I can't believe this is happening to me!

Like I got two back to back busy Saturdays and as if that was not enough, I am down with a sore throat, cold and a throbbing headache today. Like, what even in the world!

Like, is the entire universe plotting against me so I won't write? 🤧🥺

Anyways, please shower this chapter with lots of love. I really need some motivation to write all the ideas that are about to burst in my head/drafts..😭❤️✨

Enjoy Reading :)

Regret filled inside Manik the moment he drove away, leaving everyone behind. Soha and Cabir didn't have any vehicle while he knew Nandini enough to know she would be waiting for her driver.

He was so angry that he couldn't think straight. Nandini flinched away again. She thought he was going to hit her and it was not the first time.

Manik let out a troubled sigh, his thoughts all jumbled up until a message from Cabir stared back at him from his phone screen.

"Bhai!"

"How can you leave Nandini and Ruhi behind?"

"Nandini looked so scared!"

Fuck. Manik cursed himself out loud before taking a u-turn. He just hoped that Nandini and Ruhi would be still there, waiting for him.

Manik was lucky because they were. Nandini was on the opposite side of the road from the mall. Manik raised his hand to call her but stopped when he saw her walking.

Why was she walking?

He crossed the road, calling out for her but she didn't hear, the loud blaring vehicles were to be blamed.

Manik saw her stand outside a cafe. She looked down at Ruhi and brushed her hair with a smile before saying something to her that he couldn't hear.

He walked behind her as they entered. She made Ruhi sit on a side table, called a waiter and ordered a hot chocolate for her. She even gave her mobile to Ruhi to play YouTube.

Nandini looked nervous. It made him want to stay there even though he knew he was invading her personal space. But could he actually go home in peace knowing she was in some sort of trouble?

Manik's eyes followed her across the cafe as she walked to the farthest table and sat down, with someone.

A lady. Manik's frown only deepened further. He shook his head, walking to Ruhi's table and smiled seeing her so immerse in her video.

He knocked at the table gently to gain her her attention,"Miss, may I sit here?" He chuckled when Ruhi looked up with wide eyes.

"Manit!" Manik's heart swelled up with happiness seeing her happy.

"Shit down"

Manik laughed softly at her vocabulary,"Thankyou, Miss."

"Luhi's not mish. Plincessh?"

"Ofcourse, princess," He chuckled,"May I know what is princess doing here all alone?"

"Luhi's Mumma hash a mee- meeting." She told him,"Mumma shaid it is im- impolt- ment."

"Important princess," he corrected.

"Yesh yesh, luhi meansh that."

The waiter was here with the hot chocolate. Manik looked back at the table where Nandini and the unknown lady sat. Things didn't look good. Nandini looked way too tense and the other woman looked smug.

Manik looked back at Ruhi and then at the other table. Fuck pesonal space, he was not going to sit here and watch Nandini shake like that.

"I told you I don't want to meet you." Nandini said as soon as she kept her bag down and sat. The old woman smirked, as if she had won a lottery by making her come here.

And had the audacity to chuckle over that,"Well, hello to you, Nandini."

"I am not here for greetings. Tell me what do you want."

Nandini was furious. She was nervous. And most importantly, she was scared. Ruhi was here, just on the other side of the cafe. Fuck. She was so so scared.

"You know it already, Nandini,"

"I don't." Nandini wasn't sure if she sounded as stern as she wanted to.
She looked around, eyes falling on the table Ruhi sat - now with Manik. For a moment, Nandin couldn't breath.

What was Manik doing there?

"Nandini," the woman took her attention,"It has been three years. Have you not had enough? Let my son go."

Nandini's hand shook under the table as she tried to fist them. Anger filled inside her as she looked at the old woman.

"Free? Your son is never going to be free," she said firmly,"Atleast not until he pays for what he did."

"Vihaan loved you, Nandini." She cried out in frustration suddenly,"Did you even love him?"

Nandini panicked. She was sure she was visibly shaking at this point. The old woman knew what triggered her. She had seen it all. She smirked at her state.

Nandini closed her eyes, taking a deep breathe. No, she had better memories to look at. Her Ruhi's eyes that hold the entire world. Manik's smile that makes her want to smile. Her father, her sister. Nandini had so much to be happy about.

So much that could overpower the fear Vihaan instilled in her.

And when she calmed down, rage took over. Her heart pounded in her chest, less in fear more in anger,"You and your son ruined my life and now you have the audacity to ask me to let him go? The seven months in jail weren't enough for you mother?"

The elder woman's expressions faltered, from anger to irritation to nervous,"What did we even do to you?"

"Really?" Nandini couldn't believe her words,"You want me to spell it out what you and your son did to me? I still remember what you said the day I left. Throw my daughter in an orphanage?"

"You-"

"Shut up!" She stood up, slamming her hand on the table and the woman looked at her in panic,"I don't want to hear your nonsense. I am not getting my complaint back, not today, not tomorrow. Your son will pay for what he did to me."

"You will regret this!"

"I am already doing that, mother. I still am."

Nandini turned around to leave, only to gasp out loud when saw Manik standing there, only five steps away. He had a frown on his face, anger and disgust.

Nandini's mind was so fuzzy she couldn't understand which emotion was directed to her, or which one to the old woman.

Vihaan's mother chuckled from behind, laughed as she came ahead.

"So this is it?" She looked at Manik,"New lover boy?"

