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Dhruv😼; 8:39 pm:-
'Hey!'
'Why are you avoiding me? Did I do something?'
'You bailed again... Manik is here but I really wanted to talk with you yaar Nandu!'
Nandini read Dhruv's texts lying down on her bed. It was the time of her month and she had severe cramps. They were so extreme that she had to take a leave from her shift at the restaurant for two days straight. She forced Manik and Cabir to not cancel the dinner plan that they all had planned to go on for over three weeks. Manik did not wish to leave her side but he left anyway on her insistence but with a promise to be back in less than two hours. She could not get herself to walk even from her bed to the washroom and so she had to sit this one out. Even though this was a valid reason today, she would be lying if she said that she was not avoiding Dhruv. Ever since Aliya told her those things, Nandini had stopped taking his calls and she even bailed out on whatever plans he would make to meet with her.
Nandini felt sad about the things she had to hear from Aliya who in this case was a third person to get friendship with Dhruv. She was guilty for making him feel the way he was feeling. She had been a little ignorant to him when Manik, her, Jeanette and Sameer had begun hanging out. She did not want him to think that she was back to talking to him just because her friendship ended with Jeanette and neither did she want him to feel pressurized to talk to her just because she had lent him some money.
Nandini👻; 8:46 pm:-
'I'm not avoiding you. I am on my period and cramps are killing me.'
'Let me know whenever you're free and feel like hanging out later this week.'
Dhruv😼; 8:49 pm:-
'Right there... You are sounding too formal. Just tell me what's wrong?'
Dhruv's instant reply left her wondering about how to act around him. Nandini was not big with confrontations and thus she did not know how to broach the subject with him. She wanted to let him know that Aliya had blabbed everything to her and also that he was free from any kind of compulsion to hangout with her that he felt just because he owed her some money.
Nandini👻; 8:46 pm:-
'Stop worrying about me, Dhruv. We are good. Have fun at the dinner.'
'I am going to sleep now. Just let me know whenever you'd want to hangout later.'
Nandini typed back the responses and put her phone on airplane mode immediately. She did not want to talk more especially when she was hormonal and in so much physical pain. She placed the hot water bag on her abdomen before pulling the comforter to cover herself before dozing off to sleep.
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"Are you sure? We don't have a problem with you in her guestroom, Cabir. You do not have to go to my place just to give us privacy." Manik asked Cabir to reconfirm when he suggested that he could sleep at Manik's place for the night to give him and Nandini some alone time at her place.
Manik and Cabir were walking out of the restaurant after having a good time at dinner with Dhruv, Abhimanyu and Mukti. Before Manik could get inside Nandini's car that he had borrowed for the night to drive himself and Cabir around, Cabir stopped him to offer him sleeping at Manik's place instead of the usual place i.e. Nandini's guest bedroom. The gang did not know about Navya and Cabir's situation which is why they made some excuse about her not visiting. The couple had made significant progress in therapy but not enough to convince their friends that everything was normal. Even though most of them dropped out, the rest of them decided to meet and blow some steam off because they had this plan for weeks.
"I am one hundred percent sure. After I've seen what your fights do to Nandini just because you two don't get some privacy, the least I can do is to give you space during weekends. You guys are in this situation because of me so yeah... I am cool with crashing at your place." Cabir reaffirmed his decision to not go back to Nandini's apartment for the night. He had seen what a wreck Nandini was because of the constant fights with Manik. He did not want them to fight over things like lack of privacy just because she was letting him stay with her.
"It is not you, dude. When I don't get to see her or spend some time with her after a hectic day at work, I kind of lose my shit. We have such busy jobs and it's easy to not find time for each other. She understands my need to work but I don't like it. It feels like we are putting our relationship on a backseat for work. We talked about it and things have been better after that... We are good now so you've got nothing to worry about." Manik described their situation in a nutshell because he did not want Cabir to feel guilty about problems that were only his and Nandini's fault.
"Seems like the only solution to this is that you guys move in together. Chalo, see you then! I'll take a cab from there." Cabir laughingly mentioned the first thing that came to his mind and then bid his bye to get a taxi from across the street leaving Manik pondering over his words.
Thinking about Cabir's suggestion, Manik got inside the driver's seat of Nandini's car to drive back to her place. Was that something that he was ready to do with her? He had never lived with anyone before and this would mark a significant milestone in their relationship. He did not want to rush into anything but for some reason he could find nothing in his mind to not do it. He decided to just talk about it with her once he reaches.
