**Present Day**

"..Manik..say something.."Raj was hell worried now. It's been almost twenty minute that Nandini told Manik everything..

..from the events that happened on that fateful night to the one that followed after till Nandini left for Denmark for her treatment.

Both Nandini and Raj expected Manik's outburst..

..but there wasn't any..

..which scared both of them like anything...

..because they both knew what this deadening silence mean.

Manik's anger was something that the entire world was scared off..

..however there was something else that was even worse..

..and that was..

..MANIK'S SILENCE.

Reason: It was more like silence before the storm which meant that something was about to happen..

..but exactly what...

..this uncertainty was eating both Raj and Nandini's mind.

Because the only thing that was even way more scary that Monster Manik was this this UNPREDICTABLE MANIK.

Manik was looking down while sitting on the couch next in between Raj and Nandini.

Nandini was holding his hand "Manik..."she whispered but for the first time it didn't work as Manik's eyes were still cold and his face stone face.

She placed her hands on his cheek and lifted his chin so that she could look directly into his eyes but once again all her attempts went in vain because his eyes which was Nandini's route to look into his souls had nothing but emptiness to offer.

However knowing Manik and his habit of being the control freak Nandini could easily reach this conclusion that the soul reason why he was so cold and blank at the moment was all because of one reason..

...her.

She knew that though he might be looking extremely cold at the moment but from within he was burning in rage.

He had always been in control of everything..

..literally everything..

..be it sinister plans which included almost getting Shahid jumped from the terrace or by dumping Navya into that dustbin with a rat.

He had always made sure that no permanent damage was made due to his or his Fab5's act.

He was a Monster..a sheer terror but even in that case he couldn't let anyone get heart.

That's why he always made sure that someone was around to take care of things in case someone tried to do something extreme..like in the both the above cases he sent Dhruv to make sure nothing wrong happens with Shahid or Navya.

He always had it covered.

However the problem arises when situations went out of his hand and there was nothing he could do about it..

..that's when Manik Malhotra loses it..

..big time.

He wasn't fond of life taking him by surprise by throwing him on the face of uncertainty that he just couldn't control or do nothing to stop it from happening..

..like when Pandit kidnapped Nandini.

Nandini saw how berserk he went looking for her..

..she herself saw how brutally Manik wounded Pandit..

..he was about to kill Pandit..

..and he would have killed him had Cabir and Dhruv not arrived at time to stop him.

But in that moment when she was screaming and begging for Manik to stop so that he didn't end up killing Pandit..she saw how her voice stopped reaching him as all he wanted to do was to kill Pandit..

..just because Pandit kidnapped her..

..and that was just for few hours..

..and here Nyonika...his own mother tried to kill her and because of her and someone else who drugged her and made her condition so critical that she had to fake her death..

..because of which Manik was separated from Nandini for three years.

Every single moment that he spent away from her was like dying gazillion times per moment..

..but now after knowing what suffering Nandini had to go away because of Nyonika..it was getting hard for Manik to breath.

Nandini for whom her family was everything she had to fake her death and stay away from them for three years..

..and here Manik thought he was in pain...

..but now when he compared it with Nandini's suffering he felt numb..

..as if he doesn't even know what true suffering was..

..which of course was felt by Nandini.

She had to leave her family behind..

...her love behind..

..and stay dead for the world..

..not only that she fought her battles alone.

Yes..

..his father was there for her..

..but not every time.

Now Manik realised how lucky he was to have his father..her family ..his friends..by his side when he was dealing with the "death" of Nandini..

..but in reality it was Nandini who suffered and faced everything alone.

Today Manik realised how strong Nandini was.

Not because she faced everything all alone..

..but because even after knowing that whatever wrong was happening with her was because of him..

..yes him..

..still she continued to love him.

And she still does.

Nyonika did everything so that she could get Manik back as her puppet..

..and the person who drugged her though Manik didn't knew who it was but he was sure that everything that she went through was because of his presence in her life.

If he hasn't been a part of her life..

..none of this would have happened.

Nandini suffered so much because of him..

..his mother..

..and that person who was drugging her must been someone who held any grudges against Manik.

Manik was sure of that because he knew Nandini didn't had enemies...

..if she did..

..it was because of him.

She should have hated him..

..but here she was sitting right in front of him looking at him while holding his hand and trying to calm him..

Worried..

..for him.

DAMN IT!!

She was nearly killed because of him..

..she went through all those trauma and treatment because of him..

..she was away from her family..her friends...because of him.

She was dead for the rest of the world..

..because of him..

..and still she was worried..

..FOR HIM.

How can she..

..how can she be so forgiving...

..how can she be so good.

Of course she was good..

..in fact she was awesome..

..because she was NANDINI.

But he wasn't..

..he wasn't good for her..

..he never was..

..and he never will be.

He had only been the reason of her suffering but not anymore..

..she won't be overshadowed by his darkness anymore.

No...

..she deserved better..

..and he was anything but good let alone perfect for her.

He won't let anything harm her..

..including himself.

..ever again.

The thought overwhelmed his senses so much that before Manik himself realised he just left from there leaving a startled Nandini and Raj behind.

"Manik.."Raj tried to call him but was stopped by Nandini.

"Appa let him go.."Nandini replied calmly. "..he needs time.."

"...but Nandini.."before Raj could question Nandini answer his unspoken question.

"..he can't run away from me anymore Appa.."

"..as I am his DESTINY.."

————————————————————————

**i can only hope to get a genuine response..

..hopefully my readers would now share their views and opinions and would vote as we entered the last leg of this journey.

Next Update Will be posted tomorrow only if the response turns out to be good..

..maybe 2 back to back updates tomorrow..

..but that will depend upon my readers now.

Hopefully I will see you all tomorrow with next update.

God bless.**