Recap: fashion show preparation at amphitheatre..
Harshad and Manik Come out of the changing room all ready for their fashion show. Manik in a pink skirt and blue crop top and Harshad dressed in a green skirt and golden crop top. Their muscular body peeping out of the sleeveless tops. All the others burst out laughing on seeing the beautiful ladies standing in front of them !
Mukti: I feel so jealous of these two pretty ladies here !
Nandini: I know right ! Wish I was so pretty !
And they again start laughing.. Manik keeps staring at Nandini who is laughing out loud and thinks to himself, “you are really pretty Nandini !”
Nandini: okay now let’s get our models ready for the fashion show. Come here you, Manik. I’ll be doing your make up and Harshad you go to mukti and Navya.
Manik is rejoiced to hear his name from her mouth for the first time ever ! When they were young she used to call him “monkey” and never did she call him Manik ! He wondered whether she even knew his actual name back then because since the time they became friends she had started calling him monkey. Also, the elders used to lovingly call him “Manu” due to which the cute little Nandini, who was “nandu” back then and still the same for her chacha chachi never knew his real name.
**flashback**
He still remembered the first time they had met. They might have seen each other before that but that was the first time they had interacted and ended into their first fight due to which Nandini started calling him Monkey !
Nandini had gone to manik’s place with her parents as their dads used to be best friends back then. She was getting bored sitting with the elders and that was the time when maniks mother Mrs. Anjali Malhotra told Manu to take Nandu to his room and they could play something together. He took her upstairs to His bedroom which was full of toys especially cars as he was really fond of cars back then ! Nandini was never the too girlish type and therefore those cars fascinated her as well. She started having a look at the cars carefully placed on a huge shelf and she found one that attracted her attention the most ! It was a miniature red coloured Ferrari with a remote control. Her eyes lightened up at the sparkling red colour and she picked it up to Play with it. Manik who had been following her gaze all the while as he was really possessive about his cars, got really angry when she picked it up !
That Ferrari was his favourite and nobody could dare to touch it ! Even the servants who would come to clean the room were not allowed to touch it. He could only trust himself and his mom with it and so his mom had to clean that part of the shelf that had the Ferrari. As soon as Nandini picked it up, he snatched it away from her like a wild possessive kid due to which Nandini hurt her finger with the sharp edge ! She started crying and moved out of the room shouting “you’re a monkey !
” As soon as she moved out of the room crying, he felt really bad about hurting her and followed her downstairs into the main hall where their parents were seated and he found she had been complaining about him to them. When he reached, his mom started scolding him. He listened to her with his head bent low and when she was finished scolding, he moved to nandu, gave her the car and said, “I’m sorry. Will you be my friend ? Let’s play together..” Nandini wiped her tears and replied with a smile, taking the car from him, “okay but I will still call you monkey ! Because you are one !” Manik made a puppy face at that at which Nandini started laughing and Manik took the car from her hands and started running out.
She followed him and that’s how they became friends. Though they had spent very few years together in their childhood and had had so many fights all that while, but still the friendship they had shared was the purest ! Nandini was 6 years old when she had to move to India with her parents after which she completely forgot about Manik as nobody ever mentioned the malhotras and there was no contact with any of them.
**flshaback over**
He starts smiling at the flashback that is going on in his head which is noticed by Nandini,
Nandini: what are you blushing at ? Come now !
Manik moves forward and sits on a chair arranged for his make up. Nandini starts doing his make up. She starts with the eye shadow. She takes up a dark blue shade and merges it with a dark pink one. Manik is blushing all the while looking at her in the mirror in front of him, completely engrossed in doing his make over. Whenever she slightly touched his face face while doing the makeup, he would shiver due to nervousness ! He was loving the time and wished it never ended ! He did not mind anything to have such beautiful moments with his nandu. When she was done with the eye shadow and lipstick she looked up at his face to decide which colour blush to put up on his face and she found that his cheek were already so red that they did not require any blush !
Nandini: my god you’re such a girl ! You don’t need any blush ! Ha ha ! Come on now get ready, you’ve to go on stage.
He does not respond as he is just looking at her and admiring her innocence hidden behind the cool girl she was pretending to be. When he does not respond or even blink his eyes, she shakes him awake and he comes out of his dream world.
By the time even Harshad is ready with the make up and it’s time for them to go on stage to entertain their audience. Cabir comes back stage and is stunned to see the pieces of art prepared by his friends ! He started laughing but then immediately controlled himself as it was getting late and they needed to start the show.
