~It has been a tough year for me and I do not wish to bore you with the details of why I went missing. Giving you my next chapter along with a promise to try and update my story once a week.
Thank-you to all the ones who've waited patiently. My DMs are full of beautiful messages and I'm more than grateful for all the love that you've showered on my works.~
Dedicated to dhatri22 _its_unicorn_ divya869 adorable_angel14 sayonara1503 ashuban navyajaya krishnagindodia SrishtiSharma9 darkangel142111 dreamcatcher_H a11usernamestaken ashusingh678
Special mention to the ones for leaving a bunch of beautiful inline comments in the chapter RajiniAdavelly __krinalP_ Mananpanihumesha Vihaana1ahir mightypanda300
Hugs🤗 and kisses😘 to the ones who voted as well.
----×----
-The second wave of Covid-19 has crossed the boundaries of severity and for which the state of Maharashtra was put under a strict lockdown of seven days for the second time, effective from the coming Monday 8am.- Nandini read the sub-headline of the article on Saturday night while she was waiting for Jeanette to pick her up from outside ROB since Jeanette had borrowed her car for the night. The people were given a day's time to make arrangements before the entire state would go into complete lockdown.
Nandini sighed looking at that article with the thought of wonderment about what all would happen this time. The last time when the entire nation was shut down, a lot of people had suffered with various issues of their own so why would this time be any different. This was a mandatory measure but it had its own consequences as well. Just when she was slipping into a trance, Jeanette pulled up in front of her.
"You watched the news?" Jeanette questioned Nandini as she settled on the passenger seat.
"I read it! Do we have enough supplies for this week or do we need to buy them?" Nandini asked after securing the seatbelt around her.
"I think we have enough stuff for a week. Just buy some onions and tomatoes." Jeanette said as they hit the road towards their home. Nandini was sure that Jeanette looked a little worried about something but she was trying to hide it. Jeanette was the kind of person who wouldn't share what was bothering her by herself. She always needed Nandini to push her into talking about her feelings and just like pieces of a puzzle even Nandini knew when something was off with her best friend.
"What is it, Jen?" Nandini asked Jeanette bluntly.
"What? Nothing!" Jeanette squeaked. Nandini rolled her eyes because she knew exactly how squeaky Jeanette's voice got when she was lying.
"Every single time? Aren't you tired of repeating this monotonous process? Just say it dude!" Nandini demanded in a bored tone.
"I did something stupid!" Jeanette uttered, lowly.
"Tell me something new. Stupid is your genre. What did you do, this time?" Nandini commented making Jeanette scowl but she knew that Nandini had a valid point.
"Remember two weeks ago when I went to that party which you ditched me for that work thing?" Jeanette asked to check. How could Nandini forget that? Jeanette had managed to piss another close friend of hers for which they got into a fight but after that night, in the morning, both of the girls pretended like nothing had happened and ever so smoothly fell into their usual pattern.
"Yep!" Nandini plain reply indicated that she was reminded of how pissed she was at Jeanette for her stunt. Boy, if she was still mad at that then what would she say when she finds out what more happened that night- Jeanette gulped.
"So... I hooked-up with someone at the club!" Jeanette confessed with an embarrassed look but Nandini did not understand what was she embarrassed about. This wasn't new! Whenever Jeanette was in-between relationships, she hooked-up with people and it wasn't something that Nandini did not approve. Nandini understood that Jeanette was a grown-up woman who might have needs and if it were two consenting adults then there was nothing to judge or question.
"Is that a new thing?" Nandini asked.
"No but you might wanna know who did I hook-up with...." Jeanette trailed off.
"This suspense that you're building, sucks, alright!" Nandini exasperated.
"It was your friend Mani...." Jeanette couldn't even finish that sentence because Nandini yelled out in shock "What? Manik and you hooked up?" Nandini's heart was beating at such an increased pace that she felt it could pop out of her body.
"Nooo! Geez, woman! Let me finish!" Jeanette exclaimed as she pulled up in the parking lot of their building. Nandini sighed, inaudibly, in relief for which Jeanette passed her a weird look.
"Say!" Nandini breathed.
