HOLY, 40 votes?! Please, I'm going to cryyyy!

I want to do a double update today, because you angels have been so patient with me during my creativity slump <3 Please don't let response drop because of this, pretty please? :P 

Inline commenters, I'm in love with you <3 

Enjoy your read and tell me what you think :")

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Manik

Didn't she say being around me would be the hardest thing she could ever do?

Why the hell did she say yes to the stupid game then, which would hold her back in my house for longer then?! Hanging out in my house, playing with my friends... wouldn't those only derail her from her resolve to be acquaintances with me?

Why the fuck did I care about any of that? No, I was least bothered. Those were her problems to solve; what she does, how she does, when she does... it was none of my concern. In fact, what actually irked me about it was... was the bastard that started it all – Cabir – was suppressing a wide grin with much difficulty as he put on some shades in the middle of the night.

Iss Cabir ki toh main... ugh!

We were by the side of the pool. A green cylinder of glass – identical to the bottle of beer in my other hand – piroutted in the circle, examining every one of us in short bursts. Some of us had pizza slices to chew on, while the others had a drink. Cabir in particular endorsed both, alternating between a bite and a sip!

Sighting her in the middle of the group of non-vegetarian alcohol-enthusiasts, I studied Nandini Murthy, a vegetarian teetotaller.

Cross-legged opposite to me, she became a recipient of all my shrewd glares and my plentiful eye-rolls but Madam had not blessed me with even one sparing look. Nothing. Her hands simply rested in her lap where the ends of her dupatta met, and she fiddled with them with a slight frown on her face, eyeing the bottle.

One of my hands swirled the icy water mindlessly; it resisted . I never hated the ends of a dupatta as much as right now. It became my personal mission to make sure she would regret her decision, to stay back and torment me, by the end of the night.

Dreadfully, she seemed to be praying to her Aiyappa and mutely hoping for it to not stop on her.

It was more of a reason why I wanted it to land on her: at least that would send the stubborn, hypocritical, overly assertive ethereal woman away from my house. Away from me.

Mukti was to Nandini's immediate right, followed by Dhruv, myself, Alia and Cabir. When it slowed down at her but finally pointed at Dhruv, she let out a huge breath of relief. He scanned the crowd in order, choosing his prey for the game.

All our childhood friends were in one place, together – all but one.

The shrewd awareness that she had stolen her brother's spot dawned on me heavily, causing me to tremble in the slight breeze that surrounded us. I lazily sipped on my third beer for the night, and relaxed the chill away.

As his steadfast focus paused on Nandini, I promptly straightened in my spot, unintentionally glowering at the unspoken conversation that transpired between the two pairs of eyes. He lingered his gaze on her, tensing a nerve in my skull.

Of course he was watching her intently, how could I forget that he was once in 'louuu' with her?!

As the misfit of the group was spotlighted, she nervously bobbed her head without breaking eye contact with him. Seriously?! The grinding of my jaws were not subtle. I violently smouldered a look between the two of them. Where the hell was her common sense?

Why was she giving him mixed signals?

Didn't she say she didn't want to be in a relationship?

Or was it that such callous blanket statements were only reserved for Manik Malhotra?

Oscillating looks between the two of them, what started as fierce aggression at the budding chemistry watered down into uncontrollable irritation at the mere sight. Exhibiting my lack of control over a situation that was at arms reach from me, happening right before me. I ripped my eyes away from the repulsive couple. Which idiot thought they would make a perfect pair?!

From the corner of my eye, I watched as she shook her head slowly, barring him from choosing her. His facial muscles twisted. "I'll pick myself," He appeased. "I have a special recliner... in my house." His flickering gaze twinkled at her as if they shared an understanding, an inside joke of their own. It perplexed me.

Was he... was he trying to save her from the group's plans by divulging information he was sure she had already known?

How did she know what his house looked like?

My fist closed by my side, as I tipped the bottle in my hand, drowning myself with a distraction. Pathetic.

The corners of Nandini's lips thoughtfully twisted upwards, and he blinked away, rubbing his own lips coyly to hide his smile.

It made me want to throw up.

"I want to learn more about astronomy." Dhruv continued, "And I... have found my... right person." Alia widened her eyes.

My heart thudded rapidly at his words, which ignited an uncertain fury-filled warmth in my chest. No, no fucking way.

Cabir pulled his sunglasses off and knitted his eyebrows, the smile that previously painted his face now gone. Suspiciously passing looks to Dhruv and her, who were sandwiching Mukti, he wondered what the fuck was going on between them. At least in that one aspect, Cabir and I aligned. Finally.

