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"Ugh... Good morning!" Nandini groaned first and then wished Manik who was seated on the wing chair adjacent to the couch, she was sleeping on.
"Morning, slumber bunny!" Manik replied with a funny nickname and set his MacBook aside on the coffee table.
"God! Did I at least walk up till here?" Nandini questioned him with her face buried in her palms. She was sitting up by now and she had the blanket on her lap which she guessed that Manik might have covered her, last night.
"No, you did not. You passed out in your car, at the coffee shop itself. If I did not know better, I would have said that you were drunk as hell. I drove us here and I carried you up here, like a baby, and put you on this couch." Manik answered with a smirk on his face.
"Ughhhh...." Nandini groaned again. She couldn't even imagine how difficult it must have been for Manik to open the door to a closed apartment while he was carrying her. How did she not wake up with all that shifting and disturbances? She felt so bad and embarrassed that she couldn't even look up at him directly.
"Hey! It's okay! I was partially the reason behind your tiredness because you were up so late to help me. This is the least that I could do for you." Manik assured her when she refused to look up. He pushed her face away from her hold and made her look at him. He then sat beside her on the couch.
"I feel like this is the maximum, I've slept in this whole week. It has been tough with starting my job at a new place, the promotion, the mishap from two days ago and my crazy-ass deadline. Helping you last night was something that I wanted to do for myself because I do want to hang out with you." Nandini spoke her heart out, sending Manik in for a sweet shock. He wasn't expecting to hear all that from her. It did feel very flattering but he did not know how to respond to that.
"I want that too but maybe we should do that for fun and not work. That way, you'd feel more relaxed, just the way you need." Manik chimed, suggestively.
Nandini looked back at him, above her shoulder and felt her heart melting at his expression. He had the soft look of worry, concern and adoration, all blended into one. Nandini smiled a little and leaned back to place her head on his shoulder, astonishing him all over again. If he wasn't expecting earnest confession then he certainly wasn't expecting this physical contact from her end. This used to be normal for them, five years ago, but today it just felt ten times more entrancing. He did not mind this because it was a reassurance that both of them were heading back to a place as comfortable as this. He did want them to be as close as they had been for those six years before they went separate ways.
Manik and Nandini's friendship was of a kind that no words in any dictionary could explain. Individually, they had wonderful families and yet the feeling that they radiated towards each other was like coming home. They obviously did not value it when they could but these five years taught them well. They knew that if they get to revive their friendship again and manage to bring it to place where they had left it then they would cherish it this time.
"I let my pride get to me most of the times so, I never told you this but I missed you... a lot." Nandini was on a roll today. What had gotten inside her-Manik wondered. How was she being so open about her feelings with him, all of a sudden. Not that he had any complaints but it would have felt nicer had he gotten some kind of heads-up.
"You are freaking me out!" Manik said with a nervous chuckle. It reminded him of that night in his car before he left for Bangalore. Only, right now, he felt like their roles had been reversed. That night he was being all honest and upright with all seriousness and she did not know how to react. And, today, he felt exactly like that.
"I wanted to get it off my chest. You do not have to respond." Nandini didn't bother to lift her head from his shoulder as she said that to him. She did not know if she'll ever feel like saying it to him later so she said it in that instant without giving it any second thought.
"I missed you too, you know? I ju..." Manik trailed off as he felt her nod in understanding over his right shoulder.
"I get it..." Nandini said to him, reassuring him that she could still understand. It was unreal how familiar they felt with each other after the time they spent apart but Manik was glad that it was this way.
"You remember how I used to tell you that you made me feel comfortable in place that was so far away from home?" Nandini asked him.
"Yes, and I also remember how I told you that you do that for me when we came to Mumbai for college." Manik added his thought to her statement. Saying that out loud made him realize how he hadn't felt that way in a long time. His family still loved him just how much he loved them but he wasn't there. He visited them only once in a year and that was at the time of Diwali. Back in college, he never felt that way because he and Nandini celebrated every little occasion, together and she never let him feel lonely but ever since he had gone to Bangalore, all the occasions had become glum days of the year. Alya always went back to her mother's home for every occasion which Manik always supported but at the end of the day, loneliness caught up with him. He couldn't go to Dehradun even if he wanted to because of his work and he'd simply end up missing his family and having Nandini by his side.
"How did you sail through it in these five years?" Nandini questioned him. Manik pondered if she could read his mind but then brushed that thought away at how stupid it sounded.
"Honestly, I did not... I used to feel low, every time I remembered home or being here, with you... all. With time, I learnt how to block those thoughts out and most of the time I distracted myself with work." Manik replied, ardently. He did not understand the source of his transparency with her but since it felt so appeasing to just be this frank with her, he did not think of stopping himself. Nandini did not miss how he added that 'all' just to make it less specific and it gave her jittery happiness to learn that he particularly missed her the most.
"I did that too, you know?" Nandini whispered and if she wasn't so close to him then he was sure that he would have missed it. She probably wasn't sure if she wanted him to know this.
