A/N : Honestly, its a bit disappointing to see so little traction for the story here. I will be patient for now, hoping the that with more chapters I will gain readership.

One request to the existing readers, if you think this story seems good, and you want me to write and publish the full story, please help me garner readers by giving a shout out for this book here, in Insta, In Twitter etc. 

As much as I am dedicated to write this book for the few peeps who are reading, but I will be truly motivated only when more and more readers give this a chance! :)

Happy Reading,

A.

***

Walmart, 5th Avenue, New York circa 2011

(International Food aisle)

Nandini Murthy

Ayappa!! Why did you have to make me so damn short? I scolded the dude sitting on the clouds and currently laughing at my misery. And if He decided to make me short, then why'd He give departmental store designers at Walmart, the brilliant idea of placing super high shelves in their stores, with essentials!?

"Damn it!" I cursed as I tried jumping up to reach the topmost shelf; needless to say, I failed. I looked around quickly, there was no attendant around, and the only other person present there was an old caucasian lady, who was, can you believe it, even shorter than me! We both looked at each other helplessly and smiled, before she moved on to make her purchase.

"Ahem ahem, need some help there, Miss Miniature?" I frowned at the familiarity of the voice and turned around. There he was, in his full glory, in a red V-neck tee and pair of blue ripped denims, sporting a grey jacket and his ever favourite NY cap. Manik Hotness Malhotra!

"What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised.

"Same as you, I came here to chat with the merchandise on the top shelf there" he said rolling his eyes, pointing at the shelf, I was trying to get my things from.

"Very funny" I mumbled, looking down, going slightly pink in embarrassment, as I tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. Ayappa, why can't I ever come back with a witty reply before this guy!?

"What do you want from there, Nandini?" he sighed, after a moment. I looked up surprised, did he just call me Nandini? I mean, I know, that's my name, but didn't he always call me Miss Rule Book or something? But I liked how he pronounced my name, with the extra emphasis on the 'Nan'..aww.

"Can you stop talking inside your head, and reply to me for once?" he asked exasperated now.

"What, what nonsense. I wasn't talking inside my head, Manik! I was thinking what all I need from that shelf." I managed to save my ass really shabbily this time.

"Enlighten me, ma'am" he replied bored.

"Chettinad chutney from there" I pointed out, as he removed it from the shelf for me. Dude he is tall like a giraffe that way; here I was jumping like a frog just to make it to the fourth shelf.

"What else?" he asked, looking at me.

"Powdered curry leaves and that packet of instant mix for idli, to your right" I called out.

"God, seems like you're turning our kitchen into 'Chota Chennai'" he commented as he got those packs I requested for.

"What, don't you like Southie food?" I asked, surprised. Really? I am going to deduct a full 5 points for this, from him. How can anyone not like South Indian food, man!

"Hate it." he replied, as he waited for me to check if there was anything else on the top shelf that I needed.

"You have a terrible taste in food, Manik" I said biting my tongue showing my disapproval. He looked at me for a few seconds, and then he chuckled a little before moving on with his shopping.

"Text me when you're checking out, we can go together, I have the car" he replied without looking back and soon was out of sight. Monkey. But a hot monkey. Nandu, you really need to stop!

S.P.A.C.E. Academy, New York circa 2011

(Common kitchen, S.P.A.C.E. Residency)

I stared at his grocery items, as he unloaded them on the kitchen counter, to put them in place. He saw me staring and raised his eyebrows in question.

"This is all you shopped for the week? Four crates of canned beer, 2 dozen eggs, a one kilo pack of dietary protein supplement and a large bar of chocolate?" I asked in disbelief.

"Oh no, I also bought these" he smirked and showed me another packet that he hadn't pulled out of his shopping cart until now. I stared at his hand, with eyes that widened like saucers, in seeing what looked like a super saver family pack of condoms!

"Yuck! Seriously, with food Manik?" I rolled my eyes in disbelief as he kept chuckling and giggling.

"What, both are for managing my appetite!" he replied with a straight face, and I couldn't help laughing this time. Woah, that body and so much sex, mmmhm. Nandu my friend, you have officially lost it.

"So, more eggs for dinner?" I asked him, clearly trying to divert my thoughts and the topic.

"What, no. I thought we were going to Chennai for dinner! What was all that shopping for?" he asked with a surprised face.

"Excuse me, you thought I would make you dinner now? What am I, your friendly next door bai? I asked annoyed, and regretted almost instantly seeing his enthusiastic face fall and he looked at me with helpless puppy eyes. Argh..Ayappa! Why does he have to be so cute!?

