Hello Fam :)

A/N - I don't know who are all reading 'Trials of Love' but guys, thanks a lot for just being there. You mean the world to me. Next update of that book in a day or two. I need to write the climax.

Happy Reading...

When Nandini reached the principal's room, she knocked on the door. After taking permission from him, she walked inside and greeted the principal with a smile before addressing her father.

"Dad. It's so good to see you here", she grinned.

Her dad stood up from his chair and took her in a side hug. "My darling daughter", he exclaimed, "I was here an hour back and couldn't wait to see you. Hence, I rushed to meet my little girl. How are you?"

Nandini's smile widened. "Now that you are here, awesome than my usual self."

The Principal beamed looking at the father-daughter duo. "It's always a pleasure to see you both together."

Mr. Murthy nodded in agreement as he looked lovingly at his daughter. "Who wouldn't love Nandini as a daughter?" He tears his gaze from Nandini and took a paper from his suit's pocket. "Anyways, here's the check. This might help fasten things in college."

The principal looked at Mr. Murthy hesitantly. "That's so nice of you, Mr. Murthy. But you don't have to do this. We are looking for sponsors. In fact, Nandini is working really hard for this program."

"As a trustee, I am a potential sponsor. To be frank, I don't want to see my little girl struggle," he patted Nandini's head affectionately. "So, this check should be a savior to me."

"You don't really have to do this", muttered Nandini. "I am the head girl and I have responsibilities. My work isn't a burden for me, dad."

"I know. I understand. You can carry on with your work. Just let me do this, please?", her dad replied.

Principal smiled. "It's okay, Nandini. Anyways, you are handling everything by yourself. At least, our sponsor is sorted for now."

Nandini nodded, choosing to remain silent.

"Thank you", said Mr. Murthy, handing over the check to the principal before checking his watch. He smiled apologetically at the principal. "I am late for a meeting. See you later, Principal", he said and turned towards his daughter. "Nandini, will you walk me to the car, love?

"Of course, dad."

XXX

"Is my daughter happy?", Mr. Murthy asked, leaning casually on his car.

Nandu rolled her eyes. "Drop the pretense, father", she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone, "there's no one present right now who is unknown to that facade of yours."

Mr. Murthy laughed. "How respectful for a daughter you are, right?" As he dropped the smile, Nandini felt the familiarity returning again. "Anyways, I don't have time for your silly arguments. I have heard you are coming late to home, giving these sponsors as excuses. Now that it is sorted, you can come home on time", he told sternly.

"Why do you even care? You just wanted to flaunt your money and that's done", she said as calm as she could manage, ignoring the glares her father was sending towards her. If his glares were so powerful, I would be dead long back, thought Nandini. "I will come at whatever time I like. Sponsors or not. You can't bound me with a stupid piece of check and I definitely didn't beg you to come and flaunt it here in my college. I guess you have a meeting to attend. So bye."

She walked away from the parking lot, leaving her fuming father behind.

XXX

"How are you?"

As soon as Nandini joined her friends in the canteen, Abhimanyu asked her followed by the concerned looks of her friends. Manik, on the other hand, tried to pretend as if Abhi hadn't gone mad because asking the question of the well being of a girl after she had just returned from meeting her father is insane and the reason that she was with them a few minutes earlier wasn't helping Abhimanyu's case.

Nandu rolled her eyes. "Abhimanyu, Mister, I am perfectly fine."

Mukti was quiet, not wanting to make any statement in Manik's presence but Abhimanyu was not making any effort to do this. In fact, he pulled his chair beside Nandini and wrapped his hand around her shoulders. He pecked her head and started rubbing his hand up and down her arm in a comforting way.

"You know, right, I love you?", he said, holding her hand with his free one. "I love you more than the sky loves the sun and the stars love the moon and I wouldn't let anyone fade the smile on your face. You are my strong girl, right."

Nandini made a bad face at his blabbering, asking Mukti to help her.

