The Broken Strings : A Manan ff (Chapter 3)

Nandini’s P.O.V ~

” Nandini! Nandu… Nandini, wait! ” I heard my name being called out as I was walking out of the college campus. The familiar voice was of my sister, Navya. She was younger to me, and was also doing medical; except she was in her first year, while I was in my third.

Let me tell you one thing about Navya. She is nothing like me. She wanted to be doctor since she was ten, I guess. But I never saw her study for ten hours like me. She got good grades without doing anything. Some people are just born intelligent, I guess. She knew very well how to express her love towards people. Actually, towards me. Since we were kids, she was always glued to me. Wherever I went, she went… like magnets. Ofcourse I didn’t mind it. I loved her more than anything else. It’s just that, I never knew how to express my love to people.

” Nandini! Stop! ” Navya came running towards me. Her feet stopped as she started panting.

” What happened? What are you doing here? ” I asked realizing it was the time for her next lecture to start.

” I came here to ask you about your exam… well, how was it? ” She asked.

Sucked big time. I thought, but then it wasn’t nice to say that in front of my little sister who always looked up to me.

” Great, just like always. But… aren’t you supposed to be in class? ” I asked.

” Yeah. It’s starts in like five minutes… ” She said looking at her wrist, pretending she was looking at her watch. She wasn’t even wearing one!

” You are not wearing a watch. ” I stated. She shrugged and looked back at me.

” Anyway… me and mom are going shopping today, after this lecture of mine. Do you wanna join? ” She asked.

Shopping? With mom and Navya? Never… I thought. If given a chance, these two can buy a whole shopping mall and still they won’t get tired. On top of that, I also had to meet Manik.

Yes, that was much more important than a shopping spree.

” Uh, no. I gotta go to the… library, to return some books. You guys carry on. ” I said and saw Navya giving me a smug look. This girl surely had something in her mind.

” Library, huh? Okay! Carry on… I’ll go with mom. ” She said.

” Okay. Now go back to class. I don’t want you missing another lecture. ” I said pushing her back inside. She gave me a boring look and walked back towards her class.

Missing another lecture would be no big deal for Navya. But it was… for me. I was no intelligent kid. I was no special kid. I had to study ten hours a day, sometimes even more than that. But then again, it was all because I had to live up to my parent’s expectations.

I sighed hopping in my car and drove to the Starbucks.

One last time. I said and looked into the rear-view mirror of my car. I couldn’t see the whole me, but I could see my face… which didn’t look bad. I adjusted my glasses as usual, and got down from the car. One of my bad habits… playing with my glasses whenever I was nervous… and that day, I was nervous as hell.

I was a little late, and knew that Manik was quite a punctual person. He’d said that in one of his interviews. Anyway… I walked into Starbucks and saw Manik sitting at the corner table near a glass window. He was busy doing something on his phone.

Calm down. Be normal. Act natural. Don’t be nervous. Go ahead… I chanted to myself, and walked towards him.

He looked up from his phone and smiled at me. ” Hi, ” He said getting up, and gave me a side-hug.

” Hi, ” I said as we sat down.

” How was the exam? ” He asked first. I thought he would ask how are you… But he was more concerned about my exam. Sweet. I thought, but a frown formed on my face as he said the word exam. Clearly, it sucked for me. If it was somebody else instead of him, I would’ve said, Oh it went great! But I couldn’t lie to him.

” Not so good… Actually, not at all good. ” I said.

” Oh… um… it’s okay. You’ll do better next time. We can’t be the best always, right? ” He said.

I smiled weakly. ” You’re right. Anyway… forget that. Let’s not talk about it… ” I said changing the topic. Thankfully, he seemed to understand that, and moved on.

We spoke about the most random things. Our lives, likes and dislikes, everything… Honestly, I was more of a listener. I never spoke to anybody so much. I liked observing them more than going and talking to them. But with Manik… I was a different person altogether.

To my surprise, I was the one who kept on talking and he just kept on listening.

” I’m sorry… you must be bored. ” I had said in between, frowning a little. I didn’t mean to get him bored. I didn’t know why I was talking so much.

” What? Ofcourse not! You’re a very interesting person. I can keep listening to you all day and still not get bored… ” He said and I flushed pink.

Another bad habit of mine – I blushed a lot… weird, but true. And this man, had already made me go crazy.

” Now stop blushing, and continue with your story… ” He said and I continued with the story I was telling him.

And that’s how, we spent almost two hours getting to know each other. I thought I knew everything about him, since I was a fan, but I was wrong. He was not what he looked like. He looked like the angry-young-man, but he was very soft at heart. He was aggressive on the stage, but loving and emotional off the stage. I saw a completely different side of Manik Malhotra.

” We should go now. It’s getting late… ” Manik’s said looking at his watch. I nodded, even though I wanted some more time with him.

I walked out of the Starbucks followed by him, and the next thing we saw was… the cameras flashing. A few reporters standing outside the café, along with some fans.

***

Handling the fans is always difficult, right? Comment xoxo.