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"Don't put onions in four of the burgers. Abhi and Mukti are on some kind of fast till their wedding." Nandini instructed Manik when he began making the burgers for everyone while Nandini chopped vegetables for the coleslaw. In the past half hour, Manik and Nandini almost finished making dinner for everyone with no help from anyone else.
"You make a great sous chef. I'd recommend you." Nandini complimented Manik. He rolled his tongue inside his mouth in an attempt to hide the blush, creeping up on his face. It was in his nature to be helpful and helping Nandini came with the added bonus of them spending this time together so, it wasn't much of a problem to him.
"That is Saeesha right there so I'm guessing that you met your family." Manik slid past her compliment and mentioned that to Nandini.
"Yes, I did. Although, I did not get much time to be with them. Appa asked me to come over to their room after we're done here." Nandini said with a smile. She was a bit nervous to go there because she had decided to break it to her family about Randhir but the major part of her was just ecstatic to be back with her family.
"I still cannot believe that your fifty something parents are just dating." Manik commented to which Nandini passed a knowing look. Her parents' situation was not a regular one and she was used to people being amused at it when she told them about it.
"I know right! And the hypocrisy is what pesters me the most. They never think about marrying each other but they are hell-bent on getting me settled down with Randhir." Nandini added with a hysterical expression on her face but Manik was utterly surprised at that.
"You and Randhir were planning on getting married?" Manik questioned her with a surprised look on his face.
"God, no! I did tell you how my relationship was with Randhir, right? Do you really think there was any room for a marriage there? My parents wanted us to plan a wedding because according to them, Randhir and I were together for five years." Nandini enlightened Manik about how she never updated her parents about her situation with Randhir. Manik could understand that because no parents would want that kind of a relationship for their kids.
"Now, that they know you have broken up, what do they want for you?" Manik quizzed her but he did not need to hear an answer because the look on her face gave away that she hadn't yet told her parents about her break-up.
"I'll tell them tonight after that I might have an answer for you." Nandini muttered to him to which he just shook his head in disapproval. Nandini could do literally anything to avoid confrontations and that thing had not changed in years. Manik did not exactly relate to this habit of hers but he did not dismiss it either. This was her way of coping and he could not bring himself to discredit it ever even if he did not agree with it.
"Forget that. Where's Alya?" Nandini finally asked him what she wanted to ask him since the last half hour. She did not look him in the eye while asking that, sprucely, because she did not want him to witness the emotions in her eyes.
"Where did that come from all of a sudden? How would I know that?" Manik questioned her in response to Nandini's doubt.
"Dhruv mentioned something about you picking someone from the airport." Nandini added as she turned to look at him.
"So, you assumed it was Alya? God, you are dumb." Manik declared with a scoff.
"I am not dumb. She is the only one who isn't here amongst the people who were invited so I figured she was coming." Nandini said with a tone that clearly implied that she was offended.
"I wouldn't know even if she was coming because unlike some people, my break-up means an effective break-up. She has blocked me from her sns." Manik told her with a sarcastic grin.
"Way to give information while taking a solid dig at my life choices." Nandini chipped and narrowed her eyes at him.
"Yeah! I have been around you for three months now and you think, I won't tell you about something like that if it had happened?" Manik's rhetorical question amazed Nandini. So, all this while, he was being truly transparent with her while she was hiding so many things from her. She felt so guilty by this revelation that she considered telling him everything, right in that moment.
"Sorry! If it wasn't Alya then whom did you pick up from the airport?" Nandini brushed away her emotions and questioned him, curiously.
"My evil twins of brother and sister- Daivik and Dakshika. Mukti has seen their portfolio and she asked me if I could get them here to shoot the wedding. So, they are here for that and in fact, look there... They're shooting some candid shots right there." Manik pointed towards two people near the bon fire who were shooting the to-be-wedded-couple.
"God! I haven't seen them in two years. Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" Nandini exclaimed as she caught a look of the good-looking twins at an apt distance from the grill. The Malhotra blood came with eye-pleasing looks- Nandini had to admit.
"Daivik wanted to surprise you but since they had to work here, his plan did not work like he wanted." Manik informed.
"Aww! That is sweet." Nandini gushed to which Manik rolled his eyes.
Daivik Malhotra and Dakshika Malhotra were Manik's siblings and just two years younger to him. If Nandini didn't know better, then she might say that these three were triplets. That was how much they resembled each other. Manik had introduced Nandini to his siblings, way back when they were in the same school as Manik and Nandini's high school. Dakshika was a shy kid with very few friends. In fact, Manik and Daivik were her best friends. Daivik on the other hand was an extrovert who loved making friends. So, when he met Nandini, they clicked immediately and the fact that Nandini was just a year older than him made it easier. Daivik and Nandini had become very good friends during her twelfth grade. Manik's and Daivik's bond with Nandini pushed Dakshika to open up with her as well.
Even after Manik and Nandini lost touch with each other, Daivik and Dakshika continued to be in touch with Nandini. Two years ago, the twins had one such shoot in Gokarna after which they planned a short trip to visit Nandini in Mumbai. Nandini spent two whole days with the twins, showing them around the city and she even managed to keep it a secret from all of her friends including Randhir, Dhruv and Jeanette. But, Nandini was aware that Manik already knew about this trip so she did not try to hide it from his.
