MaNan: Breaking Free

17|I am here

Manik's POV

Nandini is staring out of the window as we drive back, with a content smile. Her face is glowing from the street lights. She rolls down the window and breathes deeply. The sight is heavenly!

I force myself to come out of my trance and focus on the road.

"Manik, stop!" She screeches.

I abruptly stop the car and look at her.
"I want to have kulfi. See that guy over there? Let's go." She gets down and I follow her.

She is jogging up to the kulfiwala with childish excitement. This is something. I never thought a girl, who howls and screams at the drop of a hat and appears all sophisticated would be so excited to have such a thing as kulfi from a roadside cart. She takes a kulfi and starts licking it with an animated expression.

"Wow. This is so good! Want one?" She asks as I reach her. I nod and take one from the vendor.

"Like it?"

"Yeah!" I smile at her. She closes her eyes while savouring the kulfi. She is beautiful, man! The innocence on her face tugs at my insides and as I look at her lips, kulfi dripping down its corners, all my wild desires come rushing back. Hold it! What are you, a teenager?

She opens her eyes and blushes hard on finding me staring. I look away quickly, not knowing what to do.

"This has been the best Christmas in a long time!" She smiles at me.

"I agree." Her smile widens and I grin back.

"Can I ask you something?" I say cautiously.

"Sure." She nods.

"You were born in Chicago, right?"

"Yeah."

"Um..don't you think you and kulfi don't go together?"

She bursts out laughing at my question.

"Manik, what do you think, that I am some arrogant, snobbish girl with a lot of money who can't like stuff like kulfi?"

"Um.." I mumble uncertainty.

"You thought so, didn't you?" She asks with a serious expression now, looking straight into my eyes.

"Well..I.." I don't know what to say.

"You are wrong. I may be arrogant to most people. But, at the end of the day, I like to think I am a simple girl. I hope you see it." Her eyes are boring into mine.

"Let's go now." She says after a minute, looking dejected.

I follow her into the car and we drive back.

................

Nandini and I are waiting in the canteen for her friends to arrive. She hasn't uttered a word to me since morning. And I have to admit, I do not like it at all. I miss talking to her.

There's a small voice in my head, constantly telling me since last night that I affect her. This thought soothes me slightly. And, she is sensitive.

"Nandini?"

She looks up at me from her phone and nods.

"I am really sorry about what I said last night. I didn't mean it. It's just that, you are someone I didn't think you would be." Desperation is clear in my voice. She gives me a small smile. Maybe, she hears it too.

"It's okay, Manik. It's not your fault. You don't know me. And I do behave like a bitch."

"I want to know you. And I don't think you behave like a bitch. You just have...a bit of a temper issue." I say honestly, emphasising each word.