MaNan FF: Falling For The Detached One

Chapter 9: Clarity.

Manik didn't wait to listen to me saying anything else. My mind traveled back to the exact hour we had talked for the first time. He seemed over confident, arrogant and headstrong each time he spoke to me but my last words seemed to put him in a daze. The last thing he said to me was about how right I was when I said he didn't deserve anything but even that one sentence spoken by him was enough to drive me nuts. The over confident expression that was usually plastered on his face while talking to me had melted away in a matter of few seconds and before I could think and analyze what exactly was wrong with him, he left. He went inside the music room and banged the door right on me. It didn't feel good.

My phone beeped and I checked the message. It was Navya asking me to come to the canteen. I didn't think much about Manik and his reaction and went to meet Navya, thereafter.

At the canteen I was greeted by both Navya and Cabir. They were talking happily and seemed to be nonchalant. If only Cabir knew that his friend was in a fit of rage at that moment and probably needed some timely pravachan to get back to normal.

"Hi." I said and took a seat. Navya and Cabir were eating two huge club sandwiches and I was offered one too, but I wasn't hungry.

"So Nandini kya tha woh?" Cabir asked me after some time.

"What ?" I seemed totally clueless regarding what he was talking.

"Harshad wali thing. Listen just stay away from him you two okay?" This time he even looked at Navya who looked more confused.

"Who is he and what did he do?" She asked.

"To start off with, he's Alya's brother. So called brother but both of them are different in their behaviors. He hates Manik and is like constantly thinking of ways to put him down."

"And?"

"And Manik has some personal hatred towards him which I'm not aware of but overall that guy is really cunning so please usse dur raho." Cabir said. More like tried making us understand. I wasn't even interested in being friends with him in the first place !

"And Nandini yaar , tum zyaada Manik se close mat raho. When did you guys become friends I don't even know !"

Manik. The mere mention of him was enough to remind me of the spiteful words I had said , that too, right on his face few minutes back. Guilt was slowly engulfing me from somewhere when I remembered his face before dashing into the music room and hence, secluding himself from the rest of the college.

"Nandu you are already friends with him? Tumne bataya nahi?" Navya intervened making me snap out of my thoughts.

What was I going to say to them? Cabir was repeatedly telling me to stay away from Manik and like a fool I was landing up in wrong situations with him every time.

"I'm not really friends with him." I muttered in a slow voice. From somewhere I had this deep urge to go and check on him. I never meant to push anyone to such extreme levels but the way Manik had reacted and banged the music room door right on me, it was giving me some serious guilty feels. After all, who would like being told that they don't deserve anything ? Koi bhi insaan ho, no one likes being told what they actually deserve and what not. Moreover , I had hardly seen anything of him , just his devdas look and his arrogant behavior that was reserved for me. I still didn't understand why he behaved like that with me. Who gave him the right to even do that ? Huh ? So weird. Holding hands, tracing fingers along my arms to make me absolutely numb, declaring me as his friend when he actually was not ! Who did he think he was ?

Control yourself Nandini. I said to myself. You can't do this. And you shouldn't do this. He doesn't mean anything to you so woh gussa ho ya kuch bhi ho kya farak padta hai. Let him sort his own messy life.