Nandini came home but there was no trace of manik. She went to her room n changed into night dress n came out with her cell phone. She was closing her room door when she got call from her father. She got excited n answered the call.

ND - nandinis dad

N : "papa...kaise ho"

ND : " im fine baccha tu kaisi hai"...

N : "bindass papa ...aap ko pata hai aaj aarav ka birthday tha ..we had soo much fun".....said while making her way towards terrace.

ND :" aacha kya kya kiya"

N : " kya nahi kiya papa...we danced, played god !! ..aur tho aur aapkona aarav ka chehara dekhna chahiye tha when i gave him iron man shoes ..aww he is too cute papa"...

ND : " haa yeh aacha kiya tu ne usse shoes dekhe ...mukti aur manik kaise hai "

N : "Mukti abhi ke saath bahar gayi hai ..may be a date kyuki kal wo delhi jaa rahi hai 1 week ke liye..aur manik teek hai "...said last sentence hesitating...now she was talking standing near terrace door wall.

ND : " ohh tho u will be oki without mukti"

N : " haa papa ...im not a small kid i can take care of myself oki"..said making sad pout

ND : " haa haa patha hai ..kithna kayal rakh sakthi hai kudki"..sarcastically

N : "aapna hamesha mujhe underestimate kiyio haa "...said fake crying.

ND : " oki oki ..drama bandh kar ..but nandu "...said last sentence getting serious.

N :"haa papa "...sensing his seriousness ..

ND : " tu 2 weeks ke baadh bangalore aa rahi hai na "...asked hesitating.

N : " what !! ..kya papa ..abhi tho college shuru huyi hai n u want me to bunk it...itna bhi miss mat kiya karo mujhe "...said teasing.

ND thoughts - that means she doesnt remember what is the day after 2 weeks ...usse yaad dilau ya nahi...uff nandu ki ayyaippa kya karu ..meri bacchi abhi abhi uski hotope muskurahat layi hai agar uss din kha yaad dilaunga tho ..nahi uski mood karab hogi ..agar usse yaad ayyega tho mujhe call zarror karegi ...tab usse baat kar lunga.

ND : " accha teek hai ...apna kayal rakna haa ...aur manik ko tang maat karna ..mukti bhi nahi hogi waha pe "...

N: " arrey maine usse tang kab kiya ...aap bhi na "...said turning to her right where she saw manik leaning to the railing with his hands on railings, his shoulders were rigid, body muscles were stiff...all of a sudden manik punched the wall next to the railings ..nandini gasped.

ND : "nandu kya hua ..baat kyu nahi kar rahi "...said getting stressed ...

N : " papa ...im fine ..actually mujhe kuch kaam yaad agaya ..i will call u later bye"....said looking at maniks back

ND : " accha teek hai take care ..bye love u "...

N :" love u too "..said still looking maniks back.

Nandini kept her phone on the window near the terrace door. Sighed n made her way towards manik.

Hesitating nandini kept her hands on maniks shoulder. Maniks body got stiff due to sudden foreign touch, he turned around n saw nandini whom he wanted to be the last person to see right now. All his anger came back with a rush. He fisted his fingers to control his anger.

N - " manik"...said in smoothing voice ...thats it manik lost his calm.

Manik pinned nandini to the wall with his eyes filled with tears of anger, confusion, irritation .

M- " why !!...why nandini ..why the hell are u penetrating inside me, why are u breaking the walls which i have built around myself, why !!! "....asked nandini gritting his teeth in deadly voice ...their faces were inches away .

Nandini was shocked at his outburst all of a sudden but then keeping her calm she kept her hand on his cheek, looking at him with unknown emotion. Manik closed his eyes feeling her touch, leaning towards her hand feeling the warmth of her hands around his cold body.
Manik sighed n took a deep breath. He left nandinis shoulder.

M - "kyu ayyi kyu ho meri life mai, me THE MANIK MALHOTRA, i asked u to heal me can u believe that ...i asked u. I cant believe kya ho raha hai mere saath. All of a sudden u enter into my life n change my life, i feel so different no this is not me. I...i cant trust anyone no i cant ..n i wont. How..how can i trust someone nahi i wont let anyone ruin me anymore ..nahi hone de saktha mai. I dont want to become a puppet to someone again. Stay away ....stay away from me understand "....said moving back from nandini...shaking his head in disbelief.

Nandini heard each n every word what manik said. She got furious when he compared her to soha somewhere down the line but sensing his insecurities she calmed down cause he had gone through a lot.

Manik moved back slowly as his leg hit to the swing behind him, he sat down on the swing with expressionless face.

Nandini took a deep breath, went near him n sat next to him.

