Hustle For Love |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

37. The One Where I Surprised Her

A/N : Yes, yes readers, I am back with the next chapter, but a small heads up here; so a lot is going on in my life plus family right now because of which I haven't been able to edit & proof read this chapter. Let's just say I just finished writing this chapter & now I am publishing it. While I can assure you there is no gap in the plot & storyline, but if you come across typos or grammatical errors, please highlight it in your comments, I will edit accordingly.

Now, I know a lot of you want to know what is it that Mrs. N now wants to tell Manik, are Aryamann & Nandini back together yet? Well go on, read the chapter, you will find all your answers here! :)

Happy Reading!

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Virgin Australia, Enroute: Cairns to Hollywood circa 2019

Stops: 2 (Sydney & Vancouver)  | Flight time: 23 hrs + 9 mins

(Manik's seat, Private First Class)

Manik Malhotra

As I kept a close tap on the map on my screen to see the geographies I was rapidly covering by air to reach Nandini, I couldn't help feeling a rush of a whole lot of emotions, all at once. I was happy, excited, nervous, anxious and maybe even a little bit scared; this wasn't the first time I was feeling overwhelmed with emotions in my life, but this was indeed the first time, most of my emotions rushing in, they were positive. That's what loving Nandini did for me, that tiny human being entered my life due to my master scheming & before I knew it, instead of getting toppled by my dark force, she ended up overpowering my darkness with her inner light. Nandini Murthy shone so bright in my life, that I was initially blinded by the glow, but later on as I adjusted to the light, I slowly noticed how beautiful life actually was! Light does that to you, it shows you all there is to see, clearly. Nandini was my star, she was my light.

She was precious.

Although as I sat waiting to reach her at the earliest, a little bit of fear that I was so diligently masking inside me, nudged my heart again. Was there any bit of truth in what Nyonica told me the day before when we met?

Flashback to one day back when Manik & Nyonica met as planned

I was invited at C'est Bon, one of Cairns' finest restaurants, offering French cuisine. I was surprised that my mother dearest cared to remember my favourite choice of cuisine before selecting our meeting venue. As much as that surprised me, it immediately put my hyperventilating mind to action. Why was Nyonica putting efforts to make me feel comfortable, what news was she going to drop on me? No. I wouldn't think negatively. Over the years I have learnt one thing, the more negative you think, the more negativity is manifested around you. The universe works in mysterious ways. I had reached the venue a little early on, because I knew Nyonica was punctual as hell, and somehow that day I didn't want to upset her.

As the clock struck seven, I looked up from my phone and true to her punctuality, Nyonica walked into our parlour clad in a soft grey business suit, which was matching with her dull grey eyes, looking very much like the cold, calculative business shark that she was. I gulped. I was nervous. This was a first too. Over the years, if there was one thing constant in my life, it was my dislike for Nyonica, so in all these years, whenever I met her, anger, irritation, impatience were known emotions; this nervousness was new. I sighed as she reached me & smiled at me curtly; thankfully she didn't try pulling off the hugging drama & got herself seated opposite me. We started with exchanging formal, fake, polite exchanges while placing our order for food & beverages. I noticed she had moved from wine to gin now & almost asked her about her sudden change of choice - if I remembered correctly, she hated gin. In fact AK's dad, who was my mother's best friend from youth, would bully her into taking gin every time they'd catch up & she'd complain with an annoyed face but order gin nonetheless. I found myself reminiscing about the past, the little bit of simplicity that my life offered back in the days before things turned ugly. My parents were still together then, we lived in Mumbai & when Rajeev uncle turned up, he'd bring AK too. While Nyonica, dad & Rajeev uncle would hang out, AK would hang out with Mukti & me, that's how we had become friends.