The Forbidden Fruit (MaNan FF)

ix.

Manik stared at Nandini in absolute shock as she came down the stairs, making her way to sit at the couch near the television. He watched her as she picked up the remote, turned on the TV, and started shifting through channels. He was pouring himself a glass of water but now that task was ignored. His wife was being completely calm. There was no sense of anger on her face and she didn't acknowledge him even once. Manik wondered as to what exactly was going on.

Regaining control of his own self, Manik finished pouring the water but instead of having it himself, he took it over to her instead. He put it on the table and she, without saying anything, just held it and brought it to her lips to take a sip. That act confused Manik even more.

"A-are you feeling better now?" he asked her, stammering due to the shock.

She didn't answer. Nandini paused upon a channel of her choice and kept watching it in solitude. Manik cringed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Nandini?" he quietly asked and when she didn't flinch at the sound, he finally understood what was going on. She had decided to ignore him.

I guess I should let her be now, Manik thought to himself. How long can she keep this up anyway? She cannot possibly ignore me for all her life.

Little did he know that he was underestimating Nandini's abilities - a lot.

xx

Navya kept biting her nails as she sat at the bustling cafeteria. The meeting with Nandini's biological mother yesterday had changed everything for her. She got to know so much, and now she was trying to process everything. It was simply too much for the poor girl.

What was his name? She tried to remember, Ma-nik. Yes, Manik M... Malhotra? Isn't that what her mother said? Well, Malhotra sounds about right.

Navya remembered Nandini telling her about Manik, but it was clear that she wasn't interested in him. She mentioned that he was attractive, but also that he was rude and arrogant. Navya could understand that he wasn't her type, so why would she run away with him? I refuse to believe you'd betray me like this, Nandu.

"That's a bad habit, you know," Dhruv's voice woke her from her thoughts as he took a seat in front of her. "Biting your nails like that; ugh. It's kind of disgusting, really, no offence. But you're worried, aren't you? You do that when-"

"Dhruv," she cut him off with a firm tone, "I think I need your help."

Dhruv seemed stunned for a while, but then quickly said with a smile, "Sure, anything."

"I need the address," Navya started, "of a certain Manik Malhotra."

xx

Manik flinched in the pain. He'd been with Nandini for the past hour, but she was incredibly serious about ignoring him. She didn't respond to his questions even once and neither did she look at him. He accepted his punishment because he knew he deserved it. Right now, he was trying to wrap a new bandage over his head but so far, he had been failing terribly. He sat in front of the mirror of the guest room, trying very hard to tie the cloth but every time his palm would brush against his injury, his whole body would shudder and the pain would spread. This was very troublesome, indeed.

He felt a soft hand on top of his and looked up at the mirror to see Nandini behind him. She took the fresh bandage from his hand and putting it around his head, trying to tie it up.

"I can do it myself," he told her, but as expected, she didn't respond. She didn't look at him; she kept staring at his injury instead. Her actual motives were not to help him, anyway.

As Manik sighed, giving up and letting her help him, his attention drifted. Nandini searched for any object that was heavy enough like the last time, perhaps more. Her eyes landed on a small, round cordless bedside lamp. She grabbed it immediately and slammed it exactly on his injury as fast as she could. Once again, Manik's eyes widened in shock for a brief second before they closed yet again and he fell on the ground with a thud.

Nandini threw the lamp on the floor and looked at him in pure and utter disgust. She still didn't feel satisfied. This wasn't enough for what he had done to her.

The doorbell rang at that exact second but Nandini paid no heed to it. She didn't really care about who came. Right now, she didn't care about anything other than hating and trying to hurt Manik as much as he'd hurt her. What did grab her attention was when a very familiar voice rang out.

"Nandini!"

She knew who it was and her heart suddenly started racing. Nandini ran across the room and down the stairs as fast as she could. She reached the large doors, heavily panting, and tried to open them with the energy she had left after all the running.

She was greeted by exactly who she expected - Navya. The braided girl beamed at her, incredibly happy to finally see her friend in front of her; alive and well.

"No hug for your savior, Nandu?" And that was all it took for Nandini to shed those tears of joy.

xx

This time, Manik woke up after hours. He didn't know exactly how many, but he assumed he was knocked out for quite some time when he noticed the evening light come in through the windows.

His sight was blurry and his body still felt weak. Still, he picked himself up from the floor to get into a sitting position. He noticed the lamp she'd hit him with on the ground, slight traces of blood on it. He sighed as he realized that he was probably bleeding again.

"Nandini," he said with yet another sigh.

Manik got up with difficulty and slowly made his way out of the room. He muttered to himself, "I know she's angry and I deserve it, but she's also an idiot. Who's going to give her the medicines now? I'm sure she didn't take them."

However, when Manik's eyes landed on the door downstairs that was wide open, he immediately knew what she had done. She didn't just knock him out of anger, sheescaped. Manik's eyes widened as he quickly went down the stairs. She was angry and she was alone, where would she go?

He hastily searched for his car keys; he just had to find her before anything bad happened to her. As he ran out with the keys in hand, all Manik prayed for was her safety. After everything that had happened to her lately, he couldn't afford anything else. She was his responsibility, after all.