MaNan FF: Falling For The Detached One

Chapter 3: Empathy ?

Nandini:

He was standing few metres away from me...his perfect face had signs of giving up. I observed him from head to toe. He was tall, really tall, well dressed and looked pretty much capable of being the most sought after guy in college. He had a couple of papers in his hands and headphones around...musician maybe? But there was something missing.

I hadn't seen him smile.

I was ogling at him shamelessly, inspite of realizing that he was looking back at me, yet he didn't utter a word..then, rubbed his palm over his face , and turned to leave.

I don't know what was it that kept me dragging towards his magnetic personality. The first time I had seen him, he seemed vulnerable, the second time he seemed super reluctant, the third time, he was confused and pissed, and the fourth time, he was talking to a good looking girl, probably someone he was close to. What was in him that kept pulling me towards him, I didn't know . But I had begun to feel a connection... We both were probably riding in the same boat.

Would Cabir tell me about him? I wanted to know what it was..His face was more suited for a smile than a frown.

"Hi Nandini ! What's up? Need some help?" Just when I wanted to talk to him, he tapped on my shoulder and appeared out of somewhere.

"Oh hi. " I said. "No, I don't need help, just wanted to know something."

Some forty five minutes back , Cabir had asked me to stay away from the guy...what was his name ? Manik..yeah Manik ! Now like a fool, I was going to ask about him to Cabir. Wow Nandini.

"Go on ! Ask."

Anyway..no harm in asking once..

"Umm Cabir...your friend..Manik, what happened to him? He looks so distracted and confused and depressed all the time.." Please Cabir don't yell at me.

He looked at me questioningly, as if I had asked him to reveal his credit card number.

"Nandini.." He finally said. "I told you to stay away from him. You don't know him, and trust me you won't want to know him."

Wasn't he supposed to be Manik's friend ? Why was he talking like this?

"Aren't you his friend? Why are you portraying him in a bad light in front of me?"

"Nandini..look.." Cabir placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "He's good, in fact very very good as a friend, but please don't talk to him..don't get too close to him ...you will regret it.."

I felt bad. This wasn't right. That guy was carrying so much of pain right on his face since the morning , and when I wanted to know about him, Cabir wouldn't tell me.

"Acha waise have you seen him? Where did he go?"

I nodded, and pointed to the other direction. " He was talking to some girl and then he went there."

"Okay, fine. I'll talk to you later. Bye. Call me if you need help." Cabir said and left.

This was so not done. Cabir just didn't tell me about anything. What was his problem ? Huh ? I was irritated, but at the same time I knew that Manik was no one to me. I had seen him for the first time some forty five minutes back, and here I was , wanting to know the reason behind his depression. I don't know why it kept coming back to me all the time...he resembled someone, in a way...someone I had a bad past with, but yet he was different, different than the one I had a horrible past with.

Manik:

My phone buzzed for the nth time. Cabir. Gosh, could this person let me concentrate on music for sometime ? I wasn't going to receive his call. If I did, he would start giving me a lecture again and I was literally in no mood to listen to any of his lectures at all. I had better things to focus on and not listen to his taunts on how to not date girls until graduation.