The Forbidden Fruit (MaNan FF)

viii.

"Your head is bandaged," Nandini said, making the observation.

"You kind of hit me with a heavy wooden object," he reminded her.

"I guess I should've hit you harder," she seethed. "Enough to make you stay far, faraway from me."

"Does it look like we're very close?" he simply pointed out, surprisingly not being too fazed with her hatred. He knew he deserved it.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she finally asked him, annoyed at the behavior. "You kidnapped me, and forcefully got married to me. Do you think that's 'okay'? No matter what you do, Manik Malhotra, you cannot deny that you ruined my life!"

"I'm not denying it," he quietly said, allowing her to lash out.

"But you're taking it lightly! Do you think that doing all these things for me, pretending to care for me will make the 'ruining my life' part all good? For your kind information, it will not! No matter what you do, I will continue to hate you, forever!"

Manik let her cool down for a while and then, he only said, "Forever is a long time."

"Which is exactly why I used it," she spat.

xx

"She's not in college today, huh?" Dhruv asked Navya as he came forward, forcing a polite smile on his face. Navya, however, saw right through it and gave him a sad smile. After so many attempts, he finally got a date with Nandini and then she bailed on him. The poor guy must be devastated, Navya thought to herself, this really is worse than getting turned down.

"I think she's sick," Navya suggested. "When I went to check on her, her brother told me she was resting. She probably has a fever or something."

"Well, she should've informed me, then," he sighed.

"Hey, don't be so down, okay?" Navya gave him a warm smile.

"Geez, am I that obvious?"

"Look, Dhruv, I can understand what you're going through," she slowly said, "and I promise I'll give Nandu a tight slap when I meet her."

To that, Dhruv chuckled, and Navya was glad to finally see actual happiness on his face, "Y-yeah, no need for that. Do-don't do that."

"Aww," Navya cooed, "you really like her, don't you?" When she saw Dhruv blush, her smile got even wider. "Okay, how about this? I'll check on her again today and if she's feeling better, I'll make sure you get that date of yours."

"Thanks, Navya," he said, flashing a dazzling smile, "you're a really great friend."

xx

As Nandini was getting up on her feet and saw Manik approach her, she purposely moved away from him. After everything that happened, she didn't need his concern. It meant nothing to her anymore.

"I'm fine on my own, thank you very much," she said with gritted teeth.

It was at that exact moment that she tripped, still dizzy, and Manik held her in his arms to stop her from falling to the ground. "Clearly, you're not."

She flinched and pushed him away. His touch disgusted her. He disgusted her.

Manik simply sighed, "Nandini..."

"Shut up!" she said almost immediately. The way he said her name still gave her chills. "You have no right to-"

"To what?" he cut her off, a hint of annoyance in his face. "Talk to you? Come close to you? Try to help you?"

"I can't believe," she said in shock, "that you're the one getting mad! Did you completely forget about how you ruined my life?"

Manik closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. He knew that he had to be patient with her. He couldn't just lose his cool when he was the one who made a mistake. And not just any mistake, the biggest one of his life. He ruined lives, and he couldn't be taking that lightly.

"You're right," he softly spoke. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, like that makes a difference," she said bitterly.

"Nandini, list-"

"I don't want your concern," she sneered. "Just leave me alone."

He knew he couldn't do that. Even though he had done something terrible, he realized it and was making attempts to fix it. That didn't make any difference now but it would, later. Still, he knew that she needed her own space and planned to give it to her. It was truly the least he could do.

xx

When Navya went over to the Dhawans' mansion in the evening, she was not expecting to find an elderly woman sitting on the garden, bawling her eyes out. She was startled and as if out of habit, she went over to try to console the lady.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" she asked as she made her way over. "Are you alright?"

"W-who ar-are you?" the woman sniffed.

"I'm Nandini's friend," Navya introduced and immediately the person's eyes widened.

"How is she? My daughter, how is she?" she frantically asked Navya who, in turn, seemed absolutely shocked.

"What do you mean, ma'am? Isn't she here?"

"After everything that happened, why would she be here?" the woman, who she assumed was Cabir and Nandini's mother, simply sighed.

"What happened?" Navya carefully questioned.

"You... don't k-know?" she seemed a little shocked.

"I don't know what?"

With yet another sigh, the woman began, "We came back yesterday afternoon to find her missing, and then..."

xx

Manik turned on the lights to brighten up the dark room as Nandini collapsed on the bed. It really didn't matter whether the lights were on or off. The gloomy aura that came from her darkened it up by each passing second.

"You need to have your medicines before you go to bed," Manik reminded her. "I'll help you-"

"Don't you dare come close to me," she warned.

"Then have your medicines by yourself. I'll leave after I see it."

Nandini groaned. She really didn't know what his actual motive was, but she was sure he had one. However, she felt defeated. And she really didn't want to see him here anymore. Perhaps that was the reason she took her medicines without arguing too much. Satisfied with her actions, he turned to leave, only to stop when she called out for him.

"Manik," she meekly spoke, letting a lone tear come out of her eyes, "why?"

The only thing he said before leaving was, "Go to sleep, Nandini."

After closing the door, he could hear her crying. He closed his eyes as the pain came once again. He felt ashamed and disgusted. He didn't predict feeling so absolutely angry at his own existence after all that happened. But he did feel like that and, perhaps, it was good in a sense. It probably meant there was still something human inside him and he would hold on to that for as long as he could.

He would have to rectify his mistake. It was an awful mistake, but he knew he couldn't bear her tears and hatred any longer. It killed him inside and made him so absolutely furious at his own self. No, he couldn't bear that, and he couldn't bear her sorrow either. He would fix it now, he would try his very best to perhaps make thisnot his worst decision ever. For now, that was what it was, but he would change it. Manik Malhotra would now try to fall in love with his wife, and that was his final decision.