"You don't even like this cuisine!" I pointed out hiding a smile.

"And you can't cook to save your life. I am banking on that. As long as it's not authentic Southie food, I can manage" he winked as I glared at him in vexation.

Anyone else finds a lot of similarities between him and our Dufus Murthy?! Urgh. Men. Hmph.

An hour later, I was looking at the soggy broth of clotted powder and sighing. As per my reference video on YouTube, it ought to have turned idli-like by now, but presenting to you from the house of Nandini Murthy, an off-white broth that looks like boiling mud. How will I ever recover from this embarrassment, when S.P.A.C.E.'s own Gordon Ramsey was awaiting my idlis, as I watched him enthusiastically set up the table for our dinner! I was watching him closely, and gauging the distance between where I stood and the door. Could I possibly dash out of the door without him noticing, and like never ever freaking return? He must have felt my gaze on him, as he turned around to look at me and raised his eyebrows in question; I quickly shook my head and turned around, praying to Ayappa for a miracle so that my idlis somehow magically came into being. But, ladies and gentlemen, at this point, everyone knows, Ayapaa and I kind of share a love-hate chemistry here. As much as I want to believe that dude is on my side, He leaves no opportunity in proving me wrong; because while I was mentally chidding Ayappa for putting me in a spot, my most dreaded moment arrived without me even realising it.

"Umm, you call that idli? Looks more like plaster of paris if you ask me" came that unmistakable cocky voice from right behind me. I shut my eyes tightly, quickly trying to decide whom to glare at first, my mental image of Ayappa, or the face I will see when I open my eyes!

"What do you know, you don't even know half the Southie dishes; it is not 'idli' it's 'idla', it is supposed to be a little runny and slurpy." I found myself making up instant gibberish, but you have to give it to me, it sounded quite convincing, since Manik actually considered it for a moment.

"Idla" he muttered to himself before fishing his phone out of his pocket; I am sure this over smart guy was going to Google it now. Damn it. Do something fast Nandu! You have a reputation to protect!

"Err, you don't need to look for it online Mr. Malhotra, let me tell you the difference between 'idli' and 'idla'" I tried, and don't know if Ayappa is finally scared of my threats or was it just my lucky day, but Manik seemed to buy this too! He shoved the phone back and looked at the broth with an unsure face before turning to me and waiting for my explanation.

"It's simple Manik, it's like noodles and soupy noodles. One is dry, while the other is runny, but has the same taste!" I delivered with confidence this time; as he frowned looking at the food. I had to take control of every facial muscle of mine to stop myself from cracking up in laughter seeing his innocent vulnerable face. Mr. Buddhu Malhotra!

Needless to say, that night we had eggs and bread that is toasted golden brown again, courtesy Chef Malhotra.

S.P.A.C.E. Academy, New York circa 2011

(Nandini's bedroom, S.P.A.C.E. Residency)

It had been a couple of days since the entry of Mr. Freaking Hot Malhotra in my life and although he can be a real annoying ass sometimes, I was mostly happy with this new development. Not only was he hot, and turned up the sexy factor by many notches, but also because he was kind of cute and goofy in his own weird ways.

There is also one more thing I noticed about him, he doesn't seem to like staying alone. He is seldom in the residency, and almost every wakeful moment he is in, he finds a reason to hang out with me. He usually gives me my space, and hasn't ever come into my bedroom so far, but he'd text me to come to the kitchen and we'd chill for hours. He is very generous in sharing his beer and Netflix password too. So oftentimes we'd hang in the kitchen having beer and watching movies. Oh I forgot to mention this, the other evening we were watching the Endgame and right at the end, after Iron man's death (which always leaves me teary eyed), when we see Captain America going back to live his life with his long lost love, I was a bag of mush by then, my eyes were red and teary and I think my hand accidentally touched his! As much as my manners told me to move my hand away, but I was already so emotional with the movie, plus I was PMSing, I felt I could do with the little bit of warmth that I was getting from the touch. I don't know if he realised that our hand touched, but even if he did, he didn't remove his hand, and we sat like that right until the end of the movie. Bliss. Nandu, you are so damn desperate!

