Following

42

This time Mrs Chopra answered the door. Manik plastered a smile and spoke." Good morning aunty. I am Arjun's friend Manik. Can I meet him? It's urgent" Nandini looked at Manik as if he was some alien.

"Good morning. Yes, you can meet him. Come in," Mrs Chopra offered.

"No, Aunty, if you could send him outside. Actually, all of us are meeting at Nandini's" Manik poured all his sweetness, and Nandini was scared as she knew what was coming.

"Okay," Mrs Chopra went and called Arjun.

The moment Arjun saw Manik at his doorstep, his face lost colour. Manik did not give time to Arjun to react. He pulled Arjun inside Nandini's flat and locked the door. The commotion woke Dhruv, Mukti and Rishabh from their sleep. Nandini was apprehensive. She knew what was coming, and she could do nothing about it. Manik held Arjun's collar and pinned him to the wall.

"How dare you", Manik spat fire with his words.

"Manik, what are you doing? Leave him" Mukti tried but to no avail.

"Mukti, don't get into this. Let me handle." Manik warned her.

"You, who do you think you are? How bloody dare you advise Nandini to try alcohol? "

"Manik, she was depressed, and I didn't know any other way to help" Arjun mustered his courage and tried to speak.

Listening to this Manik's anger fuelled. He was about to punch him when Nandini stopped him.

"Manik, it was my choice to accept his advice or decline it. It was not his fault. It was mine. I saw no other option."

"You can't be serious, Nandini" Manik left Arjun with a thud. He saw Nandini's pleading eyes. He took a deep breath to calm his anger. "Out before I ruin your face" He pointed towards the main door.

Arjun looked at everybody and left, immediately closing the door behind him. Manik was funning with anger.

"Manik, I am really, very sorry. I know I shouldn't have done this, and you are upset, but I did not see any other choice. I was broken, Manik" Nandini tried to calm him down.

"Nandini, you " Manik took Nandini for a hug and did not leave her, making the others feel awkward. He did not know whether he should be angry at her and shout or should he console her and apologise for not being there with her.

"You have disappointed me, Nandu", Manik whispered in her ears.

"Guys, we don't want to see your PDA", Mukti said, bringing them back from their la la land. Manik and Nandini separated, and all of them laughed slightly.

Nandini was on top of the world. The most unexpected thing happened to her, her love was apparently back from the dead, and she could have asked for nothing else. She was flying like a butterfly and seeing her elated, everybody was happy, but somewhere she knew that she had let Manik down, she was guilty, but she knew better than to give up. She knew what she meant to Manik and how to win his trust back. He was not mad at her, but he was upset.

"Guys, I don't know about you people, but I am starving, " Dhruv said, pointing towards his stomach.

"I second that. I am sleepy. I am not driving anymore."

"Wow, Now that you got your Nandini, why will you drive? You will take the back seat to compensate for three months of romance. That's perfect, bro." Mukti mocked, and Manik winked at Nandini.

"Exactly, you know Nandini, this man", Dhruv said, pointing towards Manik ", took us at eight at night and then we drove for 25 hours I think to reach you, and this man did not let us stop to eat easily."

"Leave alone eating. He did not let us even stop for peeing." Mukti added,

"guys guys, you asked for too many breaks, and if I would have listened to you guys, then we wouldn't have reached. We would have still been travelling" Manik tried to dismiss all acquisitions, and Nandini was smiling inwardly.

"You could have taken the flight?" Rishabh asked, and everybody looked at him.

"No, actually, we did not know that you were here. We went to Mangalore first, and then Amms gave us the address, so we came here," Dhruv clarified.

Nandini looked at Rishabh as if he was from some other planet. "Rishu, did you just speak" Nandini went towards Rishabh. In the hustle and bustle, everybody forgot to tell Nandini that Rishabh could speak.

"Yeah, di. "Nandini hugged Rishabh cheerfully.

"Why didn't you tell me" Nandini knew the answer, and she looked down, tears forming in her eyes.

"I am so sorry, Rishu. I should have been more responsible. How could I forget you? I am sorry," Nandini apologised, and Rishabh hugged her.

"Let's forget what we did. The good thing is that I can speak again, and all the radioactive stuff is out of my body thanks to the doctor Dhruv bhayia suggested." Nandini turned towards Dhruv and thanked him.

"Is it just me, or there is too much emo here. Uffff, I can't breathe." Mukti commented, shuffling her hands.

"It looks like some reunion drama. Everybody is crying and hugging," Manik added.

"The drama can't be complete till we have our Madhubala and Cabir in the picture", Mukti said

"Okay, now I can't control anymore. I know everybody is emotional. A lot has happened and all that, but I have not had a proper meal from the past day. If you all could spare me and can we please eat something? "Dhruv interrupted.

Mukti went and checked Dhruv's head. "Since when did you start talking like Cabir."

"Okay, considering you people travelled for so many hours. Let us eat, and then you can rest," Nandini suggested, and all of them agreed.

Nandini took all of them to a nearby diner for food, as cooking food would take time. All of them settled and ordered food.

Over lunch, Manik told everybody about his London adventures. Dhruv and Mukti told about what happened in Mumbai, and Rishabh and Nandini filled them in about what happened in Chennai.

"By the way, what is the plan now?" Mukti asked

"What plan?" Manik asked, sipping his drink.

"We have to go back to Mumbai. So when, how" Mukti explained

"There is nothing to plan. All of us will leave in Manik's car." Dhruv made it obvious.

"But Rishabh's doctor is here, and my college is also here" Nandini raised a point.

"Yeah, so I will arrange Rishabh's doctor in Mumbai, and you can get a transfer " Manik made everything clear.

"I will not drive. I can't, " Mukti stated

"Okay, so we can take a flight to Mumbai, and I will have the car transported" The plan was set, and Manik booked flight tickets for everybody.

Post lunch, Manik, Mukti and Dhruv slept as they were tired, whereas Nandini and Rishabh got busy packing.