PART 2

10 minutes passed in complete awkward silence. Manik was continuously looking at his watch. It was 7:45, exactly after 5 minutes they would reach Church Gate, their destination. If he didn't talk now he wouldn't even know her name. So, he decided to take the first step.

He cleared his throat to gain her attention

"umm Hi... I am Manik" he turned towards her with his right hand forward for a handshake.

"I am Nandini" she said sweetly not looking into his eyes with a red hue creeping up her cheeks.

Again there was silence. 3 minutes more, he was literally counting seconds he decided to spend with her.

"I work as Sales Executive in Amazon" he said trying to prolong the conversation

"I work as a Maths faculty in FITJEE" she too replied looking at his face, but didn't dare look into his eyes.

"Wow FITJEE and Maths, which class" he was genuinely interested

"11th and 12th standard Maths" she replied with a smile

"That's amazing... so you are a maths geek, that subject was a nightmare for me" he added with a chuckle and she also smiled.

"Most of the students also think the same." She chuckled but the next moment their smiles dropped as the train came to a halt.

Manan looked at each other, none of them wanted to leave but they knew they cant stay back. The crowd was getting down on the station, the train was almost empty

"beta yeh last station hai" someone said while getting down looking at the duo. Both of the got up and there was this awkward silence again.

"See you tomorrow morning then" Manik said with a smile making Nandini smile.

"At what time?" she asked him as both of them were early that their regular schedule today.

"Regular 7:30" he said casually making her smile drop.

"Umm... my students have exam this entire week, I will have to leave early" she said in a disappointed tone.

"koi nai I will join you early like today" and for the first time today she looked into his eyes and the world stopped.

"You will come early for me??" she was confused and lost. They hardly knew each other and he was so casual about it.

"haan na ... I will get bored travelling without you... adat ho gayi hai tumhari..." he said the last part in a low tone but as there was no one around, she heard it. Blood creeped into her cheeks making him enjoy her exprsession.

"chalo phir see you tomorrow morning" she said and turned to leave

"suno" he called her again and she turned adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

"ji"

"umm you look cute in saree" he said scratching his neck with a blush on her cheeks, so cute that she wanted to pull his cheeks.

"Thank you and white shirt suits you better than anything" she added with red cheeks and got down with Manik following her like a teenager.

**

The rest of the day passed in a blink for both of them. Manik came back a little early as he was free and he had to do the grocery shopping and get up early tomorrow morning. He was counting hours from morning when they parted ways outside the station. He didn't fail to notice the way her body reacted when he sat next to her today morning, which made him smirk. He was absolutely loving it.

He walked into DMart to buy groceries. He was scrolling through the list deciding in which order to start, when his favourite voice caught his attention.

"Papa pick the chocolate one na... you know I like it" Nandini said with a frown, when she saw that her father had picked the plain Horlicks.

"Nandu beta grow up, what will your students think when they will come to know that their Mam drinks Chocolate Horlicks even now." He teased her making her pout.

"Papa... no teasing... I will complain to mom that you had a jealebi when you went out for a walk" she said crossing her hands narrowing her gaze.

"Fine you win... I already pity the guy you are going to marry... Poor fellow" he said and laughed seeing Nandini's red face.

"Papa... you know what... don't come to my room when mom kicks you out of the room today" she said pointing her figure at him and walked away stomping her foot in annoyance.

"Nandu... beta listen na... sorry... suno toh... cranky just like her mom" he muttered the last line to himself and started searching for his daughter to pacify her.

"Silly girl!" Manik muttered to himself and started following her as well as picking up things in his list. By the time he was done and reached the billing counter, he saw Nandini and her father in the next counter. She was eating a chocobar which was dripping from the corner of her lips all the was to her hands on her top and her father was cleaning it from time to time with a tissue.

"She is just a child" Manik thought to himself and proceeded to get his things billed.

"Papa... noo..." he heard Nandini shouting at her dad and what he saw made his eyes go wide as saucers.

