MaNan : Moon Light

17. Love and Pain

Tried my best to update early, hope you find it interesting. Do comment and vote :)

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Getting down the steps that led to the door of the house filled with plants is getting hard, with Cabir in tow proved harder than she had been expecting. 

The beating Cabir had sustained made it very hard for him to move his lower body without suffering pain of some sort, but after a momentary struggle, Nandini figured out that they could use the banister against the brick wall to their advantage; allowing Cabir to help alleviate the burden of carrying him down the steps by using it as a form of support.

So her injured friend leaned as much of his weight against it as he could and it took them perhaps two minutes to get down the stairs that usually took a few seconds. 

Her friend kept apologizing throughout the situation until Nandini told him to stop and at least he did that. She didn't want to hear him saying sorry for being beaten up.

When they got to the destination, Nandini found the door locked and so she pounded her fist on it several times whilst Cabir stayed propped up against the wall.

Was it locked because Manik was inside? 

Nandini didn't know but she waited maybe thirty seconds before repeating it and that was when she heard a voice coming through the wood.

"If that's you Sunshine, I swear to fucking god I'll strangle you with that tie!" Manik called in annoyance and a moment later there came the scraping of the lock being pulled back.

Nandini shifted to grab Cabir again, practically dragging him over and feeling him slumping against her side, and then the door swung inwards.

The door opened, "The handcuffs too, I'll break 'em out and see-" Manik's eyes shifted from her face to look down at Cabir and he stopped talking instantly, not trailing off into a mumble but rather as if someone had turned a switch off on the back of his neck.

"Manik, help me," Nandini said as she tried to support Cabir. "I think he's gonna pass out on me."

"Fuck," the boy wrenched the door back hard and then he was grabbing Cabir's other arm and slinging it around his shoulders, sharing the sudden dead weight of his limp body. "What the fuck happened?"

Cabir blinked several times, "Shit Manik..." he mumbled, "I'm glad to see...you..."

Manik nodded, still not leaving his friend, "Hey buddy, yeah I'm here." The pair of them carried the fainting boy across the room and after some maneuvering, they managed to lower him on the bed. 

By the time Cabir's head hit the mattress he was out cold and so Nandini turned his head to the side just to be safe.

Manik grabbed both of her upper arms hard, "Nandini, what happened to him? Tell me right now", he demanded, although he didn't shake her but he seemed to be seconds from doing so. 

She knew that he was scared and yet he had hardened his face so that it only showed in his eyes, at the slight twitch of the corners of his lips.

"I need to talk to you, I need to-" Nandini reached up and grabbed Manik's wrist and she pulled him across the living room.

The older looked like he wanted to stay with Cabir, digging his heels into the floor for a moment, but then he allowed her to drag him away and back outside into the stairwell. He didn't close the door but rather just moved to lean back against the wall.

Her legs didn't feel steady at all and that dizziness was back again. She was so scared of saying something to the other boy even when she had to; scared of how Manik would react.