It was over 2 weeks that I had left and Manik was getting restless with each passing day. He knew he was at fault but then he was the Manik Malhotra who never bothered to sorry to anyone and here he didn't even have the scope for it. He missed me and may be his baby too of whom he could not even cherish to be with. He had tried calling me a few times but couldn't reach me. He had thought he would get over me eventually but nothing was helping him. Everything and everyone around him reminded him of me. He was used to seeing me in his kitchen experimenting dishes for him.
A smile crept on his face when he remembered the first time I had made Dhokla for him. He made faces while eating eat. I got so annoyed by his expressions that I pushed him on the floor, sat on him and force fed it to him. We laughed and giggled as he rolled me down and fed me some through his mouth and we went into another love making on the kitchen floor itself. All the moments were memories now, whenever he stood under the shower, slept on his bed, opened the cupboard, entered the conference room, met any one in office, looked at my empty desk, my designs, even saw his mother, I took over him unknowingly. He knew no matter how many times he would ring the bell I wouldn't open the door. He would sulk and suffer silently but still won't confront his feelings for me. Cabir and Mukti both avoided him and that irked him more. He badly needed someone to confide on. Although he had lived his life alone but with me he had walked past that phase and now this loneliness was literally killing him.
"Can we talk now at least", Cabir intrigued him as he was lost somewhere possibly my thoughts.
"Haan bol na", Manik smiled slightly at Cabir's attempt to talk to him.
"I was waiting for you to come to me but you being Manik..it is almost impossible..chal bata what is cooking in that messed up head of yours", Cabir charged hm
"Nothing", he replied with a weightless voice
"Seriously tu abhi bhi nahi batayega..what is wrong with you??when will you admit that you love her??tune uske saath itna bura kia..you insulted her before the whole office fir bhi that girl stuck back till she was done with her work."
"She was no less too..she punched me", Manik claimed softly looking away, he had to come up with something in his defense even if it is as lame as this one.
"Really!!! Like Really aur tune kya kia..you F****** kissed her in front of the whole office, do you have any idea how humiliated she was??"
"I can kiss her anywhere, anytime...she is my girl...", he tried to be commanding but his tone wouldn't support him.
"You know what I can just break your neck for that....tujh jaisa idiot maine aj tak nahi dekha..she is a girl with self respect not your private property who you would be claiming shamelessly in front of the world..agar tu abhi bhi aaisa hi sochta hai then its good that she left you..she is the only person who is capable of affecting you so deeply and also the one who can calm you down..she is the only person who can keep you sane..just look at yourself Manik..you are in a pathertic state right now because Nandini is not around you..but you won't admit it so you deserve this", Cabir spat out all his thoughts and objections in one go.
A moment of silence prevailed around. Cabir lifted his arms up and jerked down in desperation. He gave up and turned back to move out.
"Sorry..I am sorry..I know maine use hurt kia hai in fact tum sab ko hurt kia hai..please forgive me"
Cabir looked at him with an annoying glare "Did you kiss me?? Have you insulted me??..I am not the person you should be saying sorry to", Cabir mocked at him.
"I don't know where she is..I can't reach her"
"Boy you have to put in your best efforts..you owe it to her..you have to do it even if it means looking for her in another part of the world..think Manik think kuch toh bataya hoga usne..about her family, her background or anything that can help us."
"Amm.. she is from Ahmedabad, lives with her Mom and grandfather and her grandfather is some textile merchant but I don't know his name or anything else.."
"You are a certified moron..you have been living with the girl for months and that is how much you know about her back round, karte kya rahte they tum log sara time??"
Manik looked elsewhere to hide his embarrassed face and Cabir realized he had struck below the belt.
"Sorry wrong question", a giggle escaped his lips.
Manik rummaged his brains for some clue and it struck him, "Abhimanyu..Abhimanyu her friend.. he is from Mumbai..he should know where she is"
"Good lets go then", Cabir was excited about the Mission Lets Find Nandini
"Hang on.. I don't know where he lives neither do I have his number.."
