Hello Fam :)

Is everyone safe at whichever place you are staying?

Happy Reading...

After bunking college, Manik changed into his pajamas before going to Cabir's room. Expectedly, it was a mess. Clothes, bags, papers, pens, and everything was scattered all around the floor and the couch. The only clean thing was the bed and the person behind the mess, lying on it. Manik tiptoed across the room to reach his brother, trying not to step on anything. His brother has weird priorities and he didn't want to hurt him.

"Kid, your room is unhygienic. How are you breathing even?", he asked Cabir.

"It's not unhygienic. I am a little too artistic than a common man." When Manik gave him a look, he said, "I don't know where to start."

"And you decided to sleep until your room magically gets cleaned?" Manik regretted seeing his brother all perked up. "No, baby, that's not possible. Let's get started. I will help you."

"Manik, why can't we ask someone else to clean it up?", protested Cabir.

"Because it's rude. You made the whole mess. Why does someone have to clear it for you?", he said, already picking up the scattered clothes. Cabir followed him, although reluctantly. Manik smiled. His baby brother wouldn't let him do all the work alone. "Seriously, how do you even find your precious camera here, kid?"

Cabir smirked. "It's safe in my cupboard."

Cabir is passionate about becoming a wildlife photographer and his camera was one of his most prized possessions, second only to his brother. To distract him from sulking, Manik asked him about his work and all the questions to make sure his baby brother was fine.

When the room was a bit bearable, Manik ruffled Cabir's hair. "I will ask someone to arrange them in your wardrobe. You are amazing, kid."

And the simple compliment lit the whole face of his brother that Manik felt a rush of protective feeling towards him all over again.

Cabir laid back on the bed with a heavy thud. "What's going in your life? Any interesting events that I need to know?"

"I ordered a few books online", said Manik, grinning.

Cabir chuckled. "Manik, there are interesting things other than books too."

Manik took a seat beside him. "Of course", he said sarcastically, "because my baby will stay at least a kilometer away from books, yeah?"

"You know me so well and why not. You are my soul-brother."

Manik raised an eyebrow. "Soul-sisters are common, Cabir. Soul-brothers?"

"Why should only girls have all the fun?", he said offhandedly. "Speaking of which, how come your friend's circle has two girls already? I have never seen you speaking to even one."

"I don't know, Cabir. I was friends with Abhimanyu and the other two followed. Otherwise, I had all the plans to avoid Nandini."

Cabir narrowed his gaze. "Avoiding Nandini? Did she do something to you?"

"No, baby. She didn't. Nandini is that accident girl I told you about."

"And she didn't create any problem after that?"

Cabir smiled when Manik shook his head but frowned again thinking about their meet at college. "Do you have a crush on her?", he asked, "because that head boy was addressing you both as lovers."

Manik looked at him as if he has gone mad. "Baby, Harshad always talks rubbish. Nandini is scary. Anyway, why would I have a crush on a real person?"

Cabir smiled sarcastically. "Yeah, of course. Because that would at least make sense. But no. Instead, we fancy every second person straight out of a fictional world, right?"

"Kid, you can't comment on my crushes when you go on exotic dates with all the wildlife creatures from a forest", muttered Manik. Cabir was a wildlife photographer and has just returned from an internship in Africa.

"At least, it's easy with them. They don't change like humans."

Manik brushed Cabir's hair out of his eyes. "Did you enjoy there?"

"A lot", said Cabir. He turned to face Manik sideways, balancing his face on his hand. "My guide was crazy and the internship too. The only problem was the signals. I wanted to take you there too but you wouldn't come."

Manik frowned. "Thank you but I will come with you once I lose all hope in my life." He smiled when Cabir burst out laughing. "Why don't you have some rest now? Aren't you tired?"

"I am", said Cabir and settled properly on the pillow. He sighed contently when Manik started stroking his hair. "I missed you, Bhai."

"I missed you too, kid. Sleep now. We will talk later."

He nodded and closed his eyes but opened it a moment later when he remembered something. "Manik, I was thinking about meeting my friends in the evening. Is that okay with you?"

