SEAL THE DEAL

chapter 24

[17:58] Unknown: manisha

[17:59] Unknown: Babe

[17:59] Unknown: It's Ashish

[18:00] Unknown: I miss you

[18:00] Unknown: Come back to me my love

[18:01] Unknown: I'm sorry for everything, I'll treat you better

[18:02] Unknown: I'll make it up to you for everything I've done

[18:02] Unknown: You know I still love you, I never meant what I said

[18:02] Unknown: I'll be nicer to you, I promise

[18:03] Unknown: I'll do anything and everything for you

[18:03] Unknown: I'm so much better than that Abhishek guy

[18:05] Unknown: What does he have that I don't?
[18:05] Unknown: What can he do for you that I can't?

[18:06] Unknown: I'll do everything for you

[18:06] Unknown: He's nothing compared to me

[18:07] Unknown: I know you love me, not him

[18:08] Unknown: I still make your heart race, don't I? You still think about me, don't
you?

[18:08] Unknown: Sometimes I say things but I don't mean them babe, you know that

[18:08] Unknown: I'm so much better for you than he is, so much better

[18:09] Unknown: Remember all the good times we've spent together?

[18:12] Unknown: Say something, I know you're reading all of this

[18:13] Unknown: You belong with me babe, not him

[18:13] Unknown: He's not even half as good as me

[18:14] Unknown: It should be me with you and not him

[18:15] Unknown: I shouldn't have let you break up with me

[18:16] Unknown: You're mine, you always have been

[18:16] Unknown: Will you come back to me if he leaves? I'll talk to him

[18:17] Unknown: Goddamnit, reply to me

[18:17] Unknown: You can do so much better than him

[18:19] Unknown: I'll give you the world and more

[18:19] Unknown: You should only smile at me, you should only look at me

[18:20] Unknown: I'll tell vishal everything

[18:21] Unknown: Please, come back to where you belong

[18:21] Unknown: I'll do anything you want if it means you'll be with me again

[18:22] Unknown: Call your engagement off babe, please

[18:22] Unknown: Leave him

[18:22] Unknown: I miss you

"Wow," Abhishek breathed out as he read the last text, awestruck by the sheer audacity, "This guy...is really fucking vile," he muttered, feeling his blood boiling in his veins at the awful way in which Ashish spoke to manisha.

"What are you doing?" She questioned with wide eyes a couple of seconds later when
Abhishek's fingers started rapidly tapping on her phone screen, his eyebrows scrunched up together in concentration. She could tell that he was angry, his whole body seemed to be on edge and there was this fiery look in his eyes which made her wonder whether telling him had really been the right thing to do.

"Just making sure he don't want to look at you again...or be able to look at you," he said vaguely as he composed a message that met his standards and would get the point across.

Manisha silently watched him with an anxious heart as he spent another minute adding and editing, before the tapping ceased and he triumphantly pressed send.

Abhi:-"Do you want to get some ice-cream before we leave?" he asked once he was done, looking up as he handed her phone back to manisha with an unusually cheerful smile on his face.

She was a bit puzzled at the abrupt question and even more puzzled by the stark change in both mood and conversation, but she nodded slowly nevertheless...she certainly weren't one
to say no to ice-cream. She gingerly accepted her phone, wondering what the hell was going on and what the hell Abhishek had done, and why the hell he was so cheerful after he'd done it.

Manisha got the chance to satisfy her suspicions four minutes later, after the two of she finished deciding what flavours she wanted.

When he went to order the ice-creams, manisha sneaked a look at her phone and it was only then that she understand what he'd meant earlier. As her eyes scanned over the text Abhishek had quietly penned and sent off, they widened comically and she almost snorted at its contents. She couldn't help but smile, his words
making her knees feel like they were made of raspberry jelly and making her heart feel
like it was going to positively burst. Manisha read the text a second time, and even though some of it (all of it) was exaggerated for added dramatic effect, something inside she snapped and She knew she was free-falling for abhishek without a harness or an end in sight.

And manisha also had a feeling that after this, she could close the Ashish chapter in her life again; perhaps once and for all this time.

[18:29] hi Ashish, this is Abhishek malhan. i would really appreciate it if you stop
harassing my fiancee. she's done with you...like she was a year ago. i know she's quite the catch and anyone would be lucky to have her, but everything ended when she broke up with you. it would be great if you could get over the past and get off your fucking high horse while you're at it. i know quite a few people in the legal field and i can easily call a couple of people and completely screw you over. i'm sure you wouldn't want a criminal record, especially one with a restraining order slapped on it, that's pretty embarrassing man. don't underestimate my words or take them lightly, i hope you won't make this difficult for either of us. and i know you can't stand to see Manisha doing much better without you, but that's the cold hard truth, so don't even think of trying to talk to her again. she doesn't deserve to deal with a piece of shit like you who can't bear the fact that she's actually happier with someone else. oh, and for the record, i'm definitely ten thousand times better than a dumb like you. at least i know how to treat my girl with respect and i don't feel the need to tear her down to feel good about myself. neither would i beg her to come back to me if i saw that she's moved on with someone who actually cares about her and wants the best for her. we wish you well so you can kindly fuck off now, thanks :)