Chapter 28

Manik didn't want to enter Nandini's mansion, still he brought her rather he went along with her, to her house.

He had it on his mind that he won't leave her alone.

During the journey, she'd asked Manik about her father. She had to confirm with him whether her father passed away.

She was curious to know what kind of person her father was!

When they reached the place, Manik knew she wasn't yet prepared to face it.

It was becoming clear that the prosopagnosia was pretence just a cover for Nandini's amnesia and brain damage.

"Umm hi!" Vishni passed them a smile as they both stepped inside the house. Nandini was looking around each corner, trying to remember things.

"My dad's room---" Nandini couldn't complete as Manik, being cautious, stepped in before Vishni could catch on that Nandini didn't remember where her father's room was!

"Hi.." He passed a fake smile to Vishni.

Vishni sighed, shaking her head, "About your father..well, you know it Nandini. You were so crazy about a guy, you weren't able to stay by your father's side when he passed away!" She didn't miss the chance to taunt her.

"There.." She pointed at the study room of her dad.

"As you know he always used to spent his time in the study room. Go see your dad, and come back after you have begged for forgiveness.." Nandini had her head lowered whlist Manik fisted his hand.

As Nandini was marching towards the study room, Manik was about to follow her when Vishni stopped him, by holding his arms "What's wrong you? Why did you come back?" She questioned.

He rolled his eyes before jerking her hands away, he continued his foot steps not giving a damn about her anymore.

"You can't run away! You have to give an answer!!" He heard her behind.

He turned back and practically smiled at her, "I don't even remember our past together, or what I once did for you. The only person I am interested in right now, the one who fills my head, the one who has me wrapped around her, the one who drives me crazy, the reason why I couldn't eat or sleep... is NOT you Vishni, but NANDINI." He said keenly, making sure she understand each and every word while she looked stunned.

"I'm protecting my woman from 'The devil'... that wants to kill her." Vishni glared at him as he spoke

"Uhh. Wait a minute!" He marched towards the dining table, Vishni followed him.

All the plates & bowls of dishes were properly arranged on the table.

"Umm, let me check if it's all safe. I mean.. I don't want Nandini to face any problem!" He started checking the food and even took a bite out of all the dishes to make sure Vishni had not poisoned them. He was literally putting nothing past her.

Vishni was all the time had an 'unbelievable look' on her face. No, this wasn't the Manik she knew..,

"And yeah, I admit that I made Nandini the way she is right now. It was because of me that she lost her position. So ofcourse, now I'm all ready to bring her back on. There's nothing I can't do to restore her to her original position! Besides, nothing you think you owns.. everything is hers!"

This is a hot button issue for Vishni and one which caused her to spit venom as she asserted that everything in this house, even down to a single speck of dust, was all hers.

Basically it seemed like she was the kid on the playground who'd steal another kid's toy and claimed that it was hers just because she was the one holding it.

She was on her thoughts, she didn't even realise Manik was out of her sight.

She sat down on the chair, sweating badly and eyes spitting hell fire!

***

Here Manik found Nandini, resting her head on her father's desk.

"Nandini.." She heard his whisper. She stood up on her feet.

"Manik.. are y-you the one with whom I was when my dad was taking his last breath...?" She was in tears as she asked him.

"Yes.." Came his answer. She was both sad to hear the answer was 'yes' and comforted at the same time, since she realized that she must have truly liked Manik, to do that.

"Hey.." Once again, Manik comforted her by holding her shoulders, "Don't cry. We should call it a day and just go home. You need to relax your mind..hmm?" She nodded afterwards.

They didn't stay any longer and dashed out without meeting Vishni.

***

Here in his dark and creepy office, Jai was looking over one of Nandini's diaries/ post-amnesiac handwriting book. He'd stole it while inviting himself into secretary Jiya's house, and seemed about one step away from figuring out that Nandini had amnesia.

He turned it back, where there was a note signed by of 'Neel.' And he was quick to think of Neel!

"This has to be him! And somewhere I think, there's a big thing being hidden!" He thought in his mind and called up detective Adit to do a handwriting check on Neil just to be sure.

**

Nandini, Suhasi & Aditya were having a great time, in the new house - where they had recently shifted.

Nandini & Suhasi had got quite comfortable with each other. After a while Aditya excused himself as he got a call.

"You like my brother, don't you?" She suddenly asked which made her hesitant a little.