"God yaar!! Manik how can you be so dumb??, you have no clue about anything. How do you expect us to find one man from this countless population? "
"Wait wait Abhimanyu shayad 2-3 baar mere ghar aaya tha..the visitors register of my building will definitely have his details"
"Bang on!!Now you are talking my boy..lets rush"
Both of them left for Manik's place immediately. Manik drove at double his usual speed, he wanted to reach me as fast as he could and Abhimanyu was his only hope. They managed to grab visitor's register from the watchman who was more than willing to help and finally located Abhimanyu entry. Manik quickly noted his number and called him.
"Hello who is this??", Abhimanyu responded from the other side
"Please don't disconnect..I am Manik and I want to talk to you about Nandini"
"What do you want now after shattering her into pieces??"
"I have to find her please tell me where is she?"
"Huh!!and what made you think that I will tell you?"
"Listen You..", Manik was about to raise his voice when Cabir gestured him to stay calm and deal with him patiently, "Listen please..I know I have given you every reason to doubt me but trust me I have realized my mistake and I would do whatever it takes to have her back in my life."
"Oh cut the crap Manik, I am not as naive as Nandini who will get fooled by you glib talks..she is where she should be.. far from you and if you really want to prove your worth for her.. find her yourself but yes I can give you one piece of information make it fast before you are too late", he made the dubious statement and cut the call.
Now Manik had every reason to worry. Why did Abimanyu say something like that? and his attempts to find me grew more desperate.
***
We walked in a restaurant nearby and grabbed the table Dhruv had booked for us. We ordered some coffee for me and ice tea for him. I found Dhruv to be a little nervous; he had been that way since the time he picked me up. He was shy and almost like a nerd. How did he manage by himself in London? Our order came and I sipped my coffee. Dhruv hadn't uttered a single word after placing the order. I saw him looking at his cup blankly. There had to be something wrong.
"Dhruv are you okay??", I had to ask him as I heard him sniffling over his cup.
"Please don't marry me", he raised his head and looked at me and he was literally crying.
"What??", I screamed my lungs out. The reaction was more so not because of his plea but his tears. I had never seen a guy cry like that. He had started hiccupping and I could barely understand as he rambled in between tears, "Hey hang on..stop crying first and please tell me what is wrong. "
"I..I..I..lo..love someone else..her name is Krissane and she is catholic..we used to study together in London."
"So why did you say yes to me then??"
"Bec.. because of my parents..they don't want me to get married outside the community, they have been emotionally black mailing me. When you eloped, I thought the problem is sorted and I went back to London but when I came back a week before on a vacation my parents declared my marriage with you and I was left with no choice. Yesterday also I said I want to marry you because I saw my mother eaves dropping our conversation."
"Hmm so that's why your parents were not so keen about our meeting..tell me one thing your parents can always look for some other girl then why me when I am pregnant with someone else's child."
"Your Nanu can help Dad a lot with his business..we have been under a little financial crunch since the last few years and being associated with Mr. Mohan Bhai Mehta at such a time can pull him out of crisis. He doesn't care that you are pregnant. Besides look at me who would want to marry a geek like me, I don't have the courage to fight against my parents but I really love Krissane and cannot live withour her." He had again started sobbing loudly. It was really embarrassing, the onlookers gave me pathetic looks as if I had tortured this sweet innocent boy.
"God!! Save me from this", I murmured in between my breaths, "But you have to stand up for your rights..If you love that girl then you have to fight for her and as far as I am concerned I can't say No to this marriage..I have genuine problems you see. "
"Nandini you are a perfectly fine girl and had I not been in love with Krissane I would have definitely married you"
I glared at him as I saw him looking at me pitifully. My life seemed to have become a problem zone. Nothing could be straight; every damn thing had to be complicated. Just when I thought that things were going in a flow I had to tumble against a road block. I felt a little dizzy with all the confusion and obviously my pregnancy. I massaged my temple and asked him again.