Mukti rolled her eyes at Abhimanyu and slapped his hand that was on Nandu's arm. "Abhimanyu", she called sweetly, "Nandini just came from the principal's room. Not from fighting a war, yeah?" When Abhimanyu opened his mouth to protest, she pointed towards Manik through her eyes, asking Abhimanyu to shut up.

He nodded in understanding and smiled uncomfortably, before freeing Nandini from his hold. "Right, she didn't come from fighting a war", he muttered before brightening up, "but my baby girl looks tired. How about a cheeseburger?"

Nandu grinned. Cheeseburger was her favorite and her friends knew her well. "Anytime", she replied.

When he went to get the order, he dragged Manik along. Nandini sighed as soon as the boys left their table. "This idiot is trouble."

Mukti chuckled. "I know right."

XXX

Mukti was having a random conversation with Manik while walking towards their classroom when Nandu found herself being pulled into an empty classroom and Abhimanyu in front of her.

He locked the door before cupping her face. "Are you okay? Did he say anything?"

Nandu smiled at him reassuringly. "I am fine, baba. Why are you so worked up?"

"You know, right, I hate to let you go anywhere close to them."

"And you know that I can't help it, neither can you. They are my parents, Abhimanyu. Unfortunately, I can't replace them."

Abhi's hands balled into fists. Nandini, sensing the growing anger inside him, hugged him tight, startling him.

"You are the best thing that happened to me. I can survive anything with you being beside me along with Mukti", she said, meaning every word.

"I wish I could do something to keep you happy permanently", he whispered from the top of her head.

"And I wish you could forget them. The day has just started and I don't want someone to ruin it already. Now stop freaking out. I am fine. I just had to put a smile on my face in front of the principal. Nothing else. Come, let's go to the classes."

He broke the hug to peck her head, before hugging her tightly.

"I love you, babydoll."

He whispered more to himself than her, assuring himself of her presence in that hug. Nandini beamed at him, feeling lucky and any thoughts that caused a small part of uneasiness before, flew off from the window. She broke the hug, wrapped her hands around his arm and dragged him towards the class.

XXX

Mukti was waiting just outside the classroom for them, Manik nowhere in sight. Abhimanyu messed her hair up before going in and taking the seat beside Manik.

Mukti tugged at Nandini's hand. "Where the hell did you two disappear?"

Nandu didn't respond instead, she looked at Abhimanyu. Mukti shook her head in disbelief, a small smile playing on her own lips.

"Is he fine now?"

"I guess."

The teacher joined the class and they get busy with their classes.

XXX

Even if Nandini claimed - she was absolutely fine as she so politely assured Abhimanyu after every hour - Abhimanyu was still skeptical. Thus, after their classes were done, he gathered both the girls near his car for a brief formal meeting since he already knew what he was supposed to do.

"So, Murthy, what's the plan?", he asked, casually flinging his arm around Nandini.

Nandini raised an eyebrow at knowingly completely well where the discussion was heading to again but grinned instead. "I guess I could spoil myself with some pampering."

Abhimanyu grinned back, bumping their heads lightly before turning to Mukti. "What about you?"

"Who could resist a free-dose of love? I am always up with this plan", she rubbed her hands in excitement.

"Brilliant. Mom would be happy. She was missing you two."

They were chatting when they were distracted by the sound of clearing of the throat and turned to find Manik.

"Excuse me", he started.

Mukti, who was behind Abhimanyu, leaned aside to whisper in Nandini's ear. "Who the hell says excuse me to friends?"

"That alien", Nandini whispered back.

Abhimanyu, who guessed their little conversation, rolled his eyes at them before smiling widely at Manik. "Hey, Manik, what's up?"

Manik took a moment to look at Nandini, who was a bit amused at his nervousness. He pulled Abhimanyu a step away from the girls and whispered something in his ear. Abhi pulled out to look at him, confused.

"You want my notes? Why are you whispering then?" Following his gaze, Abhimanyu looked back to Nandini. When she rolled her eyes at the new boy. He sent a glare towards his best friend asking her to shut up and smiled at Manik. "I don't have all my notes with me right now. We all are heading to my home. Why don't you come along with us? We can get to know each other and you can have your notes too."

