❤ You Belong With Me ❤

Part 2

*****
"Here you are Manik! Do you even realise how late you are! Bol na yaar ise Cabir!" said a girl, annoyed.
"Rehne de Mukti! The person you are trying to reach is out of coverage. Yeh nahi sunne wala kabhi." said Cabir, giving Manik a glare, while Manik gave them a guilt-coated, sheepish smile and said, "Okay guys, okay! Sorry! But I have a valid reason. I was busy." "Achha buddy! And what were you 'busy' doing?!" said Dhruv, sarcastically.
"Dhruv tu bhi! Okay fine! I went to get these!" said Manik, holding up a carton of beer cans. "But it's okay if you guys don't want to..."
"Arey Manik tu inn sabko seriously mat le! Main hu na tere sath!" said Cabir, smiling widely and coming to hug Manik. "Woah Cabir. Party change! You cheater." said Aliya, being a silent spectator to their drama while the others laughed at them. "Achha chalo enough of all this. Let's go inside and get the party started!!" said Manik and everyone else agreed.
As the Fab5, which included Manik, Mukti, Cabir, Dhruv and Aliya, entered the party venue, every pair of eyes turned towards the three dashing hunks and the two most gorgeous divas and the entire crowd erupted in hoots and howls welcoming one of the most popular music bands in India.
*****
On the other side, Nandini and Abhimanyu walked into the party. "Nandu, you are going to love these retards." Abhimanyu said and Nandini smilingly nodded, as she saw a guy and a girl standing at a distance and waving at them.
"Hello peeps!" said Abhimanyu as they reached, giving each of them a side hug. "This is- " he couldn't finish as he was shoved aside by the girl. "Tum side hato! Hi Nandini! Hum Navya hain. Navya Naveli." said Navya enthusiastically and hugged Nandini who responded smilingly. "And yeh Aryamann hai" "Hi Nandini! So glad to finally meet you! I hope you'll be staying in India for a few weeks at least!" said Aryamann. "Aryamann, yeh ab hamesha ke liye India mein hi rahegi. She's not going back to the US!" said Abhimanyu.
"So exciting! Toh it's done! Nandini, Kal hum tumhe shopping pe le jaare hain! Bahut mazaa aayega! What say?" said Navya, excitedly to Nandini, while Nandini was lost in her own thoughts.
This happened to her a lot, zoning out from the rest of the world to drift into the darkness. Darkness that had turned her into a completely different person who talked very little and kept to herself. Darkness that had left deep scars on her self. Darkness that could readily bring tears to her eyes at the blink of an eye, on the very thought of her depression. Darkness, that just refused to let her close to the surface. Darkness, that just kept her drowning.
"Nandini, tum sunn rahi ho na?" asked Navya, keeping her hand on Nandini's shoulder on not getting any response from her. Nandini, coming out of her trance said "Sure. Let's do this. And by the way Navya, I just loved my room! You did a great job!"
Navya smiled heartily bowing down a little. "Thank god Nandini tumne jawab diya, warna mujhe toh laga ki iss Navya ki baatein knocked you out." said Aryamann, and in return, got hit by Navya on his head (playfully we hope :P) making the other two laugh.
Just as they were heading to get something to eat, Nandini got a call. It was from Hadiya, a very close friend of hers back in the USA. She excused herself from the others and asked them to carry on as she planned on joining them later. "Nandu, you sure?" asked Abhi. "Haan Abhi just go, I'll catch up soon." said Nandini, assuring him. After they were gone, Nandini answered the call, "Hello Hadiya! What's up? Kaisi ho?" "I am fine Nandu, just missing you. Actually all of us are." said Hadiya. Nandini replied, "Haan toh of course you should miss me! I am not something that you forget!" "Oh yeah? Then how come you forgot how special you are? How come you have to talk to me in this fake chirpy voice when you're actually feeling like shit? Haan? How come you just left like this?"
Nandini was taken aback by her sudden confrontation. All she could do was thinking of something appropriate to say. "Okay so now you decide to stay silent! Fine. Just let me know when you feel like talking. I'll be right here. One call away. Love ya" said Hadiya hanging up on her silence.
Nandini took a deep breath. "I need some space." She thought to herself as she walked relentlessly, unaware of where her steps were taking her.
She halted, finally sensing silence around her. She looked around and saw mistletoe creepers decorated with blue lights, hanging from the trees around. Walking to towards it, she sat on a bench under a tree.
*****

"Manik, give me your phone na. Mine ran out of charge!" said Aliya, getting off the dance floor. "Yeah here you-" he stopped on not finding his phone in his pockets. "I think I left it in the car. You wait here, I'll get it." said Manik and left.
As he was walking to his car, he stopped to take a look at the mistletoes around him. They fascinated him. Turning to his left, he saw the most serene scene in front of him and felt strangely drawn to the centre of it. Walking down to the bench, he saw the particular serenity closely, and made out from her face that she had been sobbing. Manik felt a different kind of attraction and empathy towards her, the vibes that he got from her were different, she was different..
He sat down next to her on the bench. Looking above, he asked,
"Beautiful it is, don't you think? The mistletoe." She didn't reply. Neither did he say anything further. Both of them just sat in silence until the music blared out from the speaker nearby.
"This is perfect! You see, now I am not even allowed to sit at peace. All I wanted was some space. But I get so much more!" she said, frustration oozing out of her every word. "I completely get it you know. When you really want something, puri kayanaat tumhe usse door rakhne mein jut jaati hai." he said sarcastically. She gave him a heartfelt smile.
"Waise I may not be able to solve all your problems but I can surely do something about this one." said Manik. Nandini gave him a questioning look. "And what is that?" she asked.
Manik got up from his seat and extended his arm. "Let's go someplace where there is peace." Nandini too, felt strangely attracted to this man, his looks, his manner of talking, his eyes. But above all that, she felt a connected. Nandini knew that Manik was a stranger, like how could she agree to go out with a stranger but her heart somewhere made her mind push her head in a nod and lifted her hand just to hold Manik's. We must say, intelligent heart !! ❤