As he drove further, other thoughts occupied his mind again. He was suspecting that she might have gone out to smoke. She had promised him that she would not but when he heard from Dhruv about his text conversation with her, Manik knew that she must have grown anxious. He badly wanted to be proven wrong about her breaking a promise she made to him but he wasn't sure if he could bet on it. Everybody had minor relapses and even if she had done it, he decided not to give her a hard time about it. He was just going to chide her a little, support her, and encourage her to quit it from this point.
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Manik anxiously kept pressing her doorbell after having no response for two straight minutes from the first press. He had decided to not lash out at her even if she had smoked but looking at the time and the fact that her phone was switched off, he was starting to feel uncertain about his resolve. He hated how easily she could succumb to her toxic habits at the first possible inconvenience. He was growing more paranoid because she was on her periods and smoking would only worsen her cramps.
Before his thoughts could run in an even wilder direction, the door to Nandini's apartment opened from the inside revealing a Nandini who looked like she had just woken up from a slumber. He sighed in relief after seeing her.
"Why are you losing your shit on my doorbell? You could have used the key..." Nandini asked him frowningly and mentioned an alternative. When Cabir moved into her guest room temporarily, she gave him and Manik a copy of the keys. Thus, she pointed out that he could have used that key to open when she did not open the door from inside at the first bell.
"I left it at office last night. Sorry, I disturbed your sleep." Manik told her why he couldn't use his keys. He wrapped his hands around her shoulder and apologized softly for disrupting her slumber.
"It's okay. Had fun at the dinner?" Nandini smiled and asked him as they walked inside her house not before shutting the main door behind them.
"Kind of... but it is not the same without everyone. So much is going on with everyone... The vibe isn't the same anymore. Get what I mean?" Manik mused thinking about the dinner. There was no doubt that all of them had fun but half of the gang was missing that included Nandini, Navya, Aliya and Randhir. A lot had happened which had altered the dynamics of their group. Navya and Cabir were still dealing with their marital problems, Nandini and Manik had to cut out their exes from their lives given all the drama they had stirred up, and then Dhruv and Nandini had developed this weird awkwardness which needed to be sorted out. With this much happening, the vibe had completely changed for them as a group.
"Others I get but what's going on with Abhi and Mukti?" Nandini asked him once he settled down on her couch. She fetched a bottle of water from the dining table behind the sofa and then occupied the space beside him.
"Mukti had a miscarriage. They did not know she was pregnant till a few weeks ago when Abhi had to admit her to the hospital for heavy bleeding. She was three weeks pregnant apparently but she miscarried that night." Manik informed Nandini about something no one knew. Mukti seemed weak at the dinner and when the rest of them inquired about the same, Abhimanyu filled them in about what had happened with them.
"Fuck! That is bad! How are they holding up?" Nandini exclaimed and asked him about their well being. Manik liked how she did not get worked up about why no one told her earlier or how she was unable to be of any help to them. He found it annoying when people could not understand that not everything is going to include friends and families. Some things are just for the couple to deal with and they'd reach out to others when they'd need help. It was a concept lost on many people.
"They seem to be doing better now. They don't plan on telling Tejaswini Auntie so don't tell anyone in your family about this." Manik asked her to keep this a secret from her family to which she nodded in understanding.
"I should go see them sometime this week, shouldn't I?" Nandini quizzed rhetorically. Abhimanyu was her cousin and almost like a sibling to her while Mukti was a very close friend of hers. She should go check on them once given that she was the only close thing to family who knew about this now.
"Go over to theirs over the weekend or something." Manik suggested and pulled her legs up on his lap seeing how frequently she was pressing her calves. He began massaging her legs gently suspecting that she was feeling some pain in her legs as well.
"Thanks...." Nandini whispered making him shrug his shoulders. He did have a way of making efforts effortlessly.
"Did Dhruv say anything to you?" Nandini asked him feeling a bit anxious again. She had drifted off to sleep earlier so she forgot about it but talking about it again brought back her anxiety.
"He asked me if everything was okay with you. I told him it is better if he talks to you directly." Manik said understanding her worry. He began drawing patterns on her midfoot area to soothe her senses.