On one hand, every bone in my body urged to pin the man down and threaten him until he bailed on his plan but the other rather rational side of me registered that I had no hold on her.

She was free to go wherever she pleased, to whomever she pleased. Nandini Murthy was not bound to me. In her words, I was just her acquaintance.

Not a furious ex that itched to have a hold on her.

Out of the blue, I fuelled my own rage, bubbled in it and unwillingly snorted "Impossible!" while eyeing my buddy, as if possessed by a monstrous creature.

Amused by the unconcealed detest, Cabir shifted his chin from one cupped hand, resting its elbow on his thigh, to the other. Clearly, he was enjoying the free drama. Some moments longer and he would have volunteered to go to the kitchen and bring out a bag of popcorn to feast alongside the show.

I quickly rectified my dramatic flair on noticing an audience to my supposed outburst, "As in..." and casted my vote by holding up three fingers. "Three's a lie."

Nandini sharply scrutinised me, as if I had distorted her beautiful dream that was in the process of manifesting into a forever. An iciness washed over me while I maintained my pretense. Giving back a thin, meek, meaningless smile, I kept my ugly thoughts to myself.

Her vote was also on three. What the others picked was irrelevant. Hence, she was safe from the dip, just as he intended.

I hated that. 

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Cabir

I munched on my slice of cheesy garlic pizza, fuelling my brain for an alternative plan.

After the right person bullshit Dhruv spewed, that had Nandini almost dancing to those tunes, one thing was certain: either the woman had completely moved on from my friend, or was playing a brilliant part in making everyone believe so. Knowing the person she was through those journals, the latter seemed more probable, but why?

Why was she pretending to be okay?

Was it because of Mukti? That girl was barely holding it together from what I had observed. It was as if someone was keeping her hostage, at gun point, in order to muscle through the game. Her focus was staggered, often trailing into parts of the bushes, the landscaping, the interiors of the home and many other physical components of what made up her house.

In seven years, this was probably her first time returning home. My eyes softened.

I looked over at the man whose house it was, who was heaving heavily at the revolting sight of them.

Together.

In close confines.

Gazing into each other.

Hell, the view was triggering, even to me! How was Manik coping?

All this was unfolding in front of the man himself.

How devastating must he be feeling, that he could do absolutely nothing about it.

Textbook jealousy was what it was, at its finest. Usually a third entry, more often than not, proved to be vital in making two very difficult people realise their feelings for each other. Out of which one bird was down.

I only returned to the game when Alia squealed, "Cabir, where are you lost? It's your turn." I looked down. Right, the bottle had landed on me.

It was time to play my move wisely.

"Manik..." He irritably eyed me, challenging me to 'ek baar karke toh dekh, phir dekh kya karta hoon main tera!' If so, challenge accepted Mr. Manik Malhotra. "He is currently single." I trailed, gauging reactions amidst the group, especially Nandini's. Her ears perked at the information.

So it was not a hopeless case.

I revelled in the joy of that realisation, that even though she stared into the abyss of the pool, her focus was entirely on the series of confessions. In that moment, it appeared that she and he were just the same.

My target sighted her and then frowned at me. I could have sworn on my life, just by that look alone, that I was moments away from being ripped raw. He would realise though, that I was doing all this for him.

Shrugging at the blank threat, I swayed from side to side. "He loved the road trip to Lonavala." Nandini squinted. Perhaps she was wondering which Lonavala trip we were talking about. In fact, wasn't it much better if she guessed the wrong answer or revealed a secret we didn't yet know?

Internally grinning to myself, I mused, barely impacted by Manik's subsequent death stare while Nandini persistently avoided eye contact.

"Nothing sways his music," I finished. Shifting my weight on a palm stretched out somewhere behind me, I grabbed a new bottle of beer from the chiller bin. Without me having to ask, Manik reached over and pulled the drink out of my hands, characteristically snapping it open with his kada. It caught Nandini's attention for a prominent period of time, as if triggering a flashback.

Passing a small wave at the vendor of the makeshift shop, Manik placed an order for, "Bhaiyya, do nimbu soda dena. Cheeni nahi," as he went around his bike, spinning the keys in one hand.

Bhaiyya? So he knew this guy from before?

I gave him a ridiculous look as Manik shoved his fists in his pockets, appearing rather beamy about something. That was a strange sight to witness – Manik in uplifted spirits – more strange than a boy with an insane amount of wealth chilling by a roadside cart, drinking carbonated water out of a recycled bottle that who knew was properly washed or sanitised before this.

