Chaotic Tangles!

14|| A Moment In Time

~We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone.” – Orson Welles~

Early mornings had never been Manik Malhotra's favourite time of the day, especially on a Sunday, but he had learnt it the hard way that most of the times, life doesn't play out according to our favourites. Pausing to gulp down some water, he hence continued to run in cricles, the jogging parameter of his society now being an extremely known territory to him. He smugly smiled to himself, aware of the sly glances and subtle laughter he was getting, after all female attention always followed his trail wherever he went.

It reminded him of Nandini, and their first meeting in her almamater. He smiled to himself remembering the day, and it oddly stuck him how it looked like it might rain today, and it had been raining that day too.

How cliche?

Manik chuckled, only if it was a movie, the rain and them could be a metaphor together.

They were, he believed, if he was being honest to himself. Even if not together, he did believe him and Nandini, and whatever energy they had between them, to be a metaphor- it wasn't reality, it wasn't true - for in all probability there wasn't anything between them, but him and her - yin and yang, always helped make a comparison with the reality, explained something nothing else could.

Smiling to himself, he pulled the chain of his track suit down and stretched a little, it had been more than an hour he was jogging and he was feeling his limbs getting tired of the exhausting exercise he was putting them through. He looked around, trying to spot an empty bench or something to sit down, but what caught his attention made him smirk.

Walking leisurely towards the huge banyan tree in the south most corner of the park, he stood watching her for a few minutes. She seemed oblivious to the entire world, for she had found a world of her own in the book she was reading. When the book cover caught his attention, Manik was amused and he found it the perfect opportunity to gain her attention.

"And here we meet again!", Nandini looked up, startled at his voice, but he found it extremely cute when he saw her cheeks go red. He immediately knew he was already there on her mind when he startled her, but she was Nandini Murthy for a reason, she immediately got control of herself and raised her eyebrow at him.

"Good morning, SIR", she smiled rather sarcastically and despite all his rationality, Manik began to laugh out loud at that. His laughter was as contagious as it was warm, and eventually Nandini found herself laughing too. Just like that, the ice that had settled between them after their last conversation in the dressing room, melted away. Manik sat down beside her, his back to the trunk of the tree, like her, but because they were sitting side by side with some distance between them, they couldn't really look at each other's face unless they turn half way through.

"I thought you were disappointed with me, or rather, 'read my vibe wrong'?", Nandini asked in a timid voice, tucking the loose strand of hair behind her ear. It gave Manik a sneaky view of her face, and her pink chubby cheeks.

"Cold gets to you pretty soon yeah?", Manik ignored her question and asked instead, giving the direct cue to Nandini that he didn't want to talk about their last tiff. Nandini obliged, but his question made her conscious about herself, she pretty well knew what he was asking - cold made her cheeks go all red, her nose pink and her face looked too babyish for her own liking.

Manik read that in her body language, and it made him smile slightly - the knowledge that there were still people so seemingly innocent in the world that you can see through them.