MaNan: Breaking Free

36|Confrontations

Nandini's POV

The sudden, shrill ringing of my phone wakes me up. After groping in the darkness for about a minute, I find it lying on the floor and just as I am about to pick it up, the ringing stops. With a sigh, I fall back on my pillow, leaving the phone on the floor. A single thought is plaguing my mind, overwhelming me completely.

Musicana.

So much planning. So many efforts. So many hopes.

All for nothing. As I close my eyes, image after image flash through my head, reminding me that yet again, in a cruel stroke of luck, something I loved had been snatched away from me. All I can feel is loss and hopelessness. Was I doomed forever? I couldn't ever just catch a break, could I?

A loud bang on the door jolts me out of my pitiful thoughts.

"Go away!" I shout at the door, hoping whoever it is takes the bloody hint and leaves me alone.

"Nandini, it's me. Open the damn door." It's Manik shouting back from the other side.

With a grunt, I get up to open the door and let him in.

"You look like shit!" He remarks dryly.

"Just what a girl wants to hear from her boyfriend first thing in the morning." I scowl at him.

"How's your throat? Does it still hurt?"

My throat? Oh yeah, I had completely forgotten about the pain in my throat.

"It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Are you sure? We could go to the doctor again?"

He looks so worried about me that I grab his hand and pull him onto my bed.

"Manik, it's fine. I don't need to see the doctor again." If only I could tell him that my throat was the least of my worries right now. I was really more worried about my inability to hold on to things that I loved, no matter how much effort I made. But if I told him this, he would just get more worried and go all philosophical on me.

He stares at me for a moment and then with a gentle tug, pulls me into his lap. "You are so brave!" He plants a soft kiss on my forehead and hugs me close to his chest.

The effect is instant. I feel some of my hopelessness from earlier ebbing away. Amidst everything that was wrong with my life, I still had Manik, didn't I? He had been there every step of the way, protecting me however best he could. Even now, with his arms enclosing me on all sides, he was protecting me from my own dark thoughts without even realizing it. And despite everything, we had managed to hold on to each other all this time. If I could have something in my life that felt this good and so fucking right, surely I wasn't doomed after all?

My phone rings, effectively distracting me again. With a groan, I slump back on my pillow and place another on my face.

"It's Navya." Manik picks up the phone and answers it. "Hey, what's up?" As he continues talking, his expression gets more serious. After hanging up, he doesn't say anything and keeps staring at the phone in his hand.

"What did she say?" I ask apprehensively.

"Alia got a mail from Musicana last night. Fab 5 is not disquaified after all. We are back on and eligible to represent St. Stephen in the finals, which is in two months."

Huh. That felt like being doused in cold water after coming out of a hot shower. Whatever little optimism I had found in the last ten minutes disappears completely. Even though it was my idea that they perform without me, I feel terrible about the whole thing.