A/N : Hello readers, MaNan already had a chance encounter, see what happens next ;)

Inline comments are much much appreciated :)

Happy Reading!

***

It had been a couple of weeks since they met, Manik couldn't get Nandini out of his head. He cursed himself for not asking for her number then, and now there was no way he could contact her. He tried to play the 'cool' card by not trying to fish for the number through Mukti within the first few days; back then it wouldn't have looked odd, he would have managed without raising suspicion but now was too late, Mukti would surely pry on how was it that he still remembered Nandini and wanted her number. He half expected her to contact him, but about ten days down he realised that wasn't happening! Now how was he ever going to contact her? He contemplated stalking through social media, but he didn't even know her full name, and she was definitely not on Mukti's friend list; so much for a special guest, hmph! What about that 'Retard' she came to the party with, she'd definitely be on his friend list, and was there a possibility that he might be on Mukti's? He could check that, thought Manik excitedly, but wait, what is his name? Argh.!

After an hour and half's long search through his sister's friend list, he couldn't find this idiot, but when he was about to close the tab, he chanced upon a birthday photo that Mukti had uploaded and there he was standing right next to her like a monkey with a glee and yes! He was tagged. Abhimanyu, so his name was Abhimanyu. Manik quickly jumped to his profile with a racing heart and thankfully his profile lacked security so he could easily scroll through his friend list; there she was! Manik felt excited seeing her face pop up in Abhimanyu's list. Nandini, Nandini Murthy. Although the excitement snubbed out of him when he tried opening her profile; it was secured! He could barely just see her profile pic, and no more deets – this was so frustrating, thought Manik to himself. Now he most definitely needed to make the first move, else there was no point to this wild goose chase!

He was contemplating whether to send her a friend request or not, would it seem too desperate? He was Manik Malhotra, he didn't 'do' desperate! Then? After a lot of thinking he had decided that maybe if he just waved at her on messenger, that wouldn't seem so pathetic. Just a wave emoji. How can that hamper his image? He thought, hopefully.

***

She was driving when her phone beeped and a strange notification popped, "Manik Malhotra has waved at you". She laughed, "Lame move, Manik" she muttered. She was going to have some fun with him now. She had found him very attractive at the party that night, but then she had put a hold on the plan; while returning back from the party, Abhimanyu had confessed that he really liked Mukti and wanted her help to ensure he didn't screw it up this time. How could Nandini then rove around with the same said Mukti's brother and then expect it to not hamper Mukti-Abhimanyu's new found bond if they ended badly?

However, it had been some two weeks now, if Mukti hadn't removed Abhimanyu from her life as yet, then probably Abhimanyu had somehow miraculously crossed the threshold test; they would at least last a few months now; so maybe messing around a bit with Manik wouldn't harm anyone now, would it?

As Manik waited with bated breath for the first few seconds after he sent out that wave, he felt anxious but there was no response. After a few minutes, when his messenger was still silent, he was sure it was the daftest idea his head had ever conjured up! Gone was his eligible, hook-up happy, cool dude, image before Nandini, now what remained was a sloppy tasteless wave, sitting like a time bomb on her messenger! A sick yellow waving hand he thought angrily. What the hell was he thinking?

***

It had been three days since she received the wave from him, she hadn't yet acted upon it, she was contemplating whether to first come clean with Abhimanyu before responding to Manik, it would make sense right, she didn't want her friendship on the line for just a fling. Therefore today she was waiting for Abhimanyu at their favourite café to discuss this; when Abhimanyu heard what she had to say, he wasn't surprised.