"I'm not good with confrontations, Manik. I don't know what to say to him even if I agree to have a conversation." Nandini spoke and then sighed deeply which was partially because of how soothing his massage felt.
"You are actually pretty great at speaking about what you want or feel with people you love. I am speaking from first hand experience as your boyfriend. We both know that you love Dhruv. Don't let a few words from Aliya ruin that for you. Just talk to him. I know for a fact that you'd do good." Manik explained his point of view confidently. Except for a few moments of doubt here and there, he knew her like the back of his hand. He knew her strengths and weaknesses and so he could vouch for her straightforwardness with the people she loved.
"Fine. I'll talk to him." Nandini said with a smile. At moments like these, she felt like the luckiest person to have him encourage her and reinstate her belief on herself like no one had ever done for her ever.
"Honesty time continued... Earlier when you did not open the door, I doubted that you had gone out for a smoke. I knew that you must have gotten anxious about Dhruv so...." Manik confessed because the guilt behind not trusting her even if it was for a few moments, pestered him.
"Haww! Is that how little you trust me?" Nandini pulled her legs back after saying that dramatically.
"Sorry! But every time this door went unanswered earlier, you were out smoking. It's hard to believe that you quit just like that..." Manik expressed his disbelief while moving close to her. He took her hands in his and kept rubbing her knuckles.
"To be honest, the urge to get out and smoke one damned cigarette was strong. But, I can never break a promise I make especially when it is to you... I decided to sleep through it and that is exactly what I did..." Nandini admitted honestly making him smile wider. He was happy that she was not concealing her actual feelings about this. He did not expect her to quit it over a night after one conversation. He knew that it will be a difficult road and he just wanted to be a listener when she needed to let out her feelings about the same.
"Just like that fight the urge to smoke that one cigarette by distracting yourself one at a time and before you know it, you'd probably quit it." Manik said encouragingly with a small smile.
"Scoot! I wanna lie down...." Nandini asked him to move a little away to which he readily obliged. She then lied down on the couch with her head on his lap making him grin widely. He began running his hands through her soft tresses while massaging her scalp gently.
"You know, when we were getting out of there, I thought I saw Sameer with someone on the dancefloor but before I could properly see and check, they were gone." Manik told her after a few moments of silence passed.
"Must be Jeanette... What's news in that?" Nandini shrugged closing her eyes as she invited the good feeling of relief because of his massage.
"That's the thing. It wasn't Jeanette. I think it was his ex-girlfriend." Manik muttered feeling weirded out by the thoughts that crossed his mind about the possibility of Sameer cheating on Jeanette.
"Whatever it is, I don't want to be a part of anything that involves either one of them. To me now they are just my boyfriend's friends. That's all." Nandini said with a tone of finality causing him to frown at her bluntness.
"What are you hiding, Nandini? What happened with Sameer?" Manik guessed instantly that something had gone down between the duo. The Nandini he knew would not simply cast a friend aside because she was no longer in good terms with his girlfriend. She was not that shallow which is why he could bet that something had happened which he didn't know about yet.
"He called yesterday asking me to talk to Jeanette. I refused. He said some pretty bad things. I asked him to stay away from me. No big deal." Nandini said with a shrug. To be completely honest, the interaction with Sameer did not bother her at all. By this point she had let enough people go from her life to get affected by another person leaving. She genuinely liked to believe that it was better to have very few people who liked her for her in life rather than a crowd of ignorant and judgmental ones.
"What kind of bad things?" Manik pressed. It did not sit well with him when anyone said anything bad to her let alone his closest friend and business partner.
"Nothing I could not handle. Let's please leave it at that, Manik. He's your business partner. You cannot have bad blood between you two any more than what you guys already do... I am going to treat it as a closed chapter so I promise you it won't affect me. This way you get to maintain your friendship with them without my interference." Nandini's words sounded like it was coming from a strong place but Manik knew better than believing what she was just saying. She was the one to break off the friendship deservedly so but that did not mean that she wasn't heartbroken by it. Jeanette was one of the very few people Nandini had let in beyond her self-built walls. He still couldn't figure for the life of him as to why did she choose Jeanette of all people to let in but friendships and connections can never be explained with logic. Their friendship did not make sense to him but he also knew that the girls had been stuck to each other like pillars at each other's worst points in life over the course of their three years of friendship. Nandini met Jeanette when she had nothing left to hold on and that was probably why they became best friends. While Nandini had her shortcomings like being unable to open to her freely, Jeanette lacked the patience to stick by her friend like she had done for her on countless occasions. In spite of everything that happened, Nandini tried to hold on but this was a friendship far beyond repair and thus she ended it when the situation demanded it rightfully. Even if she did the right thing, deep down Manik knew that Nandini was hurting and was still trying her best to move on from the whole thing. He gave her the space to recover on her own but times like these tested his own patience to just not call her out for it.
