The Impulsive Soul-Mates

Chapter 17 - The Lies

Abhimanyu was a very dear friend from Ahmedabad. Our families were pretty close. Mom treated him like her own son. Although he was a few years older to me we grew up like buddies but with me, he was always like very over protective not only because of my tiny shape and size but also of my naive nature. He always thought that I trusted people on their face value and was incapable of judging them right.

He was the first and the only person besides Manik who knew I was coming to Mumbai. I had to tell him to have some kind of a back up. Although I trusted Manik when I decided to come but then I was nevertheless unsure about my decision. What if I don't find him?? What if he drops the idea and I am stranded?? These doubts and questions were enough for me to get in touch with Abhimanyu who worked in Mumbai since a few years.

When Abhimanyu came to know about my bizarre plan he blasted me left right and center for such an impulsive decision that too for a stranger like Manik.

"What if he is a rapist?? A psycho murderer?? How can you act like such a fool to leave your family like that?? Do you have any idea how worried they will be?? And upon that you are going to live with him all alone..You think I will let you do that..you fool."

Abhimanyu was not wrong entirely, these could definitely be the possibilities. But then I also knew Manik since college, he never had a horrible reputation although I had to agree that many years had passed in between and I could not vouch for his character blindly. But I had already played my shot and was ready to take my chances. My gut feeling said somewhere I could not be wrong about Manik. Yet Abhimanyu was a tough nut to crack. It took me a hell lot of efforts to convince him to let me do this and when he finally gave his nod he had one condition. I would meet him daily and also call him 2-3 times a day to ensure that I was safe and alive. Abhimanyu was a little cynical about people and took his time to trust them.

When the first day Manik dropped me at his place and went to office, I called Abhimanyu over so that he knew and was assured of the place I lived. Although I never toldhim that we shared a room and the rest of the stuff we did there.

The friend that I missed out on meeting in Dadar because of the initial presentation fiasco was him. He panicked because I couldn't meet him that day so the next day he came to meet me at Marine Drive when I was with Manik. When I found Manik's hand grasping me tight by the waist and that look in his eyes I got scared.

What if he thought I didn't trust him?? What if he thought I was doubtful about his character and integrity and I was fooling around with him? I was unable to think straight and in the spur of the moment to save my grace, I blurted out that Abhimanyu was Navya's boyfriend. I never thought that a small lie like this can cost me my love. At that time it seemed to be a safe option, Manik never spoke to Navya in general and even the few times he did that was always related to work and nothing personal.

Abhimanyu had actually liked Manik when he met him for the first time. He had told me later but still asked me to be careful. We still met if not every day but in a few days because Abhimanyu was working on the next most important thing in my life. He had become the bridge between me and Mom and Nanu. They mostly Mom was still mad at me and Abhi tried to persuade them to forgive me. He would regularly update me about their well being. I would plead him to make me talk to her and he put in his best efforts to mend our relationship. I never let Manik get a hint of what was going on in my life otherwise. I didn't want him to feel guilty about anything but I was wrong to have hid it from him and on top of that to have lied about Abhimanyu and it struck me hard the day when I came to know about his Mom.

He hated her because she had cheated him, lied to him. And then when my pointed out my lie I got scared. I had never seen him so vulnerable. What if he got to know that I had lied to him before? He would never forgive me. He was already so shattered and my truth will break him further. But I had to tell him I couldn't bear the guilt anymore. I wanted to talk to him over lunch but even that got doomed. Then I got a message from Abhimanyu that he wanted to meet me urgently there was something important and unwillingly I had to lie to him again about the evening.