Me ( hastily replied to Aryaman ): thanks for asking Aryaman.....
but I need to go. ...bye. ..
Saying this, I started running towards Manik.
Catching up with him, I hold his hand.
Manik stops and turns to look at me,confusedly.
Manik ( puzzled ):kya hua? ?????
Me ( innocently ) : mera driver nehin aa raha. ....kya tum mujhe ghar drop kar doge? ????
Manik ( with his shy smile ) : zarur. ....
And we started walking.
After walking for 5 minutes, I started panting, heavily.
Me ( panting ) : oh Milkha Singh. ....marathon ka race daur rahe ho kya? ?????
Manik ( confused ) : kyon? ????.....kya hua? ????
Me ( sarcastically ) : bullet train ki tarha itna jaldi - jaldi kyon chal rahe ho? ????
Manik ( innocently ) : par main toh aapne normal pace pein chal raha hu! !!!!
Me ( annoyed ) : yeh tumhare liye normal hoga. ....but mere liye abnormal hai! !!!!!.....like tum aapne giraffe jaise leg's ke saath ek step mein ek yard complete karte ho! !!!.....aur mujhe tumhare peeche bhagna paddta hai! !!!!
Manik giggling helplessly "ab tum itni chhoti si ho. ....iss mein main kya kar sakta hu! !!!!!"
Me ( glaring at Manik with anger ): kya kha tumne? ???????
Manik immediately stopped giggling and said "kuch nehin! !!!!"
Saying this, he holds my hand.
Me ( instantly ) : Pervert! !!!!
Manik ( calmly ) : haath hi sirf pakkda hai. ....aur kuch nehin kiya! !!!!!
On hearing this, my face turned red.
Manik : by holding your hand. ...I can lead the way. ....aur aise humara pace same rahega! !!!!
Without uttering a word, we both started walking, hand in hand.
Manik was busy looking at the street lights. Whereas, I had my head bowed down.
I even heard few onlookers comment that, we were looking like a loving couple.
Me ( pov ) ( giggling ) : me and this Pervert? ????.....loving couple? ????......joke of the eternity! !!!!
Manik ( blankly ) : akele akele kyon smile kar rahi ho ?????
Me ( ignoring ):nothing. ...waise tumne aapna surname kya bola tha? ?????
Manik ( not interested ) : Malhotra. ...
Me ( shocked ) : Malhotra as in. ....Mumbai ke first richest family 'The Malhotra '?????......I mean. ...Nyonika Malhotra ' s son? ????.....the heir of Malhotra ' s Business Empire? ???
Manik ( calmly ) : wahi. ...Manik Malhotra. ...
Me ( excited ) : tumne mujhe pehele kyon nehin baataya? ????.....you are so freaking rich! !!!!
Manik ( irritatedly ) : excuse me. ...are you forgetting....ki tum bhi ek rich family se ho? ????
Me ( not interested ) : meri baat alag hai. ...my Pop's is rich. ...not me! !!!!
Manik : same here. ...meri Mom rich hai. ..main nehin! !!!
We both looked at each other's eyes and burst out laughing.
Manik( controlling his smile ) : so. ...you also feel the same about money? ????
Me ( grinning ): yep. ...money cannot buy everything! !!!
Manik ( seriously ) : so true. ...money cannot buy the happiness of a family. ...
I don't know what happened, but I just blurted out "money cannot buy the affection of parents! !!!"
Manik looked at me and then left my hand.
Me ( surprised ) : mera haath kyon chhod diya? ???
With a sad smile, he said "tumhara ghar aa gaya hai Nandini! !!!"
I didn't wanted to leave his hand, for some unknown reason.
Manik ( sweetly ) : ghar ke andar jao. ....aur kal meeting ke liye time pein ana! !!!!
Suddenly, coming out of my trance, I said " meeting? ???....kaun si meeting? ???"
Manik ( with a sigh ) : kal Student Council Meeting hai. ....aur ab. ...tum bhi ek Student Council Member ho. ...so you have to attend it! !!!!
Me : oh. ...okay. ...waise tum. ...andar nehin aoge? ????
Manik ( with his shy smile ) : phir kabhie. ....good night Nandini. ...
Me : good night. ..
Saying this, I entered my house, with lots of questions in my mind.