5. Eye-Locks......
Nandini stood outside the storeroom with her body leaning against the wall. Tears started flowing out of eyes. She didn't know whether she should be happy about the fact that manik also wanted her as much as she wanted him or should she be upset about the fact that he was the same guy who left for his own selfish reasons.
She heard the door knob turn. Composing herself and putting up a straight face she turned around to find manik standing there. His face was covered with sweat beads. Eyes were red. There were stains of dried tears on his face.
As soon as nandini saw his face fresh tears made their way and followed the path of the dried tears, washing off their stains. Her kohl was spread. Her state was completely messed up. She wanted to hug him. Run in his arms forgetting about the world, but the next very moment the pain of 4 years comes flashing back.
Not able to stand even a minute more nandini walked off from there. She passed the library looking at the floor. She didn't want to create a scene on her very first day of work.
On the other side manik walked off with a stern expression on his face. He entered his cabin and sat on the chair. Frustration. Anger. Pain. Guilt. Love. Happiness. Relief. So many emotions in one moment.
Frustration of not being able to justify himself. Anger of not being able make things work out the way he wanted. Pain of not being with her. Guilt of hurting her. Love for her. Happiness of seeing her. Relief that she is fine.
He buried his face in palms. All his emotions started flowing from his eyes. Helpless was the word that could describe his current state. He wanted to hug her once. Hold her in his arms. Kiss her face madly. Make sure that she was fine all these years. But alas! Fate had something else.
Manik stood up and walked towards the glass window. He stood there with his hands in his pocket. He was least bothered to clean his face. All he was worried about was how to get nandini back in his life. All the moments from the college days flashed in front of his eyes specially the ones with nandini.........
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Nandini walked back to her cabin. She seated herself on the chair and put her hands on the table resting her head on them. She let the tears of pain, Anger, Loneliness, Happiness, flow through her eyes.
Over these years she had learnt to control herself, but today was different. She was unable to stop her tears. She had missed him so much. She had missed his love so much. His hugs. His kisses. His flirty looks. Everything. Just everything about him. He was different. What she experienced with him was something beyond love. Maybe he was right. It's not love. It's Junooniyat!
She closed her eyes trying to control herself. But the moment she closed her eyes his smiling and laughing face crossed her mind. His voice echoed in her eyes. She gasped and stood up. No! She can't fall weak. Not again.
At that very moment her phone rang. "Bhai" flashed on the screen. She was nervous whether to pick it up or not. She knew if she missed it he would land up at the office. All thanks to navya for giving him the address. Mumbai roads weren't new for him. He had visited mumbai quite a lot of times with Vikram for business purpose.
Without a second thought she picked up the call.
Hello baby boo.
Rishabh spoke as soon as she received the call.
Nandini took a deep breath and replied,Hi.
Everything ok?-R
Hmm. Of course bhai.-N
Chhoti tu theek haina? Dekh tujhe koi problem hai toh tu mujhe bata sakti Hai. Don't worry we will find a solution. -R
Offo mere fikr minister ji! Shaant. Aap mujhe kuch bolne donge toh main kuch bol paungi na. -N
Theek hai. Theek hai. Ab bol. You sound low. -R
Nandini smiled to herself how he could sense her moods without physically being there.
No baba. Just that I love my office so much. There is so much to explore over here. I love this place.-N
Oho baccha toh isme emotional hone ki kya zaroorat hai. Mera pagal baccha.-R
Bhaiiiii. Main bacchi nahi hoon. -N
OK ok. Lady hulk calm down. But haan you will always be my baby......BABYYYYYYYYY-R
Rishabh purposefully stretched the word "baby" to instigate her.
Bhaiiiii.
Nandini yelled on the phone.
Rishabh broke into laughter on the other side.
Nandini too smiled listening to his laughter.
This was the magic in their bond. Rishabh distracted her easily without even getting it to her notice. Their bond was always admired by the Murthy's. They loved the way how the brother-sister handled each other. One harm on any one of them and the other would cause an earthquake on the land.
They spoke for some more time when nandini realised that it was 10:55am. She had to go for her first editorial meeting. The thought about the meeting brought back the memories of the events occurred in the storeroom.
She disconnected Rishabh's phone citing an excuse. She needed to look presentable for her first meeting.
--------------
Manik was still standing looking at the view from the glass. Sometimes he smiled remembering the happy memories, and sometimes tears slipped his eyes remembering those hurtful days.