"I promise you that I will not let my anger affect my work. I'd prefer if you tell me about it though. I don't want you to hide your emotions about it just because I'm friends with them. I'm just a listener in this scenario so let me be that for you." Manik told her clearly that he did not like for anything to be a secret from her side. It might be advisable to have some boundaries between couples but Nandini and he did not share that kind of a bond. Their friendship topped every connection or relationship they had and as friends they always talked about their feelings.
"You're relentless, Manik! Fine... He called me selfish, a miser because I denied to lend Jeanette more money than I've already given her, a bad friend for the way I hurt his girlfriend and him, someone who doesn't deserve to have you in my life and finally cursed me that I'm gonna end up all alone in life with no one to care for me. There you go... That's all that he said before I calmly asked him to fuck off and stay the hell away from me." Nandini looked up into his surprised eyes as she narrated everything that Sameer said to her in a brief manner.
"If only the bastard were bad at his job, I'd never have chosen to do this business with him..." Manik muttered feeling angry despite of promising Nandini that he'd not let himself feel so. No matter what kind of a person Sameer was, he was pretty good at his job and a great asset to have as a business partner. He was indispensable which is why Manik felt like his hands were tied for life in this matter. He'd have to learn to live with the fact that Sameer was nothing more than a partner in business while pretending here and there to be his friend. It was the only way they could keep doing the business peacefully.
"Forget it... I'm just irritated that in less than 7 hours we have to get back to work. It sucks that we don't get more time together." Nandini said with a whining tone. Her words reminded him of the thought that has occurred to him after what Cabir said to him.
"I might have a solution to your problem... How do you feel about us moving in together?" Manik asked with a small yet hopeful smile while running his hand through her hairs. She looked up into his eyes surprised at the sudden proposal. Was he being serious?
"You wanna live with me?" Nandini asked him again dumbly to reconfirm. She sat up straight and faced him.
"I know that it's crazy soon... We've only been dating for six months or so but it just feels right. Every time I think about going home after a long day at office, you are the only thing that comes to mind. I wanna wake up with you, fight with you over who gets to use the bathroom first in the morning, eat with you and just so much more... We do most of it even now but it's taxing to keep alternating between both our apartments. I feel like I'm ready to move in with you into a house and call it our home. So, will you move in with me?" Manik made a small speech like he usually does making her eyes well up. He had listed out the simplest of things he wanted to do with her yet it felt like it meant the world to her.
"A simple 'I love you and I wanna live with you' would have been sufficient but then that wouldn't be my Manik, would it? Yes, it's soon but even I feel like I'm ready for it. Most of our fights have been about this. I know I long for every moment we spend together and it makes sense to just move in because that's the only way I get those moments in abundance. In your own long-ass-speech way, I am going to say yes, let's move in together, Manik!" Nandini made a speech in return for him making him feel like the happiest man alive. It was very rare for her to make such speeches and express herself. She usually told him that he overwhelmed her but on such rare occasions when she did make an exception to her own behavior, he simply loved her more than anything.
Manik wrapped his palm around the back of Nandini's neck before pulling her closer to him. "We're doing this for real, baby?" Manik asked her with a bright smile as she moved forward to straddle him and then cup his cheeks. "I guess, we are..." She muttered to him with a soft smile before crashing her plump lips down on his rough ones. He grinned at her response while still in the kiss before deepening it by wrapping his free hand around her petite waist.
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Rate the chapter between 1-10.
Is Nandini in the wrong according to you for the way she's handling things with Dhruv? What would you do if you were in her place?
Do you think Sameer is cheating on Jeanette or is Manik misreading things?
Manik and Nandini finally decided to move in together. According to you will it help them get closer or drive them apart given their constant fights?
Few words for Manik and Nandini's speeches in the end?