Her father literally took a large bite of her ice cream and they were bickering at the billing counter without caring about anything around. Manik noticed that there were 2 people before him to get their things billed.

"I will be back in a minute..." he said to the aunty behind him in the line and proceeded towards the father-daughter.

**

Nandini was super angry at her father for having a large chuck of her ice cream.

"Papa this is not fair... how can you do this to me... I am going to complain to mom now... you are so gone... just wait and watch what happens when we reach home... I will tell mom that you were stalking aunties in the super market and chit-chatting with Mrs Kapoor about something secret during your so called evening walk and ... and" before she could continue a brand new choco-bar appeared in front of her and she turned to look at the person who brought it to her.

"eat this and cool down mini monster" Manik added with a chuckle making Nandini's eyes go wide as saucers and her father giggle at Manik's comment.

"Nice name beta" he said looking at Manik

"What did you just say!!!!" her loud voice brought Manik back from his la-la land. He was so lost in the ice cream spread all over her lips fingers and few drops on her throat going down ahem..! Manik her dad is standing next to her... control... he reminded himself

"Umm no offence ... but you look cute... so eat this and forget it na..." he said cutely that she almost gave in.

"Please" and that's it, she grabbed the ice cream from his hand and didn't speak a word after that. Something suddenly clicked in Nandu's father's mind.

"beta ... are you Nandu's friend? I have never seen you with her" he asked with a questioning gaze.

"Papa he is my friend Manik... I told you na we met this morning" she told him and he smiled looking at Manik.

"Hi sir, nice meeting you, Manik Malhotra" Manik said in a genuine tone with a smile.

"Yes I know... you are the handsome man that my daughter cant stop talking about" he added with a chuckle making Manik blush and Nandini choke on the ice cream. She started coughing suddenly.

"It's your turn now... are you coming or should I go?" the aunty who was standing Manik asked in an irritated tone and he just waved his hand asking her to proceed and ran to get a water bottle for Nandini.

He was back in a blink and gave it to her. She drank it gave him a smile muttering a thank you.

"You are fine na?" he asked in a concerned tone and she nodded her head in a yes then turning to her dad pointed a finger at her dad and muttered angrily

"You are so gone today" and walked out from the line.

"I am so gone today" Nandini's father said in a low tone and turned to look at Manik who didn't understand what was going on between the father-daughter.

"These Sharma ladies are crazy. I love them but still, they are crazy. Nandu is just like her mom, so be careful" he said patting Manik's shoulders and walked out collecting his things.

"Weird" Manik muttered to himself and joined the line where his trolley was parked.

His phone started ringing and it displayed Ma

"haan Ma...

I am almost done.

I am in the billing counter...

Yes I will be home in 30 minutes...

Don't worry..." and he ended the call.

"Sir, 6 thousand 3 hundred 45" the boy at the counter said and Manik gave him the credit card. It was a long tiring day for him.

He reached home with all the groceries and slumped down on the couch.

"Mukku please get me some water na" he said in a tired tone.

"If your dad was alive, you wouldn't have had to work so hard beta" his mom said sitting next to him patting his head lovingly.

"Mom... its okay... I am happy I could help... you were supporting the family from as long as I can remember. So please... take rest and leave it to me now. I can manage. I am a big guy now" he said keeping his head in her lap closing his eyes.

"bhai" mukti came with a bottle of chilled water, just like he likes and went into her room.

"Mom, I paid for Mukti's field visit and please don't say anything. She really wants to go, and its just 5000, I can manage that. I have savings as well. So chill. I will take a bath and come and I am hungry, is the dinner ready?" he said diverting the topic making his mom roll his eyes.

"Yes... dinner will be ready in 5 minutes..."

"Mom... I will leave early tomorrow as well, infact this entire week I will leave early" he told her walking into his room. He smiled thinking about his meeting with Nandini twice today.

"Nandini Sharma" he muttered and took out his clothes to freshen up.

*** 

One more part probably...

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