Chaotic Tangles!

27|| Stone, Paper, Scissors

"And what happens when our heart breaks?"

"I will protect your ears from the sound of our heartbreak”

-Fuel The Fire

It wasn't their first kiss, not at all.

But it could just be and either of them wouldn't deny because it felt like that - the nervous tingling inside, the tightening of the belly, the heat pooling in the stomach and all the jitters making her tremble and him transfixed - everything felt like it was a dream they were living in reality.

When it became impossible to breath without oxygen, Manik left her lips and dropped his forehead on hers, breathing just as heavily as Nandini, but his arms around her wouldn't let go of her. She had closed her eyes at some point of that heated kiss, but Manik's were open and wide - taking her all in, now more so.

Nandini's back arched when Manik came up for air, but ended up dropping feather kisses along her jaw, following the path to her neck. Muscles in her belly tightened just as his hands around her did, and before she knew her hand had found a way into his hair and she was tugging it hard. Manik seemed to like that too much, she read it on the way his breathing got heavier with every tug. It made Nandini open her eyes, and all she saw was his hooded eyes as he continued to kiss the side of her jaw before kissing her on the lips again.

Their full makeout session came to an abrupt halt when Manik's phone rang from his library, breaking their moment.

Talk about cliches and they come true for you in the worst timing possible.

Manik immediately stepped back, still breathing heavily as the fog cleared in his mind and he looked at Nandini, his face ashen. This wasn't supposed to happen. He shook his head to himself, taking a deep breath before turning his back to Nandini and silently cursing himself. He knew he was attracted to this one woman he wasn't supposed to want or need, but his life had extremely humorous ways for fucking with him.

Nandini watched him walk away towards the library, trying to get her own breathing in check. Her kurti looked disheveled, and she was sure her hair was messy as well. She bit her tongue, smoothening her outfit and running a hand through her hair. This wasn't supposed to happen, what the hell was she thinking?

Oh right, she wasn't.

Annoyed at the lack of her own clarity and self control, she walked to the drawing room and fished her own cell phone out of her bag. As soon as she turned the screen on, it hit her like a wall of bricks.

19 missed calls. 25 unattended texts.

Nandini's hand shivered as she called the first number back, her heart hammering so hard inside her chest. Her throat felt dry as she waited for Dev to pick the call up, praying inside her head to not think of the worst.

When Manik returned to the drawing room with his cellphone, he found Nandini clutching the phone to her chest, her face too pale for his comfort and her eyes lost. She turned at the sound of her footsteps and met his eyes, only to utter one sentence, "Take me to the hospital right now, please".

-------

The emergency department of AIIMS was crowded as expected, irrespective of how late it was in the night. Delhi having multiple highways and a city with huge population, road accidents were too common in the dead of the night. Nandini ran inside as soon as Manik stopped his car in front of the entrance, and he cursed aloud when he had to let her be and drive to the other end of the campus to find his designated parking space. She hadn't talked to him the entire ride here, even though it was hardly ten minutes. All she had informed him was one detail - "Meera was injured".