Almost Not Love! |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

9. Holding On & Letting Go

A/N : Hello beautiful readers! Publishing a new chapter as promised.

(On a completely unrelated note, have you listened to the song 'Holding on & Letting go' by Ross Copperman? Please do try, it is out of the world :)

Hope you enjoy! Happy reading!

***

Manik woke up as the bright sunlight fell on his face, then slowly raised his hands to flex his muscles; from the sunlight peeking from behind the curtain, it seemed like a bright sunny day. He smiled. He was feeling good, there was something very positive about this day – but wait, where was he? He realised his head was resting on someone's lap and he was on a couch.

"Nandini" he uttered softly, as he carefully sat up on the couch. His neck felt a bit stiff, and he slowly massaged it as he turned around to look at Nandini. She was sleeping in her sitting position on the couch, her head was rolled back. Manik stared at her, there was a small smile on his face; he was feeling content for some reason. He recollected the incident from the last night, he realised he must have dozed off while hugging her and she had sat through the night letting him sleep. He knew it must have been uncomfortable for her but she did it anyway – for him – Manik couldn't help feel warm at this, the assurance that someone truly has your back can be really overwhelming, and today if there was one thing he knew for sure, it was this - no matter what, Nandini will be there for him and he would be there for her.

He wanted to be there for her anyway, that's why he had come last night, and he did manage to touch her demons last night, however mildly and seeing her reaction, he was curious. Nandini hadn't really been able to say much about her past, but he needed to know; if only he could pull it out of her past, she'd be free too, like him, how he was feeling right now – after such a long time, a euphoric morning.

But he knew he couldn't bring it up before Nandini again this randomly, he saw the consequences last night; maybe Mukti could be of help? Did she know something from Abhimanyu? Well he had made himself very clear the night before that he didn't approve Abhimanyu, why would he help him now?

Flashback:

Manik was talking to Nandini on the phone and explaining how Abhimanyu didn't deserve Mukti, they were having a spat and Nandini had hung up on him; Manik was livid, how did Nandini not get what he was saying, and maybe he did cross the line with the 'why are you not married and happy' bit but he did apologise, why was she overreacting? Manik tossed the phone onto his bed in frustration as he ran his hand through his hair and turned around. That's it, he wasn't going to talk to Nandini till she came around, he had said out loud in anger.

"I don't think you should have said that to her bro" Manik looked up to see Mukti standing at the door to his room.

"What?" he asked, confused.

"I came here to talk to you about Abhimanyu, I wanted you to give him a chance. But then I accidentally overheard your and Nandini's conversation. It's good in a way, I now know exactly how strongly you feel against Abhimanyu, but that can wait. I meant you shouldn't have commented about Nandini's love-life that way; you have no idea how big a deal it is for her. She has taken years to overcome her past" spoke Mukti firmly, Manik looked further perplexed, although his anger was subsiding now, curiosity got the better of him.

"What do you mean Mukti?" he responded.

"Manik, from what Abhimanyu told me; Nandini has had some really bad experiences in life and although she's overcome it, she could really never close that book completely; it has to do with a certain relationship of hers' and she's fiercely sensitive about it. Today you pricked her right there, from what Abhimanyu told me, I fear she will spiral and go to the deep end. Please call her and fix this" replied Mukti calmly and was about to leave when Manik called her.