Hustle For Love |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

10. The One Where I Fell Apart

A/N : Hello dearies, here's the next nugget for you of HFL! Do share your love/ appreciation and feedback in the form of votes & comments - this keeps me going! Also, await a big DHAMAKA in the end of the chapter in my after notes! I promise its a good surprise! :D

Happy Reading!

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S.P.A.C.E. Academy, New York circa 2012

(Manik's Apartment, S.P.A.C.E. Residency, Campus Grounds)

Nandini Murthy

I was heartbroken, angry, anxious and disappointed when I was knocking on his door. I had not taken more than a couple of minutes to walk to his place, after Aliya told me his whereabouts. It was night time now, one very similar to the night he brought me here. It was cold but not foggy, the sky shone with twinkling stars in pristine clarity, but there was gloom in the atmosphere, or maybe in my heart.

I was waiting for him to open the door and get shocked seeing me, but when his apartment door finally opened, I was the one standing shocked.

Err...Spikey?

Okay, quick flashback. Do you remember a certain spikey who visited Cafe Nero when I waited there and repeatedly complained about my waffles? The reason why I couldn't arrange for enough money to buy my ticket back to India? The same flight, had I taken, the story of my life would be different today? Yes, that guy, he was the one who opened the door.

"Spikey?" I called out in uncertainty.

"I heard you call me that. I prefer Cabir though" he replied with a tight smile.

Suddenly a possibility so bizarre hit me, that I raised my eyebrow to the point where it got hidden in my hairline.

"Tell me this is a coincidence!" I hissed, looking at him. His smile faltered, answering my doubt. It wasn't. His coming to my cafe, repeatedly complaining about me, me losing my job, and thereby me staying back alone with Navya gone.

"How'd you guys know I was saving money to go home?" I asked bewildered.

"Why don't you come in, Nandini?" he replied, ignoring my question. I gave him a hard look and walked inside. Then I turned to him, "Answer me, Cabir"

"We were following you for quite some time, to gather information about you, so that we could plan this..err..thing" he mumbled looking down.

"Stop lying, only Navya and I knew about this. She wouldn't ever tell you" I replied coldly.

"She didn't, I overheard your conversation on the campus one day" he replied, still not meeting my eyes. Was he guilty? What was the point, I was ruined already!

"This is beyond sick" I mumbled, folding my hand across my chest, now looking around, hoping for a glance of Manik.

"Listen Nandini, I am..er..point is, I am sorry. We are Fab 5, we support each other without a question, hence I did what I had to. I gathered up all information on you and I don't think you deserved this. But Manik, he ..err..he is very close to Mukti, so I can understand when yo--" but his sentence was cut short by another voice. A known voice. A voice I was craving to hear for two days now. Manik.

"That's enough Cabir." his voice was cold. I had never heard this eerie chilliness in his voice before. I shut my eyes in dismay. Judge me all you want, but although my plan was to confront for answers and give him a piece of my mind, the sound of his voice changed me from within. All of a sudden I found myself craving to clear all our misunderstandings and rush back to his embrace, my happy place. By now I was sure, these were misunderstandings for sure. I had not messed up with Manik, ever.