A Peek Into The Future (2)

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September 2025, Mumbai.

Nandini's POV-

"Great work, Nandini. I'm telling you, this album is going to kill it!" Ratna, the producer of my latest album beams at me. She looks so happy that anyone would think our album has already released and become a success.

That's one of the many perks of working with Ratna; she's always so lively and positive it's hard to be sad around her. And this is exactly why I requested her to prepone our recording session and do it today- I knew I needed some Ratna time to come out of the funk I've been in lately.

"What's up with you?" She raises an eyebrow at me when I don't say anything in response.

"Nothing. The songs did come out great, didn't they?" I give her a small smile.

"Don't change the subject. I can tell something is wrong with you. What is it? Is everything okay with Manik?" She narrows her eyes at me, like she has so many times before, in the last two years since we became friends. The look on her face is so endearingly familiar that I groan out loud, my facade crumbling finally.

"Tell me what's wrong." She sits down on the chair beside me and throws an arm around my shoulder.

"It's Manik." I murmur, deciding to talk about it at last.

We've been feeling off lately. I've avoided talking about it till now because I feared that putting my thoughts into words would make them a glaring reality, something I couldn't ignore anymore. I've been kidding myself into believing that it's all in my head. But I can't keep doing that anymore. Something is definitely wrong with us and I need to address the problem instead of running away from it. Ratna is a great listener and if anyone can help me out, it's her.

"What about him? Did you two fight?"

"No, we didn't fight." I cover my hands with my face, trying to find the right words to explain how I'm feeling. "Its just that, we- I don't know, we- don't fight, or talk or do much of anything anymore." I look at Ratna helplessly. "The last time I saw him was about a month ago. He came for the award ceremony with his mom and then flew right back. His mom stayed behind, Ratna. But he couldn't." I throw my hands up in the air. The frustration has been building up for months and it's hitting me like a canon in this moment.

"So what's the problem? That his mum stayed behind or that he didn't?"

So much for being a good listener. I know she's trying to lighten the mood but I just can't humor her right now.

"That he didn't stay, Ratna." I stare at her in disbelief. "I feel this is not working anymore. He's always so busy that I barely get to see him."

Just as I finish talking, my phone pings loudly, and when I turn on the screen, my irritation goes through the roof. I had forgotten to log out of my Instagram account and there's a barrage of notifications waiting for me.

Mindlessly, I scroll through the feed, coming across picture after picture of Manik and me- strolling on the streets, coming out of my studio and so many others of us just going about our daily business. There's even one of us sharing a kiss. As annoying as they are, I have to give it to the media- I'm sure our kiss didn't last longer than a few seconds, it was really just a brush. But the shutterbugs had captured it at the right moment, and now it is open to interpretation. For all I know, people are thinking we were snogging shamelessly in public.

With a sigh, I shut off my screen and put the phone down on the table, a bit too forcefully. It isn't easy, looking at pictures of us and reading captions about our 'undying' love, when I'm feeling so unsure of my relationship.

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