumped into him last night at the other restaurant." Nandini informed.
"Wow! That must be one hell of a reunion for two best friends, huh?" Dhruv questioned.
"It was alright." Nandini shrugged, feeling like it wasn't that big of a deal.
"What? You went nuts when you guys stopped talking, all those years ago. So do you really expect me to believe that you are not even a little excited to see him again?" Dhruv quizzed her with a knowing look. Nandini wanted to swat that smug look off his face. This guy did know her a little too much.
"Fine! It was great to see him again. We had breakfast together, today." Nandini filled him in and picked up her bag after losing her apron and chef's hat.
"Uh-huh... Old sparks flying again?" Dhruv teased and hopped down from the slab.
"Bullshit! What spark? We were just friends and we will be nothing more than that even now." Nandini dismissed his remarks. They reached the parking space after Nandini asked the caretaker to close up. It was raining cats and dogs so they would have to wait for it to stop, under the shed, since their ride was a motorcycle.
"Sure!" Dhruv put up a 'don't be ridiculous' look on his face.
"You are an ass, you know!" Nandini commented, feeling irritated. Dhruv laughed at her expressions because it amused him. It was fun to tease Nandini Murthy.
"How long is he staying?" Dhruv put forth his query.
"He is back, permanently. He is setting up a business here." Nandini enlightened him.
"Woah! So, I'm guessing, he and Alya broke up?" Dhruv asked.
"Yeah! She did not want to move so they ended things." Nandini added.
"Good for her!" Dhruv said to which Nandini gave him a pointed look.
"I was thinking, we could all go to dinner or something. Manik can meet all of you and we all haven't been together in the same room since Cabir and Navya's reception so I figured this could be a good chance to catch up." Nandini suggested and expected him to weigh in.
"We could do that. Will your annoying friend be there?" Dhruv quizzed, earning himself a smack on his bicep from Nandini for calling her best friend, annoying.
"Oww... but it's true! She is the most annoying person, I've ever met." Dhruv stated, firmly after he winced at the pain inflicted on him by his close friend.
"Go to hell! And, yes, I will ask her to come if she wants to come." Nandini emphasized and rolled her eyes at him.
"Count me out, then." Dhruv fixated.
"Both you and your tiresome butt are coming and I am going to make sure of that." Nandini deadpanned making him gulp in an imaginary lump down his throat. Nandini Murthy could be legit scary at times and Dhruv definitely did not wish to be on the receiving end of her wrath.
"I'll ask everyone in the group text-chain." Dhruv said.
"That's like my boy! Also, do not add Manik in the thread. He could surprise them by showing up out of the blue." Nandini affirmed which made Dhruv smile at her enthusiasm.
Life did not stop for this girl when she and her best friend drifted apart yet it did leave a blazing hole in her life. She did make new friends but no one could replace Manik. The memory of Manik and her being together as the best of friends might have faded for the two of them. Dhruv just hoped that, someday, they could redeem what they had lost. It seemed far-fetched but praying for something so harmless wasn't going to cost him anything so he was going to do that.
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