His wallet came out, along with a hefty note that was exchanged for smaller denominations.

"What's wrong with you? Tu kabse yeh sab peene laga?" I crossed my arms, pulling my shades down to my nosebridge as Manik tucked the leather booklet back.

"Arrey trust me, this place na... it makes it really good." Breathing a lungful of polluted air, Manik recited that it was a great time to be outside.

Between incessant honks and parading cars, great? Not the word I would use to describe it, but alright, whatever floated his boat!

Two paper cups were filled with a teaspoon's worth of freshly squeezed lemon and a pinch of salt. As two clear glass bottles knocked on the wooden plank of a surface, the boy behind the ledge bent to retrieve something. "Nahi, kholna nahi." Under Manik's authoritative stance, the boy promptly rose to the surface, "Main karlunga."

How?

Before I could voice my question, his fingers held his kada in place as the crimps from the bottle latched under one edge of it. With one pop, some carbonated fumes dissipated from the rim.

"Oh - kay?! Weird flex." I suggested, holding the cup he was pouring the carbonated liquid into.

"What, are you saying it's not even a little impressive?" Manik smirked, poking a cheek with his tongue. If I wasn't mistaken, there was also a hint of pink plastered on the apples of his cheeks. "It's a multi-purpose tool, alright? A wearable bottle-opener..."

I scoffed with a chuckle, mirroring Manik's warmth. "Yeah yeah, whoever said that to you was just trying to impress you."

He arched a brow, as if suggesting otherwise, and filled his own glass. We cheers-ed in the air, sipped on the beverage, and leaned on our bikes while discussing the latest Manchester United match at that time.

As I looked up, I locked eyes with Nandini. She seemingly recounted a similar incident but the emotions it left behind, on her, resembled that of a drained, parched woman with nothing left to feel excited for.

Lacking a valid reason to thrive, not merely survive.

That blatant blankness disappeared when she blinked, realising she was looking into the distance somewhere beyond me. She gave me a bland smile, deeming it necessary to brush my perceptions away.

The votes for the lie came up one after the other. Nandini held up one finger and Mukti rose two. The rest picked three, especially after the SPACE College performance anecdote I narrated to them earlier tonight. Manik himself appeared confused by Nandini's choice, yet did not bother picking. Instead, he took a sip off the bottle anyways.

"Three it is," I urged as Alia and Dhruv high-fived each other.

A perplexed look of unusual possessiveness painted Nandini cheeks as she eyed Alia, the woman who seemed to know Manik inside-out. My mention of Manik being single, followed by Alia's cheer on the win, must have triggered such a reaction within Nandini. It was completely valid. After all, looking at it from her point of view, hadn't Alia crushed on him since 7th standard?

If only she had known, however, that the truth of the matter was Manik was in love with Nandini – if not now, at least at some point in his life, she was his lover.

Alia did not even stand a chance of being his girlfriend. 

Mukti glanced at her brother, wondering how the lie was the third statement when it seemed like he was giving his everything into the performance. If anything, wasn't he going all in, rather than being distracted or diverted from his music?

It marked her second loss for the night. She reluctantly had a sip of her drink.

"So Nandini," I turned towards her, holding back my suspicious grin from the previous instance where I caught her glaring at Alia, "That counts as your first dip, huh?" In a rogue manner, I gestured towards the pool. "All yours..."

Hesitating, the girl stood up, feeling flushed. Her chiffon cyan dupatta, one that matched her churidar, was transferred to Mukti's lap as Mukti repeatedly checked whether she was sure about it.

In every moment of her reluctance, my stern concern for the woman budded as well. It was one thing that a figment of our memories linked to one another, but her unyielding resistance to still give a space in her heart... only to Manik... I resonated with that feeling so much.

Then why was she pretending to be unaffected?

Manik pretending, I could understand. Admitting to his weaknesses were always something uncharacteristic of him, but Nandini wasn't like that. She effortlessly wore her heart on her sleeve, and it was such an ingrained part of her that it was impossible to believe that aspect of her character had completely been wiped out because of a boy who could not appreciate her love.

How was she hiding it so despicably well? I envied her for it.

Nandini made her way to the bars and them for support. As she put one foot on the first step, it cut through the chilly water, sending a visible shiver down her spine. Trembling, Nandini gripped the bars. On the other side, Manik's tense features that were welding down on her only minutes ago transformed in subdued, somewhat afflicted glances.