"What about your family or Randhir?" Manik asked her back. It genuinely amused him that she had to do that too because she was just 145 kilometres away from her family's home and the fact that she was in a committed relationship with one of her closest friends, left little to his curiosity.
"Randhir spent all the holidays with his family which I'm glad about. He offered to take me with him to his home but I just didn't feel like meeting his family. And about my family... I stopped visiting them frequently because of the whole career-switch thing, I was doing. They weren't exactly on-board with me quitting a perfectly-well-paying job and I do not blame them for feeling that way but it made things harder for me each time I had to go there. So, gradually, I reduced the number of my visits there. We are on much better terms now but I feel that this rift between us and I am unable to bridge it. It is not them and I know it. It's all on me but hopefully, someday, I'll be able to overcome this." She explained it all to him with that little expectant remark in the end. Manik put his hand on hers that was resting on her thighs and gave her hand a little rub. That little insignificant gesture worked like a charm because she did smile at him for that.
"I know that you'll get to a better place with your family. You always do!" Manik said hinting at how her situation improved with her sister, in the past. Nandini simply pressed her lips and nodded, hoping that he was right about this.
"How are Daivik and Dakshika? And, Uncle-aunty?" Nandini asked him after a short moment.
"All of them are great. Mom and Dad are looking forward to retirement so dad is hoping that either of the twins take over our family business since I am a lost cause. (Laughs lightly) But, they are very happy with running their studio so they've got themselves a situation." Manik updated her about his family's current affairs in a nutshell.
"None of the three of you have any sort of experience in Construction business, right? Then how can you guys take over Uncle and Auntie's legacy?" Nandini quizzed. Manik was a mechanical engineer by his academic training. Daivik is a cinematographer and Dakshika is a photographer. The twins had set up their own studio years ago which has been running successfully till date. None of these siblings' careers even brushed past what Shivraj and Nyonica had been doing so it was ought to give birth to problems like these.
"Exactly, my point too! Mom understands it but Dad is not ready to give it up in the hands of a foreign person. I can understand that but there is no other choice either. If I lived there, at least then I could have thought about it but I don't and I have my own thing to focus on so it is just a big mess there." Manik expressed.
"Something will come up, I'm sure. What interests me more, right now, is that I haven't even brushed yet. It is 10 am. Even though my shift does not start for another six hours, I still need to freshen up and head home because Jeanette will leave for her work by 10:30, today." Nandini said as she noticed the digital clock on the wall that read 9:58 am.
"Yeah, as much as fun this is, Sameer might be reaching here any minute now. He was supposed to be here by 10 but he is running a little late." Manik said with a disappointed look. It felt so damn good to be sitting by her and talk about literally anything and everything but work was important too and given their important meeting in two days, they had lots to do.
"Why not lead with that? God, I need to leave before your friend comes here." Nandini sprang up from her position and yelled at no one in particular.
"If you keep shouting like that, I'm afraid he must have heard you from his home." Manik chuckled, saying that.
"Ha-ha.... Is that supposed to be funny?" Nandini quizzed, sarcastically as she picked her phone to check for any missed calls or messages.
"Yeah, that is why I laughed." Manik said with a fake-sincere facial expression.
"Well, cut it out then!" Nandini ordered which while made him chortle more at her worked up body language. She dropped a message to Jeanette informing her that she'd reach home in ten minutes but not before rolling her eyes at Manik.
"Relax! So, what if he sees you here? You forgot your keys and I offered my couch for you to crash in. It's no big deal!" Manik uttered, nonchalantly.
"You are crazy if you think anyone will believe that." Nandini derided him, meanwhile sitting down to wear her socks and shoes.
"What else do you think will anyone else think?" Manik interrogated as he feigned not understanding what she meant when in reality he caught on quicker than ever.
"I honestly am not in the state to even comprehend what you just asked me. So, I'm gonna go now." Nandini said, scornfully. She pretended to not keep up with how he attempted to tease her because it seemed like the best way to avoid embarrassment.
"Wait, don't you wanna brush or freshen up?" Manik queried as he watched her wear the jacket, he had removed off her, the other night.
"I do not have the time for it. It's just a five-minute drive from here. I'll take a shower as soon as I reach home." Nandini replied. She walked to the door of his apartment and Manik followed her trail not before picking up her car keys from the keyholder below the Television.
"Here!" Manik handed out her the keys as soon as she stopped and turned to him.
"Thanks! I wanted to see the rest of your place but maybe, next time. Thanks, again, for letting me crash here!" Nandini thanked him twice in one breath at which he simply nodded in disapproval.
"I'm always happy to have you over, miss. So, don't you dare thank me for it." Manik said as he pulled her in for a short hug. She wrapped her hands around his torso, smilingly.
"Bye! I'll see you later!" Nandini said to his after tearing away from the hug. Manik grinned in response and muttered a "Bye!" before watching her vanish behind the elevator doors in his building.
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Rate the chapter between 1-10.
Few words for no filter Nandini.
Do you think Manik and Nandini have feelings for each other from before or is there hope for something new altogether?
Did you get to choose the career you wanted without your family's or any other kind of pressure?