"It was your friend Manik's friend- Sameer!" Jeanette revealed the name of the person which left Nandini dumbfounded again. She was glad that it wasn't Manik but this wasn't any better either. Sameer was not a random friend of Manik. He was Manik's business partner and also the only closest friend of his for quite some time, now.
"Seriously? Sameer Virani- Manik's friend-cum-business-partner?" Nandini asked again.
"Yeah, and I know it was stupid. We bumped into each other at the bar and we were too drunk to realize what we were doing and it just happened." Jeanette said and from the look on her face, Nandini could say that she was feigning this guilt. Nandini knew her best friend to be fooled by this act of hers. Nandini just nodded in disappointment and got out of the car. She did not wait for Jeanette and walked into their building by herself.
------
"It looks like she's still mad at me so I haven't talked to her yet." Nandini heard Jeanette saying that to someone over her phone.
Nandini hadn't bothered to say anything to Jeanette after their interaction in the car. She directly crashed on her bed and she was working on her laptop, since 6 am, this morning, in her room itself. When she felt like she was hungry around 11 am, she walked out of her room to witness, Jeanette sitting on one of the dining chairs with her back facing Nandini's bedroom door.
"How would I know if she has said anything to Manik? If I find out then I'll tell you." Jeanette said further. Now, this was something Nandini wished that she didn't hear because it gave away whom was Jeanette talking to and about whom were they discussing.
Nandini cleared her throat to make Jeanette aware of her presence which worked instantly. "I'll call you back later." Jeanette said that hurriedly and hung up her phone to turn and see Nandini enter their kitchen.
"Good morning?" Jeanette's tone was like she was asking Nandini. Nandini shook her head which Jeanette saw through the window between their kitchen and dining space.
"You don't sound very sure." Nandini commented as she filled a bowl with milk and threw in the cereals from the box.
"You still mad at me?" Jeanette asked Nandini. She watched Nandini grab a spoon from the stand and head towards the dining table. Nandini settled on a chair across from Jeanette and began eating her breakfast.
"When did I say I was mad at you?" Nandini shrugged while asking that back to Jeanette.
"You literally stormed out of the car last night and you haven't spoken a word to me since." Jeanette reminded Nandini of what happened.
"You know I hate it when you fake something in front of me. I did not want to fight with you so I walked away from the situation." Nandini answered, sincerely, but she could sense how Jeanette was offended by her words.
"What exactly did I fake?" Jeanette asked, squeakily.
"Do you really feel sorry about what happened or were you saying it just because you felt it might be something that I'd like to hear?" Nandini asked and did not let their conversation get in the way of her eating.
"I... I'm not proud that it happened but yes, I do not regret it." Jeanette said. There was no fooling her best friend so she did not know why did she even try.
"So why act like you care what position this might put me in?" Nandini rolled her eyes after saying that.
"That I do care about, okay!" Jeanette exclaimed.
"Really? What is it that I'm worried about? Tell me..." Nandini asked her in a challenging tone.
"I... I don't know, actually. I honestly, do not understand why is this so weird for you." Jeanette sighed.
"Look, it is okay. I am not weirded out by this." Nandini decided to not pester Jeanette with her inhibitions. It wasn't like she could control anything, anyway so why not stop worrying about it as well.
"In that case, I should probably tell you that Sameer and I are seeing each other." Jeanette announced with a smile. Nandini could say that her best friend was actually very much into this guy.
"You really like him, huh?" Nandini quizzed.
"I do! And Sam hasn't told Manik about this yet and he wanted you to not say anything to him as well." Jeanette said. Nandini found that to be an unreasonable request and she was sure that she wouldn't make any promises either as she did not feel like she was obliged to agree with this guy but she wasn't going to tell that to Jeanette now.
"I'm happy for you! But what I really wanna say is that give me a list of whatever we don't have in the house. I am going to the supermarket to pick some stuff. We don't know, how long this lockdown might last." Nandini changed the subject ever so smoothly and it seemed like it had worked because Jeanette nodded at her and began making a list on her phone.
------
"Dhruv, do you really want to go back to your parents' place, though?" Nandini asked Dhruv as she talked to him over the phone call. She was in the supermarket, picking up stuff for their house and she was wearing her air pods just so her hands would be free and she could still talk over the phone.
