In His Custody ✎ (MaNan)

✰ 13 - start again

Please shower some support <3 So obliged (in line comments please)

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31 August 2010

"I love you and that's the beginning and end of everything."
–F. Scott Fitzgerald

At 6:10 that gloomy evening, I stepped into a basketball courtyard bound by green diamond fences made of cheap wilting metal. I shouldn't have come, I wasn't planning to but staying at home drove me to insane restlessness. I had nobody to talk to, and Chikkamma went walking with her friends like she did every evening to catch up on all the neighbourhood gossip. She invited me, but I didn't like being the only kid amidst aunty-talk.

The gate creaked as I pushed it. Nobody noticed me entering, which was a good thing for me. Cement steps were arranged like platforms on either sides of the court. I occupied the left stack, a spot closest to the entrance. Sports bags were arranged beside me. Abhi, Mukti, Dhruv and a few others versus Manik, Alya and Cabir and a bunch of people I'd never seen before occupied the large court. Was this where everyone from the neighbourhood hung out? I was clearly missing out. Cabir yelled out 8-5, when Manik's head flicked in my direction. I don't think he intended to. It just happened.

There were moments when I hated being this kind of girl, who stares a man down to his naked skin, but not every man caught my attention like Manik did; other times I heard a voice in my head, of my father's no more. A reality check that nothing was permanent. Today could be all I have, and for that I deserve to give my everything to live without regrets. That was how I dealt with my introversion. I didn't turn away.

He combed his hair with one hand, and shot me a small smirk. Was he expecting me? His eyebrows jumped without any warning. My head shook until I forced my eyes off his sweaty body. I don't think that smirk left his devilish face though. Damn did he know how to flex his toned biceps and muscular calves.

Mukti then waved at me. "Hey Nandini, hop in!" She was my favourite from their group. I was wearing comfortable pumpkin printed pajamas and a casual navy blue round neck t-shirt, with hair tied in two ponytails.

Cabir scanned my outfit thoroughly before clicking his lips, "Woh khelne ke liye thodi aayi hai!" to which she quickly retorted, "Chup kar kamine!" I regarded that as a friendly banter between the two. Cute, they were.

So much that I didn't realise Manik was just beside me until I heard a bag shuffling and as my face pivoted, I felt him stare through my eyes into my soul. His glance kept me hooked, I couldn't look elsewhere but his dark brown eyes if I tried. I didn't want to either. Somehow I felt I intimidated him. He had the longest eyelashes, it was a sin for boys to have such beautiful assets. As if my eyes could communicate what my lips couldn't, I studied him up close as he went about jolting every muscle in his body in slow motion around me. Never have I ever felt so strongly for anyone.

"Are you trying to stalk me?" He was stern with his question, and for the first time he spoke to me without attempting any Hindi communication. My jaw fell ajar and I rolled my tongue in my mouth, hunting for words to say that weren't once uttered. Luckily, he was the only audience to my gestures throughout.

It took me a while to compose myself into formulating words. Correcting my surprise to sheer fascination, I spoke with utmost confidence, "Why? Do you want me to?" His eyes enlarged in size. You could say this was borderline flirting, maybe beyond and he wasn't expecting that. That was not the image he pictured of me in his head. My speeding heartbeat poisoned my frame with anxiety.