Recap : Manik's father comes over, and tells him how he is gonna ruin Nandini next. Nandini also comes over to talk but they both have a fight and he forces her out. Nandini meets Simran who gives her some important information, meanwhile Manik has a terrible Nightmare about his mother again. When he wakes up, his doorbell rings again.
"If you remember me, then I don't care if everyone else forgets." - Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
"Fuck my life", Manik grumbled rather loudly, pushing the diary and pen away with such a force that the poor things fell off his study table and kissed the ground immediately, along with a few more companions.
The door bell rang again, clearly giving away the visitor's impatience.
Chugging down another rather large gulp of his precious red wine straight from the bottle, Manik cursed again, limping out of the study. For a split moment, he considered letting the door bell ring and not pay heed. Whoever it was would go away eventually if he didn't open the door. Either way people these days had patience thinner than a sewing thread, and given how exhausting the day already had been for him, it was definitely an engaging thought, but when the door bell rang again, and this time along came a loud thud, he limped through his drawing room, stopping only to keep the bottle of wine on the coffee table and opened it.
A huge box - a cake box to be precise - was thrusted into his hand and a familiar ball of red rushed passed him inside, and he couldn't decide if it was a surprise or shock.
"What the hell are you doing here? ", he snarled in a low voice, gritting his teeth but Nandini Murthy was busy inspecting the bottle of wine instead, looking non chalant.
"Just 3/4th?", she turned at his question, "Shouldn't you be like three or four bottles down?"
Manik frowned, getting angrier. He was in no mood to entertain anyone, especially her and given his temper right now, he wasn't sure how long would he last before actually throwing the petite woman out.
"Nandini", he called her name with extreme annoyance, "what do you want? And what the fuck is this?", he asked pointing to the cake.
"That's cake, duh", Nandini answered, rolling her eyes, "Atleast close the door. The breeze is cold outside. And wait-", she paused to give him a sickly sweet smile, a tease dancing in her doe eyes, "Didn't you say I was just Dr. Murthy few hours before? Change of heart in a jiffy?"
Manik gritted his teeth, letting her know how acutely annoyed he felt. She was behaving like they didn't just have a nasty argument a while ago while he was too aware of that conversation - it hadn't let him breathe in peace for one moment since she left. And whatever semblance he had left, the horrifying nightmare that followed had stripped him off it.
"You seriously need to get yourself treated", Manik commented rudely, closing the door behind him and walking inside to put the cake box down, "I already have a diagnosis - News flash - Short term memory loss".
Nandini giggled.
She actually giggled and then burst out laughing, trying her best to stop by clasping her mouth with her hands but the attempts fell short and Manik's living room was filled with the rich, vibrant sound of Nandini's laughter.
Manik watched her, dazed. He could actually feel the anger, the annoyance leaving his body. It was almost if he was transported back in time - as if the past two years were erased and he was standing in the auditorium of Nandini's college, for the conference and watching her laugh with her friends while trying to steal glances of him.
Involuntary, but a small smile formed on his lips as well.
He didn't realize when Nandini had stopped laughing and covered the distance between them. He only snapped out of it when he felt her hot breaths on his face - she was standing that close to him. Standing on her tipy toes Nandini gave him another vibrant smile and leaned forward, aware of how his pupils immediately dilated - either out of surprise or anticipation. For that split second, she genuinely couldn't believe this was the Manik Malhotra she had been working with for the past few months. He seemed like the Manik she had first met two years ago.
Letting her lips graze his ear softly, she took a sharp breath in, and he slightly gasped as well, but before he could react Nandini forwarded her hand and picked up the cake box from the coffee table and before he knew she had sprinted to his kitchen - letting him get back to reality.
Manik blinked as the knot tightening in his stomach eased. He inhaled sharply, suddenly coming to terms with his surroundings - it felt like the last five minutes was nothing but a dream.
A fantasy probably.
But the sounds of utensils coming from his kitchen was proof enough of how real the moment was. Despite all the bitter rage he had felt through the day, he knew he had felt better in the past fifteen minutes then he had all day.
The part of him that was a sucker for intense poetry chuckled inside him.
Talk about being the cause and the remedy together - Nandini Murthy was easily proving to be Manik Malhotra's poison and his elixir.
Feeling more relaxed and quite in control, Manik limped his way through to the door of the kitchen and leaned on the door, crossing his arms.
"What are you doing?", he questioned, and Nandini turned to face him, catching the lightness of his voice and grinned sheepishly.
"Serving us cake to help the hunger until -", she passed, playing with the spoon in her hand and looked up at him.
"Until?", Manik asked, raising a brow.
"Umm, until you could fix us some dinner?", Nandini laughed, taking the spoon to dig in her cake.
It felt good to spend some moments of normalcy - pretending as if the afternoon didn't happen, or the upcoming night would pause.
Manik caught on to the pretense pretty soon but he decided to play along. Either way their lives have been a crazy game since forever and if there was anything he craved too bad, it was definitely normalcy.
He chuckled, the little crinkle around his eyes deepening, for the first time in the day, "Would Sandwichs do?".