N - " manik jab hume kisi new item milthi hai na ya phir hum koyi new place par shift hothe hai tho ..starting we will face problems ..adjust hone mai time lagtha hai manik ..but once we get adjusted to those things or place we feel comfortable. Tum bahut din uss darkness mai rahe ho now u are changing trust me changing for good ..time tho lagega na to accept new changes ..as time goes on u will get adjusted to new things manik"...said softly making him understand each n every word she said.

Manik looked at her with blank face.

M - " cabir ne bhi aiisa hi kaha ..that im changing for good "...said without any expression.

Now nandini got to know what cabir n manik were talking in the party. She smiled genuinely thinking about cabir, indeed he is an good friend of manik.

N : " dekha even he noticed that ur changing for good. Manik itni dabav maat dalo kudh par ...take ur time ..har baar apni gussa apna haath par uthana teek nahi hai "...said caressing his knuckles which was slightly bleeding.

M - " why ...why are u doing this ..tumne kya milega mujhe help karke".....said still in blank face.

N - " good question ( laughs nervously)...actually the answer is i dont know "...said making cute pout.

M -" huh "....cringing his eyebrows.

N - " i mean i dont know why i want to help u, may be raj uncle and nyo aunty are the reason. Manik mujhe tumare bareme zyada kuch pata nahi hai. But when i got to know ur story ...somewhere ur life story is similar to mine but yeah slightly different (chuckled sadly ) ...but i dont want u to go through that phase isliye may be i want to help u"...said sighing at last.

M - " what do u mean same story"...asked in confused expression.

N -" kuch nahi wo sab chodo....all of a sudden yeh outburst kyu haa"...said trying to change the topic.

Manik understood that she was not ready to talk about that soo he didnt force her much.

M - " i dont know, my mind became a mess after listening to what all cabir said ...mujhe yeh baat kaye jaa rahi thi ki why u r helping me ..why u r changing me soo "....

N - " soo u couldnt control ur anger ..aur puraka pura gussa tumare haat aur wall par uthar diya haa "...said teasing ...manik had a slight smile on his face.

N - "Manik you know what, I'll carry stars in my pocket cause I know you're afraid of darkness. So whenever you get scared I'll brighten up your life filling up the dark abyss" said smiling at him.

M - " that's very thoughtful  "..said smiling at her.

N - " and hey kal mujhe one night stand movie ko bhi leke jana hai ..or did u forget"...said last sentence raising her eyebrows.

M - " tum mujhe bulne dogi tab na "...said shaking his head.

N - " wo bhi hai "...said smiling.

There was a comfortable silence for a while. Both were occupied by their own thoughts.

M - " will i ever be able to trust someone ??"...asked suddenly in slow voice, holding nandinis hand which was on his injured knuckles.

Nandini looked at him who was looking at his hand which was holding her hand.

Poor boy he himself didnt know that slowly he has started trusting nandini without his consciousness.

N -" Sometimes we need someone to simply be there not to fix anything or to do anything in particular but just to let us feel that we are cared for and supported...and i'll always be there to support you "

Manik smiled widely meeting his eyes looking at their hands which was intervened.

Nandini also smiled looking at maniks smile.

N - " manik i dont think any one has seen this side of u, sab ke samne strong banke rehthe hona na . Its not necessary manik hamesha strong hona nahi hotha hai aur weak padna koyi guna bhi nahi hai. Tum sab ke samne strong rehthe ho n for some reason u breakdown infront of me isliye yeh gussa jo tume aaya thodi dair pehle ....thats the reason naa??"...asked softly.

Manik nodded looking at her.

N - "manik the one who are strong for too long or pretend to be strong have their breakdown just around some corner"...said softly.

Manik gasped at her words but nodded at the same time.

N - " aab tumara manly ego ko hurt honekha dukh wall par math nikalo ..agar tum itna gussa karoge na tho tumare pura baal white ho jayenge ..soch lena gussa karnese pehle "...said teasing to clear the emotional atmosphere.

Manik rolled his eyes ...but eventually broke down into laughter to which even nandini joined.

N - " aab chalo ur fingers need first aid ...n Mr. Manik Malhotra kal se one whole week alone mujhe jelna padega"....said winking n got up.

M - " do i have an option "...said in mocking tone.

N - " nahh i dont think so "..said chuckling ...both came near terrace door..nandini took her phone which was on the widow. Both came down.

Nandini cleaned his wounds n wishing each other bye both retired to their respective rooms.

Next morning .....umm next update mai

I dont know when i will update next part. Trust me im very upset with response of last chapter so dont expect early update.

Precap -

Manan sitting next to each other in the movie ONE NIGHT STAND..god !! Can their situation get much more embarrassing.

Maniks prank to scare the shit out of nandini, revenge for nandinis prank of the ants n oil thing and also for embarrassing him infront of sahail(chapter 21)