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"Did you have time to go through the presentation that I mailed you earlier?" Sameer Virani, Manik's business partner and his good friend, asked him as Manik let him into his apartment. Sameer had a healthy physique with a 5'10" height, black hair, dark brown eyes, slightly broad nose and a sharp jawline.
Manik and Sameer met at an IT conference in Bangalore and they connected instantly. With time, they began collaborating over individual projects until two years ago when Sameer moved out to Mumbai. When Manik had no luck with any investors in Bangalore, he pitched his idea to Sameer who then helped him convince their current investor.
"Yeah, I just finished reading it." Manik replied. Sameer helped himself by grabbing a bottle of water from Manik's dining table after which he settled on one of the chairs, adjacent to the one, he predicted, Manik was sitting on, by the position of his laptop.
Manik had come two months ago to this city and in spite of the fact that this place was his home for four years, it still felt alienated being back here after a gap of half a decade. He struggled to settle in and the only help he had was from Sameer. It was easier for guys to bond and owing to the same nature, Manik and Sameer had become close friends in a short span of time. Manik was grateful to Sameer for everything while Sameer was more than glad to have someone who was closest to a brother he could have.
"So... What do you think?" Sameer asked for Manik's review over that presentation.
"Seems perfect to me. I think we are ready to present this to our investor." Manik commented and pitched the idea to reach out to the company who had promised to invest in their start-up.
"I'll set up a meeting then. How is the search for our office space, coming?" Sameer asked as he remembered what Manik was busy doing in this last week.
"I've narrowed it down to two places. I still think there is room for negotiation so whichever seems cheaper, I'll finalize that. Do you wanna see them before I do that?" Manik quizzed to check.
"No. No. I trust your gut and besides, you know me. I'm a lazy ass. It is the whole reason you are doing all the outdoor work and I'm happy to sit behind my laptop and do all the technical work." Sameer said with a sheepish look making Manik roll his eyes. If Manik didn't know better, of Sameer's talent, he could never partner up with such an indolent person. It was good that Sameer could get most of his work done on a laptop.
"I'll finalize everything and let you know." Manik said to which Sameer nodded in response.
"How was your breakfast date?" Sameer questioned while arching a brow at his friend.
"I've told you a hundred times, that it wasn't a date. She was a close friend before I left the city. We lost touch in these five years and I had breakfast with her to catch up." Manik replied annoyingly. Why did Sameer have to put these ideas back into his head? It had been a hard couple of months as it is, with shifting to another place, starting a business from scratch and breaking up with a long-term girlfriend.
Seeing Nandini again, had brought up so many emotions that he had buried deep inside his heart before leaving this place and all the people, behind. He did not want to scratch the surface of what were only healed wounds. All that he wanted was to connect with everyone and especially with Nandini to an extent that they could go back to being the best friends that they were. That was it. He didn't want more or less.
"Relax, man." Sameer said funnily. Manik's defensiveness gave away everything but he was entitled to believe whatever he wants so Sameer couldn't do anything about it.
"Forget it. I wanted to ask you that if you want to go out to dinner, tonight. Nandini managed to get the entire gang to come. Do you want to tag along?" Manik asked Sameer what he had been meaning to ask him ever since Nandini confirmed their plans. He had no idea why he was asking Sameer to tag along because Sameer knew none of his friends.
"I am free but don't you think it'll get awkward since you all go way back and I'm going to be the intruder guy?" Sameer quizzed, rhetorically.
"No, it won't be like that. Nandini is bringing her roommate as well so you wouldn't be the only one who wasn't a part of the gang back then. Besides, all of them are very welcoming. You'd blend in, just fine." Manik reassured but he himself wasn't sure if it was the case. It had been a very long time since all of them were even in the same room and he didn't know if they were still that old group of friends who created an open space for everyone around them or had things changed for good.
"I'll come then..." Sameer confirmed. Manik smiled in gratitude for accepting to tag along. He was now sure that he would not feel that lonely even if things had changed between his old group of friends.
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Nandini and Jeanette settled themselves on the chairs after exchanging greetings with everyone who had arrived on time. Jeanette was always a late-comer and since Nandini had to come with her, she was late too. Nandini, in general, was a very punctual person but being roommates with Jeanette had its pros and cons. It wasn't that big a deal so Nandini never cared to make an issue about it as well.
Coming to the gang; Cabir and his heavily pregnant wife, Navya had reached the venue, way before time, given how overly excited Navya was about meeting everyone again. She was obviously hormonal and hence Cabir was outright terrified to even try and convince her otherwise. Dhruv, Abhimanyu and Mukti had come together as they live just a couple of blocks away. Dhruv was determined to have a bunch of drinks so motorcycle was a bad idea and thus he asked Abhimanyu to give him a ride back and forth. Randhir hadn't arrived yet and since he hadn't given his confirmation of coming earlier, they weren't exactly expecting him. Dhruv and Nandini had managed to keep the secret of Manik's advent.
"Is Randhir not coming?" Cabir questioned in Nandini's direction. That question itself gave away how much they had disconnected from one another. Cabir and Nandini were pretty close but soon after Navya and Cabir got married, he had gotten busy with his new life. Nandini obviously did not wish to intrude or spoil this phase for the two of them so she kept her distance as well.
"How would she know? They broke up six months ago." Jeanette answered for Nandini before she could even open her mouth. Jeanette was overprotective about her best friend and given the fact that she knows how uncomfortable Nandini gets about Randhir's subject, she pounced, right in.
Dhruv rolled his eyes because this was just one of the reasons why he hated Jeanette's gut. He and the entire gang cared about Nandini just as much as she did. Why did she have to snap at Cabir for simply not knowing something. Had he been aware of what had gone down, he would not have dared to ask her that.
