MANIK'S POV
"Friends? Are you sure?" Cabir looked at me in disbelief as I sat on the couch and was trying to act busy with my guitar. "Answer me Manik" Cabir repeated while I still ignored.
"This tune is good right?" I played the guitar raising my eyebrows at him. He huffed rolling his eyes and pulled the guitar from my hands making me sigh.
"Mein kuch puch raha hu Manik! Answer me" he yelled.
"Fine...ask whatever you want to" I crossed my hands. "What's with this back to friends thing with Nandini?" he gave me a fake smile.
"It's...it's simple. I don't want to loose her so I'll be happy if she stays in my life. The only way is....being friends" I avoided his gaze.
"When you can't loose her then why the hell did you break up with her?" he fisted his hands glaring at me. "I am not right for her" I looked down.
"Where did this right and wrong thing come from? What are you even talking?" he sighed sitting down and catching his head.
"I don't know...I just know that I am not right for her" I got up ready to leave.
"You know what? Even a child would not be as dumb as you" he rolled his eyes while I shook my head coming out of the room.
I know that Cabir is concerned for us. But how can I explain to him that I cannot be with Nandini. I cannot protect her.
I sighed coming downstairs to the living room. The whole living room was empty. Everyone stayed here last night then where did they go early in the morning? I frowned going towards the garden area.
"So you all understood right? He shouldn't get any doubt please"
I stopped listening to Nandini's voice. Everyone including the elders were sitting in the garden area having a serious discussion.
"Sure Nandu, don't worry. We will get him surprised with our antics" Mukti laughed followed by others. Whom are they talking about?
Nandini chuckled and turned to get shocked. She widened her eyes looking at me. I raised my eyebrows while she gave a nervous smile.
"And we..." Navya was about to say when Nandini cleared her throat. "Ma..Manik is here" she chuckled nervously while everyone turned towards me with wide eyes.
"Is..there anything wrong?" I asked frowning. "Umm...who...who are we to decide that? All decisions will be taken by you right?" Abhi mocked making me roll my eyes. He is never going to stop taunting me.
"True" Nandini shrugged making me look at her. "I..I...thought we were okay and...we..are...." I looked at her anxiously before she cut me off.
"Ohh yes! We are surely friends now. I remember. But I don't know about others" she gave me a pity smile before going inside the house.
I looked at the others who immediately looked away trying to act busy. Elders were reading the newspaper while my friends were having some unnecessary discussion.
I slowly went near them while they still ignored me. "I know I did hurt you all, especially uncle and aunty..." I was about to continue when Navya and Abhi raised their eyebrows.
"Yeah..yeah..Navya and Abhi too. But it all has a reason. Trust me it's right for me and Nandini...to end this here. We both are okay and friends now. I hope you all also forgive me" I looked at everyone with guilt.
They exchanged looks and stood up making me smile. I know they are going to give me a hug and forgive me.
"Apology not accepted"
They spoke together before going inside making me open my mouth in shock.
What the....?
NANDINI'S POV
I laughed listening to Bhai's rant about Manik's dumb behaviour. "C'mon Bhai...don't be soo hard on him" I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face.
"Hard? This is the correct treatment for that dumb idiot to get his senses back" he huffed making me chuckle.
"And you don't try to take his side of you want him back" he threatened me while I nodded innocently.
"Nandini"
Uncle came inside the kitchen making us look at him. "As you said, our employees are working from home and the office is closed for some days. I kept the keys with me and I'll lie to Manik that the keys are with the watchman and he is out of town. This way he can't go to office" he winked taking the apple from the fridge.
"Great!!" I smiled excitedly giving a hifi to uncle.
"But what is this all for?" Bhai frowned leaning on the counter.
"Manik will keep himself busy so that he can stay away from this pain. And the main thing he'll do is stay in office for long hours. So to avoid all the distractions, we shouldn't let him work much" I shrugged making him nod his head thoughtfully.
"Thank you soo much uncle! Thank you for doing all this" I hugged him making him laugh. "Tujhe mere bahu banane keliye mein kuch bhi kar sakta hu" he caressed my head making my cheeks heat up.
"Ohh! Bahu and all ha?" Bhai teased making us chuckle.
"Nandu! He is here" Aliya ran towards us hurriedly. We exchanged looks and took a deep breath.
It's time for some drama!
I plastered a smile on my face and went out of the kitchen with fake excitement on my face.
"Where is he? Where?" I asked loudly looking at Manik and Cabir sitting on the couch. Manik frowned looking at me while Cabir smirked.
"Where?" I asked again looking around. "Who?" Manik frowned hard. I ignored him and ran towards the door.
Just then the door bell rang and I smirked opening it immediately.
"Mihir" I sighed dramatically looking at him. He frowned and looked behind me.
"Ohh should I start acting right now?" he widened his eyes and whispered to me while I sent him a silent glare. "Yes" I whispered back and again plastered a wide smile on my face. He did the same and chuckled happily.
"I soo missed you Nandu" he gave me a tight hug and I looked at Manik from the corner of my eyes to see him burning in jealousy. "I missed you too Mihir. Come let's go in" I pulled apart and caught his hand.
He smiled and nodded following me. I stopped infront of Manik and Cabir. "Let me introduce my friends to you" I looked at Mihir before looking back at the other two.
"This is Cabir, Navya's husband and my dearest jaan ki jaan" I introduced Cabir while Mihir chuckled and shook hands with him.
