Celebrity Castaway | COMPLETE | MaNan Fiction

6| Face Off

A/N : I know, Manik is a bad bad guy and you all are really pissed. I get that :P Okay read on, and then see how you feel about today? I hope you enjoyed your double update last week & all the Diwali and related other festivals that lasted week long! Hope you've geared up now to dive right back into the story & have fun! :)

Happy Reading!

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"Manik, what the hell is wrong with you?" Nyonica screamed at the sight of him, as he entered through the main door, but he didn't even look at her. His eyes were stuck at the petite frame of a delicate woman, standing next to his roaring mother. She had lost some more weight in the last three years and her hair had grown longer. Her eyes were still innocent & childlike but her glance had changed. It had hardened. Something moved within him; he always maintained he didn't care or miss her, and hell it was true, but seeing her after so long, didn't leave him unaffected either. Was he feeling a bit nostalgic maybe? It felt like in seeing her, he recollected the real extent of her naiveness. His announcement was going to make life difficult for her, he knew. He wished it didn't have to be this way. He wished he didn't have to meet her at all; because standing here facing her after three years, knowing what he put her into again, he didn't feel ecstatic about it. It had to be done though, he tried reminding himself again.

Nandini was not looking at him with her usual sparkling, mesmerised, lovestruck way. She looked at him with eyes that screamed of cold hollowness. Her coldness hit him and he could tell he liked her better in the yesteryears. He opened his mouth to say something to her, but his mother's voice stopped him. He finally turned to face Nyonica.

"Manik Malhotra, I am talking to you" his mother's wrath came down upon him.

"Mom, there was no other way to control the damage." he spoke, looking down, scratching his head.

"How dare you release such a statement without consulting Nandini? How dare you take her for granted, even after all these years? Just because she was kind enough to clear your name from the Soha Khurana scandal? Have you learnt nothing from your past mistakes, Manik?" she snapped at him in colossal disappointment.

Manik glared at his mother. It had been an unnecessarily stretched day & his temper was hanging by the thread at its threshold. As much as he was trying to leash it, his mother's words & Nandini's shocked eyes were instigating him further. "As I said, there was no other way" he tried replying in a sober voice.

"Really Manik?" whispered Nandini in sheer disbelief & just like that, it flipped the hood of rage inside him.

"Yes, Nandini. Really! Trust me when I say so. Also, all this wouldn't be necessary, if your boyfriend could keep himself inside his pants for a day or two longer!" he snapped.

"Manik, relax" Cabir tried stopping him, as Nandini looked repulsed at his choice of words, and Nyonica's head shot up at him.

"Manik Malhotra, you shall not talk to Nandini like that!" Nyonica bellowed.

"..but it's true mom! We had gotten Soha! Abhimanyu had recorded his statement against Soha & shared it with us, that she was planning to harm Nandini. We were to present it before the police tomorrow, thereby lodging a case against Soha & taking a restraining order. Then she was free to go back to her happy life with her boyfriend and I'd continue with my life! But no, that joker had to show up today and ruin everything!" shouted Manik in vexation, eyeing between Nyonica & Nandini.

"Manik, you could have just said, you don't know about Nandini's whereabouts, and then continued as per our plan" Cabir asked, reasonably.

"How'd I do that, Cabir, when I was told that the press already had information that Nandini was at my pent-house! How'd I explain everything to them? I couldn't tell the truth, because then the press would know, Nandini vouched for me against Soha's claim. There will be a shadow of doubt, for Nandini's allebi is bound to be biassed. I didn't want to pulled back into the character assassination drama. Then why was Nandini here at my pent-house? Tell me what else can you come up with? In my opinion, the PR team did a great job & deserves a raise!" snapped Manik, looking at Cabir.