Whispers of Heart (Part 1 of the Hallway Love Series)

Chapter 29

Manik pulled back after a few minutes while Nandani opened her eyes and kept looking at him waiting for him to say something and saw him taking a deep breath and saying,

Manik: Nandani GO!

Nandani nodded with tear-filled eyes which were still looking at him She kissed his cheeks before muttering a small 'bye' and left without turning. She moved inside and after confirming her seat she went to the washroom and washed her face which was full of tears. She somehow controlled herself as Manik's words kept coming back to her mind when a notification disturbed her. She saw a message from her mom asking if she reached to which replied positively. She even sends a message to her friend's group about the same. After 5 minutes she saw a notification when she was cleaning her face. It was a story mentioned on Instagram by Manik. She looked confused when she saw her picture from the airport on which Manik wrote,

Manik: With shinning pride eyes, you now start the journey of your dreams,

Hope you piss off all the bad stuff from your mind, the one that is breaking your heart and running your mood,

Hope you live the life of your dreams, and love the man who might live in them,

In all this, I hope you know this pretty well,

I will be waiting for you under the tree.

All the best Nandu! Make us all proud. Your parents, your friends and ME!

Nandani smiled reading his message as she reposted it with a thank you. She fixed her face and went out of the washroom and after a few hours, she boarded the flight and left for Pune. On the other hand, Manik who was still standing at the departure looked at the flight timing and sighed as he saw the flight to Pune turned from Boarding to Departed. He left towards the car with a sad smile and was there in the parking before leaving for home.

All he had to do now was stay!

Manik went back home and was invited by all his friends. They all looked at him in sympathy. His hair was dishevelled, his eyes were red still full of tears, and his clothes were all out of place. He sighed looking at them and was leaving for his room avoiding eye contact when Mukti stopped him and asked,

Mukti: What happened?

Manik: she left! She left without turning back!

He said as a tear or two spilled out. Mukti looked at him with sad eyes as he hugged her and started crying. Everyone else hugged the duo as no one had anything to say. Manik soon broke the hug saying he had lots of college work to do and he left to his room. While others dispersed soon after giving him some time.

But like it was set, life has many twists and turns which eventually came into Nandani's as well. When Nandani went things fell into place for her. She made many new friends (for namesake) use to spend time with them and got busy in college life. On the other hand, others got busy in their college lives. Everyone got into their dream colleges and nevertheless, it was best for Sanket when he got admitted to the college in Mumbai. Nandani went busy like others in the schedules but Nandani and Sanket used to find time out for each other as they use to travel back and forth between Mumbai and Pune. Everyone was in close contact all this might and used to meet each other during Holidays and leaves. Even Manik and Nandani, but the entire time they use to glance at each other, while others sighed at the sight of the love birds who looked more like thorn-birds to them.

All this doesn't mean that they didn't wish each other on birthdays and festivals. Nandani use to write long messages to Manik about his personality. While Manik who had a million pages in years dedicated to her used to send a small wish to her side. Nandani always use to smile sadly seeing his messages but she never said anything else. Well, what she could say to him? Talking would mean giving hope! Knowing each other online would lead to a false image being created! All they could do and do was admire each other from far away. Whenever Nandani came to Delhi in all these months during her holidays and semester breaks, they use to meet and spend time with each other early in the morning but never use to talk. Because talking meant discussing the past and neither was Nandani ready to get into a relationship nor Manik was ready to get his heart broken into a million pieces. Now as much as cliché it sounds it was just their way of coping with their feelings. They use to put up stories and tag each other from time to time, remembering the old school days but when it came to their Dm's all it was filled with was Mentioned you on his story......