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Nandini's outfit
"It'll take 15 days for me to design the machine with the specifications that you require." Nandini informed her client after contemplating her schedule. She already had worked on a similar design and thus she just had to make a few modifications which is why she asked for a fortnight to finish the work.
"That will be fine, Nandini. As long as you take responsibility of the efficiency... We're good here!" Her client responded with a formal smile.
"I can present the designs to you on the 16th of this month. Schedule a meeting with your engineers' team and let me know." Nandini spoke before shutting her laptop to put it inside her bag. She shook her hands with him and took her leave from the office to get to her shift at the restaurant.
It was less than a minute of her settling inside her car when she heard her phone go off displaying an incoming video call from Manik. She bit her lower lip to contain the stupid grin from breaking on her face before sliding up the answer button.
"Why did I have to leave that there and come here to attend a stupid wedding all by myself?" Manik cribbed while pointing a finger at her indicating that he had to leave her there, making Nandini laugh out loud. He could easily surprise her with his behaviour which was far from predictable for her even after years of knowing him. She loved that about them like right now as he was being too cute for her to handle.
"I didn't let you go willingly, remember? You wiggled out of a possible quickie to catch your stupid flight." Nandini complained with a smile as she recalled the morning after their first time which was the day before today. He had no time to call her after reaching his home given how his eager family had occupied his time so he just had to drop a text. He got some free time today because his siblings had a shoot and his parents had a few errands to run. His first instinct was to call Nandini which is exactly what he did.
"You're killing me, woman!" Manik exclaimed making her giggle. He could hear her laugh and see her smile like for eternity. It had been just one day since they were apart yet he couldn't wait to go back to her as soon as possible.
"Maaniiik!" Manik snapped out of his trance when he heard Nandini yell his name, making him realise that he was lost in her.
"Who's the Alice now?" Nandini smirked at him while asking him that, rhetorically.
"You might have rubbed off on me when you did, literally, that night." Manik mentioned that to tease her which instantly spread that red hue on her face.
"Shut up! How are everyone at home? And how are you feeling since it's been a while since you got to be at your home?" Nandini quizzed in an attempt to change the subject. Manik chose to play along and cut her some slack by answering her questions.
Nandini watched him in awe as he spoke about everything and everyone at home, animatedly. She realized that he missed this spark whenever he was away from his family. This added glee, suited him and she'd want him to always be like this. She felt like she'd trade anything in the world to be able to make him feel just the way his home and his family made him feel.
She was taken aback by her own thoughts and it's intensity because before now, she never knew that she had such strong feelings for him. She was aware of the attraction and the sexual tension between them but these kind of extreme feelings surfaced only after they spent that night together. She was both scared and excited to feel this way. It was all the more nerve-wrecking given the fact that this was Manik, her first ever love whom she lost even before she could tell him about her feelings. After a very long road of messed up feelings and friendships, they had reached this point and if this did not work out by any chance then they might lose each other's friendship as well.
"You stopped listening to what I was saying, long back, Alice, and now, you look worried. What's the matter? Tell me...." Manik's voice helped her step out of the reverie that Nandini was in, at that moment.
"I don't want to talk about it." Nandini mumbled. She did not want to spoil the mood he was in and she was also scared that he could take it in a bad way if she shared her thoughts out loud.
"The only way that this gets ruined is if we shut each other out. I cannot afford that so, I'm demanding that you have to tell me whatever is bothering you." Manik's tone might have been soft but his words were assertive for anyone to not oblige let alone a woman smitten by him.
"What if we don't work out and we end up losing our friendship as well?" Nandini put forth her doubt in a feeble voice.
"Nandini, I cannot promise you that we will work out one hundred percent because I don't know what is in store for us. And yes, I cannot be friends with you if this craps out because it would simply be too heartbreaking for me to see you move on. But it would be even more wrong to pull the plug on us before giving it a fair shot because I know for sure that we've got potential. I mean, come on, the sex was mind-blowing and you gotta back me up at that..." Manik paused at that point only to have her roll he eyes at him but with a small smile which was enough for him. They were indeed, unbelievably, good which wasn't how either of them expected it to be. In spite of all the sexual tension, both of them anticipated that it would be a little awkward to cross that line but they were proven wrong after the very first kiss that they shared.
"We should have had this conversation after the night, then and there. I'm sorry that we both got carried away with it..." Manik stressed on it further to get a reaction out of her which he did.
"I'm not sorry about being carried away...." Nandini surprised him, pleasantly with that comment but he was half-expecting her to do something like that because she wasn't the one to back down from challenges.
"Uh-huh... I like it! Back to the point... Honestly, I'm at a point where I can never go back to being just a friend to you. I'm worried too about the possibility that this ends badly but not enough to give it up without even trying. I have been in love with you in the past and I'm falling only harder for you, now again, so, I am sure that I wanna be with you and see where our future takes us. It's a little worrisome that you get scared off so easily even though I know how much of a fighter you are but I can embrace this side of yours as well. Can you, for this one time, push back these inhibitions a little and just try to give me a fair chance?" Manik ended his speech at a juncture where she'd decide the fate of their relationship.
"Yeah!" Nandini muttered with a small smile.
"Great but I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed. I make that huge-ass speech for you and all you've got is just a 'yeah'? Like, really?" Manik exclaimed, dramatically.
"You talk so much that it's enough for the both of us so I figured, why waste my energy or time?" Nandini shrugged after saying that leaving Manik agape with her indifference.