"Ek second, ek second..." came his voice, abrupt yet thoughtful as he laced his fingers through some ripples. "Paani toh waise thanda hai." He got onto his knees, pouting as he eyed his bottle. "Kyoon na hum iss game ko... aur interesting banaaye, hmm?"

While Nandini could not comprehend his words, Manik steered around me and stood at a point between Nandini and I, by the pool bank. Sucking a breath and his lip, he questionably remarked, "One dip per loss did you say, Cabir? Let's double it. After all... where's the fun when the stakes are low?" One of his eyebrows perched at Nandini, and he studied her intently. Disinterestedly.

Like the monster he was.

I cleared my throat. "What... what are you suggesting?"

"Two losses, and she swims a lap."

Nandini gaped at him, while Dhruv jumped in to her rescue with, "Swim?"

Mukti interjected and rushed her words, "She can't –"

"– swim, I know," Manik completed, not letting his gaze trail away from the girl of his dreams – rather the enemy he had presently taken to war. "Don't be so shocked, she's my friend. Of course I know at least some things about her," he dryly chuckled, gulping down a big swallow of alcohol as Nandini shot daggers back at him, shaking her head in utter disappointment.

It changed something in him: her disapproval always did.

If she couldn't swim, the idea of dipping in water would be terrifying for her. Why was he playing with that fear? What the hell was going on in his mind?

"Back to the game, guys!" He clapped, refusing to cave to it bringing everyone back to their spots. Mukti pulled Nandini towards the exit in an attempt to bail, but as Nandini stopped and released Mukti, the girls had a mute discussion and finally returned to the game.

I was freaking dreading this round.

The bottle spun and landed on Mukti. A new resolve captured her as she made her pick. "I'll – um – choose myself." She started, looking at her closest friend in the group – her brother's ex. She sighed, "I'm a nurse now. I've lost the connection I used to feel with music. Harshad and I... we've been in touch."

The dreaded name that destroyed us hung in the air onimously, and Nandini's gaze snapped to Mukti. Unaffected by their conflicted looks, I twitched my lips, picking the second statement. "You've been into hardcore electronic music for as long as I have known you."

"Clearly not long enough," came her sharp retort, and as she heard herself, she paused.

Alia gulped. "You talk to Bhai?" Bhai. My lazy thoughts rushed to the idea of Ranbir being that person for me. I shook my head, and the haze of that drowsy idea.

As if owing an explanation to Nandini, she directed at her, "He came once to the hospital. This was the day Dr. Sharma ran – some reports," she modified, withholding some information from the group as Mukti spared a quick look at Dhruv.

I couldn't help but ask, "What reports?"

Could that explain Nandini's aloofness? Was she sick?

Was she dying?!

Manik too was frowning, trying to put two and two together on his own. That round slipped without Nandini taking a loss, thankfully but there was one headstrong, confused man who disregarded that round as a foul, and cheating.

When the bottle landed on Alia, she said, "Okay... Cabir is an amazing lyricist. He met his doppelganger and he does not believe in one true love. There, that was easy."

Mukti, noting the ridiculous coincidence of meeting a look-alike in a country of over a billion, held two fingers up, as did Nandini, while the others held up three. With snapping fingers, I ordered that Malhotra to, "Chug the whole goddamn glass!"

While Manik smirked victoriously at the smell of their defeat, particularly his ex's, Nandini's jaw fell at the odds.

"Really, how? And who?" She innocently asked. I had only then noticed that the shine in her dimmed down. She seemed upset about something. Was it because Mukti held a secret from her?

That was Nandini's business, who was I to probe?

I had my own issues to worry about. "You know his wife very well, actually." I suggested distractedly, creating a crease between my eyebrows. "He's Navya's husband."

While Nandini was in the middle of processing that Navya's husband was someone who looked exactly like me, Mukti was still several steps behind her. "Since when was Navya married?!"

Tensions surrounding how to handle her brother must have consumed too much of her focus, otherwise she would have noticed the signs while Navya dropped them off. We quickly briefed them about how the group looked her up on LinkedIn and met Navya Dhawan at her workplace to surprise her, only to be freaked out of our own senses.

Nandini Murthy had scored two losses. Manik's eyes rolled from his friends' to cautiously regarding her... judging her cowardice as she stood up again, to take the fall. The second time, she didn't rethink her decision. All it took was some bravery to reach those metallic steps. Resisting the temptation to back out, she leapt from the second ledge into the water.

On first instinct, Manik stood up, ready to pounce in behind her but as her hand came up, a loud splash was heard.

Dhruv, her guardian angel, was already there in the water.

Rescuing her. 

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