MaNan: Mirage || Completed

||1. The present||

" Everytime you laugh hard, holding your stomach, tears roll out of your eyes, right?

But sometimes, just sometimes, when you cry hard, in your heart, a smile adore your lips too.

The former happens with everyone, but the latter is very special. It happens only with a few brave souls, whose fire has exhausted, and the hopes crushed brutally.

He was one such soul.

And she thought, maybe, just maybe, she would be able to rekindle the fire in his being and wipe out that uncanny smile from his face.

Did she succeed?"

Smilingly, Tridha closed the book she had so painstakingly written. While her entire book was written and edited by her, this preface was not. None knew though, she had never disclosed it. But then, she was already called the unusual writer of the era. Even though she was just a book old in this world of authors, she had taken a risky and weird step.

She had not named her protagonists. It was 'He' and 'She' in the entire book.

Today, after eight months of her phenomenal success, she was about to tell the world the names of her 'He' and 'She', and also that it was her 'She' who had written the preface to the book!

The lights were ready, falling on the center of the stage; the decorations on point. The stage was all set, the mike was ready to grace the presence of the honorable cheif guest of the night- Tridha Sharma. The students were already excited, hooting and shouting, and simultaneously awaiting her presence. At the tender age of twenty eight, Tridha had been a role model of many, with her debut novel being an internationally acclaimed bestelling book for eleven consecutive weeks. She had taken the bibliophile world by sheer surprise with her book and everybody suddenly wanted to have her on their dices. She was now an inspiration to the youth, a young girl who had left her CA last semester unfinished, disappeared for a year after that and returned with a manuscript in her hand that when published hit the world like a storm. And after a lot of struggles and connections and a lot more convincing, Tridha had agreed to come and have a TED TALK in that same college she had spent a few semesters in, about her life and her book.

That was all about the buzz that day which increaed tenfold when she entered through the back stage, and came in front of the thousands of students awaiting her, and all of them started clapping as she held the mike and smiled, an aura of confidence shining on her face.

" Hey peeps!", She wished the youngsters in their language, and also to the world watching her go live on Instagram and Facebook.

Everybody cheered her which she acknowledged with a smile.

"Today I am here, in front of you and not sitting with you, even though two years or so ago, I was just one of You", she started and the hall went silent. The charisma of Tridha held everybody together.

" I had always dreamt of being a motivational speaker, and not an author, as most of you have misjudged me to be", she chuckled as she could hear whispering amidst the crowd.

"But somebody I met a year ago, changed my perspective about life, and love. They made me who i am today, personally and professionally. They are the same people who are the protagonist of my debut story- Mirage!", Tridha walked ahead with the cordless mike and she could watch the hall go silent again. Behind, on the wall, she could see lots and lots of questions and comments from people watching her on their phones and laptop.

"I wrote that story, which all of you loved and appreciated, without names. It was all about He and She. Today I am disclosing the names to you, here. The He and She of my story, or rather of their own story that I penned down", everybody cheered for her and she smiled. After the book was published, she had got too many emails and sms and messages over SNS about the He and She. Everybody wanted to know their names, how they looked like, and if they were real.

" Today, I am here, not only to tell you about their names but also a part of their story I was witness too, but didn't write. Today, I will tell you all the reality and no fiction of my He and She, a tale of love that started before I met them. From the initial summer they met, wrapping in it the part where I met them which is the story of my novel, to what happened after the book ended. Today, all of you are going to have all the awaited answers!", Tridha definitely knew how to hook people up in her talks and excite them too. She could see anticipation in all the eyes that her gaze could follow, in front of her, and even backstage. She knew people watching her live were also harboured the same zeal to know about the story.

"Well, to begin with, i would name my He and She. So, welcome to the tale of two lives- Manik Malhotra and Nandini Murthy!", Tridha spoke into the mike and she could watch several people repeating the names after her. The characters they had loved now had names. The 'She' was now Nandini and the 'He' they wanted to themsleves was now Manik.

" Let us now dwell into the story of MaNan, shall we? Are you all ready?", Tridha giggled as the crowd mirrored her joy if not less. The lights suddenly went dim and the students and teachers and the staff and everybody relaxed into their seats, ready to begin a journey that was sure to change a bit of their lives, forever.

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To be continued soon.

I hope you liked the preface of this story.
It's actually a one shot, that I am going to publish in parts.
How was it?
How many of you are excited?

It's a very unusual story!
Stay tuned.

Let me please know your views!

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