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"Tell me again, why you aren't coming with me to this party, again?" Jeanette asked Nandini as she stomped her way to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. Nandini could say that her best friend was pissed at her for ditching her. Nandini had promised to tag along with Jeanette for this party in a club that she had rescheduled just for Nandini. Jeanette wanted her to come so she had planned it on Nandini's off day but Nandini blew her off in the last possible moment.
"I'm sorry, okay? I completely forgot about our plan and I promised Manik to help with a work thing. It is important for him so I couldn't back out." Nandini justified herself. Nandini was dusting everything in their living room because this was the only time, she could do this, during her weekly off. Jeanette never bothered to clean her own closet so the rest of the house was far out of question. Nandini hated to nag someone for anything. She'd rather do the work by herself so she did all the cleaning work of their apartment, except for Jeanette's room, on every Sunday.
"Okay! I gotta ask, how close are you and Manik? And why haven't you ever told me about this guy?" Jeanette interrogated. She slumped down on one of their beanbags while Nandini continued her chores. This question was running in Jeanette's mind ever since that night of the dinner. She understood that Manik was closer to Nandini than she had told Jeanette so it made her wonder.
"There's not much to tell, I guess. We were pretty close, years ago, but we haven't spoken to each other in five years until that night he bumped into me at my old restaurant." Nandini lied through her teeth and she could not understand why was she lying to her own best friend. Back then, Manik was her best friend and she never felt guilty for not telling him about this for obvious reasons but now Jeanette was her best friend and they were tight with each other, at least enough for Nandini to trust Jeanette and tell her about it.
"If you can blow your best friend for someone else then that person is obviously special to you so don't lie to me, Nandu." Jeanette said, and to Nandini it almost felt like her tone was edging into arrogance.
"You are reading too much into it, Jen. I am not blowing you over someone. I am prioritizing a work-related help over a party, that is it." Nandini replied and placed the vacuum cleaner inside the cabinet below their television. Jeanette rolled her eyes and got up on her feet to go inside her bedroom again without bothering to say anything to Nandini.
Nandini sighed at the sight of Jeanette's closed door because she genuinely felt bad about lying to her. But, Nandini found it physically impossible to get herself to open up to Jeanette about this. She brushed away the conflicting emotions rising inside her and decided to finish what she had started.
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"Nandini is getting dressed. Feel free to sit anywhere. She'll be out soon." Jeanette said to Manik's face after opening the door for him. He was right on time so he felt a little lost. Nandini had assured him that Jeanette will be gone by the time he will show up. Maybe, she'll leave soon- Manik guessed as Jeanette did look all ready to leave for a party.
"Thanks!" Manik mumbled out to her and took a seat on their couch. He noticed from his peripheral vision that Jeanette huffed in frustration. She got seated on one of the chairs of their dining table. Manik concluded that she was waiting for Nandini to come out as well.
Manik and Jeanette kept scrolling through their phone until they heard the click of Nandini's door indicating that she was coming out. When she stepped out of her room, Manik was blown away. Nandini looked like an Indian angel, walking right out of heaven with that beautiful Indian dress, her shining pair of earrings, and her straightened hairs that looked like a cascade running till her mid-waist. Manik had to forcefully bring himself out of her trance because he watched her talk to Jeanette but he wasn't listening to her.
"I thought you'd join me at least after your work. What's this?" Jeanette asked Nandini in confusion.
"Mukti is keeping some kind of fast for Abhimanyu and because I'm her only sister-in-law here, I have to do a couple of things. Orders from High court!" Nandini said with a pout.
"Is this how it's going to be from now on? You putting your old friends, cousins and family above our friendship?" Jeanette quizzed and that instantly etched a frown on Nandini's face much to Manik's displeasure. According to him, only a smile could go with the way she looked right now.
"Jen, come on. He's right here..." Nandini muttered to Jeanette in a low voice so that only she could hear it.
"I do not care!" Jeanette pressed.