My train of thoughts were broken, as I got a video call, and I quickly got to my bed to grab the iPad and receive it. It was 'chachi' on the call, and even after chatting for a few minutes, she seemed a little worried. Upon enquiring she finally let me in, that she was worried for Abhi. I frowned with this new piece of information; worried for Mr. Sunshine? She told me, he apparently didn't talk much nowadays, he wasn't his happy self either, he'd brood a lot and never answer if they asked him what was wrong. I was taken aback, whatever happened to my ass of a brother now? I somehow couldn't imagine a morbid version of Abhi, the vision was so unrealistic that it was almost borderline funny. Dark much? I'm kidding. As much as he annoys the life out of me, I love that ass to the moon and back, and now I needed to know what was wrong with our very own Mr. Dufus Murthy. I decided to call him.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked him as he received my call.

"Why are you bothering me?" he questioned back, not meeting my eyes.

"Why'd you receive the call if you're so bothered. Ass!" I remarked in irritation.

"Thought you needed me or something" he muttered.

"Abhi, why are you in such a power-saving mode?" I asked with a silly smile, hoping it'd lighten his mood. I could see 'chachi' was right, even his bickering felt forced.

"Nandu yaar, don't bore me. Go study, work or something. I got to go" he prattled on, but interestingly didn't hang-up. It was very unlike my big-jerk-brother.

"Bhaiya are you okay?" I asked him seriously this time, his behaviour was odd and it was bothering me. His head snapped up as he heard me. I don't even remember the last time I had a serious conversation with him. The word 'Bhaiya' was coined for only such serious conversations in the Murthy household.

Abhi seemed a bit unsure for a few moments, before he decided to open up a bit. "I miss you Nandu" he barely whispered. I was stumped in surprise; it had to take a bigger event than an asteroid hitting him on the head, for him to confess this to me.

"Enough of this Abhi, just tell me what is wrong" I asked paranoid now, but to my surprise he chuckled; the return of Mr. Dufus Murthy. He just simply stared at me with an amused face for a few seconds before responding.

"Okay, promise you won't laugh" he asked with an awkward smile.

"I will try not to." I chirped back this time, sensing his big uneasiness was something of an embarrassment and nothing serious. He nodded.

"I kind of feel like a d*ck for what I did with you" he replied softly, looking down. I stared at him in incomprehension; he realised that and elaborated further.

"Nandu, I was only taking your case that day talking about independence and shit. I didn't really mean to put you in this position." he replied with a sad face. Suddenly what's with men in my life, acting all cute!?

"What position?" I asked in surprise; from where I see it, I am stuck in an empty residency with a super-smoking hot guy, who always seems to want to hang out with me. If this is punishment, I embrace thee!

"I know this job non-sense of yours is all a lie, you didn't either get the job or didn't manage to save enough money for the tickets. I know last minute tickets are expensive as hell. I really didn't think you'd not come home for Christmas, you idiot." he replied grumpily.

"If you knew I didn't have the money how'd you think I'd manage, you ass?" I demanded haughtily.

"I don't know. I just thought you'd give in and we'd buy the ticket for you. What's with this new thick headedness?" he asked, pissed.

"Well technically I'm not asking, but you could still present me a ticket for Christmas" I replied with a smirk; and at once his face glowed like a thousand watt bulb in happiness.

"Aye aye, captain!" he replied with a fake salute and I laughed some more.

"But now that everything is sorted, we will have to delete this conversation from our memories" he said seriously. He was only evoking our age-old Abhi-Nandu pact, according to which, when we have an emotional conversation, after it's done, we'd erase it from our minds, because whether people believed it or not, we are best at bickering with each other, and that's how we'd like to keep it forever.

"What conversation, you think I'd waste time having a real 'conversation' with you, The Dufus Murthy?" I rolled my eyes dramatically for effect.

"Ja bey, I don't have the time for your fancy nonsense" he retaliated, before disconnecting the call. I smiled in relief, Dufus and I were back to bickering, the earth was back on its axis.

But 'Yay'! I am going to be India bound in a few days. Oh wait, but Manik? I guess I have to tell him that I will be away for a month now.

S.P.A.C.E. Academy, New York circa 2011

(Manik's bedroom, S.P.A.C.E. Residency)

I still want to know why I agreed to this. After talking with Abhi, I had immediately texted Manik asking him to come to the kitchen, I knew he was home, I could hear him talk to someone on the phone in the evening while we were in the kitchen, saying he planned to chill at home today. At that moment I secretly got happy thinking it meant our time, because he never liked being alone at home; but strangely he never texted me today, then I got busy with Abhi. So after my India plan, I decided to text him myself. He replied asking me to come over to his room, he had had a few friends over. As much as I wanted to give them the space, but curiosity got the better of me, I wanted to have just a glimpse of who his friends were, so I readily agreed. I would just go, see them and say a quick hi, then inform him about my sudden plan and leave. Simple. But now we know the drill, Nandini Murthy's life, and simple? Got to be a joke.

