The Forbidden Fruit (MaNan FF)

iii.

"So, how is it?" Navya Naveli asked her friend as they sat together in the canteen of their college, she munching on her cookies while Nandini took a long sip of her apple juice.

"The house is very nice," Nandini answered honestly, then scoffed. "Actually, it's more like a mansion. It's so huge, and so pretty. I'm sure that even if I worked all my life, I would never be able to get a house like that. It's just... really amazing, and it scares me because I'm not used to all that stuff."

"You'll get used to it," Navya said, giving her a warm smile. "It's where you'll have to live now. How are the people? Nice, I hope?"

"My parents are really nice," Nandini told her honestly, recalling last night when they all had dinner together. Her father wouldn't stop chatting with her and her mother kept on gushing about her. After Cabir's supposed warning, this was not what she expected at all. Instead of being cold and indifferent, her parents were warm and welcoming. It somewhat reminded her of her own parents who died just months ago, and she tried to stop the tears. "It's my brother, Cabir, who's the real problem. I don't know what's wrong with him but I think he's trying to boss me around. Yesterday morning, when I first arrived, he tried to scare me by telling me lies about our parents."

"Well... is he hot?" Navya asked excitedly, completely ignoring the rest of the things Nandini had told her about Cabir.

"Urgh, Navya, please," Nandini cringed. "He's my brother, I can't think of him in that way."

"Oh come on, I'm sure you noticed," Navya argued. "Or maybe he has some hot friends. Did you meet any of them?"

Nandini thought back to the time when she met Manik. Well, if you could call it a meeting. They only exchanged a few words and he was rude, she didn't like him one bit. She prayed to God that they would never have to converse again. She didn't think she would be able to bear that.

"Well, there was this one guy who dropped by..." Nandini said, unsure. "At first sight, he's quite attractive, but when we talked he turned out to be really mean. Not friendly at all."

"Ahh, attitude? I like it," Navya winked while Nandini just rolled her eyes. Her friend seemed to like the whole bad boy persona, but she found it quite an unappealing trait. "What's his name, Nandu?"

"Manik," she answered almost immediately.

"I want to meet this Manik," Navya sighed dreamily.

xx

Cabir Dhawan paced around his room nervously. Damn this Rose, he thought to himself, why doesn't she just leave already?

Cabir had a date planned in about thirty minutes with his secret lover, and also the love of his life, Raghav. His girlfriend Rose, who he only dated to make an impression and show people that he's straight, thought to surprise Cabir at this exact moment. She had arrived an hour ago in order to spend some quality time with her boyfriend and now, as she was getting him late, Cabir grew annoyed.

Rose was, to be honest, air-headed in his opinion. She said anything to anyone and never realized how wrong it sounded or whether or not it was insensitive. Cabir had maintained a high level of patience to be able to deal with her. Most people just told him to break it off with her, but Cabir needed her. He knew that Rose was so dense that she wouldn't ever understand that Cabir was gay and cheating on her unless someone told her that right to her face. She was exactly the kind of person he needed to flaunt to people and hide his sexuality.

"Oh, baby," Rose said in her usual high-pitched voice as she entered his room, "I'm so sorry that phone call took so long."

It should've taken longer, he thought to himself. "It was Angie," Rose explained further. "I'm really sorry but she needs me to meet her ASAP. Apparently, something big has happened."