Part 22. Pieces of a Puzzle

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Manik knew he had screwed up the next very instant. She was right. She did so much for his friends and continued to make a lot of adjustments for his friends too and he, like a jerk, refused to do one dinner for her sake. He felt rotten right now and he deserved it. Although unknowingly, he had taken the fact that she did so much for him and his friends for granted. And one dinner with her friends wasn't a big deal. He could of course do that for her. He realised that she has never asked him something like that before and that's why the concept of meeting her friends was very alien to him. And he denied going with her the first time she asked him. Arghhh. He was such an ass. It's time for damage control. He needs to make it up to her and do it fast. He didn't want her to stay in a bad mood for long.

He quickly rushed down the stairs to go to the kitchen to make her favourite filter coffee like he had promised last night. That's the first thing he'd do anyway whenever he needed to pacify her. However, he came across all his friends sitting excited on the breakfast table.

Cabir - Manik. Jaldi aa. Album ke reviews dekhte hai.

Manik - Give me 5 minutes. Tum log dekhna chalu karo. Maine subah already dekhe thode bohot.

Mukti - Saale. Tune akele dekh liye?

Manik - Haan. Nandini ne laat mar kar uthaya dikhaane ke liye.

Cabir - Aaj toh Nandini ke pair chune hi padenge. Manik Malhotra ko laat maari. Kahaan hai woh devi?

Manik - Oye Nautanki. Sach mein nahi maari. It was just a phrase. Anyway, tum log dekho, I'll be right back.

He rushed into the kitchen immediately and started making filter coffee. He also decided to try making some breakfast for her but since he knew nothing, he toasted some bread and applied some butter and jam on it. He even tried to make a sad smiley face on top of the bread which didn't turn out to be perfect and not to mention that it was so lame but he was hoping she found it cute and forgave him.

Nandini came down freshly showered 15 mins later to see Manik coming out of the kitchen holding a plate and a mug of coffee with him. He signaled her to come sit next to his chair but since she was mad at him, she sat next to Mukti instead. Manik was a little disappointed but then he deserved the cold treatment from Nandini. He, nevertheless, placed her coffee and breakfast in front of her. She didn't deny the breakfast as she didn't want to let their friends know about their fight. It was personal and that's how she wanted to keep it. And Manik understood that too and hence, made no further actions that would attract their friend's attention. She looked at that distorted sad smiley made with ketchup and tried really hard to not give away a smile and hid her face with the coffee mug.

Cabir - Ooohhhh. Nandini ke liye special breakfast. Kal raat ko bohot zyaada fireworks hue honge?

Manik - Cabir. Mind your own business.

Mukti - Waise Manik, kal raat ko tu humaare saath time spend karne waala tha and you didn't even show up.

Manik - I was talking to Dad. Toh late ho gaya. And guys, let's just focus on the reviews please. We need a game plan on what we need to do next.

Everyone then started scanning the entertainment section of every newspaper they could find to check the reviews.

Cabir - Bombay Times has given us a fabulous review.

Dhruv - DNA too.

Alya - Mumbai Mirror has such a huge article about us. Look. They've covered us really well.

Mukti - Hindustan Times is good too.

Manik - Indian Express and The Hindu have also covered it. So that covers all the top newspapers of our country.

Reality Ever Afterजहाँ कहानियाँ रहती हैं। अभी खोजें