Cordially, Yours!

-28-

-Dehradun-

An uncomfortable night had settled in Nandini's room. She was spaced out in the darkness of her thoughts. Manik was only what she repeatedly thought of. Her eyes shut tightly since forever still hurt and her head pounded against the soft pillow. The warmth of the blanket upon her couldn't warm the feelings inside her. She felt cold. Drowned. 

A soft hand caressed her and a pair of cold, soft lips planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. For sometime, the rolling waves in her settled but, the momentary pleasure vanished when the heat was replaced by a cold, wet touch. She was confused on the variations. Confused on the crossroads between the voice that called for Manik and the soft kisses and murmurs, she saw a flickering light in front of her. She focused herself on the voice and tried to make sense of the syllables and faint vocals.

"Sleep, princess. The charmer will be here soon."

The more she thought of the voice, the more she felt the cold, wet touch on her forehead. Her heavy eyes tried to open themselves among the sharp lights. 

"It's okay kid, take it slow. I'll dim the lights". 

She heard a familiar voice and suddenly felt a slight shift in weight around her. The warmth disappeared. Accustomed to the lights by now and their simultaneous softening helped her to look around. She shifted herself among the blankets in which she was nestled.  A warm hand supported her and she smiled at the familiar face which held concern. His darkened, puffed eyes looked visibly relieved at her sight.  

"You scared me", Abhi said and pulled her in a tight hug. His hug's warmth settled her confusions and her mind started to recollect the happenings. Terribly failing at that and only calling for a headache, she dropped the struggle and tried to croak a question to Abhi. 

"I..."

"Don't stress it out. You've fever since the past night." Abhi cut-off her talks and shifted his gaze to floor and slowly got up. 

"So, what will you have? It's been hours since you have decided to be a sleeping beauty and literally get up by a kiss!" Abhi said with a light chuckle and added on, " I have some dahi chawal or do you prefer soup?"

Abhi's funny behavior of jumping from topic to topic with small talk hinted Nandini that something was wrong and may be, she was in for something serious. So, not beating around the bush and letting Abhi bottle up, she approached the topic head on.

"Abhi, kya hua tha?"

"Nothing new, kid! I have just been busy running errands, you fell to the fever so I was here, I talked to him and caught up about our plan and nothing much else." Abhi shrugged off the little of what was close to reality.

Nandini stated at him with a questioning look and narrowed her eyes telling him he was caught. He left a sigh and sat on the bed besides her.

"It was one of your... I came to call you for dinner. I knocked at the door, called your number, but nothing worked. You didn't open the door. I panicked and so, I requested the hotel to open the door with the spare keys. We opened up to find you curled up on the bed. The on-site medics were called and of course, they stated the obvious-you had super high fever and thus, unconscious. And since then, nothing much but, your recovery mission is on board."

Nandini nodded silently. Something was aloof and she knew Abhi cut the story short. His incidents made overall sense but didn't add up when she considered his worried hug she received when she got up. She had a idea of what was wrong but, as usual Abhi chose to hide what led to it.

She moved on from the topic and asked for some water and dahi chawal.

"So, you talked to him about our plans? Is he coming?" She questioned breaking the silence in which Abhi fed her her food.

--Mumbai: Malhotra Mansion--

It was 24 hours since Manik had returned home. He had left college later that evening and all of Fab 5's tries to locate him went in vain. They tried hard this time in an effort to not repeat their mistake for considering storming out for needing time. It many ways Manik and Nandini were similar. They both knew how to put a brave face for the world and yet vanish away when they feared or cried. Fab 5 hunted him in all his secret hide-outs, Murthy's house, the bars they knew, the underground music areas, but they couldn't find him. His phone was switched off and since they now even neared the 24-hour hallmark for a police complaint, their worry shaped into fear. Cabir thought hard of any other place they could find him before they proceed for a complaint. They waited in Malhotra mansion to catch any site of him if they were lucky enough. And as their stars would have it, they heard a car blow into the drive away with a threatening screech indicating a halt. They descended down the stairs to find a flustered Manik with messy hair and blood-red eyes. His nose flared and he totally seemed to be angered at something. They looked at each other with questioning faces contemplating to question this bubbling hot volcano or let it rest and be relieved that they had him in front of their eyes, physically safe. Navya not caring about any of this, burst-out with concerned questions of him. 

"Manik! Kahan the tum? Hum sab itne time se pareshan ho rahe the! Nahi koi phone, nahi kuch pata- Where were you?" she questioned him and followed along his ascend on the stairs to his room. 

Manik royally ignored all her questions and harshly opened his closet pulling out a bag and few clothes. 

"Baat kar rahi hu tumse? Acha aapni nahi, yeh baato, did you find anything about Nandini? Did you find her? Baat hui usse? Is she fine?" Navya ranted concerned. Fab 5 eagerly followed the tow upstairs. Though they were stunned at Navya's bravery to question Manik at such a moment, they also cringed that neither of them had the gut to do so. 

"I don't know." Manik simply responded and continue to dump things into the bag. 

"Matlab?" Navya questioned at the abrupt answer.

"Matlab, bohot seedha hi, Navya. I don't know where she vanished. In fact, woh kya, puri Murthy family is gone and I don't know anything", he huffed and sat with a thump on the bed holding his head. 

Seeing his distress and internalizing the negative answer, Cabir comforted him and took him into a hug. 

"It's okay Manik! We 'll find her. Hum hein na!" Dhruv spoke up. 

At his voice, Manik teared away from Cabir's hug. His nose flarred again and his chest rose with anger that he held within. 

"Hum nahi! Mein. It's me and only me. I don't know who's wrong here or what I am. But, I know one thing- I am done with the baggage aur Nandini ko hum nahi, mein dhunduga. This is over." he burst. His words vibrated in the Mansion loud and clear and sent shivers down Fab 5's spine. Manik pulled his bag along and rushed down the stairs only to welcomed by an angry Mr. Malhotra who shouted at him the moment he saw him. 

"Manik! What are you upto? And where the hell were you since yesterday, haan?"

"Move it, dad!" Manik answered in a low voice and continued to make his way out while looking down. 

"This is not done, son. You better answer up my questions. Aur ja kahan rahe ho, Manik?" Mr. Malhotra said to an ignorant Manik. He wanted to stop him to rush out before it was too late. He wanted him to realize that this time it was him who here to hold on to him. It was his dad who was there to hug him and heal him with a broken soul. But, may be, his come back had brought a smile on his son's face, he still failed to create space for himself in his heart. The trust was yet to be earned back. 

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Hey,

Apologies for not uploading yesterday! Whose on the edge of their seat? 

Happy reading! 

Love, 

HF