Nandini glared at her,"He is a better man than your son was."

"Oh Nandini," She smiled, it is more of mock,"You think because he is a better man, you can be happy with him?"

Nandini frowned as she continued,"But then, I shouldn't be surprised. You always wanted luxuries, to be rich and you finally found the perfect guy."

She snickered, shaking her head,"I will see you soon, Nandini."

She walked away. Nandini stumbled, hardly breathing and Manik was beside her in a moment.

"Are - Are you okay?"

"Yes." She muttered,"I need to leave."

"Let me drop you both-

"No. I will go by myself."

"Nandini, please."

Nandini shook her head in no. She had no strength to walk beside him, to sit beside him. She knew she would break down.

"Okay, Can I atleast call a taxi for you?"

"No - No. My driver must be here."

Manik nodded with a sigh. He let her go and stepped behind. Nandini didn't even look back as she walked to Ruhi's table, picked her up and walked out.

They didn't talk for the whole day. The next day, Nandini went to the office as per her routine. She waited for Manik to call her, kept checking her phone for any text but Manik seemed to be like dealing with a lot too.

Nandini didn't blame him. He was new to everything. He probably had no experience in dealing with relationships. It was normal for him to be overwhelmed and behave this way.

Nandini shook her head, trying to get rid of her negative thoughts. She had ordered Maya to not let anyone disturb her.

Probably that was why Nandini didn't notice the commotion outside her cabin. It was evening and she had a tight schedule. Her phone rang twice but she had no time to hear it.

A knock on her cabin door disturbed her. Nandini looked up as her father came rushing in. He looked like he was in panic.

"Nandini, bacha."

She frowned,"What happened, Appa?"

His eyes flickered to her phone. Nandini picked it up instictively.

However, Mr.Murty stepped forward even before she could press the home screen,"Nandini!"

"What's wrong?" She looked up, more confused.

"It is nothing. I was wondering, I am not feeling well - I was thinking of going home early. Shall we leave?"

Her father looked nervous. Nandini in an instance knew something was wrong. She didn't say anything though. She looked around her messy table and thought for a moment before nodding her head.

"Sure, let me grab my stuff, Appa."

"Yeah - Let's go together?" He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.

Her Appa stood there until she packed her bag, instructed a very nervous and fidgety Maya about setting her schedule. Maya wouldn't even look at her in the eye. Nandini was so sure there was something wrong.

She could just feel it, see it but couldn't pin point it.

The walked out of the cabin and it was only then she noticed the stares. Nobody stared at her directly, but they all seemed to stare at her from the corner of their eyes.

Nandini ignored it. Afterall, it was not normal for her and her father to leave early. They did it only in emergencies.

Mr.Murty came by her side, trying to hurry and suddenly a whisper caught her ears.

"So it must be true."

Another.

"Damn, she really left her husband for money?"

Another. Nandini stopped walking. Her father nudged her, calling out for her but she didn't look at him.

"I thought Manik sir was lucky, but it seems like she has trapped him."

Nandini gasped, turning around and they all seemed to have frozen too. She knew whose voice it was and in moments, Nandini was standing infront of the cubicle where sat three interns.

"What did you say?" She asked, calm.

"Nandini, bacha let go." She heard her father say but Nandini shook her head, ignoring him for a moment.

The young boy, flustered, stood up from his seat,"M-Mam- we were just -"

"What?" Nandini sucked in a sharp breathe, eyes falling on the open phone screen at the intern's table. "What is that? Show me."

The boy's eyes went wide. He shook his head in no and she gave him a glare which had him fumbling. He handed her the phone, looking down when Mr.Murty stared down at him in anger.

A twist in the tale - Nandini Murty's Engagement Controversy.

Nandini Murty, one of the leading business woman in the country and the Co-Ceo of Murty Industries recently got engaged to Manik Malhotra.

While the engagement news brought in happiness for the two families, some past revelations have came to the light.

Nandini's ex mother in law, Mrs.Kapoor came in touch with our news channel and shed some light on the matter.

According to Mrs.Kapoor, Nandini Murty trapped her son. Although the sources say they had a love marriage, it has been came to light how she tormented him after their marriage.

Furthermore, Nandini was not satisfied with the lifestyle her husband could offer. She would often demand for expensive jewelleries and fight with her husband to take her to luxurious hotels. When he refused to give in her demands, she accused him and put him in jail, depriving him of his fatherly rights.

Seems like Nandini Murty might not be the ambitious woman we know. However, we do not know the whole story and wait for a statement from the woman in question herself.

Let's see what does Nandini Murty has to say on this controversy. Is she going to deny all the allegations raised by her ex mother in law or is there more beneath the surface?

Stay tuned to know more..

It took two minutes for Nandini to process the words written on the screen, the whole article. And then, she read it again. And again until her father snatched the phone from her hand and thrusted it back in the young intern's hands who had the dignity to atleast look apologetic.

And if it took her two minutes to process the article, it only took her two seconds to turn away and walk out of the office.

Her father followed her behind immediately, sending a warning to the staff including how he didn't cut their pay checks for them to gossip about their boss's personal life.

By that time, Nandini had practically ran away, or more like pathetically. Sat in her car, uncaring of the panic that build inside her chest, she drove away.

It felt like three years back,

Just back then she had monsters to run from, this time it was the memories that seemed to haunt her.

Overcome the fear? Bullshit.