Cabir: okay so go walk the ramp, stay there for a while together and then whichever song starts playing, start dancing on it ! Do you get it ?
Both Manik and Harshad just give a nod and take their positions. All the girls go and settle in the audience along with Dhruv and cabir handles the music back stage. Before the music starts,
Harshad: (to Manik when nobody else is around) just wait and watch my friend, after this show, your nandu will be my friend and then I can get her to do whatever I want ! And you’ll be able to do just nothing to help her and her appa!
Manik: (angry ) don’t you dare talk about her appa ! And trust me, I would never let her come close to you ! I can do anything to help her and save her from creeps like you !
Harshad: we’ll see !
And the music starts ! Harshad goes on to the stage first. He gathers all the feminism in him and walks, carefully taking small steps in those high heels to make sure he does not trip off ! As he walks, his waist moves with his steps and the audience starts clapping and hooting at the wonderful lady walking out there ! Once he reaches the centre stage, he makes seductive faces at the audience that makes all of them burst out laughing ! He gives various poses and then settles on the left side of the stage with his left hand on his waist, his body tilted to the left giving a perfect picture pose !
Next comes Manik, who is not at all comfortable with the heels and trips at the second step itself but controls himself from falling on the ground and starts walking again. The audience just burst out laughing, clapping and hooting at the very first instant ! Harshad feels proud at first because he walked really gracefully but when he sees that the audience had been enjoying the comedian on the stage, starts boiling with jealousy ! Manik realises that more that grace he needs to make the audience laugh and therefore while walking forward again and again trips with different styles which makes the audience hoot and cheer more ! He hears someone give out a big whistle and turns to look at the person who was none other than Nandini. She had been enjoying the most it seemed ! For a while he stopped walking while looking at her enjoying and giving high fives to her friends sitting around her, laughing out loud !
When his pause extended people started shouting and he realised what he had been doing and so started walking again. He reached centre stage, gave a few funny deductive type of poses and then settled to the right side of the stage. There was some pause to the act before the song would start and he saw Nandini clicking his picture which made him dance in his heart ! He was so happy to see that she was so impressed with him. He looked at Harshad and gave him a smirk. Harshad got really irritated and as soon as the music started, he came to the side where Manik was standing so that Nandini would notice him more.
“…bidi jalayi le…jigar se piya ! Jigar ma badi aag hai…”
Both of them started showing their seductive dance moves and the audience started hooting once again ! Manik didn’t mind if Harshad was more close to the side where Nandini was sitting as he knew this small fashion show could not ruin his childhood friendship and also that this small incident won’t make Nandini trust Harshad. He therefore just kept enjoying himself and making others enjoy as well. Once the song came to an end, the audience was really entertained and they gave a standing ovation to the two of them and also asked for a “once more”. Cabir again played the song and Manik and Harshad gave in to the audiences demand. This time even the fab 5 and navya joined them on stage and started enjoying themselves.
Mukti, aliya and Nandini dancing together, navya and cabir doing their own item number and Dhruv swinging with everyone but mostly with Nandini. Manik noticed the closeness between Dhruv and Nandini and felt a bit awkward as he could see his best friend being best friends with another guy. Even Harshad noticed it and also manik’s jealous face that got a smirk on his face !
The song came to and end and so did the fun performance ! The audience started leaving after giving a lot of appreciation by way of applause and hooting. Even the fab 5 left without uttering anything to Harshad or Manik who had been hoping a friendship tie up with fab 5 after that performance. But, the fab 5 had enjoyed so much that they forgot about the two of them and started moving away.
Precap: friendship day. Whom will Nandini choose her new friend out of Manik and Harshad ?
****
So friends though not many of you had voted for which story did you wish to read on Sunday out of the 2, based on the few votes I got, I had to update the manan ff as also it is lacking behind as compared to the Pani ff.
I hope even you all enjoyed the fashion show ! Do comment and let me know how did you find the part ? I would love to know your feedbacks ! Keep supporting and I will keep entertaining.
Thank you !
**announcement**
Friends, I am going out of town for around 2/3 days and therefore I might not be able to publish any story on Monday and Wednesday. However, If I am not able to update on both of those days then will publish both on Thursday though it is not a day as per my schedule. Again, I will definitely try but can’t promise. Sorry you’ll have to wait but I hope you understand.
I’ll be missing you my friends, hope you do too…?
See you soon!
Thank you !
P.S.: please avoid any typing mistakes..typing at 1.30 am with eyes full of sleep !