Abhimanyu had known Nandini for almost ten years now, she wasn't always this person. There was a time when real emotions mattered; feelings, love and all the always forever that people dreamt of, it all did matter to his Nandz. It was back in her early twenties. She wasn't this cold, calculative, transactional lawyer back then; she was a simple, chirpy and gullible person with a very strong academic record. Nandz used to believe in good, in happiness, in honesty and in soul mates, before all that was taken away from her. That episode in her life, thought Abhimanyu ruefully, had changed Nandini forever, she had carried an invisible scar, a darkness inside her for so long that by now it had consumed her; this Nandz didn't care about anyone (maybe except for him), anything, she didn't believe in emotions of love, care, affection, the only dominant emotion now she ever felt was displaced anger, hate and an innate disconnect. They say what doesn't kill you, make you stronger and leave you with an unhealthy coping mechanism; that's what had happened to Nandini and casual flings, hook-ups, transactional relations and a devious ambition were her coping mechanisms.

Under ordinary circumstances, Abhimanyu would have asked her to be careful, after all Manik was Mukti's brother, and somehow he could feel his and Mukti's relationship was going to last longer than they signed up for; he wouldn't ideally want a potential complication there, but he and Mukti had recently discussed about Manik, it wasn't really a discussion, she was mentioning some project that she and Manik were jointly working on and while she handled execution and the people management, their father had specially asked her to keep Manik's forte strictly to planning and strategy; he wasn't good with people, he wasn't a peoples person Mukti had said. Her father treated his employees like family and he worried Manik wouldn't treat them well, for him they were short term assets. Mukti had mentioned about Manik's almost wedding about a year back which he had backed out of. There was apparently no reason, he just didn't believe in marriages. There were ugly repercussions since Rosé was the daughter of a family friend. But he didn't care, in his defence he liked her, they had fun, but what more was there to look for? Manik didn't seem like the person Aupam thought he needed to worry for, and Nandini had so many walls around her that no one could break her open again, hence Abhimanyu didn't see why these two couldn't give their meaningless fling a shot; for once neither party would be hurt, plus Abhimanyu could never say 'No' to Nandz, he loved her too much!

***

It was Friday, well past midnight. Manik was at Alia's. While she showed him a good time, he was a bit restless tonight. He wanted to be out in the open, breathing a little fresh air, there was something about today that he couldn't place, he had been uneasy all day. He rechecked the date on the calendar, it still didn't strike a bell. He looked back at the bed to see a peacefully sleeping Alia; he was contemplating whether to stay back or leave. He knew Alia always insisted that he stayed the night whenever he came, it meant something to her, he didn't care what, but he always obliged anyway, out of courtesy, after all she wasn't asking for much. They were more or less stable, he wasn't very giving in their relationship, but Alia wasn't too demanding either, she was okay with whatever attention Manik gave her, she just wanted to be with him; for him it made sense, he had a place to crash when he didn't want to go home, his needs were taken care off, he didn't have much of an emotional investment here either, and he had been unfaithful to her plenty of times without her getting a whiff of it. It worked, they worked; but today was different, he couldn't stay back, he was unnecessarily anxious and he needed to get away. Just as he was about to leave, his phone flashed and his Facebook messenger shot up a notification, it was a text message from a certain Nandini Murthy.

Manik stopped; he looked at the notification, should he open it immediately? It was past 2am now, would it look desperate? But before he could delve on it further, two more messages popped from the same source, not being able to withhold his curiosity he opened the chat.

"Hey Manik, are you up for a drive?"

"Don't say no to sound all cool and unavailable"

"Plus, I could really use some help :C "

What help could she possibly need, Manik wondered as he walked out of Alia's house texting Nandini back.

"Hi there, what help do you need? I'm open"

"I'm stuck with a flat tire with no spare, on highway no. 13! SOS."

"Okay, I'm coming text me the location, I will take around half an hour"

"30 mins!? Like really, are you walking here?"

"Yes, I'm quite far from there, will take that long"

"Oh, okay. I figured you stayed close by, you'd reach the fastest".

Now Manik understood, honestly he was a bit surprised at her text, she had literally ghosted him for about two weeks now, ignored his text message and now suddenly in the middle of the night was asking for favours like she was a friend? Well this favour would get him one up in their silent battle of the egos, he smirked.

