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Midnight rolled out when Manik and Nandini's cab stopped in front of her building gate. The cab ride was silent because both of them decided to stretch the moment of peace as much as possible. The fight was inevitable but for the time being, enjoying each other's embrace in silence after eight whole days felt more fulfilling. But that was it. The minute they step outside this cab, their moment of peace was going to end and they knew it. Nandini stepped out, mutely while Manik paid the cab driver. He asked the driver to keep the change and rushed to walk beside her, afraid she'd fall any minute.
As soon as they entered the elevator, Nandini's phone rang. She pulled her phone out to see that one of her co-workers was calling her. "Hey! What's up, Naina?" Nandini spoke into her phone while fishing out the keys to her door. Once she found it, she handed it to Manik indicating him to open the door for both of them when they get to it.
"The doctor said a minimum of two weeks, Naina so Rick had to find a replacement, anyway. You are better than a new person, right? Relax, I am not upset with the news. Congratulations and thank you for checking with me. It is really sweet of you." Manik heard Nandini say to her colleague. He had so many questions about her injuries and recovery but he understood that it wasn't exactly the best time to ask them. He decided to remain quiet till she was willing to give him all the details.
"I'll see you in two weeks, Naina. Good night. Thanks for the call." Nandini took another half minute before hanging up. By now, Manik had led them inside her house and thus she dropped her bag and phone on the couch before heading to the kitchen.
"I am heating my leftover lunch for myself. Do you want some?" Nandini asked Manik from the kitchen. He frowned at her question and headed towards the kitchen not before dropping his wallet and keys on the coffee table.
"What exactly is leftover from your lunch?" Manik asked her taking a peek into the bowl.
"I had ordered some pulao in the afternoon." Nandini shrugged and kept picking up necessary things to heat food in the microwave with her good hand.
Manik let out a sigh of frustration and then gently tugged on her elbow which was not injured. "I'll finish the old takeout. Let me make some soup for you. You need fresh and healthy food for recovering. And it'd be great if you did not fight me on this." Manik said to her as he took the spoon away from her hold.
"But you don't know how to cook." Nandini stated the obvious while internally swooning at his thoughtful gestures. It was no news that he had hurt her but having him around her this way was a reminder to her that he was way too sweet and caring when it comes to her. She was aware that he was not the one fully at fault in their fight but at this moment he was behaving like it was the case which was melting her resolve.
"Oh... You can tell me what to do and I'll follow your instructions. Sound good?" Manik suggested with a sheepish grin on his face.
"Okay. Start with chopping the vegetables. Here! Chop them into pieces as small as possible. I'll just change and come in the meantime." Nandini moved herself away from his hold and fetched a couple of carrots, beans, and a chunk of cabbage from the refrigerator. She placed them on the chopping board and excused herself.
"Why do I act all smart and mighty like nothing's impossible for me? How am I supposed to do this?" Manik muttered to himself once he was sure that her bedroom door closed behind her. He made a crying face while looking at the ceiling. Nonetheless, he decided to suck it up and start with his job.
On the other hand, Nandini almost sprinted to her bedroom because if she stayed close to Manik for another second then she was sure that she'd lose control and end up kissing him. She was mad at herself for being so naïve and easygoing when it was Manik on the other side. She had made up her mind to not even look at his face for the night but his gestures and the look on his face every time he looked at her did not help her in any way. "Why the hell is it so difficult to stay mad at him?" Nandini mumbled looking at the ceiling.
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"Nandini! Are you okay in there? It's been almost half an hour that you've stayed locked inside your bedroom." Manik called out for her when he finished chopping and realized that he almost took thirty minutes to finish it yet there was no trace of Nandini.
"Yeah. Yeah. I'll be right out in a minute." Nandini responded immediately from inside not wanting to worry him about her.
In less than five minutes, Manik watched Nandini enter the kitchen in her pajamas which brought his attention to her left leg knee, and thigh which were filled with scratches. Those bruises weren't visible earlier because of her skirt. He dropped the knife on the countertop and moved closer to her only to pick her up carefully earning a squeal of surprise from her. He then placed her on the marble surface and caressed the bruised. "How much more of these are there?" Manik asked her in a voice that she could not recognize.
"Just two more. One here and another one on my back." Nandini informed him while pointing at her abdomen on the left side. Manik pulled her tee up to inspect the wounds that she mentioned. The one on her back seemed like a minor scratch but the one on the abdomen looked bad. The bruise was a deep one and he was sure that she was masking a lot of pain behind that little smile of hers.
"I am so mad at you that you did not call me about this but I also don't want to feel that way. You need my care and attention. But it is so damn hard to not snap when I look at all these bruises." Manik told her as he directly gazed into her eyes with his palms placed on either side of where she was sitting.
"I know! I am a bit of a nutcase when it comes to asking for help. I did not want to end our fight just because I was physically injured. The fight was about some pretty important stuff and I did not want to push those under the carpet." Nandini told him and wiped the single tear on his face that had slipped without his notice. She then let her hands linger on his face which had a small stubble that she found oddly fascinating.
"I say this with utmost love, baby. But that is a bullshit reason. You need to understand that nothing comes above your health and safety. I... Actually... You know what? I don't want to explain these things to you. Just promise me that no matter how ugly our fight gets, you will always call me when it comes to your health or safety. Come on!" Manik cut himself in between his speech and asked for that promise. He did not ever want to feel the way he did when he saw her at the restaurant all wrapped in bandages while he had no clue of what happened for two days. He knew that it was pointless to explain this to her because he was sure that she understood what he felt and agreed with what he wanted.