"Why don't you run away back to London..I am sure your parents won't be chasing you there"
"I can't, Dad has taken my passport"
One ridiculous family this was, I thought to myself
"Then call the girl over here..", I gave further suggestions
"Yes Krissane will be coming in a few days but there is a teeny weeny problem....actually she doesn't know yet that I love her."
"What the F***??", I yelled loudly and suddenly realized I was at a public place, "Are you an idiot Dhruv..when are you going to tell her?? after we are married..", I didn't care apparently I was talking to my so called would be husband, "Are all you men like this dumb asses", I abused him thinking of Manik in my mind. It was only my ill luck that I had to be stuck with or should I say babysitting all the idiotic men in the world.
"No no.. I mean.. I am sure that she also loves me but it's just that we haven't officially confessed yet but I will tell her as soon as she comes to India", Dhruv attempted to pacify me as he saw me getting hyper.
"You better get it sorted between you and your girl or else we all are in deep s***, only once you confirm me about her feelings I would help you out and till then sadly but we have to continue this drama in front of our respective families", I clarified my stand and rose to leave.
I didn't know why I proposed to help him out. May be he was just a nice chap who was trapped in between his vile parents or maybe I wanted him to get his love or maybe I myself didn't want to get married to him at all. Somewhere I did thank my stars that I wouldn't have to marry a chicken heart like him.
***
Manik slouched on his chair helplessly. He had more or less exhausted all his attempts to reach me. He left me messages on face book but I didn't reply because I never came online. The last day I accessed my account was the night that I bumped onto him online, he was in fact more or less the reason I was on those social sites. Manik tried to find my friends, look for pics and tags. He picked a few friends with whom I had most of my pics and left messages but nothing came handy. It was indeed patient of Mr. Manik Malhotra to be doing such stuff to locate me with his company going to rags. But strangely he didn't care, all his focus was stalled in finding me.
"Here see these...", Cabir slammed a few papers before him.
"Kya hai ye", he looked at them puzzled
"Bahut mehnat se nikali hai..I stalked all our suppliers to get it and finally I have derived this. This is a list of 326 small, medium and large scale textile and handloom Merchants of Ahmedabad. Nandini's grandfather is into textile and handloom business right. He has to be there in this list. But it is an exhaustive list and it is going to be difficult.", Cabir thudded onto a chair next to him drained out.
"Wait Nandini had once mentioned that her Nanu owns a few textile mills across the state. He has to be a big shot then.", Manik's brain was now functioning with super fast speed.
"Great that means the list is zeroed down to 27, he said encircling the 27 names, "Our work is more or less sorted."
"But still what are we going to do with these names..I can't be calling them up and asking hello Mr. So and so do you have granddaughter named Nandini??", Manik remarked in an animated style.
"Agar wo bhi karna pade toh karega..stop sulking and let's get started..you start calling them up and please be a little organized while you start discussing things while I will go through their websites..let's see what we have in store."
They both began with their respective jobs. Manik started calling up one by one. It was actually funny to see the monster making such efforts. Half the time the person on the other side spoke in Gujarati and Manik couldn't understand a single word, some gave hilarious replies to him which of course were not funny to him. His frowns and frustration increased with every call while Cabir struck gold.
"Manik see what I found", Cabir said gleefully grabbing Manik's attention who was happily lost in the list.
Manik looked at Cabir's computer but couldn't find anything interesting.
"Kya hai isme??", he asked with a confused expression.
"Abey idiot dhyaan se dekh", Cabir ridiculed him pointing at a picture.
It was a picture put up in our company's website. It had Nanu being felicitated by the Governor of the state for outstanding contribution to the textile and handloom industry, while I stood in a corner at the background. I had accompanied Nanu for the ceremony a few years back.
"Nandini", Manik's eye softened after he finally saw me. He never thought what contentment it would give him to even see a picture of mine after so long. He cherished my picture and looked at it intently. Cabir left Manik with me and went to get Mukti. Manik had not managed to blink even for a while, it took him some time to digest that he had finally found me. Mean while Mukti and Cabir came discussing something. Manik geared up to leave for Ahmedabad when Mukti and Cabir stopped him. They had to have a proper plan to work it out. This time he couldn't just do random things and spoil things. Manik braced and warned himself that he could not be impulsive this time.
