Celebrity Castaway | COMPLETE | MaNan Fiction

40| Vogue Girl

A/N: Hello dear readers! Who is ready for turning their lives upside down after reading this chapter? ;)

So, as promised, this is solely a MaNan centric chapter that explores a wide range of their emotions.

Let me warn you, this chapter is explosive & addresses a lot of stuff you guys wanted Manan to address & so I request you to read it super carefully :)

I hope you like what you read, and please don't forget the in line comments and the vote :)

On that note, happy reading!

***

"I'm glad you could make it tonight, Nandini." Manik spoke with an easy tone, but it was an outcome of a lot of practice & self control. The feeling of hot, molten lava cascading down his throat was so overpowering that every instinct of his being wanted to shout, scream, throw a fit and shake Nandini by her shoulder and thunder at her asking what was she thinking? Was she thinking at all? Zain? Zain Qureshi, of all people? Did she even know how that man was? Was she always attracted to toxic men, capable of devastating her? However, he couldn't ask her all this could he? She'd ask him, who was he to question her, and despite having all the answers, he'd not be able to answer it. Who was he to Nandini?

"What is it that you wanted to discuss, Mr. Malhotra?" Nandini asked, curtly, as Manik's head shot up at her, hearing the coldness & the distance in her voice. She was a vision clad in a peach bodycon, that was complimented with an ivory shrug. Her hair was done in messy curls that were left untied and she had muted makeup on. As an actor, Manik could tell her fashion was absolutely on-point. She looked casual yet classy..but were they back to Mr. Malhotra, again? God, no.

"Umm, there's no agenda really. I thought we could hang out?" Manik tried his Plan A. He knew this wasn't going to float, but it made sense to try mild, right?

"Hang out?" Nandini muttered, blankly, eyeing Manik. Nandini knew Manik would make some move, if he was really hiding his true intentions from her, when he'd come to know about her & Zain's alleged dating rumours. Isn't that why she was playing along to Zain's plan of planting subtle dating rumours, so Zain fans pick up on it & demand for a Zain-Nandini movie? Zain's proposal on the night of their first dinner was beneficial for Nandini in all ways. Firstly, she could test Manik & of course, more work meant a stronger foothold on showbiz. But, since she rolled with the plan, her first expectation from Manik was to unfurl his inferno, and become vulnerable, only then she could extract some information from him, but Manik here was all cool. Did her dating Zain not bother him at all? Was she wrong, when her hunch told her, Manik was hiding himself behind a facade and actually there was more to him, in a positive way?

"Yeah, I mean. After what happened, in your vanity a couple of weeks back, I figured, we got a little awkward, and I thought we could do better, you know. We have high intensity scenes to shoot in the coming weeks, and we cannot let our natural on screen chemistry falter due to personal reasons. So, I thought we could try..err..again and be friendly & cordial?" Manik replied, carefully masking his hurt & broken feelings.

Nandini stared at him. So all this was about his movie? He wanted to make a hit movie, no matter what. He'd even put his colossal sized ego aside to make things better with Nandini, just so they looked naturally great on screen? Wow. Unless, he was err..acting now? Well, Nandini was not going home without her answers tonight. This confusion was clouding her judgement and slowing her down. She needed to know once and for all, if Manik was with her or really against her.

"Sure. Sounds right. Let's do this, Mr. Malhotra." she replied, sporting her player smile.

"Maybe it would be easier to break the ice, if you called me Manik?" Manik replied hesitantly. In many ways, it was his prayer. Nandini calling him by second name suffocated him. The unfamiliarity in her voice broke him.