Manan : Jeene Laga Hoon Pehle Se Zyaada by Crystal : Chapter 8
Link to Chapter 7 : Chapter 7
The comments in Chapter 7 have been answered.. thanks for your support keep supporting..i am going to continue this ff just for my fans who are actually reading……. But a request to all my silent readers…. Please comment just to boost up the writers
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Recap : Nandini crying and Manik consoling her.
Let’s Continue
After coming back to the room, Nandini fell back asleep and again
FLASHBACK
{(Dadaji) “Nandu, come here, dear.”
(Nandini) “What is it, Dadaji?!? And call me Nandini because I like that name and everyone calls me with the same name. You know Uncle and Aunty call us Tom and Jerry because we fight like crazy
(Dadaji) “Oh! My, my! What rude thing to say about my grandchildren! I will talk to Venky about it and give him a good smacking. What did your parents call you?”
(Nandini fidgeting as she didn’t want to answer) “Emmm….”
(Dadaji) “Tell, dear.”
At that time Venkatesh enters the house. (He is Damaad of Ram Murthy and he is Nandini and Rishabh’s Uncle or Fufaji. He has married Ram Murthy’s daughter Shanoo)
(Venkatesh Uncle) “I will tell you, Papaji, Nandini was earlier called Priya Kumar and Rishabh was called Ved Kumar. After their parents divorced and went their own ways, I changed their names. I don’t want their past to cling to their names.”
(Dadaji) “Are you ok with this, Nandu?”
(Nandini) “Yes. Please call me Nandini.”
(Dadaji) “No. Only I will call you Nandu. Others will call you Nandini. Do we have a deal?”
Nandini says “YES” and starts laughing seeing Dadaji’s excitement}
On the other side
(Manik) “Rishabh, where is Nandu?”
(Rishabh) “What?” He looked surprised. Same reaction as his sister!
(Manik) “I asked where your sister is. You give the same expression as her. Is something wrong?”
(Rishabh) “She is in her room. Are you hurt anywhere?”
(Manik’s POV) Rishabh checked me up to see if I was hurt anywhere.
(Manik) “No, why should I be?”
(Rishabh) “Are you, by any chance, her client?”
(Manik) “Yes. We signed the contract just today.”
(Rishabh) “Ah! That’s why you are ok and you don’t know. Don’t ever call her Nandu. Even I don’t call her that.”
(Manik) “Why?” What is so special about that?
(Rishabh) “Only Dadaji called her that. She said that only he can call her like that. Since I was a baby when we came to live with Dadaji, our Fufaji and Bhuaji brought me up.
Nandini stayed with Dadaji, away from us, and was very attached to him. She was like a living dead when he died. She doesn’t allow anyone to call her that. If the person still calls her Nandu, she gives her special reserved punch, which I guarantee will give you more than just Stomach ache. There was one guy in her high school who dared to call her like that thinking that he was getting special in her heart after she had warned him. The poor fellow almost ended up in the hospital. It became a big problem. Our guardian was called over and can you guess what she told? She said that she was never to be called Nandu again.”
(Manik) “Anyways, where is she?”
(Rishabh) “She said that she didn’t want to have dinner.”
(Manik) “What? Why?”
(Rishabh) “There are days when she doesn’t eat food. Dadaji tried to change her but on days like these, when she eats, she vomits as soon as she finishes her food. A psychological reaction is what the doc said and we have not been able to change it.”
(Manik’s POV) Must be because of her parents’ divorce. But, I’m curious to know if she cries at all? She didn’t seem like a person to cry at comments. She cried in front of me.
(Manik then questioningly asked Rishabh) “Does she cry?”
(Rishabh confused) “What? You mean, Nandini cries or not?”
Rishabh looked in a very mocking way towards Manik.
(Manik) “Yes. You both seem to have been through a lot. It must have been painful for her. Have you seen her cry when she is insulted or humiliated? She is a girl, after all.”
(Rishabh) “I don’t remember if I have been through difficult times since I was a toddler then, but Nandi is not like any regular girl to cry because of something petty like insults. From when I can remember, I have never seen Nandi cry. Even if someone insults them, she ignores or listens to what they have to say, thank them and comes back. But I fight back, if they insult my sister. But why are you suddenly concerned over this?”
(Manik’s POV) He caught me but lucky for me Nandu hasn’t told anything about me and today’s incident. Probably She didn’t want him to worry. I see. Really strange. Maybe, she is right. I was not the reason she cried. Then, I needn’t feel guilty about it.
(Manik diverting the topic) “Hey, did you forget the sole reason why you are here? You are in check because you fought.”
(Rishabh) “I remember but I don’t think anyone here will insult her. If they do, they will get it from me.”
(Manik’s POV) I suddenly feel guilty. I should have got my info correct before commenting but……..
(Manik) “What can you do as a brat?”
(Rishabh) “I am a karate champion after all. My trophies and certificates are in my room at uncle’s place even Nandini Di specialises in Karate.”
(Manik) “Don’t joke. You didn’t seem like you knew how to fight and were covered with bruises the first time when the fight in school was complained. That is what Mr. Anthony said.”
(Rishabh) “I promised Nandini Didi that I won’t use it on people who don’t know. Last time I fought, five boys got sent to hospital and didn’t return for three months. Nandini was in uni and had a big problem because of this. Our lawyer had to come over and deal with it. I don’t want to create problems for her anymore.”
(Manik’s POV) What is this? The way he talks is like as if it is a scene coming in movies.
(Manik) “Are you serious? Both of you hit so hard as to send people to hospital? Unbelievable! I can see that both brother and sister are rough to handle.”
(Manik’s POV) Are they fighters or from martial arts family? Why learn self-defence to that extent?
(Rishabh) “True. Thankful, the principal didn’t leave a black mark on our records. I am hot headed but Nandi is very cool enough for a guy. She is level headed and always thinks before doing anything. If she was not level headed, she would have lost the fight for custody with our so called father. A pity that he died right after he lost the case.”
(Manik’s POV) What? His father died? So called? Isn’t he alive? I remember her confirming things with me before about this. She never told him that their parents are alive? Probably that is why on the day of the meeting she asked me if the school had informed anything to Rishabh. I think there is something deep behind her hiding all this fro Rishabh.
(Manik) “So how was school today?”
(Rishabh) “It was good. By the way, where are the others who I saw yesterday? Don’t they live here?”
(Manik) “They have their own families. They come only on days I call or weekends.”
(Rishabh) “Yeah about this weekend, I was planning to stay with my friends for group study, so can you help me get Approval from sis, please?”
(Manik) “Why should I help you? It is just staying over, she will allow you right or is she a dictator?”
(Rishabh) “Hey! Sis isn’t a dictator or a tyrant. She is worried about me. Ever since I was kidnapped after Dadaji died, she never sent me out alone except school. She knows that I can protect myself now but she is scared if I might be overpowered.”
(Manik’s POV)I looked at him. Seriously, what is wrong with her or more precisely, what and all is right with her?
(Manik) “Ok. I will talk with her Tomorrow.”
(Rishabh) “Thanks, Manik”
Precap: Next morning Swasan face to face and Nandini thinks of giving up the tests and going back to hotel but Manik tricks her through Rishabh.