When he reached her, she was sitting on the boot of her car cross legged, typing something furiously on her phone; her hair was open and messy in the wind, unlike the evening he saw her at his place. She was wearing a dark coloured kurti and loose white palazzos; she didn't look up when his car stopped before hers, but she did when he approached her and cleared his throat. She quickly looked up and cleared her throat just like him, in mockery and laughed.

"So, how'd you manage to get stuck here and why weren't you waiting inside the car?" asked Manik in need of starting a conversation.

"I was returning –hic- from a funeral –hic- then flat tyre –hic-"

"Are you alright, do you want some water?" he asked, concerned, as he rushed back to his car to get some. He came back holding a bottle which she took and started drinking from it.

"Funeral? at this hour? And how'd you manage to get so drunk at a funeral? And you were driving like this?" he asked feeling bewildered at each of his own questions. She didn't reply for two minutes, once the hiccups subsided, she seemed slightly better focused and then she started responding.

"Yes, yes. Irish Wake of sorts, in a bar near the other end of town; we aren't really related, she was a friend of sort; now dead, will be remembered well with whiskey and tequila!" she mumbled as she laughed. It wasn't a happy laugh though, somewhere she did seem upset, but she wasn't close to acknowledging that; this made Manik curious.

"How'd you know her?"

"Through work"

"Through work? But unless you're close, who attends a colleague's funeral?" Manik asked, surprised.

"Well she wasn't exactly my colleague, she was in fact my mentor's client; one of his oldest clients, and friend...maybe even more, who knows...you know if there is such a thing as more?" she said, rolling her eyes, now getting off the car boot onto her feet in order to walk to Manik's car, but she was a bit dizzy and Manik lightly held onto her elbow for balance; she didn't notice.

"If she were one of his oldest clients, how did you know her? You couldn't have helped in their case; it must have been old" Manik asked further to keep her focused.

"Well, you're right, the case must have been booked when I was sixteen or something, but had been deferred for a decade and half now, trials postponed, judges transferred, fast-track cases takeover, other party unavailability, health issues etc. But I must say the lady had grit – she never let it close – the case; she kept pushing it and hence she kept coming to my mentor's office; that is where I met her first and later we also became sort of friends through my mentor; but look at today, Nyonica died before the case reached trials! There is no case now. Justice has been delayed or shall we say denied?" she finished with a smirk. They had reached Manik's car. There was a dull thud inside Manik's chest at the mention of the name, but it was such a common name, it could be about anybody, right?

"Nyonica who?" he asked as casually as his now conflicted mind and restricted windpipe allowed him; he got the door for her and she got into his car and shut the door behind her, he quickly got in through the driver's door and looked at her, she was hustling with the seat belt. He quickly moved forward and got it for her, then keeping his eyes fixed on his belt, he coaxed again.

"Nyonica who? Who was this lady?"

"Nyonica Zaveri, owner of the famous Zaveri Jewellers in South Bombay; very well renowned they are! Tomorrow it will be all over the newspaper, you will see" she mumbled.

The dryness that formed inside his mouth hearing the name made it impossible for him to talk, and suddenly he felt a tinge of bile in his mouth. He needed to breathe, he told himself firmly, and get a grip. Who was she to him anyway, an estranged mother who never cared if he lived or died?

"Manik, are you okay? You seem pale, should I drive?" he heard Nandini from beside.

"Honestly, you want to drive? Have you seen your state?" his words had come out more rudely then he intended.

"Listen, I'm sorry that came out wrong, I am fine, let's get you home" having said that they drove from there, both lost in their own world of thoughts.

***

A/N : Please note, the size of the chapters will kind of increase from hereon; I try writing short chapters but it is my inexplicable need to detail out each scene that sort of bloats the chapters up; also there is so much one chapter HAS to convey, else there is no point and it becomes half baked - so to cater to these, I end up writing really long chapters from hereon - please bear with me.

Also if you readers feel, they are too big, you can point it out, I can break them into two and publish - whatever floats your boat!

Lastly, please do read and let me know what you feel about this story so far!

Next chapter to be published on 10th April, 2022 (Sunday)

Much love,

A.