Mukti chalked out a plan. They decided to approach Nanu's company for supplying raw material to AURA for an upcoming Fashion event. Mukti noted the rest of the details and got in touch with them. They proposed that they would come to Ahmedabad and handpick the material and fabrics themselves. It was good deal for Nanu's company also to be associated with one of India's fastest growing fashion houses AURA and thus they agreed instantly.
They didn't waste any further time and reached Ahmedabad. They had a few round of meetings with Nanu's associates and then Nanu as well. Manik won over Nanu at the very first meeting, with his suave and impressive personality and his knowledge about the industry as such young age. Manik very well knew how to twist people around his fingers for his benefit. He faked in front of Nanu that he was in awe with the city and would like to stay back a few days more to get the feel of the city and its culture while Cabir insisted on following the process of manufacturing more keenly and Mukti seconded him. Basically all 3 of them made their ways to stay back. Manik further got on with his plan. He pretended that how he is allergic to outside food and my innocent Nanu fell into his trap. He sweetly invited them over to our place. Manik had attained victory; he had managed to make his way to me.
They finally got to our home. Nanu asked Kaka to arrange their rooms. Mukti got busy with a phone call, Cabir diverted Nanu's attention by talking about the deal while Manik swiftly escaped their eyes and roamed around. He peeped through corners and figured out that I was not there. Next he stealthily climbed the stairs and reached upstairs. His head turned to the direction he heard music from and trailed along to reach the source.
I was in my room ignorant of the recent and sudden development in our household. I had turned the FM on for a change and it was playing my favorite song. I was trying out the garments that I had to wear for the forthcoming rituals and ceremonies and was again stuck with my favorite attire - Saree. I had somehow managed to wear it clumsily and struggled to place the upper end of the saree over my shoulders. I glanced at the mirror to look at myself and but my eyes stopped at the reflection other than me.
In the spur of the moment a cloud of innumerable feelings surrounded me. I went numb. I didn't know which feeling to hold on to whether it was happiness, joy, hope, contentment, shock, pain, hatred or peace. That one view had the capability to sooth my senses as well as stab right through my heart at the same time. I saw his reflection in the mirror. My monster, my Manik was there standing right in front of me and the song in the back ground did the best or possibly the worst it had to do.
Phir Le Aaya Dil Majboor Kya Kije
Raas Na Aaya Rehna Dur Kya Kije
Dil Keh Raha hai
Usse Mukammal Kar Bhi Aao
Wo Jo Adhuri Si Baat Baki Hai
Wo Jo Adhuri Si Yaad Baki Hai...
Wo Jo Adhuri Si Yaad Baki Hai
He looked at me as if he saw me after centuries. That look, that yearning in his eyes was indefinable as if his thirsty eyes finally found water. I couldn't help escape his gaze. I couldn't move and as I froze there and our eyes did the talking. His eyes softened and accepted that they were guilty.
Karte Hain Hum Aj Qubool Kya Kije...
Ho Gayi Thi Jo Humse Bhool Kya Kije
Dil Keh Raha hai
Usse Mayassar Kar Bhi Aaao
Wo Jo Dabi Aas Baki Hai
Wo Jo Dabi Aanch Baki Hai...
Wo Jo Dabi Aanch Baki Hai
(the song faded out slowly in the moment we looked at each other)
I was dumbstruck to see him in front of me. I didn't realize when the pallu had slid through my upper body and kissed the floor. I stood in front of him in my skimpy blouse boldly exposing my cleavage and the saree which untidily covered the lower half of my body. I gaped at him shocked and my eyes bulged wider while he looked at me with a naughty faint smile.
"You still don't know how to drape a saree."
He moved closer slowly step by step and I clenched my fists tightly to be able to hold on to myself.