Glassy Dreams

Chapter 10

Ab na pehli si shaamein, na koi geet purane,
Sare hi lamhe jaise tham se gaye.
In raaho ke darmiyaan, kaise hue faasle,
Koi toh hogi wajah hum phle se na rahe

Having a rooftop apartment was a luxury, but Manik hadn't realised how much until he walked into the terrace later that night, the cacophony around him dying and silence greeting him instead. He welcomed it with open arms, leaning on the ledge on his elbows, rubbing his hands down his face. He was exhausted.

The last two hours were a blur. Finding his friends standing in the drawing room while he stood with an unconscious Nandini in his arms, the gasp from Navya, the rushing Nandini to bed, Alya and Navya changing Nandini out of her wet clothes while he redialed the doctor, the doctor checking her up and starting her on a fluid drip, the questions that followed from the group after the doctor left, Mukti's loud voice still echoed in his head. He didn't have an answer to her series of Whats and Whys.

What was wrong?

Why was Nandini unconscious?

What did he mean they were on a break these six months?

Why hadn't he reached out to any of them?

What was Nyonika's plan?

Why was she still interested?

Questions and more questions, and he didn't have a straight answer for any of them. In the end Navya had taken one look at him, and requested them all to take the night off, before biting each other's head off. He didn't understand how, but everyone had complied. And thus he had found a way to the rooftop.

Footsteps echoed behind him and he turned expecting Mukti but freezing when he found Aryaman walking towards him, two cold beers in his hand. He stood next to Manik, leaning back on the ledge and forwarding him one of the two beers. Manik took it, gave him a nod and chugged half of it down in one gulp. Aryaman took sips from his own, but stayed silent otherwise, not bombarding Manik with questions like he was anticipating.

They stood in silence for a couple of minutes, somewhere midway between being comfortable and uncomfortable. The atmosphere didn't feel tense, but it didn't feel relaxing either.

"I thought you would have questions", Manik finally broke the silence, turning his head sideways to look at Aryaman, "Finding Nandini like that - you have always had a soft spot for her"

Though, there was no bite in his tone. After all these years, he wasn't even remotely jealous of Aryaman. Nandini didn't have eyes for anyone but him. Even when she had pushed him away there had never been a doubt about 'someone else' in his mind . Nandini had made him feel secure for the first time in his life - enough to drown out all those voices inside his head that otherwise fueled his insecurity complex. He had even come to respect Nandini's friendship with Aryaman over the years.

Aryaman turned to face him too, faint amusement lightening his eyes, “I do have questions about Nandini, but -", he paused to take another gulp, "none of them end with a
blame for you", he watched Manik's eyes widen in surprise and let out a laugh, "If there is one thing I have learnt in the past decade about you two, it's the fact that you will both turn the world upside down if it means soothing each other".

Manik seemed stunned - not from the truth of Aryaman's words because of course, he would have done anything if it meant it would make Nandini smile or spare her pain, and he knew so would she, but his surprise stemmed from the fact that he had never thought anyone else could even mildly gauge the depth of Manik and Nandini's feelings for each other, the extent of what they were both ready to do for each other. But apparently Aryaman could see. And it made Manik wonder how many other people could too.