You are allowed to make yourself a priority. You are allowed to care of your needs before anyone else's. It's allowed to be selfish at times. It's okay to leave behind toxic friendships and hold on to vital ones. You are allowed to be at places that make you content. And most importantly, you allowed to change your mind. So don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Put yourself first. Others could wait. They always made you do so.
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We pulled across the construction site. I looked at Manik. His hands had the steering wheel under his firm grip.
"Let's go....?" I asked him.
He looked over in my direction,
"I have a bad feeling about this!" He said.
"It's okay Manik...Dhruv,---" but he cut me off in the middle.
"It's not about Dhruv!" He said in an adamant tone.
"It's you!" His face tensed.
His words took me by surprise. I was caught up in various emotions. A part of me sensed a gush of relief knowing it wasn't just me with this strange feeling while the rest knew what he meant. This could be the last time I'd be seeing him or this could be a new start, a new beginning for me, him and most importantly, U-S!!
" It's time Manik..." I said , not knowing how to react to his statement before and got down from the car without another word.
He drove off to a distant. I saw him park the car and I waited for him at the entrance.
He was back in front me, in a while. He looked at me. It seemed he tried to remember what I looked like, trying to store the seconds inside his memory box.
"There's something we need to talk about when this is over." He said.
I was yet again out of words and we motioned towards the building.
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15A/9 City Junction.
Floor Two.
7 pm.
I made sure we reached before either Dhruv or Harshad reached. The adrenaline got the better side of me and we stood there hiding at a distance, with me breathing heavily with each moment.
The place was dimly lit up and was filled with odd construction aggregates. Nandini stood beside me fiddling with her dupatta. I went on to ask her to stop worrying when my ears caught footsteps. My body tensed up as an instant reflex.
"It's Dhruv" Nandini whispered.
I found him standing there with the papers I had handed over to him earlier in the morning. My fists balled up and I couldn't believe the sight in front of me. He was busy over the phone and soon enough the other made his entry.
My anger knew no bounds when I saw Harshad enter and approach Dhruv. That douche bag. They hugged like old friends. Why was Dhruv doing this?
"I can't believe his!" I whispered to myself.
"Manik....not now..." Nandini tried calming my temper, but it was too late.
They talked for a while and I saw Dhruv hand him over the papers. I looked at Nandini and sensed the assurance in her eyes.
I took in a deep breath before I made my move. It was time.
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I noticed Manik slowly strolled over from behind the two. They hadn't noticed him yet until he was way to close to their presence.
"So tell me how you like the lyrics once you read them" I heard Manik say as he shot a cold glare towards Dhruv. He faced Harshad and I found this sheepish smile spreading over Harshad's face. Did he know this was going to happen? Did I fail Manik? But how could he? I was very careful.
"Manik.....buddy" Dhruv called out from behind.
Manik didn't turn. He was fixated onto Harshad.
"You have such low standards?" Asked Manik.
"Me!,..." Harshad laughed.
"Come on Manik you can do better than this..." he continued waving the papers in front of him.
"You really think this is funny" Manik held him by the collar.
"That's more like it.." Harshad chuckled.
"Harshad you...." Manik raised his balled up fist and threw them in the direction of Harshad's face when I heard my name,
"Well where is Nandini?" he asked with a smirk.
"What?" Manik stopped in the middle.
"Which one of the pillar is she hiding behind?" he asked and pushed Manik.
"It must be so hard for you na Manik?" Dhruv finally spoke.
"Pehle Alya, phir mein and now Nandini..." he continued.
Dhruv knew? I was finding it very difficult to cope up with all this. Was I going to loose Manik forever? Was he going to hate me? Shit! what had I done?
"You seem quite surprised" Harshad spoke.
"Oh come on now Nandini, don't you want to see the look on Manik's face when I tell him that..." he stopped in the middle, his eyes searching for me.
"Tell me what?" Manik asked in agony.
"That how close Nandini and I am..."
"What?"
"Oh, she really didn't put it on her CV?" he asked laughing.
"Harshad..." Manik's anger grew with each passing second.
"That, she is married to me..." he said biting the corner of his lips.
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"That, she is married to me..." he said biting the corner of his lips. My heart felt heavy. Had I put my faith in the wrong person again? Nandini? She was a part of this plan? I was unable to speak. I had nothing to say. She played with me all this while. And how could she be with Harshad? And all those scars, did Harshad do that to her? Why ? WHY?
"Do you feel that buddy?" Dhruv spoke heading in my direction.