"Of course. Now don't open your eyes or else I am gluing them shut", threatened Manik.

This time, feeling exhausted, Cabir drifted to sleep. Manik stayed there for a long time before moving to his room to make up for his bunked classes.

XXX

Manik looked at the time and was horrified. After returning from the Cabir's room, he decided to sneak in half an hour to read his current novel. He didn't know when it got extended to two hours and he completely missed the time. Feeling utterly guilty and stupid about himself, he stuffed his novel somewhere under the pile of his college books so that if his hand automatically goes to grab the book, his brain would make him complete his studying first. He didn't know how accurate this 'axiom' of his was but he wanted to test his self-control.

Hence, three hours later, Manik felt a bit smug because he didn't wander his heart to his novel and also completed his studying. He glanced at the time. It was almost nine. He was torn between waking up his baby brother for dinner and letting him sleep because he was tired. All his thoughts came to a halt when he felt a pair of hands over his eyes. He removed it and turned around to find Alya.

"Surprise, Manik", she said, grinning.

Manik was frightened after his encounter with her in the college. He stood up and took a step back but his legs had hit the table. "What are you doing here? Mom isn't at home. Why didn't you call before coming?", he asked her.

Alya locked her hands around his neck. "Why, baby? Why do you think I came without calling? I didn't want you to escape like last time. Anyway, I have permission given by your mom to visit you anytime, right?", she said and traced her finger across his face. Manik cringed. "It has been days since we have spent any time together, baby."

"What a pleasant surprise, Alya."

They both turned and found Cabir. Seeing the younger Malhotra, the color drained from Alya's face while Manik sighed in relief. He took advantage of her concentration on Cabir and stepped aside maintaining a safe distance from her.

"Cabir", she said in a fake excited tone, "when did you come back?"

Cabir smirked. "What's the point in knowing when, Alya? Now that I have come back, you can't make me go, right?" He strolled into the room and settled comfortably on Manik's bed.

She smiled at him sweetly. "Are you going somewhere, Cabir?", she asked. "You don't have to cancel your plans for me. Manik will keep me company while you are gone." She turned to Manik and asked him, "Right, Manik?"

"How sweet of you, Alya", said Cabir, flashing his teeth. "But you know, what? I was actually going out when I felt a sharp pain in my heart." He clutched his heart for a good measure.

"OMG! Are you okay? Do you want to go see a doctor, now?", she asked.

Cabir shook his head with a pout. "No need of that. Actually, this pain arises whenever I miss someone and I have just now realized I am having this missing feeling towards my brother. You know, it's been days since we spent any quality time together", he said, making a sad face.

"Cabir, you guys live under the same roof, right? You can spend your quality time with your brother whenever you want", she explained to him softly as if he were a child.

"But until then this pain will consume me totally, baby. Hence, I need my brother now", he said. Cabir smirked when he found her cursing under her breath before schooling his features. "Alya, why are you sad?", he asked, "I never told you, I need to spend alone time with my Bhai. You can join us too. We will have loads of fun. Bhai, do you want to play Xbox?"

"Cabir", she called him, stopping his attempts to get the Xbox. "I just remember I need to go to the parlor. Have fun with your Bhai. Alone."

If Cabir saw her pissed, he didn't care. Instead, Cabir yelled a loud 'bye' as she stormed out of the room. As soon as she left, Cabir was in front of his brother in an instant. He stroked Manik's hair, keeping the contact minimum since he didn't want to startle him so suddenly. "Manik, are you alright?"

"Cabir, I didn't do anything. She was..."

"Bhai, it's okay. It's not your fault", he said and hugged him close, rubbing his back to calm him down. "I won't let anything happen to you. I won't let her touch you", he promised more to himself than Manik. When he felt Manik's breaths calming down, he broke the hug. "What are you doing?"

"I was studying but then she..."

"She came and now you need a distraction", said Cabir. Manik nodded. Without thinking about a second, he asked Manik, "do you want to go on a long drive?"