"I promise! Now, please stop crying, Manik." Nandini did not take a second to make that promise to him. He did not realize until that moment that he was crying and she was constantly wiping them away with her bare hands. He had no shame in crying in front of her because she was his go-to person after all and she was the only person who could handle him at his worst so this situation must be a piece of cake for her.
"Thank you!" Manik thanked her for making the promise without a second thought and seconded it by placing a long kiss on her forehead.
"See! Was that not easy? I still remember that we need to talk about the serious stuff from our fight while talking about this. We did not have to push anything under the carpet for it, did we?" Manik asked her rhetorically after tearing his lips away from her head and looking back into her eyes. Nandini nodded with a small chuckle and leaned into his touch to hug him close. She put her hands around his neck and he readily wrapped his hands around her waist while ensuring that he did not put pressure on any of her wounds.
"I missed you, Manik." Nandini murmured to him. "I missed you too, baby." Manik whispered back feeling calm again.
"Liar! If you missed me for real then why didn't you come to meet or call me sooner? You waited till this stupid dinner with Sam and Jeanette to even see me." Nandini complained making Manik lightly.
"I am an idiot! Sorry!" Manik apologized sincerely and sealed that with a small peck on her shoulder.
"You better be! Also, I am gonna have to let you go because my elbow is killing me." Nandini said and tore herself away from the hug only for Manik to hold her injured elbow in his hand.
"Okay! Food and medicines first! Talk later!" Manik announced with a tone of finality to which Nandini nodded in affirmation.
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Manik and Nandini finished their dinner with their casual conversations. Their moment in the kitchen had managed to diffuse most of the tension between them and thus, the expected awkwardness was absent. They had a peaceful meal together after eight days and truth be told, both of them had fun forgetting about that catastrophe of a dinner.
"I still cannot believe that you walked out of there and vowed to never speak to Jen." Manik mentioned as he handed over Nandini's tablets to her with a glass of water. She was sitting on the couch of her living room and so, looked up to meet gaze with him.
"I know but it was about time, I feel. I wanted to ask you though... It would be awkward for you from now on, wouldn't it? Sam and you are launching your start-up in two days and both of your girlfriends have sworn to never speak to each other." Nandini felt a little bad for putting Manik in this situation. It was because of her that he'd have to face this awkwardness every day. Besides, just because she had ended her friendship did not mean that Manik also must end his friendship with them. He had built some genuine connections with both Sameer and Jeanette. Nandini did not want her fight to affect his relationship with them.
"Are you kidding me? I am super glad that you did this." Manik pecked her cheeks after saying that as he plopped down on the sofa to her right side.
"Hain? Why?" Nandini asked him with a confused frown.
"I know that I usually am that guy who has to keep people together but you and Jen changed me. You guys made me realize that it's not possible to treasure every connection and friendship. Some people are just wrong for you and if they end up in your life somehow then you have to find a way to draw them away from you. Jen is that epic wrong person for you. You never wanted to hear this from me so I never said it but that does not change the fact that I've felt this about you two since the day that I met her." Manik told her chuckling in between as he recollected his first impression of Jeanette.
It might be true that Manik and Jeanette developed a friendship of their own over time but it did not change his opinion of her friendship with Nandini. Jeanette was a toxic friend for Nandini and he always felt like they were headed for doom. According to him, Jeanette was a sort of leech who wanted to suck all the goodness out of Nandini just for herself. She was not a bad person. She was just a very greedy person for love and since Nandini was a very giving person, Jeanette tended to take advantage of that more than often.
"My god! Did not know that you had such strong feelings about my friendship with the woman." Nandini expressed making herself comfortable by placing her legs on the coffee table.
"Sorry if it offends you!" Manik shrugged in nonchalance.
"It does not... Also, don't let your friendship with them get affected because of what I did today. Your business cannot afford any hostility between you and Sameer. And you do have that weirdly adorable bond with Jeanette that I hope remains intact." Nandini said contemplating her own feelings about the situation.
"I cannot make any promises, baby. I will not do anything from my end but they know where my priorities lie. If they are going to make a fuss about choosing sides then I think I'll be better off with Sam as the cofounder of our business and Jen as a mere acquaintance." Manik enunciated his stand on the entire situation.
"You do what you gotta do! I am no longer obligated to feel any sort of guilt and I am relieved about it. Huff!" Nandini decided to not interfere with these things anymore because she just did not want to care about them anymore. She was more than willing to let this go and let Manik make his choices in the way he wanted.
"Do you think it's time that we talk about our fight now?" Manik asked her after a minute of silence passed between them.
"Yeah. We probably should just talk and get it over with..." Nandini pulled herself up to a better posture. They had put it off for a while and now it was time that they have the conversation.
"I was over the line when I..." Manik was abruptly cut off by the ringing of the doorbell.
"Who is ringing your bell at 2 in the night?" Manik was exasperated and gestured for her to stay put as he stood up to get the door. Nandini lift her shoulders confirming that she had no clue who it could be on the other side of her door.
"Hey, what happened?" Manik opened the door wide to let in Cabir who was in a disheveled state for reasons they did not understand.
"Navya asked me for a fucking divorce!" Cabir deadpanned not before slumping down on Nandini's couch right beside her. Hairs on their necks rose at the intensity of Cabir's voice and words.
Manik and Nandini exchanged appalled expressions. What the actual fuck?
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Rate the chapter between 1-10.
Manik's apology is pending and I swear you'll get to read it soon. Did you like their moments in this chapter though?
Trouble in Paradise for CaVya. Can you guess the reason?
How do you think Manik and Nandini are going to support them in this?