Almost Not Love! |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

11. YOLO: You Only Live Once!

A/N: Hello Readers, I am back with a new chapter again without fail :)

This deals with a little bit of Manik's background & the truth behind his relationship with his parents. The whole chapter just has MaNan, so hoping you'd enjoy that too :)

Happy Reading!

***

Nandini had a very long and tiring Monday, the hearing from the morning got further extended; the prosecution had brought in new evidence that could change the face of judgement; her mentor had coached her for hours on the validation checks to be undertaken before the next date of hearing; some police testimony needed proof checking. Back at the firm a new molestation case had come in and she was put in charge, she had to be in session with a victim, hearing, questioning, reiterating, re-questioning and living the traumatic incident again and again with the victim. She was emotionally drained, mentally exhausted and physically tired, since she hadn't slept properly last night; thanks to the pressure of the case and of course, Manik.

She knew Manik would want to talk to her about the night before, but she really couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want to relive last nights' awkwardness and the rage that she felt. Something had changed inside her from the last nights' incident, she couldn't really blame Manik for not sharing that he had a stable girlfriend, he was the one who had asked if they would share, while making their rules, she had kept it open; he was technically not wrong, she knew it, it was not that she was insecure or jealous, Manik and she didn't share that kind of a relation anyway, but she did feel wronged; maybe as a friend? And she was reacting the only way she had always reacted to hurt, by closing herself. Over the past few weeks, even though she hadn't shared much, but she had reached a level of comfort with Manik, she knew she could share a lot with him; hell she even tried talking about Aryamann, when was the last time she tried that? But that had changed now, she didn't feel as open with him anymore; she was closing and thus she didn't want to see him, meet him, hear him, she was just shutting out. Was she being fair, maybe not – but right now she couldn't help it!

As she went to bed that night, she had realised she had pushed Manik far enough the previous evening, because despite not wanting to talk to him, she was sure he'd try, but that night he didn't.

***

Manik was livid when Nandini had suggested that he go spend the night with Alia; what did she think, what they had, he shared the same connection with every third girl? He wanted to talk to her, explain it to her; yes, initially when they met at Mukti's party, if anybody asked him if he'd tell Nandini about Alia, he'd say 'never' but then he met Nandini again, under dire circumstances, and again under intense circumstances. How many times did they just meet to simply have a great time? On the back of his mind he could count only once, the night before Alia's birthday; otherwise, every time they met, it was so deep, so personal, so real and intimate that Alia never even came to his mind, let alone talking about her to Nandini; hell wasn't it the night before this dinner with Alia, he was contemplating whether he wanted to continue with her? What would he tell Nandini, what was the point? Truth be told, ever since he met Nandini, Alia was hardly a part of his life. It was unfair to Alia, but Manik really didn't have her in his mind. Did he sleep with her after the night of his mother's death? No. Did he contact her? No. Yes, Alia was still officially a part of his life, but did she really exist? No. So what if he missed telling her about Alia? Fine, even then maybe eventually as they were heading towards normalcy, he would, but then that hellish dinner happened and Alia came before Nandini in the worst possible way! He knew Nandini was justified being mad at him, despite all the stupid rules they had drawn. He understood that, but what infuriated him was her insistence that she didn't care about him and Alia being together. Seriously? She didn't care? Was that why she wouldn't let him spend time with her, see her, be with her, hug her, feel secure with her? Were these signs of not caring? He knew Nandini didn't love him, and he didn't love her either, but their 'thing' was different, and being bothered by a stable partner was 'allowed' in it; he allowed it; but what did Nandini do? Instead of hearing him out, instead of accepting she was mad, she asked him to go sleep with Alia? What was that for? So much for not caring.