Deceiving Veils

Chapter-48{Pull and Push}

He hadn't said a word about it.

Nandini looked at Manik who was leading her somewhere into woods holding her hand. She had told everything what her father went through and how dictator wanted his signature. She had explained it all how her father wasn't the one who sold the state to dictator but he himself was victim of dictator's foul play.  Manik was the only one who had nothing to say about it as if nothing had changed, like it didn't matter at all. His indifference was eating her. She knew they never shared their problems, they never talked about families, they never actually talked; but it was somewhat ruffling her that he didn't have anything to say. 

Her feet halted in process and Manik felt a tug obstructing his course. He turned around to see her standing lost. 

"What happened?" He asked and she came out of web of thoughts.

"Nothing," She answered absentmindedly and he resumed their walk. She looked around and her stressed nerves calmed magically. They were out of roof of palm trees and were standing under the stars. Grass reached below her knees and there was endless view of it. 

His thumb traced her cheek and she came out of reverie. 

"What's bothering you?" He asked as he stood in front of her. 

"Nothing," She lied with a smile trying to convince him. She could not ask him why he behaved so impassive towards details she revealed about her father and dictator. She didn't know if she could risk this calm in their relationship. 

"Do not lie to me," He warned softly as he lifted her chin with his finger. 

Nandini searched something she needed in his eyes for few seconds before she gathered courage to speak her mind. 

"You didn't say anything back there," She asked licking her lips in anxiety. 

His touch lost its feather touch as he heard it. Nandini didn't know what that meant. 

"Why we never talk, Manik?" She asked and he withdrew his fingers from her face. She already felt her heart sinking as he turned his back on her. She walked nearer and planted a soft kiss on his back trying to convey how she wasn't accusing him. 

"What if I say it doesn't matter to me?" He asked holding her hands which were laying on his stomach. She had hugged him from behind. 

She didn't answer but her clasp around his torso loosened a bit. 

"I never liked your father, Nandini," He was brutally honest. 

"But he didn't do anything," She argued and he sighed. 

"It's not about what he did," He replied coldly and Nandini's chin wobbled. He had not let go of her hands yet. 

She turned her face into his back as if trying to hide in that wall of fabric which held his warmth. 

"He is not the one responsible for destruction of this state," She murmured and her voice didn't help her. He had sensed that she was crying. He pulled her from one end to bring her in front of him but she exerted all her force refusing to face him. 

"Stop crying, Nandini," He said in a helpless voice. 

"I am not crying," She had a dignity to hold. 

"Yes, sure," He spoke irritated. 

Pricking silence filled the beautiful night as she kept shedding tears silently burying her face in his coat and he held her hands on his stomach tighter than before. 

"You matter to me the most, Nandini," He spoke after taming his nerves. 

"Yes, sure," She replied in same tone he used a few minutes back.