We can only run away from our problem for so long. Pretending it doesn't matter or doesn't affect us won't solve the problem, it will only prolong it. You've seen how, for the last couple of updates, Manik and Nandini have been doing just that. I hope this update sheds light on how they should find a different way to look at it.

𓆩𓆪

Without wasting another moment, Alia scrambled out of Madhyam's hotel suite, her mind sifting through a flurry of confusing thoughts.

She was in the middle of giving him an intense private lap dance. Completely clothed in a bright-red sweetheart halter top and a black body-con micro skirt that melted around her curves, she had been sensually rolling her hips on his crotch while his eyes were half-closed in pleasure as he struggled to keep his hands off.

If it wasn't for the waiter who interrupted them, bringing in some fried chicken, she would have never learned of the news that Harshad had been released from jail. Rose was there when it happened. 

And he had not even contacted Alia, his own sister, about it.

She had quickly gotten off Madhyam's lap. What the hell was she even doing? She only had agreed to offer a favour to him in exchange for some information on Rose's suspicious activities. Dhruv had given up on Alia after meeting Rose once. One clue of hers pointed to Manik betraying the clan, and nobody knew where the man had been for hours now. The big question still remained unanswered: why was the bitch so hell-bent on wrecking Alia's clan?

Alia wanted answers, that was fine, but there had been no need for her to be so enthusiastic about giving Madhyam a show, so much so that she lost herself in the moment as well. Was she planning on give in to more if the waiter had not come in?

When exactly amidst all that would she have gained some intel on Rose?

She paid the cab driver and headed up to her room in the bungalow the crew lived in, feeling disgusted by her own libido that nearly betrayed her in her mission. She had to leave to the airport as soon as possible. Once she reached her destination, she could easily confront her brother directly in front of his girlfriend – if the need arose – and she could get all the answers to her questions.

Haphazardly, she pulled a few clothes out of her cupboard and stashed it in a trolley bag. Her bathroom countertops were swiped clean and she shoved those toiletries into a packing cube, stuffing it wherever she could find space.

Frantically, she was rushing down the stairs and into the main hall when a figure from the kitchen knocked into her, causing her to stumble. They gawked at each other for a solid moment.

If Cabir was straight, such a moment would have been a classic old-school romance moment, but his luck was so bad that he never collided into attractive men in this manner. He took a bite of the crisp apple he had fetched from the kitchen as a last minute snack before his departure.

He waved the half-bitten fruit at her, holding back a chuckle, "Koi train choot rahi hai kya?"

She frowned. "What?"

"Kya, aise Jab We Met wali Geet ki tarah kyoon bhaag rahi ho, and... where are you moving off to?" Her huge handbag on one hand and the check-in sized suitcase that followed her seemed like she had packed her whole room into them.

So much coming from he who hung his duffel bag on one shoulder, his backpack on the other along with an apple and his phone in each of his hands.

"My luggage is smaller than yours, maybe I should be asking where are you off to?!"

"I..." Cabir hesitated at the question, unsure of how he could explain the link between him and Navya. He could not confide in her about Manik's and Nandini's equation, neither could he tell her how he and Manik went to the woman's house to scrounge for any leads Harshad must have left with her. He stammered, "I'm going to see a friend."

Alia's eyebrows knitted together as she scrutinised him. "Who friend? Jahan tak we know you, you don't interact with anyone outside our clan only..."

"Hai koi, you're not the only one who can keep secrets."

Taken aback by his accusation he had made so jovially, Alia's eyes widened. Did he know that Harshad was her brother? Alia had been very cautious about revealing it to others within the group, worried about what they would make out of her familial bond with someone who tried to sabotage them. It could have very well been that Dhruv revealed it to the others, especially because they weren't on good terms anymore. 

"What secrets are you talking about?" She asked, crossing her arms at her tummy in a guarded motion.

He was losing valuable time, time he could otherwise spend in Mangalore hunting Navya down and protecting her before the traitor pinned her. "I can't talk now, I urgently need to go to Mangalore."

"What a coincidence! I'm also headed to Mangalore. Who do you have to meet there?"

"I can't say." He curtly blurted, and then modified suspiciously, "Unless you tell me who you are going there for."

"I can't either."

"Fine then."

"Fine."

They both crossed their arms and faced opposite directions for a handful of seconds, and then glanced at each other from the corners of their eyes.

𓆩𓆪

Soha hopped out of her autorickshaw in a peplum top and bootleg jeans, and paid the predetermined sum it cost her to ply to Navya's place.

The two-braided woman, who was pacing back and forth behind her apartment gate, was biting the toughened skin around her nails. She hurried out at the sight of her furious friend storming towards her.

"I don't believe this. After everything Nandini has been through, you let her go by herself?"

"I offered to drop her off, but Maa didn't want me using it as an excuse to linger with the Murthys and keep her away from much-needed family time," Navya confessed, the guilt eating her away.