"You can finally introduce your sister to Daivik now." Manik mentioned making Nandini chuckle at the memory. Daivik wasn't just an extrovert, he was a big-time flirt too so when he had met Nandini he had asked her if she had a little sister because he was dazzled by Nandini's beauty. That comment had earned himself a nice smack from Manik given how he was in love with Nandini at that time. Nandini, unaware of this, at that time, chided Manik for hitting Daivik. She even promised Daivik that she'd introduce him to Saeesha whenever they'd get a chance.
"Dinner is ready! We should call everyone." Nandini suggested. Manik detested how his time with Nandini was over for now because it was so much fun and they hadn't got this time during the second lockdown in the city.
"Sure!" Manik muttered making Nandini smile. She knew how he felt and she could even relate to it. It was like when in school, how much kids hate it when the games period ended. She and Manik had managed to keep that element alive even after this gap of five years. She was afraid that the ease between them might have wilted but she was wrong. Maybe, somethings are just very hard to change.
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"How was dinner?" Avni quizzed while massaging Nandini's forehead as she lied down with her head on her mother's lap on the bed of Arjun and Avni's hotel room.
"It was amazing! Manik bhaiya's siblings have come to shoot the wedding. They are fun people." Saeesha answered before Nandini could but she did nod in acceptance. Saeesha and Arjun were seated across from each other, separated by a coffee table, near the bed. The father-daughter duo was in the middle of a chess game in which Nandini and Avni weren't interested, one bit.
"This feels so good, ma." Nandini raved in a relaxed tone making Avni smile. Avni missed doing things like this for Nandini because of how less often she visited them.
"Don't get too comfortable. After I win this match, it's my turn to get a massage." Saeesha chipped to which Nandini showed her tongue to tease her little sister.
"I'm not worried about you coming here because you aren't winning with Appa in this lifetime." Nandini pulled Saeesha's leg while giving Arjun a hi-fi.
"Why didn't you bring Jeanette with you? Poor kid might be feeling so lonely." Avni asked Nandini and then added that sympathetic statement. Avni and Arjun, undoubtedly, thought of Jeanette as a part of their family and were surprised to know that Nandini wasn't bringing her to the wedding.
"Yeah, why did she not come, Nandu?" Arjun backed Avni's question.
"Guys, what's with the interrogation? You know that if it were up to me then I would have invited her but this is Mukti and Abhi's wedding. With all these Covid-19 restrictions, they had a limited guest list and it was at capacity to invite friends of friends. What can I do?" Nandini shrugged after explaining them the reason behind not inviting Jeanette.
"Is she staying at her mother's place since you aren't going to be there for five days?" Arjun asked Nandini. Nandini had updated her parents about Jeanette's family situation so they all knew about how things went down there.
"Jen hates going there. The only reason, she even visits them once in a while is because of Shawn and Sareena. She probably will be spending time at her new boyfriend's place." Nandini reported what she guessed because she hadn't spoken to Jeanette since the time that she reached here.
"I adore the girl but gotta say, she changes boyfriends as if she is changing clothes." Avni remarked making Nandini frown at the sentence.
"Mumma! What happened to being a non-judgmental and a cool mom?" Saeesha was offended to hear that so she cross-questioned.
"Gogo is right. Mumma, don't judge my best friend." Nandini chided making Avni lift her hands up in the air as a sign of surrendering to her modern-age daughters.
"Is this guy better than the last one?" Arjun quizzed further as he recalled how terrible the previous guy was. They were visiting Nandini in Mumbai eight months ago when they met Jeanette's boyfriend at that time. His first impression on them was that he did not know how to respect another human being and he was just full of himself.
"To be fair, anyone would be better than that guy." Avni chipped in earning a glare from Nandini. Nandini refrained from saying anything because her mother was not wrong in making that inference. Jeanette's choices sucked when it came to choosing partners for herself. Nandini just hoped that this time it wasn't the same case.
"I honestly, do not know much about this guy but I'll tell you this- He is Manik's business partner and his close friend. I've met him like twice so it's too soon to say anything." Nandini spoke, earnestly. She did not like Sameer that much but it was only because of how he was being with Manik. She had no idea of how Sameer was as a boyfriend to Jeanette so, she chose to not comment on that as of now.
"Then there is a seventy percent chance that he might be a nice guy." Avni said, confidently. Avni admired Manik ever since she met him for the first time in St. Kalys, all those years ago. They have even celebrated a couple of festivals together, when he couldn't go back to Dehradun, his home. So, Avni and Saeesha enjoyed Manik's company while Arjun preferred to not have an opinion about him because he wasn't a fan of any of Nandini's guy friends owing to his overprotective nature. Randhir was the only guy, he even bothered to get familiar with because he was dating Arjun's precious little daughter.
"Yeah... Speaking of boyfriends, I have some news about me and Randhir." Nandini shut her eyes after saying that because she knew that it would captivate every person's attention in the room.
"You guys got engaged?" Avni asked with a hopeful yet cheery tone.
"NO!" Nandini yelped as she sat up straight.
"Actually, we broke up like nine months ago." Nandini dropped the hammer and waited for all of their reactions. She could not fathom what they were thinking from the look on each of their faces.
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Do you think Nandini will open up to Manik about Randhir?
Few words for Nandini's family.
How do you think will Nandini's family react to her break-up news?