Adorable Heart

Hot Chocolate

MANIK   :

It was ten past ten when I left Cabir's party. The drive was silent. 

Speed had always been my thing when it came to cars but today was one of those rare days when I opted to drive slowly because I thought she might not like it.

Okay Okay. Hands up!

Yes. There is a girl with me. Sitting on the passenger seat of my Acura NSX.

Now before you guys judge me I don't take girls on long drives with me at this time of night. 

Even Manik Malhotra has some principles.

The thing is when I was leaving Cabir came to me saying he wanted to spend some alone time with his girlfriend and if I could drop Nandini home as she was here with Navya. Nandini insisted on calling a car for herself from Murthy Mansion but then I told her that I can drop her if she wanted. And much to Cabir and Navya's surprise she agreed. Before anyone could interpret anything more; I told them that we were 'Friends' and Nandini smiled looking at me. 

I thought it will be a fun drive with my new friend but damn. 

Nandini was silent all the time!

"So, is this the way it's going to be?", I asked her.

"Sorry?", she asked turning to my side.

"It's still ten minutes for us to reach Murthy Mansion. Will you be silent throughout the drive? I thought we were friends...", I said.

"Manik. I don't know. I mean... It was so easy to fight with you. I never argued with anyone that much. Words used to come naturally to me. Now, as we are friends I don't know what to say. Perhaps, I'm not good at small talks. ", she said rubbing the nape of her neck.

She looked cute like that.

Ahem Ahem. The kind of cute which did not attract me physically. 

What?!

I'm NOT supposed to get attracted to my new 'friend'. Don't you people understand. 

"Okay. So, green apple is your favorite soda. And you never like never had any type of alcohol?", I asked.

"Yeah. Never. I never found it cool. Nor did my Dadu.", she replied.

"You seem to be quite attached to your Dadu.", I remarked.

"I love my Dadu the most! Actually, I only have Dadu and Dadi as my family.", said Nandini.

"Oh. I'm sorry. Is that why you are silent all the time because you miss your parents?", I asked being concerned.

"No. I was very small when I lost them. I don't have many memories of them. Dadu handled everything. My Dadu's a writer and he handles our family business too. ", she explained.

"Okay. "

"Manik, Can I ask you something?", she asked looking quite hesitant.

"Anything.", I smiled at her.

"How come you... you had 78 girlfriends?"

"What?! I had 78 girlfriends!", I started laughing.

"Yeah. You only told me when we were near Snickerdoodle.", she said.

"I was just joking at that time. I know I'm the bad guy. So cool and so hot. Girls go all gaga over me but come on. Even I can't handle so many girls in my life. Who has 78 girlfriends?! ", I said laughing.

"Then how many girlfriends you had?"

"I don't have the statics if you want them in a file but definitely they were not 78.", I said and winked at her.