UNINTENDED LOVE - (MaNan)

Chapter-10

Finally the evening has arrived. The dinner date. Nandini was still confused about the gift. Should she gift him something? But it is meant to be a casual dinner then why to do such formalities? But what is wrong in gifting someone as Navya said earlier.

She finally came to conclusion that she'll gift him maybe not because they are going to have dinner together but because he helped her to baby sit Joey in her absence. She knew what to buy for him and went to the store.

Here, Manik was getting ready for his date. He wore a black t shirt with dark grey jacket and paired with blue torn jeans. He looked at the time and saw that he still have an hour. "When did you start getting ready before the time? This is truly unbelievable", he said to himself looking at the mirror.

He thought to call Cabir. Since, morning he didn't get any callback from him. Sometimes he wonder what is the urgent work he gets everything that he don't have any time for his buddy. He was the one who called him to New York in the first place and now he is the one who is busy.

He tried to call Cabir couple of times but his phone is not reachable. Manik decided to visit him tomorrow morning before Cabir goes to his work. He doesn't want to give any excuse to Cabir this time.

Manik heard a noise from outside. "So, she is back from her university," he thought. He opened his drawer and looked at the box nicely wrapped with a gift cover. "I don't know why I even bought you this gift but when I first saw your room, I noticed there are many fairy lights on your walls. I think and I hope you will love it," he said to himself.

Here, Nandini came to ger room and placed her gift on the bed. She opened her cupboard and looked at her dresses. "Which one should I wear?," she asked herself. She remembered Navya's words - "Wear something black. Boys love women in black. I know it is just a dinner not date but still you guys will have a great time right. So dress up well."

She took out one nice black dress but thought otherwise. She put it back inside her cupboard and chooses a red dress. She don't know why but she felt like to wear a red dress.

She quickly freshened up and got ready. She kept her hair open. She didn't want to spend much time on getting ready. She was put her earrings when she heard a knock at her door. Manik was here. She quickly put on her earrings and took her gift. She kept it in her handbag and opened the door.

Manik who was about to knock the door again stopped in the mid way looking at Nandini. He was so lost staring at her. She was looking so beautiful in that red dress. His favorite color.

That's right. He love red. Everyone thinks that he love black maybe because he wear black most of time. But only few people know that he loves red. She didn't applied lot of makeup but still she looked so beautiful.

Time was paused for Manik. He was not at all blinking his eyes. He thought if he do then she might disappear. He didn't want to stop staring at her. But the fact is he couldn't stop staring at her even if want to. It was not in his control, his mind... or maybe...his heart also.

Nandini who opened the door looked at Manik. She could see that he was lost. She called him couple of times but he didn't respond. "Anant!", she said louder so that this time at least he would respond.

"Huhhh," Manik came out his trance and looked at her in confusion. "Where were you so lost? I was calling you but you were just... not responding," she couldn't say that she knew he was staring at her. "Beautiful," he whispered. "What?," she asked as she couldn't hear him properly.

He took few steps towards her and stood close to her. He bent a little forward towards her "You look beautiful... in this red dress," he said in his deep voice. He barely whispered the last line but she heard what he said as he was standing so close to each other.

Nandini was just staring at him. She didn't know how to respond. She observed that her heartbeat was increasing. She placed her hand on her heart trying to control her heartbeat. Manik was staring at her and smiled at her innocence.