Manik frowned. "Is it okay if I come to your home? I mean, your parents don't even know me and an uninvited guest doesn't sound right."

It was Mukti who spoke even before Abhimanyu could respond. "His parents are so cool. You will agree with me once you meet them. Come along."

"If you say so", said Manik "Can I inform at my home about my whereabouts?"

They noticed Manik explaining in his own polite way about going to a friend's home, Abhimanyu's, to get the notes before hanging up.

"Do you always talk this way even with your family?", asked Abhimanyu, a bit amused.

Manik shrugged. "I am less formal with my mom and brother. It was my butler."

Nandini, whose attention was on her mobile, snapped her head on listening to Manik.

"Butler ko itna respect?", Mukti asked, unable to hide her curiosity.

"Aren't they our fellow humans?", was his reply.

Nandini shook her head in disbelief. "Abhi, I will leave my bike here and come along with Mukti. Why don't you two come in his car?" Taking a nod from her best friend, she took a step away without bothering to ask about Manik's opinion but an idea clicked in her mind and she turned around. "Actually, do one thing. Leave Manik. Take his car and go ahead. Manik will come with us."

"No", protested Manik, rather fiercely in everyone's opinion.

But Nandini didn't bother, snatched the keys from Manik's hand and threw them towards Abhimanyu. She dragged Manik and stuffed him at the back seat of the car.

"What's going on, Murthy?", asked Abhimanyu, crossing his hands across his chest.

"Nothing. We just wanted to know each other. Now, please leave", she said and winked at him.

Abhi chuckled at her in disbelief as he made his way towards Manik's car.

XXX

Nandini's brilliant idea was to scare Manik using the speed and she asked Mukti to race the car. She smirked when Manik called Mukti.

"Mukti, you are crossing the speed limit. It really isn't safe now at this time of the day."

Nandu rolled her eyes. "Oye, Einstein. Shut up. If you are so scared, just get out of the car and walk to Abhi's house. I am not objecting."

Offended, Manik protested. "I am not scared."

"Right, and I am the Queen of England", she smiles sarcastically. "Mukti, chal kaat na use."

XXX

By the end of their drive, if Manik decided not to travel with Nandini again, he kept his mouth shut and Nandini was the most satisfied out of the three. She ignored the guilty looks her best friend was giving to the boy. Every thought came to a halt when the front door was opened to reveal Ishita Thakkar. The girls together engulfed her in a hug while Manik stood just outside waiting for her permission to get inside. Patting the girls on their heads, Ishita looked behind them to find the nervous boy. She smiled in a motherly way making Manik almost comfortable. Nandini, who was standing beside her with an arm around the woman, gave her a proud smile knowing very well what she was doing. It was long back when she stood in the place of Manik and Ishita all but hugged her as if she was her own daughter. That was the time when Nandini was introduced to what a mother's love actually was.

As if sensing her thoughts, Ishita ruffled her hair before turning towards the new friend of her son. "If I am not wrong, you must be Manik, right?", she asked.

Manik smiled at her, politely and bent down to touch her feet, making her squeal.

She turned towards the girls, astonished. "Yeh kaha se mil gaya tum logo ko? Such a sweet boy he is." [Where did you find him?]

Nandini rolled her eyes. "Ishu, he is a bit touched in the head. Don't you worry, you will get used to it."

"He isn't. Unless you lot decide to inflict your madness to him." Raman, Abhimanyu's father, slapped her head lightly when he checked the door while his wife was taking a longer time than usual.

Manik touched his feet too and Abhimanyu, who tagged along, smiled at seeing his manners.

Nandini looked at Raman with mouth wide open. "Are you comparing me with him? Do you know I have some standards? Forget it. I never thought you would betray me so eagerly for some nerd." She finished her little speech with an overdramatic huff.

Raman twisted her ear lightly before hugging her close. "How are you?", he mumbled into her hair.