"You overshadowed me for so long. Manik Malhotra rock star, Manik Malhorta best lead singer, Manik this...Manik that...fab five was all about you..you used us for your success...no one cares about the rest of us...Its always about you...and when Harshad saw the real truth, you shoved him out of our lives, made us hate him...and finally after years when this guy reached out to me, and reinstated faith in me, and told me i could become whatever I wanted...and the real thorn in the path was you, I knew he was right...." he said.
My rage was diminishing. Fear, regret and sadness was overwhelming each part of me . I was facing new feelings. Is this how Dhruv felt about me all this while?Overshadow?
"Didn't expect the weakest to break you so bad huh!" he exclaimed and stood right next to Harshad and took the papers in his hands.
I was still taking all this in.
"So Mr. Manik Malhotra, let's say I won...you have nothing left...I took everything you loved...and now you have shattered...look at you standing there like a little baby. " he said.
"Harshad...you know what?" I said finally gaining all my strength. I could tell you he was surprised as my fists hit his face. He trembled back and then charged in my direction. He grabbed my collar and punched me back. My rage knew no limits with this and before I attempted my next move, I found myself pinned to the ground. He kept hitting my face and I tasted blood in my mouth. I couldn't fight back. Had he grown stronger? He kept punching and soon everything was blackening in from of my eyes.
"Manik..." I heard a voice. I didn't make any efforts to look at Nandini anymore.
"Manik..." she called out again. She tried pushing Harshad away and I felt the weight lift off my chest eventually.I looked around to find Nandini in Harshad's grip.
"Poor little Nandini, what did I warn you about?" he demanded pulling her closer.
"Manik" she still cried out my name.
"I told you not to toy around with me!" he said holding her face.
"I..." she tried speaking.
"You really thought this was about getting the stupid songs huh!" he grinned and pushed her. She fell down at a distant, crashing against a pile of bricks.
"It was about breaking him...and eventually Nandini, you helped a lot more than I thought you could.." he said kneeling next to me.
"So, Manik..." he said with a sly smile and with that came another punch. I felt defeated. I felt devastated. I didn't have the strength to own up to things.
"See you..." he said and stood up eyeing Dhruv.
"Whats the hurry?" In came another familiar voice. I tried sitting up but failed. My body ached.I couldn't move.
"Unless you want to end up like that..." Harshad pointed in my direction.
"Oh I wont," Aryaman replied almost instantly and I noticed more figures enter the scene.
"Harshad Saxena, you are under arrest" said one of the officers while the others grabbed Dhruv and him.
"And you too" the officer continued eyeing Dhruv.
I stood up gaining all my guts while I found Aryaman pick up the papers from the ground. He helped Nandini stand up and supported her as she leaned on him to stand.
"Thanks" I heard her say.
"Nandini, you have made a grave mistake..." I heard Harshad say.
She looked at him and then hovered in his direction.
"You don't intimidate me anymore" she said.
"You fucking cun--"
"You'll find my lawyer at the station with the divorce papers and restriction order..." she said
"What?..." he nearly broke through the grips of the policemen and grabbed Nandini.
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Harshad charged at me with anger and hatred when I found his hand stop mid way. I hid behind the figure while he pushed him hard. Manik.
" Enough..." he said and eyed the policemen. They took hold of him firmly and dragged him out of our sight.
"You need to stop by at the police station, all three of you" said the senior officer.
Manik's back still faced me. I didn't know what he was thinking or was going to do. Had I lost him? Was he ever going to give us a chance.
I wanted to hug and tell him I didn't want to do this to him. I wanted him to know he had not lost, that I was there for him. I just hoped we had spent a little time more, together.
I saw him run his fingers through is hairs, before he walked off.
And that's when I knew I had lost him,
Forever.
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I bid goodbye to Aryaman and thanked him for saving our butts.
"You take care..,I have everything else sorted..." he said giving me a side hug.
"Thanks a lot..I can't tell you how much I needed this"
"I know.." he smiled.
"I'll see you tomorrow" I replied and he left then in following moments.
I waited for Manik to sign and come out. I hoped I had a chance to explain. He was out soon breaking my thoughts, but he didn't look at me for once. I waited for him to turn or stop and he did eventually,
"Thank you for shattering me inside out" he said and disappeared round the corner of the road.
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"It's hard to put yourself out there.
Vulnerability looks so beautiful on us all,
but we've convinced ourselves differently.
So we hide behind our emotions
swallowing the truth to suppress the pain."
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I didn't stop him.
I let him go .
A/N:
Okay so I know I have been MIA for an year and I'm so sorry for all the delay.
I hope you guys enjoyed reading, do leave your precious views in the comment section.
Adios.