"Tum pagal ho kya? How can you leave me like this? Do you have any sentiments and feelings? Tumne ek baar Nahi socha mere baare mein, what would I be feeling when you left me with questions left unanswered?"

He was furious at me for not telling, though he was upset at me, but it felt good to see this care and concern, it made me feel good about my entire existence , it's weird but true . It feels so good to see your beloved caring about you, it is magical, for that second I felt like trapping this moment and him and never let him go, but it was not possible.

"What do you mean? I...didn't did anything wrong..."

Manik looked at me blankly and was thinking for a moment, if I was insane or if I knew what I was saying. But I had to do this, I can't let Manik know about all this, because if he got to know then he will hate me, and I can live with the moments of love spent with him but not with his hatred. I had to make him believe, I didn't love him, but how can I do this without creating a barrier of hatred between us?

"Oh shut up, Nandini. You can't lie to me and you know that. And why are you not coming to college? No calls, no messages, nothing! You just disappeared! Why? Did I do something wrong? "

I knew what I had to do, and I needed guts to do it. I took a deep breathe and tightened my wrist as I pushed him apart from me.

"Yes, you did wrong. Very wrong actually! Manik, for god sake , we're student and teacher! We can't have that kind of relationship! It's so wrong! I know I confessed my feelings for you that day, and it was true. But when I faced reality, it was that we can't be together! You know Manik, I heard some students say, that I was your slut, I am using you for grades, yes it is true! And I don't blame them Manik, it's not their fault, everyone who will see us together will think this way only! Manik, yeh duniya bahot choti soch rakhti hai, aur agar hum iss duniya mein hum saath rahenge, toh yeh Humein barbaad kar denge! We won't be able to live Manik, and that's the fact ! You can't deny this! "

I finished speaking, and tears welled up in my eyes, and I tried to wipe them, when Manik with his thumb wiped them, and traced my cheeks.

"Kya chupa rahi ho , Nandini? "

How did he get to know , I was hiding something from him? He is indeed my soulmate. But what should I answer now?

"Nothing, this was the only and grave reason, I didn't keep any contact with you."

"Oh really? Because as far as I remember, the Nandini whom I knew was brave, fearless, she wasn't scared of society , she lived life on her own terms, and was a tigeress. But the Nandini, I am seeing now, is a timid small, girl who is scared of society? Sudden transformation, miss murthy?"

"Erm...Manik, we live in a society, and society has its own sets if rules, and we should set our rules according to the society, and the things that I did earlier was according to the norms of society, but this is not acceptable! I know, I ran away from home for the sake of my career, but it didn't affected my life here, isn't it?"

"Exactly, Nandini! We will shift somewhere else! No one will know if we were student teacher or something else! What is the problem ?"

Uff, this man has the answer to my every question! Kya karoon? Aiyappa! Help me please!

"Nandini, are you sure, you don't have any other problem?"

"Manik, Tum samajh nahi rahe ho! This society won't let us live together!"

" Nandini,swear on me and tell me the truth !"

"Manik, you....."

I am caught. I don't have any option but to tell him the truth, what will I tell him? How will I tell him? How will he take it? He will angry on me, for sure. Aiyappa, help me, give me strength to confess the truth.

" Manik, I was a secret agent, hired by an agency,to find out about the people who give drugs to the students, in the SPACE academy, and their prime suspect was you, I took admission in the academy and they asked me to get close to you so as to find out if you were the person behind all this. And from the beginning, I knew you were not behind this, I told the agency also but they were not ready to believe me, and asked me to go to the Manali trip with you, and then at the Manali trip, I fell in love with you, and fortunately, Madhyam was the man behind this drug scandal and he was caught. I didn't had the guts to tell you all this , so I came back without telling you anything. "

I spoke my part, and looked at Manik for reaction, but he was standing dumb and blank, the he started clapping and gave a sarcastic smile to me.

"Wow, Miss Nandini Murthy, you hid your real identity from me, all the while, came close to me, knew all my secrets, and now you say you're really in love with me? You betrayed me, Nandini. You made fun of my trust, I can't forgive you. I will never forgive you. "

He turned, facing his back towards me, I hugged him from back, crying and sobbing,

"Manik, I didn't do it purposely, I had to do this job after I came from Mangalore, I and Navya had no source of income, and if my grandmother had come to know about it, she had forcefully got me married with the boy of her choice. I had no other choice, and this job had only one condition, that was not to disclose your identity to anyone. Think from my side, Manik?"

I spoke, tears running through my cheek, wetting his shirt. And suddenly,I heard him chuckle as I left the hold on his shirt, and drifted apart to see him laughing.

"Manik, are you alright ? "

"Okay, I guess I should confess, but I knew this secret of yours from the time we were in Manali,that party night? After your sudden breakdown? I met Akshay , your boss in this mission. He apologized to me for his suspicious behavior towards me and told me everything about the mission. And from then, I knew everything ."

"Weren't you hurt ?"

I asked him shocked by his sudden declaration but still curious to know about it.

"Of course, I was! I was hurt by the fact you lied to me, but then I thought from your perspective, and realized you were not wrong in your opinion, you were honest in your job, and that was a good thing. I calmed myself down, and thought of confessing my love to you and it happened. Then you suddenly disappeared after we reached here. "

'Oh' I exclaimed and Manik looked at me, he ruffled my hairs and pulled me close, I kept my head on his heart, and he entwined his fingers with mine.

"How did you know, where was I staying? I mean, we crushed the SIM card, the next day we reached, and I didn't registered my correct address in the college also?"

" My phone is a smartphone, Miss Murthy. It had already recorded your address during the time of our phone calls, and also Cabir knew your address, because he had dropped Navya once . So, it wasn't tough for me to reach here."

I looked at him, I had seen him last one week ago, but still he wasn't same, I could find some marks on his cheeks, which looked to me as marks of the tears, he had got dark circles, because of the sleepless nights he had to go through because of me. He looked tired but enough, now everything will be fine, everything will be smooth as we both are together, MaNan are together.

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I know it's crap, but the thing is I forgot what I had planned 😭 And I know this update was very bad, please tolerate it till I remember or come up with some thing interesting .