"Don't be ridiculous, Jen. Both of these things are what I really want to do, today. You can survive one party, if I don't accompany you this one time." Nandini said in a low voice again but this time Manik could hear that. Jeanette looked in Manik's direction and caught on quickly that he had heard Nandini. Jeanette felt a little humiliated, not because Nandini said what she said but more because there was a third person hearing Nandini scold her.
"Whatever! Take your god damned keys wherever you go." Jeanette gritted her teeth and stomped back into her room to get her clutch before leaving.
"I..." Nandini walked closer to the seating area of their living room and settled herself beside Manik.
"It's okay! You don't have to explain anything to me." Manik said to her in a hushed voice. She smiled, gratefully.
"By the way, you left this at my place that night." Manik said to her while handing her the neckpiece. He must have removed it from her neck that night just so she sleeps comfortably.
"Thanks!" Nandini mumbled to him and took the neckpiece out of his grip.
They did not notice Jeanette walking past them who passed Nandini a weird look. She hadn't heard anything so their encounter felt odd to Jeanette, without any prior context.
"Bye, Nandini! Bye, Manik!" Jeanette yelled from the doorstep after wearing her heels. Manik and Nandini uttered a collective "Bye!" before she shut the door behind her and left for her party.
"Just a little heads-up, I told Jen that I crashed at Mukti's place that night." Nandini informed him and pulled her legs up on the couch to sit in Indian style.
"Ha.... Do you always lie to your best friends?" Manik asked her, curiously.
"If you mean that have I ever lied to you then no, I haven't. I don't lie to Jeanette as well but ever since my break-up with Randhir, she has been literally pushing onto every guy I mention to her. I don't want her to get wrong ideas about us so I lied to her about this." Nandini said with a scowl.
"Boy, gotta say! I feel like this hormonal teenager with all this sneaking around and lying to people about spending time with you." Manik remarked with a chuckle. Nandini shook her head in disapproval but deep down even she knew that Manik was correct in feeling like that. Why was she lying to everyone about this? - she had no idea.
"Also, I don't think I lik..." Nandini cut Manik off as she anticipated what he was about to say. "Please, don't! You cannot not like Jen. It will put me in a very weird position. It is already hard enough to deal with Dhruv and Jen not liking each other. Not you too!" Nandini whined. Manik couldn't help but laugh at that because she looked very funny with her nose all scrunched-up.
"Fine! I'll give it another shot. Happy?" Manik caved.
"Very!" Nandini responded, gleefully.
"We can do this some other time if you have to be somewhere now." Manik said after a moment while indicating her get-up for the evening.
"Don't be silly! I have to be at Abhi's place by 10pm. And I have to pick a couple of things for which I'll have to leave by 9 so we have like two hours to finish this." Nandini enunciated her schedule for the rest of her night. Manik passed her a smile of gratitude and in no time the two of them dived deep into the work for which they had decided to meet.
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"Did you come here with Manik?" Mukti asked Nandini as the two of them settled on the swing in Mukti's balcony.
Abhimanyu had to attend an important call, post dinner, for their firm so he stayed back in the living room while Nandini and Mukti decided to catch up alongside a cup of ice-cream, in their balcony.
"No, why do you ask?" Nandini questioned her back after denying. She had given Manik lift to Sameer's place before coming to Mukti's place but then how could she possibly find out about that?
"I saw Manik's story from the coffee house near your building." Mukti answered Nandini, crisply. Nandini did not fail to miss the smirk on her face which she couldn't hate more than she already was hating.
"He lives around there too so he could have gone there with someone else or by himself." Nandini said.
"Well, then maybe the person he went with was wearing the same outfit as yours too, right?" Mukti teased as she unlocked her phone to show Nandini the faint yet noticeable background of Manik's post which had her dupatta in it.
'Dumbhead, what was the need to post?'- Nandini cursed Manik, internally.
"Fine! I met with Manik for a cup of coffee before coming here. Big deal?" Nandini shrugged, nonchalantly.
"It isn't a big deal but you trying to cover it up kind of says a different story." Mukti said with that same teasing glint in her eyes again.
"I don't know why was I doing that. It was just work. I am helping him with a work thing of his. Nothing else...." Nandini muttered.
