𝐈 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐞 𝓦𝓪𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 ✅

Chap 3

It was another elite & gala programme held by Indian Navy for the celebrations of Christmas tonight.

And just like previous 2 years, Manik had made luxurious plans of avoiding the party, just crash on his bed & read some good novels.

He had always attended these functions for his dad. Just to spend some quality father-son time, drinking, cracking jokes, pulling each others leg & what not, besides the meet and greet sessions with his father's coursemates & colleagues.

But after he went away, Manik had no more suitable reasons left to attend those parties.. no one to nag behind him & order him to let himself free and enjoy with his semi-aged guys & girls. But being the silent one since always, he never felt comfortable to start a conversation or gell up with people unknown to him. So he used to be with his dad more often, whenever Murthys' were transferred to a different place..

Though Cabir had already executed several plans to get Manik to the party tonight, all of it turned out to be a big flop with that same plain, simple & straightforward "No" on his face by Manik.

Cabir was a good friend of Manik & Manik liked spending time with this walking-talking bundle of jokes. But parties were definitely not a place he would want to be with him, for Cabir being 'The Joker' of their batch, had a lot of friends.. intact most of their coursemates & many from the juniors were there in his friends list as well.

So Manik knew, even if he goes to the party he would feel left out & he definitely didn't want Cabir to be with him all the while ignoring his friends.

After all these failed attempts, Cabir had given up trying anymore too. And Manik was relieved.

Cabir called him as the last try just to convince him, "So you're not coming?"

"No", Manik said.

Cabir sighed aloud. Just then his father appeared from behind, snatched his phone, "You aren't coming to the party tonight Malhotra?!"

Mr. Murthy always called him Malhotra whenever angry or irritated at him.

Rear Admiral Anant Murthy had already been shifted to INS Mumbai from INS Chennai 2 months back. And Manik had not even got time to meet & talk to him due to his hectic schedule, except for the exchange of greetings whenever they crossed paths here and there in office.

Manik fidgeted with words to come up with a considerable reason, "Umm... yeah Sir. I was-"

Anant cut him in between saying, "It's not Sir, it's uncle for you!! It isn't office hours that I'll allow you to call me that!" in an authoritative tone.

This made Manik smile, cause he knew the man on the other side can never fake his anger for long, "Yaa Uncle, it's just that I was feeling too tired to attend the party after returning to the Mess.."

"Nothing working Malhotra! You HAVE to come tonight, or else I'm not talking to you for the next week.", He confirmed.

Manik chuckled at that childish threat, "Ok ok! I'll come." Though he agreed, he knew he's gonna get bored AF at that party. But he could do anything for that man, even if that meant leaving the love of his life, his novels & his bed and attending that stupid function.

Anant was visibly happy, "I knew it you won't let my wish down. Infact Tara wants to meet you desperately, since it's been so long since you met her last. And I'll introduce you to Nandu as well!"

Nandu... His mind was stuck at that.

~•~
Thank you all so much readers!! 1.20k+ views in just 2 days?!! And #48 on Navy!😍❤️
So so happy!!🤩
Thanks a ton for all the love & support🥰 Means a lot to me❤️

And here's a probable schedule of my updates:
2 or 3 chapters per week.
Any day between Thursday to Sunday.
I won't be updating on weekdays..