His walk down memory lane was disturbed by the knock on the door. Carelessly he wiped his tears and called out Come in.
Cabir entered inside.
Manik?
Haan cabir aaja.
Manik spoke in a flat tone.
Manik tu theek haina?
Cabir asked. He noticed the stiffness in his posture and also the flatness in his voice. He walked towards manik.
Cabir held manik by his hand and turned him around. Seeing manik's red eyes it wasn't difficult to guess that manik had cried.
Unknown to the reason; Cabir hugged manik. That was all that was needed to break manik's fake strong walls.
Manik hugged cabir back and started crying clinging tightly to him. Cabir kept rubbing his back. After some minutes manik gained cotrol over his state and broke the hug.
Manik it's already 11:30am. Everyone is waiting for you. Jaldi se freshen up hoke aa ja. Warna teri aisi shakal dekh ke saare writers bhaag jayenge.
Manik just smiled at his words. Before leaving, cabir patted manik's sholder and passed him a small smile.
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Kya hua? Where's manik? Navya asked Cabir as soon as he entered the cabin. Cabir seated himself next to navya.
Aa raha. Koi client ke saath busy tha. Isiliye late hogaya. Cabir spoke looking at the file placed in front of him.
This was not the first time he had witnessed a broken and emotional manik. This had happened a lot of times before, When manik missed his mother. It was cabir who had always consoled manik.
Manik shared a very close bond with his mother. More like friends. It was a rare bond. The mother and son behaved more like friends than mother-son. Manik shared every bit of his schedule with his mother. Whereas his mother always told him everything. Secrets. Gossips. Tricks. They were a mirror to each other.
Cabir's thoughts were broken by manik who cane and sat next to him.
Sorry guys was stuck up in some work. Manik spoke looking towards the file on his desk. Not for once did he look up. Nandini immediately guessed it that he was lieing.
Manik looked up to address the writers but stopped when his eyes met hers. Their souls could feel each other's pain. Their eyes reflected the pain they were going through. Nandini started feeling restless and wanted to go away, but she couldn't. Facing him was the toughest job she had ever done.
Nandini's heart ached to see him go through the pain. His red eyes were an indication of his pain. She wanted to hug him. But this ego! Aha! It would never let her do that.
Navya got up from her place and moved towards Nandini's chair. So writers we have a new writer in our committee. Please welcome nandini murthy.
All the writers warmly smiled. Cabir also smiled, while maniks eyes were stuck on her lips that were curved in a fake smile. He could feel her pain. Her eyes told him that she had cried a lot. Even though nandini had put a lot of concealer to hide her tears. With concealer and other make-up products she could hide her pain from the world but not from the owner of her heart.
Navya then moved back to her seat. OK writers so what's today's agenda. Any progress? Navya asked while seating herself. By the way how's the ad-writing going? All of them started discussing regarding the work except three people~Nandini. Manik. And Cabir........
Nandini and manik were lost looking at each other. While Cabir was busy trying to guess the conversation that was taking place across the table. He somewhere felt that manik and nandini were hiding something, reason known only to them.
Their trance was broken by navya's voice.
Nandini. This is a new ad project for which we need a script. You can have a look at their description and submit the script by Wednesday after discussing with your team mates. Nandini nodded her head. She didn't speak a word.
Then on the meeting seemed to go smoothly. Neither nandini nor manik spoke a word through out the meeting except for the times when asked something. Cabir kept observing both of them very keenly. Their actions told a story which cabir was trying to decipher.
Manik does your file have copies of all our current projects? Navya asked breaking his trance. Manik looked into his file and nodded. Hmmmm. Yes it does.
Great can you pls give that to nandini. I don't have my file right now. Navya requested him. Nandini looked at him. He too looked at her. Both of them were again lost in looking at each other.
Nandini, as of now you can use this. Later I will give you a detailed file. Navya was busy talking about work and failed to notice the sparks going on in the room.
Nandini got up from her chair and walked towards manik. She extended her hand for the file. Manik handed her the file. She held the file from one end while manik was holding the file at the other end.
Both oF them were holding the file from two ends. None of them decided to leave it. They were looking at each other.
Their eyes spoke so many things. Their eyes were having a conversation.
{A/N:[Manik] [Nandini]}
Sorry.
I am angry at you.
I know
Was I not good enough for you?
You are every man's need.
Then why did you leave me?
I had my own reasons.
Yes....you and your reasons.
Nandini.