"So, I'm guessing, your crush on him is all gone now?" Mukti asked, genuinely. Nandini was shocked to hear that would be an understatement. How could Mukti possibly know about her feelings for Manik? Nandini hadn't told anyone about that till this date then how did Mukti find out?
"What crush? Me crushing over Manik? Hahaha.... It's the most ridiculous thing I've heard in a long time." Nandini acted like Mukti had lost her mind when in real she felt like she could be losing her own mind.
"You can ridicule me like everyone else, all you want but I know a connection when I see one. Back in college, I told Abhi that you and Manik have this connection and you'd make a great pair but he simply dismissed my opinion because Randhir and Alya happened in both of your lives. And, now, that day when I saw you guys again, I feel like that attraction has only intensified with time." Mukti stated, firmly. Mukti always felt that Manik and Nandini had potential to be more than just best friends. Nandini was surprised at Mukti's inference from both, in college and now. No one including Alya knew about Manik confessing his feelings to Nandini so if someone could notice that little spark without knowing this piece of information, it meant that this person had a keen sense of judgement.
"Loo...." Nandini swallowed her words as she watched Abhimanyu make his way into the balcony.
"This isn't over!" Mukti whispered to Nandini as she stood up to give Abhimanyu her place on the swing. He took that seat almost immediately and waited for Mukti to settle on his lap which she did just like he expected her to do.
"What were you two talking about?" Abhimanyu questioned the girls.
"Nandini was telling me about her recent promotion." Mukti said and Nandini mouthed a 'thanks' to her for covering this up.
"Yeah, it's harder than I thought. A couple of days into working and there are already so many problems that I have to take responsibility for, even if I don't have a hand in any of it." Nandini exhaled while saying that. She was obviously referring to the fiasco at the restaurant from last week because of which the sales at this branch of ROB had taken a hit.
"Higher the position, higher the risk that comes with it. You'll get the hang of it soon." Abhimanyu said, reassuringly.
"I hope so! Anyway, you tell me how was the family dinner at my folks' place?" Nandini asked them about the dinner that she had missed from the recent weekend.
"It was nice. They were kind of expecting our news so they took it well. In fact, they were pretty excited about the wedding. It's like the first one in the family of whatever that's left of it." Abhimanyu said with a sad smile. Half of Avni's (Nandini's mother) family abandoned her when they found out that she had gotten pregnant, out of wedlock, and also because she refused to get married as well. Tejaswini (Abhimanyu's mother) did not reconnect with the Murthys until after she lost her husband for which their family cut their ties with her as well.
"I am happy for both of you. When is the big day?" Nandini asked, curiously because she was sure that they had fixed the dates when their family sat down together over this weekend.
"Okay! I'll tell you but you have to keep it a secret. No telling Manik, Dhruv or even your roommate. Can you promise me that?" Mukti questioned Nandini.
"Fine! Promise, I won't tell anyone." Nandini swore.
"We are getting married on 2nd September, this year!" Mukti said with a huge grin. She was pretty excited to tie the knot with her boyfriend who has been with her since college.
"You guys! Congratulations! That's like just one month away." Nandini gushed as she sat straight up out of excitement.
"Thanks! My parents just found out that my sister-in-law is four-months-pregnant so it was either now or after a year from now. We do not wanna wait for a year so we're doing it now." Mukti let Nandini know about the reason behind them rushing this up.
The rest of the night rolled away quickly as they discussed the wedding preparations of the betrothed couple. Nandini left around 12 am and by the time she reached home, Jeanette had already reached and had passed out on the couch. She reeked of alcohol so Nandini understood that she must have been pretty hammered when she got in. Nandini removed Jeanette's shoes and pulled her up to a comfortable sleeping position on the couch. She secured Jeanette's hairs into a ponytail and even covered her up with a cosy comforter before calling it a night for herself.
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Rate the chapter between 1-10.
Do you think Nandini is avoiding Jeanette for Manik?
Would Manik and Jeanette get along or would this be another case like Dhruv?
No one but Mukti knew about Nandini side of feelings. Do you think she's correct to suspect Manik and Nandini now, after 5 years?