She was standing at the precipice where the rocky hillock abruptly dissolved in the arms of the restless ocean. She wouldn't jump, but she wouldn't resist either, if the ruthless wind were to push her off the cliff. She wouldn't try to latch on to something and cry out for help, not because she didn't want to live anymore, but because there was no-one who could hear her desperate cries.
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Her mom, the one person she loved more than the rest of the world combined, had gone too far. And she had taken along her second most favourite person, her dad. Nandini had never regretted not having friends, for her parents more than made up for it. Every upset, every set back, every tear she carried home, her mamma would skillfully pour all of it into the baking tray and one bite into the warm gooey cake would bring the smile back on Nandini's face. Her dad had the world's biggest repository of lame jokes, one for every occasion and the fact that they weren't laughable used to make her laugh all the more.
Not that she had a perfect family, her parents were far from being a perfect couple. Her father had major professional frustrations and because he couldn't express it at the right place, to the right people, her mom often had to bear the brunt.
Her mom, though lively was a simpleton. She was happy in whatever little she had, in her cooking and in their house and in the daily routine between sunrise and sunset. She didn't possess in her the drive that modern women are endowed with, a spark her dad always wanted to see in his life partner.
But despite their flaws, despite the arguments, they couldnt spend a day apart. They would fight and make up and fight and make up again. And that's what Nandini's idea of a relationship was.
She didn't like Manik because he was perfect, like the rest of the girls did. She liked him because he was broken and flawed and yet incredibly beautiful. They had been studying together for 11 years now and for as long as she could remember, she had been smitten by him.
Every time she saw her parents sharing a warm moment, she imagined herself with Manik in a similar setting years later...every time she took extra effort to dress up, she wanted him to notice it, even if for a while...she loved music....because music was his soul......she loved the stars because she knew he loved them too. And even though, she was a stranger to him, he was the center of her world.
When they were cremating her parents, she wished she could run away to him and find shelter in his arms, when she walked into the class first time in two months, she wished he would shield her from the inquisitive eyes and tongues. But when he held her hand, forcing her to copy the answers, she had felt like, all these years she had not been dreaming, as if his heart silently beat for her.....that, he had been lying that night
'Nandini Murthy, you are pathetic. You saw what you wanted to see, you heard what u want to hear...not once but every freaking time...did you forget how he had treated you that night, did you not notice that he flirted with every other girl except you..you were never desirable for him, you were not the one who could inspire him to write music....why did you want to be friends again when he had told you, you could only be strangers? You have no one, no one to love you in this whole world. The only two people who loved you are dead.' Nandini's inner voice mocked her.