"Almost 4 billion women on this planet and yet I had to fall for you but since I am a good person, I'll make do with what I get." Manik acted like a huge victim while saying that and feigned a sigh at the end.
"You just come back, mister. I'll show you then how to make do with what you get." Nandini grit her teeth making Manik gulp an imaginary lump out of a little fear. It was uncanny, how she could scare him with just one look or one sentence. He, low-key, enjoyed the way she could be all authoritative when she wanted to be.
In that very moment he knew for sure that they would work out. It wasn't an epiphany but he had a hunch that they're going to be fine. He knew that they had a bunch of flaws within them but he was also sure that their relationship would be flawless. By that, he didn't mean a perfect relationship but something that would be enough for them to hold onto, for this lifetime.
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"Hey! Come on in..." Sameer greeted Nandini with a short hug and invited her into his home where he was now living with his girlfriend.
"She hasn't unpacked yet?" Nandini quizzed in surprise as she was welcomed by the sight of numerous unopened boxes in the living room.
"Nope! She has been busy at work and I am slammed as well." Sameer scratched the back of his neck as he answered her while referring to him having no time given Manik's absence. With Manik gone for even a small time, work was snowballing at Sameer.
Manik and Sameer had resumed the work on their start-up when Manik entered the final phase of his project. Sameer urged Manik to take this break after Manik's work ended at the other company and Sameer felt that it was necessary for him to blow off some steam given how he was working both of these jobs, simultaneously. It came at a certain price, though. Manik had promised to help with everything that he could manage online but since most of the work was on-ground, Sameer had to take the brunt of all the work by himself.
"Yeah, it must be difficult with Manik gone. Let me know if you need my help." Nandini offered.
"Cannot do that to you, missy. You're as it is working two jobs plus all this emo bullshit that my girlfriend sprung on you is too much. You really need to just relax." Sameer mentioned with a little guilt of being a part of what hurt Nandini. He took Nandini's bag from her to hang it up at the stand before leading their way out to the balcony.
"Make yourself comfortable. I'll get us coffees." Sameer showed Nandini, the coffee table in his balcony before making his way to the kitchen.
Nandini decided to drop a text to Manik, informing him about her whereabouts. They hadn't gotten to talk to each other for the past two days and she knew that today he had to attend the wedding so she did not wish to disturb him.
~I'm at Sam's place. Jeanette is working her night shift so he called me up to hangout.
Send plenty pictures of you in traditional to keep me going for a while😉
Will talk to you later😘💕~
Nandini sent the text and smiled to herself about how lovey-dovey their texts had gotten. She could never have imagined being this way with Manik but now that it was happening, she just loved the feeling. She thought that maybe she had outgrown love after all the back and forth with Randhir but she was proven wrong by the way Manik made her feel.
"What are you so smiley about?" Sameer's voice startled Nandini. She cleared her throat to think of some good reason to tell him.
"Uh... Nothing much... I was just reading a joke, this colleague sent me." Nandini tried to cover up with the lamest excuse that she knew that Sameer won't buy which he did not.
"Nah, I'm not buying it... You are dating someone, aren't you?" Sameer scrutinized his gaze while passing her a cup of coffee.
"Not dating per se.... We're just at the talking stage. We'll see where it goes." Nandini lied to him not because she wanted to keep it a secret but because Manik asked her to keep it under the wraps. It was like they had switched bodies where, for once, he was the one who did not want to tell people about them when things where actually happening. It was usually her, who hated telling anyone about them even when all that they were doing was hanging out.
'Such a liar! We so skipped every possible phase and hit the final stage!'- Nandini thought, internally.
"You tell me, how is it living with Jeanette?" Nandini changed the subject, quickly before Sameer could ask more about the guy she was seeing.
"It's good... Although, she keeps expecting me do so many things around here that I have never had to do for myself, all this while when I lived alone. We did get into a couple of fights because of it but it's gotten better now." Sameer told her vaguely about his living situation with Jeanette. He wanted to share so many things with her but he was not sure if he was allowed to do that given all the bad blood between the girls. He did not want to make it worse.
"It is going to be exhausting for you to talk to me this way. I can physically feel your desperation to tell me things. It is okay, Sam! She had to move out some day. Better sooner than later! Yeah, there's some tension but I'm sure it'll get better once we all hangout again." Nandini tried to ease up the atmosphere for them. She, genuinely, wanted for things to improve which wasn't possible if they all kept walking on eggshells. They have to start somewhere in getting things back to the way they were with a couple of changes, here and there.
"Which cannot happen if you don't come over when Jen is around. Admit it, you are the one who is avoiding her, Nandi. Can't you just suck it up and get over with it?" Sameer asked her.
"I have been avoiding her because she moved out to get away from me. How am I supposed to go to her when she hasn't even bothered to call for me, even once?" Nandini threw a question back at his question. She was sick and tired of people holding her responsible for everything. She knew that even Sameer felt that she was the one at wrong but she was done with feeling that way. If Jeanette had her reasons to walk out then even Nandini had reasons to not hold her back. If they, truly, understood her then they'd know that she was not the one to tie anyone down to herself. She believed in giving space and choosing to stay back over holding someone back, zealously.
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Rate the chapter between 1-10.
Do you think this physical distance between Manik and Nandini would affect their potential relationship?
Have you ever been in a long distance relationship and has it worked out for you?
Who do you think is more correct- Nandini or Sameer?