The Nerd and The Brat ✔️

32. Vacations

Hello Fam :)

Happy Reading...

Manik woke up on Monday morning with tangled limbs and soft snores. He turned his head to find Cabir beside him and took a few minutes to gather his thoughts from last night. He hated himself for breaking down in front of his baby brother and worrying him in return. Sighing, he freed himself and left the room, his mind blank of the day's routine since their vacations had just started.

When he found Nyonika sitting in the living room, on a call, Manik slipped beside her and rested his head on her shoulder. Manik felt her turn her head towards him in surprise but he pointedly avoided looking at her, burying his head more into her shoulder. He hardly seeks out first for some affection with anyone other than Cabir but after his little breakdown from last night, he realized he didn't care and just wanted to feel the presence of his only parent, who he knew at least loved him with all her heart, unlike the ones he had met yesterday. He smiled when Nyonika dropped a kiss to his head and ran her fingers through his messy bedhead hair as she continued to reply to the person on call.

Just when she finished her call, Cabir came down and settled down on the floor in front of his mother, resting his head on her lap. Manik peeked an eye open to check if his brother was alright and found him half asleep while Nyonika abandoned her mobile in order to put her hand on Cabir's head.

"What happened to my princes?, she teased.

"We love you, mom", muttered Manik, his voice audible enough to her as he didn't want to break the morning peace.

"Yeah, we are too lucky to have you with us", grumbled Cabir, his voice hoarse from sleep.

"Aren't you two a little too emotional for the first day of your vacations?", she asked and sighed when no one bothered to answer. "How about we go somewhere? Now that Manik is here, we don't need to include England in the itinerary before deciding on someplace."

"No", protested Cabir, surprising the other two because he was always up for vacationing. "We already have some plans for the vacations. Can we go back to the farmhouse and stay there during this time?", he asked.

Manik didn't comment. He knew he had agreed to physically train himself under Cabir during the semester break but it was almost a month back and Manik didn't know if his brother still remembered it or not. The topic never came again between them and Manik didn't want to hog Cabir's vacations for training him. It was different when he was in England because then vacations were just their thing.

"Are you okay, kid?", asked Nyonika, "The last thing I know is that you hate the farmhouse because the network is useless there."

Cabir rolled his eyes. "I still hate it there but I could really use some time away from the humans in this world", he muttered.

If it was any other day, Manik would have felt it as a bit dramatic but considering their lunch meeting the previous day, Cabir wasn't the least bit exaggerating. Hence, when Nyonika looked at him from an answer behind his brother's words, Manik just shrugged and managed to put on a smile so sweet that he sure knew it would let his mother just agree to him.

"Fine", said Nyonika, "I will call the office and tell them, I will be operating from there. Why don't you two get ready?"

"Can I have some time to pack a few books, please?", asked Manik. He wouldn't survive a day without his books during vacations. Not that he could forgive himself if he didn't catch up on his TBR list he had prepared before his exams for the said vacation.

"When would I get a vacation with my bhai minus the books", complained Cabir, looking up at the ceiling.

"Mom, look at him", he complained to Nyonika.