Ishita ushered them in and asked Abhimanyu to take them to his room while she prepared some snacks for them. When Mukti tagged along to help Ishita and Nandini's mobile chose to ring that precise moment, it was only Manik who followed Abhimanyu upstairs.

After asking Manik to sit, Abhi gave him all his notes and a brief outline. While Manik took his time writing the notes, he left to bother his mom.

A few minutes later, when Nandini returned to the room, Manik was scribbling furiously and she rolled her eyes yet again. She thought it would become a habit with this new boy around. "You can take his notes home, you know. Stop writing like a bloody machine."

"Sorry", he said, before returning back to his writing.

"No, I am sorry", she said. Manik glanced up, shocked. He was about to speak but Nandini beat him and took a seat across him on the bed. "I am sorry for that day. It wasn't your fault, I was the one who came in the wrong route but I was so pissed at these two for bunking the college without informing me, and you became an easy escape for my anger."

"I am glad I could help you in some way", he muttered.

Nandini burst out laughing. "Are you always like this? Pleading and polite and sweet-talking your way out of any conversation."

"I don't sweet-talk my way out", he protested.

"Yeah, kids these days call it as being well mannered and shit", she teased.

"I stopped being a kid since I was thirteen. Maybe a teenager but not a kid", he said before scratching his head, "and being well mannered could possibly uplift this country. The direction in which it's going, do people even have polite conversations without jumping to conclusions or shoving people to police stations even before hearing them out?"

"I already said sorry. No need to rub it on my face", she spat, defensively.

"What?", he frowned before understanding her words. "No, of course not. It was an accident and you were hurt or possibly injured. You had all the right to scream on my face and call the cops. Even if you were coming in the wrong route, I was partly to be blamed. I took my eyes off the road to change a song. That was really stupid of me", he said tapping his pen lightly over his notebook and when the cap of the pen flew, he rolled his eyes as if it was a regular thing. Nandini gave the cap back to him and he started twirling between his fingers after muttering a quiet thanks to her. "I was talking about the people around us. They were forcing their opinions without hearing us out, probably even without knowing the entire situation."

"Yeah, there are people of all kinds and...", she stopped midway trailing off because something struck her, "Where were you before this? How did you get into the second year if you are a fresher?"

"I completed my first year from England. I did most of my schooling there before mom thought it would be better if I could finish my education staying at home", he explained.

"And you didn't ask the reason to your mom?", she frowned.

"I don't like arguing with her or questioning her decisions. She is my mom and has my best interests at heart."

The way he said it so casually, Nandini wanted to slap him hard to shake some sense into him but she can't really compare every parent with hers. Although, she couldn't help but think that his mother was dominating him, causing him to be nervous around most of the people. She pushed her thoughts away when she found Abhi and Mukti in the room. They came back somewhere between her conversation with Manik. Nandini grinned at Manik. "You know, that actually explains. 80 percent of the NRIs think our country lacks some developmental prone manners among people after returning from abroad."

"Are the statistics so high?", asked Manik.

Abhimanyu chuckled. "No, she is just making up."

"Hey, my point still holds", protested Nandini.

As Abhimanyu pulled Manik into another conversation, Nandini now easily noticed the slight accent in his voice. He really must have moved there sometime during his childhood. She wondered about the reasons why a mother would want to keep her son away during his childhood when he needed her the most.

When Manik realized it was getting late, he informed Abhimanyu about going home. Nandini, who had her bike at the college, asked him to drop her.

"I could drop you home, Nandu", told Abhi.

"I know you could but you are also dropping Mukti and I want neither to wait nor to witness you two love birds wishing each other goodnight and sweet dreams for two hours straight", she said and stuck her tongue out before running out of Abhi's reach in order to save herself. Having no other way out, Manik followed her preparing himself to drop her home. 

A/N - Major Revelation. Nandu hates her dad. Manik is practically an NRI.

Any guesses about Nyonika? :P

Also, up for another update? ;)