"I didn't know. I'm sorry!" Cabir apologized, instantly as he felt guilty for two things; one- not checking up on what was happening in his friend's life and two- for making Nandini feel uncomfortable by broaching this subject.
"Don't be ridiculous. Randhir and I never informed anyone so you wouldn't know. It's completely alright." Nandini dismissed Cabir's apology because she found it unnecessary. She even pinched Jeanette's elbow for making Cabir feel awkward about something that clearly wasn't his fault. Jeanette winced, inaudibly, and rubbed her elbow to ease the pain. Jeanette rolled her eyes at Nandini and picked up a glass of water from the table.
"So, how come no one thought of arranging this in two years?" Mukti asked everyone to ease the tension.
"Maybe, tonight is just special..." Dhruv said and winked at Nandini at which she simply shrugged. Jeanette did not miss this interaction and so it irked her a little that Dhruv knew something that she did not know. The first rule in the best friend rulebook is that no one else can know things about oneself before the best friend is informed.
"Why is tonight special?" Abhimanyu asked with a curious look which reflected on the rest of their faces except for Dhruv and Nandini.
"Cause, I am here." all of their heads snapped up at that voice which came from one of the two people who were walking in their direction.
"What the hell? Manik Malhotra?" Cabir was the first one to come out of the shock and get up to give his old friend a hug.
The rest of their group followed to hug him one after the other leaving behind Nandini and Jeanette. It felt amazing to reunite with this particular friend since he had been closest to most of them. They could even say that he was the heart of their group, back then. As much as they understood why Manik had gotten busy and lost touch with them, they also missed him a lot. So, to see him after five long years did feel great.
"What?" Manik mouthed in Nandini's direction making her chuckle. She had been standing far away from him, closer to her chair, instead of coming forward and giving him a hug. It obviously irked him a little.
Nandini was waiting for the rest of them to have their reunion first and after that she moved ahead to wrap her hands around his neck for a brief moment. Owing to Nandini's short height, his hands rested around her waist, involuntarily. It was a good thing that the hug didn't last for more than a moment because in any other case, it would have given everyone the wrong idea.
Nandini broke their hug and cast her eyes down before tucking her strands of hair behind her ears. Manik gulped an imaginary lump and diverted his attention to the rest of their gang.
"This is Jeanette, my roommate. And Jeanette, this is Manik. He was my closest friend during our college days." Nandini introduced her best friend and Manik to each other. Manik obviously frowned a little at 'closest' word. She could at least say best friend in the past context. He let it slide and extended his hand towards Jeanette in order to shake her hands. Jeanette responded with a smile on her face and nodded at him.
"This is my friend, Sameer. Sameer, this is everyone." Manik introduced the guy standing beside him who seemed to be under some daze due to someone in this group of people. His name caused him to break free from the trance.
"Hi, guys!" Sameer said with a smile and the rest of them responded with 'hi's and 'hey's.
Following that all of them got seated and their seating order was:
"So, your return is the reason behind Nandini arranging this for tonight?" Navya asked Manik, rhetorically.
"Yes!" Manik replied with a grin. Why did he ever think that things would feel awkward with his friends? It was absolute bliss to finally meet all of them after all these years had passed with no contact between any of them. He felt so happy that the smile on his face refused to leave from there.
"How long are you staying?" Abhimanyu quizzed the most obvious question.
"I moved here, two months ago. Sam and I are starting a business here. So, yes, I'm back, permanently." Manik answered, sincerely and his answer etched a grin on everyone's faces.
"That is great news, dude. All the best to both of you for your start-up!" Mukti wished for good luck to both, Manik and Sameer.
"Man, I still can't believe it's been five years since we last met." Cabir remarked. No one thought that they'd go five years without seeing Manik. He was moving away but that did not mean that he'd lose contact, completely. But life happens and it did for all of them as well.
"I know. I've missed so much. You two got married and now you're expecting, Dhruv and Nandini had career do-overs, these two got engaged...." the minute Manik said that, all of them burst into various reactions. Manik realised instantly that he had spilt a secret that probably the couple were planning on breaking it to everyone later tonight.
"Manik yaar.... You spoilt it!" Mukti cribbed as soon as everyone shut up and continued to glare at the duo.
"How would he know, Mukti? If you wanna blame anyone for spoiling it, blame this cousin of mine. You couldn't keep one secret from him, could you? It's like college times all over again. Pain in the ass-best friends!" Abhimanyu chided Nandini and since she was half expecting it, she simply pouted in response. Manik scratched the area behind his ears while the rest of them chuckled at the duo, including Jeanette and Sameer who did not even know how Manik and Nandini were in college.
"It just slipped, okay? He asked me about all of you and with the flow, I just blabbed that you proposed to Mukti. I'm sorry!" Nandini said with a sheepish grin.
"I'm sorry too, for blabbering about it to everyone." Manik seconded Nandini's apology. Abhimanyu and Mukti sighed as their faces melted their hearts. And besides, tonight was a happy occasion and they were going to announce their engagement anyway so what if Manik said it first.
"It's okay, I guess. It reminds me of how Nandini blabbed to Mukti about my feelings, back in college, even before I did because I had told Manik and he couldn't keep it a secret from her. Feels like you guys are the bookends of our relationship." Abhimanyu pointed out with a humorous chuckle which everyone reciprocated.
Now, Manik was more intrigued about how would this night unfold for all of them. He was extremely nervous earlier of how all of his friends would receive him but now that he knew that there are only positive reactions, he was excited to start this new phase of his life in a familiar place.
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Introducing Sunny Kaushal as Sameer Virani...
Rate the chair between 1-10.
What is your impression of Sameer?
According to you, can a person have more than one best friend?
Few words for this group.