MaNan FF - Angel In Disguise

#42- Sing My Song

#42 - Sing My Song

6:30 PM
The Indian Neurology Centre

Manik and Nandini had been sitting silently outside Rishabh's room. His medications, to Manik's surprise, have been a whole lot stronger and riskier than Dhruv's, owing to the fact that Rishabh has been affected to the point of damaging his vocal cords, while Dhruv has been on the safer end. Every session will take Nandini's little brother 2 full days to recover, was the information that had got Nandini to almost break down in front of Manik. He didn't want to imagine how much Dhruv's mom and he would have gone through, had Dhruv been in Rishabh's place.

Chacha had arrived while Manik was sleeping, and had taken his seat beside Rishabh's bed. Dr. Aryan had gone back to his work, leaving Nandini beside a sleeping Manik. When Manik woke up after an hour, he found Nandini sleeping on his shoulder.

Manik smiled at her innocent little face. The tresses falling over her angelic face was a sight to sore eyes. He couldn't help but take a picture of the beauty sleeping heavily with her head on his shoulder. The window film facing them mirror imaged their position. As long as he stared at her features, he realized they weren't just beautiful, they were tired. Tired of carrying the weight of the world. As his eyes trailed down her pretty anarkali, he found the brown diary he once read out her old wounds from, lying half shut on her lap. Manik could interpret that she was writing in it before she started to doze off. The irresistible urge to take the book and read every word was overpowering his self-control and in the blink of an eye, Manik had her diary in his hands.

Being a heavy sleeper, Nandini didn't realize when Manik had shifted her from his shoulder into his arms. She snuggled herself to his blazer, and Manik couldn't resist the content smile that rested on his lips. Such a picture-perfect position they were in, that any person passing by would mistake them to be a couple. Manik shifted his attention from Nandini to her diary.

Giving one hesitant look at her sleeping face, he flapped open the book to the page she was writing on. Only if he knew what he would get to read.

*Page 65*

22/07/2019

Tujhse naaraz nahi, zindagi, hairaan hoon main...
Hairaan hoon main.
Dear diary, aaj ki likhavat Dr. Aryan ke naam, jo formality ke liye M.D. kar raha hai. I toh already know what a great doctor he already is, bachpan se!

Manik's gaze had been stuck at the last phrase. The fact that Aryan and Nandini know each other from childhood took Manik by surprise. A part of him hated to have found this piece of information, but he still wanted to read more.

But guess what, diary? Ice-cream is still his weakness!
How do I tell you, how happy I am to find him back? How happy, that he hasn't forgotten me like the rest of my old friends. I wouldn't have blamed him if he had turned his back on me too. Aiyappa swear, I wouldn't even question if the two pillars of my life leave me one day.

With every word that Manik read, his questions, and the complexity of the puzzle named 'Nandini' kept on increasing. 

My two pillars, Aditi and Abhimanyu.

"What the hell? Ab yeh dono kaun hai?"
Manik was tired of the number of characters he was being introduced to.

And Aryan?
Thank you Aiyappa, for letting him follow his dreams. I lost mine somewhere in that darkness where Rishabh lost his voice, Aditi lost her family, and I lost the thread that kept my little family together. When I see Aryan in that medical coat, I see the remnants of my dead dream smiling at me. Aryan, my first crush, my last hope...