"And this is Manik. My dearest bestt friend" I stressed on the word friend pointing at Manik while he was all the time glaring at Mihir.
"Ohh you mean your ex boyfriend?" Mihir added making Manik more angry while me and Cabir controlled our laugh.
"How did he get to know?" Manik gritted his teeth pointing at Mihir. Before I could reply Mihir interrupted. "Ohh it's all in the news that you both are dating" he shrugged.
"Who told you about the break up? We dint reveal it to the media too" Manik crossed his hands. "Actually Nandini told me when we were in the call" he chuckled while Manik looked at me confused.
"You know what Cabir? Mihir is free this month so I asked him to meet me. He was not at all agreeing to come to India. He wanted to stay in US only. But when I told him that me and Manik broke up, he immediately agreed to come and meet me" I smirked looking at Manik's reaction who had a huge frown on his face. Cabir gave me an impressed look making me smile.
"Who..." Manik was about to speak when others came.
"Ohh Mihir! How are you?" Bhai gave a hug to Mihir. "I am superb after listening to Nandini's breakup news" Mihir chuckled making us all laugh while Manik gritted his teeth.
"Excuse me?" Manik narrowed his eyes making us look at him. "Who are you actually?" Manik crossed his arms looking at Mihir.
"I am Nandini's..." he stopped giving me a shy smile. "Nandini's?" Manik raised his eyebrows waiting impatiently.
"He is my...." I stopped too shying away.
"Your what?" Manik yelled frustratedly making it hard for everyone to control their laugh.
"Chodo na bacche sharma rahe hai" Mom came ahead caressing Mihir's hair. "For what?" Manik gritted his teeth. I palmed my face with both hands while Navya nudged me teasingly.
"Manik kyu chida raha hai dono ko" Cabir said making Manik look at him confused. "Mein kyu chidavunga inn dono ko?" Manik rolled his eyes.
"Tho chup baith na. Iss cute moment ko dekhne de" Cabir smirked making Manik give him a glare.
"Our plan is working" Dhruv whispered to me making me chuckle.
"Mihir thum yaha kaise?" Dad asked him. "Woh mein Murthy Mansion gaya tha, par watchman ne kaha ki sab log yaha hai tho mein yaha aagaya" Mihir smiled and Dad smiled back.
"Thum Murthy Mansion kyu gaye? Koyi hotel mein check in nahi kiya?" Manik gave him a fake smile.
"Hotel?" I interrupted before Mihir speaks. "Kya Manik? Why will Mihir stay in a hotel? He will stay with us in Murthy Mansion. Hai na papa?" I looked at Dad.
"Ofcourse" Dad shrugged. Manik gave me an unbelievable look while I smiled at him innocently.
"Okay abb hum inn dono ko thoda time spend karne dete hai" Nyonika aunty said pointing at me and Mihir.
"Why?" Manik raised his hands in frustration. "C'mon Manik, they are meeting after a long time right" Cabir said casually.
"So let's all spend time together" Manik again glared at Cabir. "Manik yaar! Samjho na" I chuckled shyly while he huffed in annoyance.
"Mujhe kuch bole tho mein samjhunga" he muttered.
"Okay so let me introduce Mihir clearly. He is a college friend of Nandini and stays in US" Bhai said and Manik sighed after getting to know who he is.
"Arre Abhi Bhai, aapne puri baath bataya hi nahi" Navya smirked while everyone chuckled.
"Kya puri baath?" Manik gave a forced smile. "Mihir proposed to Nandini for marriage before 4 years. Par Nandini wanted to concentrate on her career. Par abb tho sab set hai na" Navya nudged me while Manik looked at her shocked.
"Navyaa!!" I whined trying to act shy.
"And I'm still single" Mihir looked at me with dreamy eyes while I chuckled.
"Listen you..." Manik was about to say when I caught Mihir's hand. "Chalo Mihir let's go out for sometime" I dragged him out of the house.
We started laughing as we sat inside the car. "Your boyfriend is too cute" he laughed while I shook my head.
"Cute kam aur buddhu jyada hai" I sighed and he nodded. "Abb mein aagaya hu na. I'll help you to get him back" he winked and I nodded chuckling.
It's true that Mihir is my college friend. But we just lied to Manik that he proposed me to provoke him. When Mihir told me he was coming to India for vacation, I asked him to help me in getting Manik back to his senses and he happily agreed.
"Waise I was shocked when I heard that LoveGuru news" Mihir looked at me with wide eyes. "Ohoo...let's leave that topic for sometime" I sighed and he gave me a sad smile.
"So..what's the plan?" he asked me excitedly trying to change the topic. "Plan? It's just that we need to make him soo annoyed that he will realise he can't see me with others. We should wake up his possessiveness" I smirked.
"But I'll be safe right?" he gave me a scared look. "Matlab?" I frowned.
"Did you look at Manik's face? He looked soo angry. Mujhe pakka yakeen hai ki woh mujhe maar dalega" he sighed making me laugh.
"Dont worry! We all are there to save you" I winked at him. "So it's true that he'll kill me?" he looked at me shocked while I shrugged laughing.
He shook his head as I started driving towards my house. We kept discussing about different ideas. I am sure that Mihir is going to be of great help.
Be ready Manik Malhotra!
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Sooo sorry for the late update🥺🥺. Firstly, I was caught up with other things and then I fell ill. But from now the updates will be regular like always 😄💕.
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