The Nerd and The Brat ✔️

31. The Lunch

Hello Fam :)

Anyone who had read Brida? 

Happy Reading...

Manik was shifting in his place as they waited in the living room of their prospective business partners. Cabir was beside him. He put a hand on his brother's knee to stop it from bouncing.

"What's wrong?", he whispered to Manik. "We just have to play with the kids. Why are you nervous?"

"Where do you think we are?", hissed Manik.

Before Cabir could reply to him, the man of the house had walked in along with his wife and apologized for keeping them waiting as he shook his hand with Nyonika. Cabir stared at Manik. What the hell is the trustee doing here? Cabir thought if he had really missed noticing the house between his chatter on the way or his memory was slipping. Not that anyone could blame him. He had only dropped Nandini to her house once and even then he was concentrating more on apologizing to her than the place.

Beside him, Manik has closed off and faked a smile. Cabir knew it as his business smile but he could still feel the nervous energy radiating from his brother.

"Meet my kids, Mr. Murthy", said Nyonika, introducing them.

It took a minute for Cabir to hide his suspicions about the man after watching him in their college but his brother was right in his element. It threw him off guard at the sweet smile he was sporting as he interacted with the person. He realized why Manik would be an excellent person to handle Malhotra Industries after their mom. He can be civil even with the vilest humans whereas Cabir would be insulting them within the first five minutes.

Cabir, who was next, barely held their hands as he shook them for a moment before pulling it to his side. If Mr. Murthy had noticed something odd, he didn't point out.

"I have seen you two somewhere", their host pointed out before scratching his stubble.

Cabir narrowed his eyes at the pretense.

"Aren't you two from the space college?", he asked them and turned to Nyonika without letting them answer. "I am the trustee of the college, Mrs. Malhotra."

"That's great", answered Nyonika, giving him another sweet smile.

Their little party was interrupted when Nandini walked down the stairs. She frowned in confusion as she saw the Malhotra twins. Cabir winked at her and she rolled her eyes, getting into the drama with a smile but their interaction was not missed by Nyonika. Cabir threw an apologetic grin at his mother making her roll her eyes at him. Why does everyone roll their eyes at him?

"Mrs. Malhotra, meet my darling daughter", said Mr. Murthy.

His mother's smile was faker than he could manage and Cabir was so proud of her but suddenly she frowned. "You are Cabir's friend", she said.

It was a statement more than a question and the head girl nodded in confirmation.

"She is Manik's classmate too", said her father, earning a glare from Nandini.

If Nyonika's concentration wasn't on Manik, she would have noticed it too. Surprisingly, Manik agreed with Mr. Murthy in front of his mother. It surprised both Cabir and Nandini. Even if the Manik was staring at the floor to avoid the gaze of his mother, Cabir noticed the smile that crept on Nandini's face listening to him. There were too many plots running simultaneously, thought Cabir. He was glad he was smarter enough to decipher everything at a go. He made a list in his mind about priorities because they are called priorities for a reason.