Entangled

Part 34

Days were passing by.

        One day when Nyonika was going to an orphanage, she asked Manik if he would like to join her. He didn't try to avoid like earlier and readily agreed. Nyonika took him to the same orphanage Manik had volunteered at earlier. From the moment he stepped in to the orphanage, nostalgia hit him. It was there he had spent a lot of time with Nandini and had also got to know her well, and his hatred for her had slowly faded and had made place for love though he hadn't realized it then. Manik visualized Nandini everywhere around him.

        Manik's thoughts : "If only I could go back in time, I would have stopped you from leaving..."

        He came out of his thoughts on hearing Nyonika.

        Nyonika : "Are you alright? You seem a bit off."

        Manik : "I am fine mom."

        A few people who recognized Manik came and spoke to him, and they also asked him about Nandini.

       Manik : "I don't know how she is. .. She left the college."

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On their way back home,

        Nyonika : "You seem to have become famous there. .. and who is Nandini? You never mentioned about her."

        Manik : "She was my partner there."

        Nyonika : "Why did she leave college? Where did she go?"

        Manik : "I couldn't meet her before she left, so I have no idea where she went."

        Nyonika had sensed that Manik wasn't his usual self from quite sometime and he seemed off that day. Also, she sensed a sadness in his voice whenever he mentioned that Nandini had left college and he didn't know how she was.

        Nyonika : "When did she leave?"

        After hearing Manik's response, Nyonika felt that the change in Manik is more or less connected to Nandini leaving the college. On probing further, Manik told Nyonika everything about Nandini - from how he met her and how they planned to take revenge from her, how he realized his mistake and how he tried to return her favor, till the time she left and he realized that he had fallen for Nandini.

        Nyonika felt bad at first because his son had agreed to play with a girl's life, but she was glad that he realized his mistake in time and he had tried to help her instead of ruining her life. She tried to uplift her son's mood.

        Nyonika : "I gave the credit, for leading you to volunteering, to Cabir for no reason, whereas the credit should actually go to Nandini. I should be grateful to her for more than one reason. .. She has managed to change all our lives for the better."

        Nyonika : "Usually, parents try to solve children's problems. In our case, the son had to fall in love to resolve the parents' issue .. When you have managed to resolve an issue which has been there for so many years in a very short time, you will be able to resolve this as well. Don't worry, everything will fall in place. I will pray to God that you find her soon."

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        Nandini was always on Manik's mind, but after the visit to the orphanage, Manik was missing her more than usual. That night,

        Manik's thoughts : "I was living a carefree life though my near ones were leading a life of chaos. Then you walked into my life, and because of you the misconceptions they were living with, got cleared. Their future will also be set sooner or later. But what about me? You left me in a state of uncertainty."