Soha regarded that Navya indeed had a tendency to do something like that. "Couldn't you at least have stayed on the phone with her until she got home safely? Or told me she was coming directly to your place? I could have made sure to accompany her. And how could you make such a promise to Nandini's Chachi? She trusted you."

"I know, I know, but she was worried."

The most practical and logical woman amongst the trio glowered at Navya. "Ab kya kam worried hogi when she calls you the next time and Nandini is not with us?"

Pinching the skin just above her draped dupatta, Navya placated, "We can definitely find her, usse kuch nahi hua hoga."

The dip in her collarbone where Navya's Matarani locket usually sat was bare. "You gave her your locket." Soha said, mildly relieved, that Navya's deity was in her possession. Soha wasn't a big believer of God, so there was no logical explanation for why that thought was comforting or reassuring, but just for that instance, Soha did not linger on that thought. 

"She said she would feel safe if Matarani was with her, toh humne usse de diya."

Perhaps Navya's Matarani could save Nandini from an unfortunate destiny, but who would save their best friend from the monsters that lived around them?

"Do you think... that guy who... he only took her somewhere? I mean, what are the odds that she lands today and suddenly goes missing? We shouldn't take this lightly. Let's file a complaint with the police."

"Abse hi aise mat socho, himmat rakho. Usne humaare ghar mein kuch bhi nahi khaaya tha, kya pata bhook lagi gayi ho, and she got down somewhere to eat something?" Though unconvinced, Soha heard her friend out. "Let's rule out every hangout spot first."

𓆩𓆪

"What would you like to have?" He quipped from a few metres behind her. Nandini moved with renewed determination towards the drawers near the gas stove, pulling one.

"Let me see. Can you bring your torch here?"

He did as she asked, as he promised he would, even though he was perplexed. "Vegetables would be in the fridge. What are you looking in the drawers for?"

In one of them were four tall wax tubes tactfully placed for emergencies like the present one. She drew one out. "Isse pakad sakte ho?"

Holding the candle with one hand, Manik palmed his pant pockets for the gold-encased lighter he always had on him.

Before he could arrive at a conclusion, two surfaces struck each other, and a tiny flame lit the area, hoisted on the tip of a matchstick. Swiftly, Nandini brought a palm to cover the flame as she approached the candle wick, igniting it with complete focus.

  As if stroked by an otherworldly divine power, her cheeks were ethereally flushed, and some colour from his shirt transferred to them. A gentle halo surrounded her, mesmerising him.

"You can turn your torch off now, it'll save your phone battery. Let's set these so we have two on this countertop and one close to the sink meanwhile, I'll look for the veggies." She moved towards the fridge, pulling the door open.

Manik blinked at the flame, mildly delighted for no particular reason. The bite mark on the back of his palm was still fresh, as was his blistered lip, each a mark of hers he wore on himself with subdued pride. When he tenderly glanced at her silhouette, her head illuminated by the fridge's glow, he revered in the way she carried the oversized garment with such grace. The shirt, three sizes too big for her, was a mark of himself she wore with confident ease, embodying a kind of intimacy unique to just the two of them.

He turned back and set the candle on its own wax on the countertop as she had instructed, and took another one to light off it.

"This house owner must be an alcoholic or something, there's like six bottles in here, lekin koi veggies hi nahi hai! Except nimbu. Is nimbu even a vegetable?" Before he could answer her, she added, "Hmm... I think we can work with this. Masale bhi yahi kahi honge..." She grabbed the yellow golf ball in her hands and moved towards the cabinets, scanning each one in the process.

When she had gone through all the cabinets at the bottom, she tiptoed on her feet and scrounged the shelves above. He was standing an armspan away from her, diligently busy in a responsibility she dispatched to him. His height could be of some use in situations like this.

Unwilling to let her physical shortcomings become the butt of his joke, she hopped on her tippy-toes, patting whatever part of the shelf she could reach. Again. And again, and again.

Manik internally applauded her stubbornness and shifted his gaze from her five foot height to the cabinet that was at eye level for him. Every unsuccessful attempt of hers brought her an inch towards his direction; he had no complaints. Appearing to be extremely carried away in his own task, he was knocked out of his senses when she fell onto him.

A muscular veiny arm instinctively came around her and she clutched his vest to steady herself. They were both uncontrollably gasping for breath under the influence of a mild spark beneath their fingers, where they had touched one another. "You know," Manik spoke in a low voice, causing Nandini's eyelashes to flutter like she had been drugged. "I have other talents apart from holding candles but if you were just looking for an excuse to get closer to me, you may... continue."

It was not until she saw his smirk that she shoved him backwards and put some distance between them, brushing his touch away. "Woh... woh masala dabba... I was only trying to get that. Can you?" Careful not to even make eye contact, she sought quick glimpses but looked away before he caught her but he was standing before her, unyielding. "Please?"

