MaNan FF: Falling For The Detached One

Chapter 11: A step towards you.

"Manik." The same voice which made my name sound different yet special spoke. I was sitting on one of the stairs in the music wing, coaxing my luck and simultaneously looking for MY star.

"I think this fell..its yours right ?" Nandini was carrying that very thing I was looking for. The star. My star.

I nodded, whilst looking directly into her eyes. She seemed to get a little uncomfortable so she quickly handed it over to me.

I took the star from her and looked directly into her eyes. Her eyes hid so many emotions, yet reflected my face so perfectly that I had no words to describe the amount of happiness that crossed me when I looked at her like that.

"You can talk." She finally said after a couple of minutes. "I know we aren't friends but you can share. I...i will listen to you."

I didn't want to be friends with her. Damn, something just pinged me at that friend word but I was very clear that I could never be friends with her.

Her voice had honesty. Genuineness. So much of warmth and fused with her comforting tone. So comforting that it directly went to the temporal lobe of my brain and commanded me to let everything out. My pain, my sadness. Everything that I had been hiding since long. She would listen to me. She would.

"Alya...she was my first serious love.." I began with a heavy heart. Maybe letting everything out would help me move on. After what I had seen today, it was pinching me at every nook and corner and it almost felt as if things were never going to get back to where they were, initially.

Nandini's face turned even more pale. I sat on the stairs, in front of her and continued with my blabbering.

"Before I started dating her I was a very casual kind of person... I hardly believed in relationships that's why I wasn't ever serious with any girl.."

I heard her hmm. Poor girl, she didn't find words to react to this.

"And then, I fell in love with Alya. Not just love, it was too deep for me. We were together for six months before she chose to break up with me."

I sensed Nandini sitting next to me. Her palms were folded into a fist and her chin rested on them.

"Why?" Her soothing voice kinda mellowed down the intensity of pain stuffed inside my heart.

"Because I wasn't fully loyal to her." I confessed.

"Why?"

"I got carried away in someone else's presence." I added. Damn. Why did I tell this to her ? She seemed so studious, she would definitely give a lecture to me.

"And Alya saw this ?"

I nodded, remembering the dreaded moment.

Nandini slowly placed her palm on mine and entwined her fingers with mine. I didn't know what she was doing, but I felt good. Really good.

"You know, it hurt me . It hurt me a lot when she broke up with me. I agree I was at fault but she just chose to end everything because of that. I never knew it would hurt so much but now that it is, it feels pathetic. I loved her Nandini. I loved her a lot." My heart seemed to crash down with these words. How are you supposed to react otherwise ?

"You know, kal when you said that I don't deserve anything, it agitated me to bits.. Because it reminded me of all the bad memories, everything that I concealed from each and every person and buried in some part of my heart. But when you said that , everything just came right back to me and I needed some time to compose myself."

Her grip around my fingers tightened. There was not much force that her little hand could apply, but she was there. She was still listening to me , patiently.