Manik.
I hate you.
But I still love you.
I hate you.
I will love you till the end.
I will never forgive you.
Nandini......
.........
Their trance was broken by cabir who purposely dropped a paper weight.
The sound of falling paper weight disturbed the duo and both of them left the ends of the file.....at the same time causing it to fall on the floor and the papers from the file scattered on the floor.
Manik and nandini bent down to pick it up at the same time causing their foreheads to crash. Cabir too bent down to pick up paper weight. He snickered seeing their heads dash.
Nandini started picking up the papers while scolding herself for being stupid and getting distracted. While manik also had pep talk with himself to control his emotions.
Nandini collected the papers and placed them in the file. Manik also collected a few papers left behind and took the file. Both their hands met and again they looked at each other. This time the contact didn't last longer as Navya broke their trance.
Are you guys ok? Navya asked. The entire meeting room were shocked to see manik Malhotra helping a writer pick up a file. In usual cases, the writer would have gotten an hour long lecture with a warning.
Both got seated at their respective places. Nandini pretended to be reading the file, while manik too pretended to be talking on the phone.
His pretendance didn't last long as his phone started ringing. In his entire act he forgot to put his phone on silent. Taking this as an opportunity cabir mocked him, manik tu itni der se kiss se baat kar raha tha jab ki tera phone toh call pe hai hi nahi?
Ha...haan sha...Shayad.....cu...cut hogaya.....mujhe pa...pata hi nahi chala. Manik fumbled. He was caught.
He glared at cabir for passing a cheesy line. Navya along with the employees tried suppressing their giggle, including nandini. Cabir smiled at him widely. Manik glared at him.
He moved away from his seat and picked up his phone. The screen flashed with a name "MV".
Hello. He spoke in a trance. He was looking at nandini who was silently giggling on him.
His trance was broken by a sweet voice on the other end.
Manik, meri jaan. How are you? Kitne din hogayi. Tune mujhe ek call bhi nahi kiya.
Ms. Mukti VardhaN. Call aap bhi kar sakti thi.
Accha toh call tu bhi kar sakta tha.
Fine. Meri galti. Ab khush. Chal bata aaj achanak meri yaad. Aur India kab aa rahi hai.
Guess what?
What?
I just landed in india.
What the hell? You can't be serious juliet
I m hell serious romeo.
Oh damn I m coming to pick you up. Wait there baby.
No no no. Chill. I m on my way to your office.
Superb. I am waiting. Come soon. Love you.
He cut the call. And turned to see that the writers had already gone. Only Navya and cabir were there. Both of them were listening to his conversation intently. Though they could only hear the conversation from manik's side, it wasn't difficult to guess that mukti vardhan had landed in india.
Guys guess what mukti is here. She is on her way to our office. Manik spoke with a different glint in his eyes. Cabir immediately stood up on his place.
Manik I am going on a month's leave. He declared with a sulky voice and frown decorating his forehead.
Navya and manik giggled. Kya yaar cabir. She is not that bad. Navya spoke wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
I agree buddy. She is not that bad. After all she is my college friend. Come on you can be so rude with her Manik spoke with a sarcastic smile. Cabir glared at both of them. Manik and Navya broke into fits of laughter.
Haan haan has lo. Uda lo mazak. But trust me guys this time I m not going to bear her. Cabir spoke in a threatening voice. Instead of getting scared or shutting their mouths, Navya and manik started laughing even louder.
Cabir huffed and left the room. Manik and Navya sat on the chair still laughing. After minutes both of them calmed down and got up to leave the room.
Navya, tum chalo main ek call karke aata hoon. Manik spoke while Navya was gathering her papers. OK. Navya smiled and walked out.
Before walking out Navya turned back and called manik.
Manik.....
Haan??
Iss baar pakka World War III will take place.....
Both of them again broke into laughter. Navya then left bidding him a bye while manik got busy in his phone.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
So I am back!!!
Missed me? I missed you guys a lot. Your comments and everything.
How was the update?
Detective cabir on a mission....😆
Manan eyelocks......😍
Arrival of Mukti Vardhan.......😎
Who is Mukti Vardhan? Why is manik excited to meet her?
Cabir and mukti at logger heads.....😜
Fun updates coming up.
The arrivAl of the updates purely depends on your response. 😜😜😜
If you think the writer is blackmailing......then you are absolutely right baby. I am blackmailing you. 😂😂😂😂
Please vote and comment😀
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