What's Written In Our Stars

Episode 12

Nandini got up and grabbed her guitar from her room. She came down and sat opposite Manik. Everyone cheered for her as she started strumming. Manik smiled while blushing. He didn't take his eyes off her She sang "Jaise mera tu". As she was singing, her eyes met Manik's and they got lost in each other's eyes. As she played the last note on her guitar, everyone clapped for her, including Manik.

"Wow Nandini, what a beautiful song for Manik, it was a nice romantic, love song," Cabir says, emphasising the words romantic and love.
"Thank you," Nandini said, cutting the eye contact between her and Manik.
"You sing really well Nandini and you play the guitar well," Aliya said sweetly. "You know Manik can play the guitar too."
Nandini's face went slightly dull as she remembered Aliya's relationship with Manik. She thought to herself, "Nandini, you should be happy. Manik is happy with his life. He is happy with Aliya and that is what you want. To see Manik happy, so stop this and put a smile on your face."

"Ok let's spin the bottle again," Mukti said excitedly. Mukti spun the bottle and it landed on Cabir.
Cabir picked a chit out and read it out loud.
"Kiss the person sitting next to you on your right, on the cheeks," he said his expressions changing as he finished reading. He turned to his right, to find Navya.
Navya didn't realise that it was her sitting next to him and was just casually smiling and looking around. Cabir came close to her and quickly planted a kiss on her cheek. Navya was shocked. Her mouth was open wide.
Everyone started laughing and told Navya it was his dare.
Navya looked at Cabir, who was looking away, unable to give eye contact. To stop everyone from thinking about this situation he quickly spun the bottle. It was Aliya.

Aliya's dare was to dance with someone to a romantic song. She asked Manik to dance with her. Manik couldn't refuse her and so he got up and went to dance with her.
As the music started playing, Manik came close to Aliya and they slow danced. His hands were on Aliya's waist and they were only millimetres away from each other. Seeing this, a tear strolled down her face. She quickly hid her face and wiped her tear. Navya saw this and went to her.

"Nandini, are you okay?" Navya said worriedly.
"Yeah." Just as Nandini said this, she saw Aliya in Manik's arms and couldn't bear it.
"Navya, I have to go from here," she said and she ran from there and into her room. She closed the door and fell to the ground in tears.

Manik saw Nandini leave from there and then stopped dancing. He was curious as to why Nandini went away. They both sat down.
"Okay, let's take a break. I'll get something for everyone to eat." Navya said and headed to the kitchen.
Manik was getting restless and wanted to know why Nandini went.

He went to Navya hoping she would know.
"Navya, why did Nandini leave from there?" He said innocently.
"Because of you." Navya said angrily.
"Me? What did I do?" Manik said confused.

"What did you do? You didn't do anything right? You were happily dancing with Aliya, not caring about Nandini. Manik do you know that Nandini loves you. She's loved you since childhood. And she was waiting for the day she'd meet you again so she can tell you about her feelings but after she saw you in college with Aliya, she's trying really hard to forget her feelings and you. But how will you understand? Your happy with your life, with Aliya. But Nandini, she cries every night. Only because of you," Navya replied with anger and hatred for Manik.

Manik was shocked. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.
"Nandini has feelings for me," Manik thought, his eyes tearing up and a smile appearing on his face. Just as Manik was about to go to Nandini's room Navya stopped him.
"Look Manik, not now. Don't go to her now, speak to her tomorrow, whatever you want to say, but not here. I'll get her out and let's just finish this game." Navya said.
Manik agreed and went and sat with the others.

"Nandini open the door, please," Navya said softly.
Nandini opened the door and let Navya in. She hugged her tightly.
"Stop crying, for me," Navya said and she wiped her tears.
"Nandini, come let's go, put a smile on your face and let's continue with the game," Navya said like a big sister.
Nandini agreed and put a smile on her face for Navya.
"I love you Navya, you truly are the best," Nandini said and she gave her a hug.
"I love you too baby, now promise me you will not cry."
"I promise."

They left the room and joined the others. Nandini sat next to Dhruv as they continued the game. Manik looked at Nandini, who was looking elsewhere, avoiding contact with him.
Mukti spun the bottle and it landed on Dhruv.
"Dhruv, choose a chit, let's see what your dare is," Mukti said excitedly.

He opened his chit and read it out.
"Propose to a girl nearest you," he read softly.
Nandini was the closest to him and so he had to propose to her.
"Dhruv you have to propose to Nandini," Mukti said teasingly.
Manik became angry hearing this and made a face.

Nandini and Dhruv stood up and faced eachother. Dhruv grabbed a rose from the vase and knelt down onto one knee. He held Nandini's hand and kissed it, making Manik even more furious.
"Nandini, You brighten up my day every time I see you. You make me feel so lucky when I'm around you. You're the reason my life feels so perfect. You make my sadness disappear with your beautiful smile. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met. Your eyes are so expressive and beautiful I can't help but get lost in them. I start my day with you on my mind and end my day with you in my dreams. I love you Nandini and I want to spend the rest of my life with you," Dhruv said romantically as if he really meant it. He revealed the rose from behind him and gave it to her.

Nandini took it with a smile and replied jokingly, " I love you too Dhruv."
Everyone started clapping for them except Manik, whose eyes were red filled with anger.
"Wow Dhruv, I didn't know you were that romantic. Impressive," Mukti says teasingly.

Dhruv blushed shyly and looked at Nandini. He saw her smiling and thought to himself, "I really did mean it. I love you Nandini."
After a while, everyone started to make a move and go home. Mukti, Dhruv and Aliya left together first. Cabir and Manik left after. Before leaving, Manik said bye to Nandini but she still did not give him eye contact and was pretending to do something. This made Manik angry and he left. Cabir spoke to Nandini and asked her to speak to Manik. She asked, "Why? "

"Because he is very confused about you and his feelings. That is all I'm going to say as this is between you and him. All I ca say is that you guys need to confront eachother and speak about this relationship. Bye Nandini, take care," Cabir said and then left.

"What does Cabir mean? Manik is confused? Has he got feelings for me" Nandini thought to herself confused.
Nandini went to Navya and told her to stay here today. So they both went bed and Navya told Nandini that she told Manik about her feelings. Nandini was shocked.
"You told him? Why?"

"Because I couldn't bear to see you upset and Manik came and asked about you and it just came out.," Navya said innocently.
"But don't worry, you guys need to speak to each other, sort your problems out and I'm sure everything will be okay. Now let's go to sleep." Navya said.
Nandini closed her eyes but could only think of Manik and what he must be thinking about her. Slowly she drifted off and fell asleep.