"What other choice do I have? I was barely running six batches every week after the first lockdown and now I'm sure that this second time is going to screw with my savings. The only way that I can save my money is if I move back with my parents to Indore. This isn't permanent and I plan on coming back the exact day when they lift up this lockdown." Dhruv vented. Nandini felt bad for her friend because she knew how much he hated doing this. Dhruv's family gave him a hard time when he decided to switch careers and they never really supported him wholly so to move in with him is like openly walking into a cult who'd force him to take his old job back.
"I wish, I could help you in some way." Nandini said, putting two boxes of cereal in her shopping trolley.
"It's okay, really! I just hope that this time it wouldn't last as long as the previous time. I don't want to be away from here for that long." Nandini heard Dhruv sigh after saying that.
"Let's hope for the best! Try thinking of it this way... At least, you have this option where you have your family's support when so many people had no place to go, the last time." Nandini suggested.
"Yeah, I am grateful." Dhruv admitted, half-heartedly. Nandini knew him too well to be fooled by that line but she didn't say anything because she had nothing to offer him for a consolation.
"When is your flight scheduled?" Nandini asked him.
"In three hours." Dhruv answered.
"I'm going to miss you!" Nandini said with a sad smile.
"Me too!" Dhruv said from the other end.
"Call me when you land. Have a safe journey!" Nandini wished him and Dhruv could almost sense surprise in her tone but since it felt very out of context, he shrugged it away.
"Sure! Bye!" Dhruv said before hanging up.
Nandini pushed her cart closer to the source of her astonishment. She tapped the person's shoulder to only startle him.
"Hey!" Manik greeted her with a smile as he realized who was calling him.
"Stocking up supplies? Or should I say- junk food?" Nandini did not want to come off as hypercritical but she couldn't help herself after seeing the contents of Manik's shopping trolley. Manik passed her a sheepish look and scratched his neck in embarrassment.
"You didn't learn cooking in your five years away from home?" Nandini quizzed, feeling genuinely amused at his state.
"I had a cook in Bangalore and I've been eating out ever since I've come here so...." Manik trailed off. He dumped half a dozen packets of stuffed Oreos making Nandini frown at him.
"Are you telling me that you've been eating restaurant food for the past three months?" Nandini had to check what she was hearing. Manik nodded as he glanced at both of their trolleys which had very contrasting things in them. Nandini's trolley looked like she was shopping for a home while his trolley looked like he was picking stuff up for a party that served just unhealthy snacks and no good food.
"Unbelievable!" Nandini muttered while the two of them pushed their respective trolleys in the direction of the bill counter.
Once they reached the counter, Nandini asked Manik to look out for both of their things while she'd pick a couple of more stuff. He agreed readily watched her walk away.
Nandini appeared in front of him after five minutes but she left him astonished by what she did next. She placed the whole lot of things into his trolley. "These are very basic things which you can cook for yourself. I'll tell you how to do them." Nandini showed no signs of leaving any room for argument. Manik knew that she couldn't refuse even if he wanted to do it. He shook his head at her bossy exterior to the concerned soul inside of her.
Her actions made him wonder, why did nothing like this happen with Alya and him during the five years that they were together. Neither did he ever bother about Alya's eating habits nor did she ever try to take interest in what he was eating. One would think that couples who have been together for so long, start acting like married couples but Manik and Alya never got there in so long. Whereas, this small moment with Nandini gave him an impression that this was how he'd want his partner to be like with him. He wanted to be with someone who took an interest in these minutest of things while still leaving him to do his thing on his own. This obviously did not mean that he wanted Nandini to be that person but someone similar to her wouldn't be so bad to be with.
'Shut up, Manik'- He said to himself, internally. He was well aware of where these thoughts were headed and he had promised himself to not go down there. Why did this seem like such a hard thing to do? It was easy, wasn't it? He needed to stay JUST friends with his former best friend. Why did it seem like such a strenuous task- he could not understand?
----×----
Rate the chapter between 1-10.
How many of y'all see it coming before- Jeannette and Sameer?
Did the pandemic affect you like it's affecting Dhruv, here? It was a hard time for everyone and it was even more difficult to see people lose out on things that they had spent years together building for themselves.
I've been gone for a long time and it's understandable if you feel disconnected to the story.
Let me know if you want me to discontinue this story and work on something totally new(which I'm not sure if I'll be able to).