The magic word worked its charm, and without further teasing, the circular steel box gracefully descended into her hands. She examined the contents in a rattled manner, trying to comprehend why she always ended up in such embarrassing encounters and most of all with that one despicable man.

After a prolonged mental debate, she uttered, "Okay."

"Kya?"

"We can make chitranna, lemon rice. It's fairly simple." She moved, closing the box and put the lemon from her hands on the counter. "I'll make the rice, you can cut the nimbu." As she crouched to find the rice drum she noticed earlier under the stove, Manik's hands tightened and caught the air, as if he was trying to tell her something but was not sure how to begin.

The last and only time Manik had tried to cut something before was a lime in Navya's house seven months ago. Even then, he had to give himself pep talks and reassurances to power through a single slice. 

He shook his head and actioned a gameplan in his mind. First he would rinse the lemon, then he would draw out the knife and chopping board, and then... but wait, who knew the last time anyone used that knife and chopping board? No, he had to first clean them and ensure they were safe to use.

That meant he had to do dishes, oh dear God, that was another problem in and of itself.

Nandini paused, not meeting his eye. "What's wrong?"

Manik refused to answer but walked towards the sink, googling something.

Measuring rice in a cup, Nandini poured it into a pressure cooker and brought the vessel up with her, only to find Manik watching a video on how to wash dishes as he dropped a dollop of dish soap on the sponge. She pressed her lips as he shifted to the side to allow her to fill some water.

The question that was on the top of her mind was if that was his first time coming into a kitchen, because by his actions, it was seeming like that only. However, that would have been offensive to ask, and she was only beginning to find the man tolerable. The last thing she wanted was to get on his bad books at this juncture. It would ruin everything she had planned.

While rinsing the rice, a more gripping query itched for an explanation, so she asked, "Waise kaun tha woh upar phone pe?"

He determinedly scrubbed the chopping board. "Huh?"

"You were on a call upstairs," she said, draining the rice in the first pass.

"Oh that, haan... dost tha mera."

"Accha... kahan pe hai woh? I mean, yahin Mangalore mein kahi hai kya?"

He tilted his head, scoffing at her. "Kyoon? FIR lodge karne ke liye details collect kar rahi ho?"

Haw. "Main toh bas aise hi pooch rahi thi..."

"You're lying again! It's about your friend. I understand you're worried for her." He stated it in a matter-of-fact tone. Nandini remained mum, wondering how, if he was able to understand all those things about her correctly, he could not understand the simpler things, like her questions and anxieties surrounding the man, or that all she wanted was to be treated with respect and be spoken to nicely. Besides, why was she even expecting all that from him?

He observed a flicker of emotions appearing over her pallor as he soaped the knife. "You don't have to be. Uske saath kuch nahi hua hai, she's safe and sound in her home, hmm?"

In hopes that such information would give her some peace and put an end to her suspicions about his connection with Harshad, Manik had said that. What he had not anticipated was that his words would trigger her.

While lighting the burner under the pressure cooker, she blurted, "As if you know everything about me." She wanted to add that even though she was not aware of so many things about him, that was because he had chosen not to tell her. Regardless, any further comment on that matter would have sent her into a crying mess. To hold herself together, she looked away distastefully.  

It stung him; the way she had phrased it had stung.

Until then, he was under the impression that even in those seven months he had been away from her, he had always kept an eye out for her. He had done everything in his capacity to protect her from a distance and had paid special attention to her mannerisms and habits purely out of care for her.

How could she be so unapologetic with her statement and say he knew nothing about her when she herself had believed the worst image of him?

Wasn't she a practicing psychologist? Did she stop to think, even for once, why Manik would do such a thing to her? Why, when they both wanted it and were beyond thrilled to spend a night together, had he resorted to such measures with her? 

No, she had just blindly believed his action without even thinking about his reasons, and she had the audacity to say he did not know her?!

He looked at her steadily with a pained expression in his eyes, deciding enough was enough; all that while, he was protecting her from his world and shielding her from the darkness of what goes on in the underworld because, at the end of the day, they were on opposite sides of the law. That automatically meant nothing long-lasting could ever happen between them, and she would unnecessarily have to face the consequences of joining hands with him. But now... now he was certain that her self-pity spiral, whereby she could not look beyond her own pain, was the reason there was little to no hope for a future.

He needed to put some sense into her, and for that, he was going to have to come clean.

With everything.

𓆩𓆪

The old Manik constantly lied to her because he felt there wasn't a future between them, so there was no point fighting for her. See how his life has turned on itself and how he's ready to tell her the truth now, because that is a chance for him to fight for them :")

My favourite non-MaNan part of this update was Alia and Cabir, there's something inherently funny when two unlikely characters share a common goal and contemplate on helping each other achieve it, okay? :P

Please don't forget to vote, comment, and share your thoughts. If you like the story, please do share it with your friends as well <3