"C'mon. I know you like him, very much!" She winked while Nandini shook her head

"Uhh..." And out of no where, she started tickling Nandini. Both laughed out their heart. They had an adorable bonding moment.

Later on she marched out to the terrace & stared at the sky, "I'm sorry dad. I'm sorry for not being there to take care of you. Sorry.." Her voice choked with emotions. She closed her eyes - letting her tears out.

Here Manik was in his study room, doing research on how to run a business, only to be crippled with a bad headache.

"Damn!!" He held his head as he couldn't handle the pain.

Was it because he was thinking too hard? No. It wasn't!

He remembered that he had to get his treatment done! But shaking his head, he continued with his work. Damn this guy, he was taking it too lightly. Sigh.

***

At around 3 a.m, Nandini was resting in her room that night when she felt thirsty. She lazily got up and marched out of the room. She saw that the lights were on.

She wonder who could be awake at this hour.

What if it's a thief?? She thought.

Being cautious, she took the broom which was kept nearby and there she entered the kitchen - ready to attack but to her dismay, she found Manik.

He glanced at the broom which she was holding and then back at her. He looked astonished, the expression on his face could say it all.

"Were you going to hit me with.." He pointed at the broom, "This?"

"Umm.. I thought it was a thief." She answered - ignoring his stare. She threw the broom away thus she felt embarrassed though.

"Uhmm okay.." He said, "You need something?"

She looked up at him while he raised his eyebrows - asking what she wanted. She glanced at his hand which was holding a glass of water.

Manik noticed it so he extended the glass towards her but she ignored him and marched towards the refrigerator. She opened it & took out the water bottle but little did she know that it was not properly closed!

The moment she grab the bottle by holding the bottle cap, and splash.. the bottle fell down, causing the water to spill around.

"Oh no.." She whispered sadly. Manik let out a chuckle before speaking,

"When I was giving the glass to you then why didn't you take it?" He asked as he placed the glass on the table.

She again ignored him, "I have to clean this. It all got wasted, because of you!"

"Because of me??" He looked flustered

"Yes! Couldn't you close the bottle properly?" She said while he rolled his eyes

"It wasn't me. It must be baby bear. She was already here when I came into the kitchen. It was her who gave me water."

"Oh.." She sighed. she looked back in the refrigerator but there wasn't any more bottles of water.

"You may drink mine." He said - forwarding it towards her.

She quietly took it from him, and drank it in a go.

"I have to clean--"

"Tum rehne do. I'll clean it. You go and sleep." He spoke keenly - still staring at her intently.

She ignored his gaze and she walked ahead to walk away but she accidentally stepped on the wet floor which caused her to lost her balance.

She was about to fall but Manik held her at the right moment.

His hands around her waist, her arms gripped on his shoulders and their eyes were bored into each other.

He made her stand straight but he was lost in her. Hence, his hold on her waist tightened.

She shuddered with his touch. She bit her lower lip before trying to get out from his hold.

She silently went from there, without saying anything to him while Manik was bewildered because she was kind of avoiding him.

***

Meanwhile, Jai got the information that it was Neel's handwriting in Nandini's notebook as well as the fact that she had amnesia.

Next day, there was a meeting in the office concerning the business. All the staffs were rushing to the conference room.

"So.. all ready?" Neel asked as he found Manik, dressed in his formal.

"Yeah." Manik replied, keeping a straight face.

Neel was impressed how Manik was handling things carefully but still, he had not forget what he did with Nandini!

Neel nodded before leaving. Hsee again, Vishni came across Manik. She'd catched him before he headed into the meeting.

"Where's Nandini?" Came her question

"She's not really well actually. I've asked her to rest at home. I'm her fiancé, I know what's better for her. She have that trust on me and I'm not going to disappoint her. So.. it's going to be 'me' who's gonna talk in behalf of her." He spoke without any fear and emtered the room, leaving an amused Vishni behind.

The meeting went on very well. Manik was too quick to suggest his opinions on how the business should go on. He was doing well and giving proper reasonings. Even the staff members were equally agreeing on his words.

___

As Manik was in office and even Suhasi & Aditya were out for some work, Nandini was alone at home. She was feeling bored so she decided to step out.

Just then, she found Jai at the door step. Well, Jai had got all the informations before and now he had used the opportunity to meet Nandini.

