MaNan- She is to be Loved

Chapter 25- Bonding and some confessions!

~Thumping it does, but have I ever told you the rate it thumps when it's close to you. It, my heart~

-Affu-

In India

Lifecare Hospital

"But why are we here, Navya? We shouldn't let Lilliput know about what we're planning for her birthday." Manik frowned, while looking around, hoping not to spot Nandini anywhere near their group.

"Bhai! Don't worry. Bhabi won't find out anything about our plans for her birthday." Navya smiled at Manik, before looking at the entrance of the hospital cafeteria. "We're here to meet Aadit Bhai." she added, and Manik's gaze was shifted towards Navya.

"Yeah, apparently he wanted to be a part of this planning." Cabir shrugged, and Navya smiled widely. "Yeah, Bhai likes Nandini Bhabi." Navya said shrugging, and eight pairs of widened eyes snapped towards her.

"What?" she questioned, frowning, before widening her eyes. "Oh! I meant, like how a friend likes his friend." she almost cired out, before smiling apologetically at Manik. "Sorry Bhai. That came out wrong." Manik managed to smile at her, yet, he couldn't forget the scenes in his head where he did catch Aadit staring at Nandini, quite in a different way than how he looked at any of his friends.

"Hey! Sorry, I had a surgery." Aadit took a seat beside Navya, who scrunched up her nose at him. "You did wash your hands, right?" Navya asked, and Aadit rolled his eyes at her, before messing up with her hair. "Hey!" Navya swatted at Aadit's hands, while Cabir did his job of messing with her hair this time, which only made Aadit smile widely.

"So, anything pre-planned, Aadit?" Manik questioned, faking a smile on his face. "Oh yes!" Aadit faked a smile too, who's still not over with his crush. "I got to know from Mishti Ma that Nandini loves the superhero Mr. Increible. She said that it reminds her of her Appa. Maybe, we could do something with that theme." Aadit smiled, hoping to impress Nandini with his plans. 

"Mr. Incredible!" Manik faked yet another smile and he did not miss the way Aadit addressed Nandini's mother with almost-son-like love, while others seemed impressed with the idea. "Wow! Bhabi likes animations too. That's something new." Mukti chimed in, and Aadit frowned at the endearment for Nandini, which was again noticed by Manik.

"I guess it will be a nice plan to have her home decorated with this theme. What say, guys?" Alya questioned, and everyone nodded, except for Manik. "I don't think so." Manik said, and Aadit stared at Manik.

"Why not?" Aadit questioned, quite defensively and Manik just shrugged. "She likes everything simple. Yeah, she may like that superhero, but she surely isn't a fan of getting those done for her as any themes. She likes stuffs to be realistic, and creating such themes and all would only seem too mushy for her. Keep it simple for her. She'll love it. She expects people around to just be with her without faking anything." Manik explained, truthfully and the girls stared at him, with adoring smiles on their faces.

"Awe, Manik Bhai! You know Bhabi well." Navya gushed, and Aadit clenched his fists hard, while Manik smiled at the girls, before looking back at Aadit. "I mean, yeah. She's my girl, after all." Manik muttered out loudly, staring at Aadit, to which, Aadit pressed his lips together, and nodded.

"Yeah. True." Aadit faked a smile, and then looked at Manik, challengingly. "So you have any plans, Manik?" he asked, and Manik smirked. "Yeah, I do." he said, and Aadit stared on, curiously. "Oh, that's just...um, from me, and from me only." Manik fumbled with words, when he looked at his friends to see them smiling at him mischievously.