Chapter 17
Tuesday,
May 2, 2016
It had been a long
day. So much had happened within a span of 24 hours that Nandini was having a
hard time, letting it all sink in. It was still pitch dark outside. Manik had
left, even Neel had left after dropping Navya at the hospital. She had called Chachi,
lying to her that she was spending the night at Navya's flat whereas in
reality, she was lying on the hospital bed, with the saline drip still on.
Navya had cuddled up on the guest sofa.
She felt sorry for
Navya. For a week now Navya had been hosting two shows, one that was hers and
the other late night show she had volunteered to host to cover for her sick
colleague. She must have been dead tired but not once did she show it. She
dropped everything at hand to rush to be at the hospital.
While the rest of
the world was fast asleep, Nandini lay awake. Despite Navya being in the same
room, she felt overwhelmingly lonely. The last three years flashed in front of
her eyes, how the initial shock at Manik's unexplained departure, had eventually
turned into worry and then intense anger and hatred over the years. How the
famous FAB5 which was as famous for their music as for their friendship, fell
out and crumbled to pieces, how Nyonika tried every trick in her book to mess
up her life & how she was trapped by Neel. She would have fought through
this and more if Manik hadn't deserted her. Together they would have seen
through every difficulty, and that was her biggest regret... that they weren't
together.
*******************************************************
Flashback: 3
years ago on New Year:
It was pouring
heavily outside on the unusually cold evening. Being the first day of the year,
it was a holiday and people all around were in a celebratory mood. Nandini was
packing her bags with one hand & wiping away her tears with the other. She
had had a huge argument with Amms over the phone. Accompanying Manik to Denmark
for his treatment was an impulsive decision and Nandini was adamant about it.
She didn't care how her relatives or neighbours would react once they came to
know she was going with her boyfriend. She didn't care that she had to leave
her studies halfway. She didn't know how long it would take for the treatment
to complete, she didn't know how difficult it would be to sustain in another
country, she didn't even know whether despite everything, doctors would be able
to save his memory, but none of it mattered to her. The one and only thing that
did was her love for Manik.
But Amms wouldn't
understand any of it. Even Nandini's uncle was sceptical. It was one thing to
know that she had a boyfriend but to let her go to another country alone with
him was a different ballgame all together. On top of that Manik's father was
sponsoring everything because Nandini's uncle even if he wanted to, couldn't
afford the expenses. Nandini had always been a docile child. Family meant a lot
to her, especially after she lost her parents in an accident. But this one time
she had to defy even at the cost of disappointing her Amms and uncle.
Their flight was at
11pm. It was half past 7. Manik would be here anytime, Nandini thought. But
when he didn't arrive even by 8, she started getting worried. She called him
once twice..a total of 10 times but each time she would get the same message
'The number you have dialed is currently out of service.'
Nandini tried to
recall the last time she had spoken to him. The night before, she panicked. On
any other day, they call each other several times throughout a day but today
she was so busy with the packing and
arrangements, they hadn't spoken even once. 'Was he ok?' She wondered.
Time was slipping
away. One by one Navya, Dhruv, Alya, Mukti and Aryaman called her. They were
all at the airport waiting to see them off.
She asked the Fab 4 to wait at the airport while she took a taxi to
Manik's home. She had a gut feeling that something was wrong. But nothing in
the world could have prepared her for what she was about to witness.
When she reached
Manik's home, Manik wasn't there.
Panicking she asked
one of the servants "Bhaiya Manik kahan hai, hamari flight hai in 2
hours."
Servant: "Manik
baba to chale gaye. Unki flight to 6 baje thi."
Nandini:
"Bhaiya yeh mazak ka waqt nahi hai, please Manik ko bula do nahi to flight
miss ho jayegi."
Servant: "Aap
mera yakin karo, main khud unko airport chor aya tha sham ko."
Nandini totally lost
it. Despite their telling her that he had left she couldn't get herself to
believe them. Manik couldn't do something like this. She dashed upstairs to
Manik's room. It was empty. She shouted his name but no one responded. His
luggage too was missing. She opened the drawers and all the clothes had been
packed away. Manik had indeed gone somewhere. Her first thought was 'Nyonika'.
She must have done something. But no matter what she intended to do Manik would
never leave just like that after having promised to go together. She called
Fab4 and they all came rushing to Manik's place.
11 pm came and went,
there was no trace of Manik anywhere. Dhruv called Manik's dad and put the
phone on speaker.
"Uncle Manik
kahan hain? Manik aur Nandini aaj fly karne wale the Denmark par uska koi ata
pata hi nahi."
Mr. Malhotra:
"Nandini ??? Manik ne to Nandini ka nam bhi zikar nahi kiya tha. Tickets
bhi khali Manik ke hi book huye the and 6 pm ke. Who to chala gaya."
They all were
speechless not knowing exactly how to react.
Dhruv: "Uncle
Manik ka contact number hai kya aap ke pas? Uska old number to nahi lag
raha."
Mr. Malhotra
"Dekho Dhruv, tum jante ho main Manik ke personal mamlon mein interfere
nahi karta. Agar jane se pehle usne tumlogon se contact nahi kiya to iska
matlab who tumse contact nahi karna chahta. Leave him alone. Waise bhi who who
beemar hai and ekbar tum logon ki wajah se , especially that Nandini he self
discharged himself from the hospital. Aaj wooh jo bhi suffer kar raha hai uski
wajah se. So please stay away from him."
Each one of them was
shocked to their bones except Nandini, who remained in denial. She kept waiting
for Manik's call..days rolled into weeks, weeks into months and months into
years but Manik never called...until today.
*************************************************************
Nandini started
shivering, these sad memories had pushed her down a bottomless abyss. She just
couldn't control her tears. Her loud sobs woke up Navya. She immediately got up
and hugged Nandini in a tight embrace, massaging her back as if she were a kid.
Nandini wanted to tell her everything and get this load off her chest. But she
couldn't. She only kept crying and Navya kept consoling her till she got
exhausted and fell asleep.
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