Stolen Promises|| Completed

8. Unveiling!(present)

~ Loneliness is a consuming feeling. It eats you inside out, and makes you someone you are not~

It took every bit of courage he could muster to not wrap his arms around her, and hold her tight. For the first time in their history, Manik didn't want to hold Nandini close.

Instead all he wanted to, was to be held by her, as tight as she could have, for as long as she could!

He knew he was falling apart, and at the same time, he didn't want to too. He didn't want her to know the mess he had become, the person he thought she would never want to see.

So, ignoring every loud honk of his heart, he unwrapped her arms, and shifted away from her, not looking at her, but at the same time, aware of her eyes on him. Nandini saw the change in his facial expressions very minutely, she could see the struggle he was putting himself through.

" Don't do that", she spoke loudly, and walked the step closer again.

He looked up, confused.

" Don't let your mind take over. Manik Malhotra let's his heart rule his decisions, right?", She placed her left hand over his cheek again, and instinctively he closed his eyes.

How much can you push something that comforts you, when you are in deep discomfort?

" Nandini!", A faint whisper escaped his parted lips, before he exhaled and rolled in his lips, gathering some courage, and after a moment or so, pushed her away again.

" What you want is not going to happen. Me and you can never be together again, Nandini", he blurted it out in one go, but was astonished to find a smile on Nandini's face.

" Really?", She took a step closer again, running her finger on his face, making him realize how in the heat of the moment, two big fat tears had broken free of their cage.

Nandini didn't need to know anything else, she didn't need any more explanations to be sure of his feelings, not even his. She knew that this tall man in front of him was as innocent as a kid with his emotions, and that was not going to change even with the years they had spent apart.

" Nandini, please go away. Leave me alone, please. I am begging you", Everytime she thought she could figure out some part of him, he did things out of box to make her realize things have changed between them, no matter how hard she tried to deny it.

The plead in his voice was soul stirring, the way his voice shook as he spoke, the way he clenched and unclenched his hands, she understood she was pushing him over the edge.

So, with dignity and silence, she made her way out, closing the gate behind her, but instead of going away, she stood right outside by the door, frozen.

A few minutes later, she unmistakably heard it and she was sure she was not wrong.

She heard loud sobs from his room.

Uninhibited, deep, with a fail try of muffling them with a pillow, she guessed.

And that, broke her broken heart even more.

Because she had heard his cries only once before, which was the day he broke up with her!

What could have pushed him into this hell hole where he was suffering alone? Since when? And not even struggling to get out of it? It was like he had accepted it, his fate, his life, his cries.

She felt guilty for not being with him, when he needed someone with him.

The sky was beautiful, as they lay on the grass and watched the stars. Well, Nandini was watching them, and Manik was playing with her bracelet.