Nandini nodded, happily enjoying her cake and climbed up the counter a little away, sitting with her legs dangling, the plate of cake in her hand. Manik gave her an amused glance before setting to work.
It was while he was chopping the vegetables for the filling when Nandini cleared her throat.
"You remember the day we first met?", she asked, without looking at him.
"Duh, you know I do, Ms. Mirror", Manik answered, busy with work - whipping the mayonnaise and the vegetables together.
Nandini watched him spread the filling on the bread slices and carefully placing the cheese slice over it before covering it with another bread slice.
"Did you ever think about me in the past two years, before I met you again here?", she asked again, this time looking at him and holding his gaze when he pushed and turned to look at her.
Exhaling, he went back to grilling the sandwiches and didn't gave her any answer. When the first batch was done, he placed them properly into a serving plate and started doing the next ones. Then he finally picked up the plate of cake Nandini had served for him and sighed again.
"When you know I can more or less always read you, why do you try?", Manik asked back, taking a bite of his cake.
"Because in my mind, I keep hoping everything that's happening is a lie. A nightmare I am living and I will wake up and it will all be over", Nandini answered, her voice almost a whisper as she climbed down the counter, walking towards the sink and putting her used place into the dish washer.
Before she could leave the kitchen, a familiar tug at her wrist pulled her back and she stumbled but taut pair of arms held her in place, his hands holding the small of her waist almost protectively.
"AIIMS has a reputation nationally - the only thing that can't be compromised at the cost of any dirty politics, or blood money. So even if there is a particular shadow lingering on the recruitments, anybody less then brilliant and not deserving can't be recruited", Manik spoke, each word measured.
Nandini listened to him in a stunned silence, her eyes fixed on his face, feeling the genuineness of his words.
The question she had asked was not what she actually wanted to ask but the answer he gave her was more than what she was seeking from him. He had understood what she didn't put in words, not even close. He had caught what was hurting her the most, and soothed it without trying.
Their hearts had a way of communicating their minds hadn't formed yet.
Manik's arms around her waist tightened and Nandini didn't fight, leaning forwards to stand on her toes. Why was this man so tall again?
Her hands found their way to hold on to the kitchen counter as she tried to balance herself and ignoring the amusement in his eyes, she dropped a chaste kiss on his forehead, letting her lips stay there for a second more than necessary, before resting her forehead against his.
"I don't know if I am right of wrong, probably a complete stupid, but moments like these compel me to believe not everything between us is a lie", she murmured, closing her eyes, missing the way his eyes had turned glassy.
He jerked her forwards, and she flinched, her hands clutching the back of his shirt in her fists because of the sudden scare, but the move somehow had her pressed against him, and thus time when her eyes met, she could see a hundred emotions swirling in the depth of his eyes.
Manik continued to stare at her too longingly, his breaths framing her face. He looked for signs of her being uncomfortable with proximity, but she didn't show any. It ended as acting as the last nail in the coffin and Manik leaned in, whispering against her mouth, "It's not. It's absolutely not", and before Nandini could react, he had taken her for a swift kiss already.
He felt her smile against his lips and it made him deepen the kiss - the way Nandini's right hand found its way from his shirt to his hair, she fisted them and tugged, and Manik bit her lip, taking easy access as they kissed the living daylights out of each other.
In the drawing room, inside her purse, Nandini's phone vibrated for the fourth time in the last five minutes but couldn't reach across the room and stayed unattended - hiding with it a brewing storm.
-------
Kartik gave Simran a glass of water and watched her gulp the entire glass down, before sitting by her and pulling her to his chest.
"Are you sure this is the right thing to do? ", he asked a while later and though Simran read the undertone of fear in her husband's voice, she didn't comment.
"I don't know if it's right or wrong Kartik, but I desperately need a way out. We don't have much time", she looked up, her eyes welling up and Kartik nodded, both of them recollecting the horror their life had been the last year.
"I still think we should talk to Manik directly, I don't know if this Nandini girl would be of real help", Kartik spoke, rubbing the nape of his neck as he leaned back on the couch and sighed, "Plus I am scared about her safety Simi. What if she is hurt?"
"I don't give a damn", Simran voice went cold as she answered, "I honestly don't give a fucking damn to if she is gonna survive unscathed or take a bullet. All I know is Manik is the only key to take us out of this mess and she is the only person who can reach out to the part of him he has locked up", Simran pressed her temple, "Either way I have plan B ready".
Kartik turned to look at her, asking her through his eyes if she was serious.
"I am. I can't let this repeat Kartik", Two fat tears rolled down her eyes, "I won't survive the loss again. And we hardly have a month of two. If Nandini isn't able to get into Manik's head, we are leaving this damn place and vanishing. I don't care what happens, how we will start our lives again. All I know is we need to be alive and safe and we have to do this before anyone can know about us. I am not letting the news out this time. I will fight at any cost", Simran cried out as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, and Kartik, despite his own tears, pulled her to him, kissing her head.
For the second time in his life he earnestly prayed because Nandini Murthy's success was the only thing that could keep his family from drowning and the water was rising - yet again.