"Hi.." He said with a smile

"Hi...?" Nandini was flustered to see him though she didn't actually know him well. She just knew he was an employee of Kashyap Company.

"Can we talk? It's about Manik." And that was it. Nandini was curious to know more about Manik.

And here, Jai took her out to a coffee shop.

***

Both sat on their respective chairs. Jai showed her the dairy.

"You don't really remember anything, do you?" He questioned as Nandini took the dairy from him

"You said you had to talk about Manik..?"

"You've been behaving different since you came back." He said, ignoring her question. "You're suffering from amnesia right? Is this why you're reading these kind of recovery books? Is this why your secretary Jiya & most importantly Manik, stay with you all the time like bodyguards.."

Nandini gulped, she didn't even know what to reply.

"Listen. There's no need to be afraid. I'm here for you. You can trust on me. Tell me everything about your condition so that I can protect you!" He was somehow trying to make her believe on him

Nandini wavered between whether to trust his words or go with her gut.

"Who am I?" He asked all of a sudden just to test her

He gave her a pen and paper, "Write on it and tell me who am I."

His face flashed briefly in her memory, both from her wall of memorable Kashyap employees and a scene from her past. She took the pen which he'd given her.

He subsequently tested her spelling skills, which were poor in her notebook. He got to know that it was her handwriting only.

She gave her the paper afterwards

"You are a bad person." He read it and frowned. He looked at her while she was still at her place.

She looked lost, seemed like she was thinking something and... Oh. Snap. She left immediately after leaving him alone there.

She came out, holding her head as flashes from her past was constantly disturbing her & she was regaining some of her memories.

She collapsed outside while clutching her head in pain as Jai watched with both satisfaction & amusement.

Luckily Jiya was passing through the same lane and she spotted Nandini.

She was damn worried to see her in that condition though, she quickly helped her to stand up.

***

"Your test results are much better." Said the doctor who was checking Nandini's test reports. Jiya was also present there.

"You're making positive forward steps." He spoke. surprisingly it was the same doctor who was Manik's colleague.

"You said that your fiancé studied medicine and he's helping you to regain your memories?" He kept the reports aside as she nodded almost immediately

"Well I must say, he must have worked very hard to help you - a person he loves." Here, he was commending him for helping to rehabilitate Nandini.

Hence, Nandini admitted that she'd been regaining fragments of her memory recently.

"But what about the headaches she gets all the time?" Jiya questioned

"Ms Kashyap, you don't need to worry about those headaches which you get. It's going to be better if you let it come through. I mean.. the more you concentrate on your past, the quicker you'll regain it all." He added

"There's a thing which is interrupting your focus, that is your fear! but you need to get rid of that. You should face the past! Then only you'll fully regain your memory." Nandini was a little surprised.

She didn't know yet that her past was so painful!

Will she be able to handle such horrible past?

***

Later that night, Suhasi and Nandini were sipping their coffee, having a girly conversation in the living room.

"You know, me and Aditya, we often argue over little matters and still, I like his company very much!" She grinned widely while Nandini chuckled.

At the same time, Manik was passing by.

"I think you should take a vacation with Manik bhai." She suggested. Manik was about to leave but as soon he overheard Suhasi's question, he stayed still at his place.

He looked at Nandini, he remained very focused on her as she gave her answer, "I would love to go with him."

Suhasi kept questioning her and Manik processed each reply of Nandini. Mostly because they did technically take a vacation before, or something kind of like it, which ended real badly!

Of course, Nandini didn't remember any of that, so Suhasi tried to play cupid,

"You need to go on dates too, with him!" Suhasi winked but Nandini kept shaking her head,

"No." She whispered

"Why not??" Suhasi asked, making a pout.

There was a complete silence for a moment.

Manik was still there, hanging on her every word until she finally admitted why, in the shyest voice possible, "Because I am shy. It's embarrassing and.. I don't know. I feel shy when he's around.." She expressed - looking downwards. It was clear that she was indeed feeling shy.

There was something about this moment that's just real, like this one line was the rawest peek into Nandini's feelings Manik had seen.

He relaxed into a smile with this admission, at least knowing she wasn't avoiding him because she disliked him.

"So Ms Nandini Kashyap feels shy, hmm. Interesting..." He bit his lower lip, staring at her face - smiling sheepishly.

_____________

So... Sorry for delay. Though, I gave a long update this time, for a compensation. xp

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