I knocked on his bedroom door excitedly, as he opened it in a flash. He was casually dressed in a tee and shorts, like I was in my nigh suit and shorts. He grinned at me and stood by the door to let me enter, there were a bunch of people lying around. My eyes landed on a very pretty Indian girl, who was sitting on one corner of the bed, all dolled up; I automatically brushed my night suit with my hand, I was alarmingly under-dressed in front of her. Manik followed my gaze and introduced me to her first, her name was Aliya, I greeted her, and she responded, but it felt a bit cold, I have no clue why, this was the first time I was seeing her. Next I was greeted by Chole, who I happened to know by face, she stayed in the same residency as my best friend Navya, then there was a shy Indian guy by the name of Dhruv, he hardly met my eyes when we greeted, he seemed a total misfit for this group, followed by another girl named Jenna, she was sweet and warm with me like Chole, and lastly, I was introduced to another Indian guy named Harshad, he was the only guy who could give Manik a fight for his good looks. Harshad Saxena was Aliya's brother and a very warm and friendly person. I took to instantly liking his vibe, he hugged me warmly and welcomed me and I finally sat with them in Manik's room. As I sat with them for a while, we were all talking about common friends, events in colleges, hangout places etc. I noticed Harshad was making extra efforts in talking to me and everytime we tried having a conversation, Manik interrupted us with silly trivial things. Mr. Annoying Malhotra much? First you hang out with pretty girls in your bedroom which not to mention also stocks a super saver family pack of condoms, then you break into my small flirting game with another man? Things were all great up until this point, but it all took a different direction when Aliya suggested we played 'Never Have I Ever', I was right, she did give a bimbo vibe. This was such a lame choice of game.

Half an hour into the game a realisation hit me, Manik's gang of friends were very very different from me. They were so much more exposed to the world than me. Here I am, my strange self, talking to Ayappa half the time in my head and whining why I don't have a boyfriend, and there they were discussing threesomes, kissing the same sex, making out in public, counting the number of people they have slept with, the kind of drugs they have wasted on. It felt surreal and although I hate to admit it, I was in a culture shock. If there is any truth in the saying, 'you are judged by the company you keep' then Manik was so not my cup of tea. This was his type, I was just his boring time pass during a lonely Christmas break. And for some reason, this piece of information bothered me more than it should. I was only crushing on him, it wasn't serious. I wasn't supposed to feel bothered.

There were three feelings running rampant inside me at that point of time. One, I wasn't Manik's type; two, all my answers in the game were boring and I feared I embarrassed Manik before his friends; three, Harshad seemed like the only grounded one around, and my instinct told me to stick around with him as long as I was here. I was planning to leave, the moment the game was over, I felt it would be rude, if I walked out mid-way. However, Ayappa seemed to have taken pity on me and in a few moments, my phone flashed, with Abhi's email, and I quickly checked it to see my flight tickets for India, confirmed for the next morning. I was amidst a myriad of emotions, a part of me wanted to rush to India and stay away from Manik and his life which was consuming me at an impossibly fast pace, another part of me wanted to stay back, but was shy because it felt I was not up to the mark to fit into Manik's friends group, and another part of me just felt sad leading such a sober life that it made me sound like a bore before so many new people.

"Excuse me, I have something urgent on me, I got to go" I quickly informed everyone then I got up to leave; Harshad gently held onto my hand asking me what happened, but before I could respond, Manik came and pulled my hand out of his grip, pulling my focus onto him.

"You wanted to talk right, anything urgent?" he asked with a slight frown on his face, as he stared at me. I figured, my inner turmoil must be reflecting on my face, so I tried covering it up with a small smile.

"No, no. Nothing urgent, just wanted to tell you I am leaving for India tomorrow morning. There's a change of plans, I am going back for the holidays. Anyway, you have fun, I will say bye before leaving tomorrow." saying that I smiled at both the men and before Manik could ask me anything, I left his room, shutting the door behind me.

I might be overthinking this, but did he look vulnerable when I mentioned about my trip? Naah. I guess he just has that kind of a face, everybody falls for him too easily. Too easily. 

***

So, how do you think MaNan is shaping up in this story?

Do you like their chemistry?

Do let me know your thoughts on this chapter, eager to hear from you always!

Next update : 27th Dec, 2020

Cheers!