Celebrity Castaway |ONGOING| MaNan Fiction

35| Rising Phoenix

A/N: Hello dear readers, we are back with a new chapter again, as promised! I hope you enjoy the read & shower me with loads of votes, in-line comments & after thoughts!

On that note, Happy Reading! :)

***

"Here, drink this." Manik turned around on his bed to see Cabir standing next to him with a tablet and what he strongly suspected was a glass of lime water. He wore a deep frown, which got Manik pondering, because he had seldom seen Cabir look so serious.

"I don't need it." Manik tried protesting vaguely.

"Yes you do. Otherwise you will be hungover throughout the time of the magazine cover shoot and be a pain in the ass for all of us around you." Cabir snapped.

"What shoot? I thought I had the morning free today!" whined Manik, holding his head, which had started throbbing already with this much conversation.

"You had it free, until you blew up this engagement that was slated for last evening and decided to go on a date with Rose & ended up making a fool of yourself before Aryamann & Nandini. I had to pull in a lot of strings to arrange for this today, because from tomorrow your dates are all blocked for your movie shoot with DV Films." Cabir replied mechanically, still sounding pissed.

"Okay, yes, I agree. I might have gone a bit overboard; but what's with the long face?" Manik tried to joke as he accepted the drink and the tablet from Cabir and gulped it. He knew he had fucked up last night, but he couldn't let Cabir delve deeper into it, could he?

Cabir stared at Manik's cranky, remorseless behaviour and for one wild moment, really toggled with the idea of a possibility that he was suffering from dissociative identity disorder (DID or commonly known as split personality)! "Seriously Manik? That's all you have to say?" he asked him incredulously. Manik rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'm getting ready. Stop being such a sulk" Manik commented, as he got up from the bed. Cabir nodded his head in exasperation.

"Umm, Cabir, please send a bunch of some fancy flowers & chocolates to Rose, on my behalf & send a note saying, I'm taking a raincheck on the dinner". Manik's voice caught Cabir off guard, as he requested him before strolling into the washroom to get ready.

***

Manik was adjusting his hair, looking into the mirror when his eyes fell on Cabir, standing behind him with a frown. Manik sighed, he wasn't going to let it go, was it?

"What is it, Cabir? Spill." Manik spoke, while casually running his hands through his hair.

"Manik, man, I can't understand you anymore. What are you up to? What are you doing?" Cabir sounded genuinely bothered. Manik smiled. He knew his friend was concerned, but what could he possibly tell him, when he nowadays didn't know what he was doing half the time?

"What do you mean?" Manik tried maintaining the casual tone.

"You want to tell me you willingly went on a date with Rose Godfrey yesterday?" Cabir expressed his first doubt.

"Of course! Unless you're implying she convinced me to come on gun-point" Manik sniggered, trying to keep it light.

"So, Rose replaced Nandini, so easily?" Cabir asked straight up, freezing Manik for a moment. As if that was even possible!

"Cabir, we've been through this before. I am just a well wisher for Nandini now, nothing more. As for Rose, well, she is so hot, man. It's ..it's basic attraction, don't you get it?" he replied, winking at him.

"So in basic attraction you take Rose out to the same bistro where Aryamann & Nandini had plans of visiting, and then you crash their dinner, get drunk and flirt with Nandini, ignoring Rose so royally that you need to fix it by sending flowers & chocolates today?" Cabir cross questioned, folding his hands.