"Can I come?", asked Manik, hesitantly. "I don't want to interrupt your plans."

Cabir rolled his eyes. "Of course, you can come. I will meet my friends some other day."

XXX

Cabir was driving randomly on roads as Manik stared at his brother, amazed, because of the way he was driving without even looking at the GPS.

"How can you drive so effortlessly?", he asked, finally. "I need maps everywhere because I keep on getting lost on random streets."

Cabir burst out laughing. "Manik, I have lived here since the time I know. That's why it isn't a big deal for me. I know every street and turn in Mumbai."

Manik ruffled Cabir's hair. "Isn't my kid the smartest?"

Cabir grinned at him. Manik loved himself a bit more when he managed to make his baby brother smile. Even if Cabir acted as if he doesn't care, he was still an innocent child at heart who craved for love and family. Manik is that family for him. The strained relationship between their mother and Cabir forced Manik to be the source of love in Cabir's life. He wished he could protect his baby brother from every evil and sadness. He could go to any extent to keep Cabir happy at all costs, no matter what.

They were in a secluded area when a car passed them giving a slight dash to their car. Getting his ego hurt, Cabir raced behind the car and soon overtook it and burst out laughing. His laughter was short-lived when the car moved in front of them, almost blocking them from moving further for a few minutes before vanishing with its speed. Cabir smirked and started the accelerator.

Manik understood something was definitely going on his head as he knows his baby brother isn't at all innocent when someone hurts his ego. "Kid, let's leave. Stop following them", he told.

Cabir shook his head, mischief clearly written on his face. "I can't let that idiot have the last smile, whoever the hell he is. Fasten your seat belt, brother. Let's puncture his ego."

Manik knew it's all vain to argue with him now and did as advised. Even if he never crosses the speed limit, speed doesn't scare him as he is used to Cabir's races. Cabir often took Manik on these long drives and they race on the empty streets. It still scared him to travel during broad daylight in between the traffic but their late-night drives were always fun.

Cabir shifted his attention from his brother to his self-organized race when they spotted the car he was looking for. They raced for some time trying hard to lead until the other person shouted a loud 'Thank you' and stormed off, disappearing in the dark night.

Cabir halted the car with a screech, hearing the scream. He looked quite stunned and Manik had to shake him to bring him back to the present.

"Cabir, are you okay?", asked Manik.

Cabir whispered. "Bhai, it's amazing."

"What?"

Cabir jumped in excitement. "The person we raced with till a few minutes ago is a girl. A freaking female homo sapien."

Manik smiled awkwardly. He always had doubts about his brother's sanity but this. "Yeah, okay, baby. That's fine, you know. We aren't going all 'I am a male and how could a female homo sapien beat us' attitude now, yeah? It's not a healthy thought. Let's go home."

Cabir grinned. "Of course, we will but before that, we need to meet her."

"But kid, we don't even know her", protested Manik.

"Then let's get to know her", said Cabir, smirking.

Cabir accelerated the car in the direction where the car has disappeared. After minutes of reckless driving, they found the car parked in the parking lot of a beach. It was past 10 at night and there was hardly any person on the beach. Scanning the entire area, they found a girl sitting near the waves, alone. Manik noticed the smirk on his face and was thinking of reasons to avoid the whole fiasco.

"Bhai, there she is. Let's know each other", said Cabir, excitedly, rubbing his hands.

Manik shook his head. "I don't want to know any new person. I already have enough. Why don't you go ahead?"

Cabir flung his arms around his brother. "No way I am leaving you alone in this stranded roads. Moreover, if she doesn't like me, she would definitely fall for you innocent face." He dragged Manik, ignoring his protests and stopped when they were just behind the girl.

"Hey, smart one", called Cabir from behind her. He still had Manik's hand in his grip. "You can't just escape like that after showing how fantastic racer you are."

"And I wasn't wrong to guess that you would follow me after realizing your ego was crushed by a random girl on the road", said the girl.

She didn't turn back but Manik's instincts were screaming of danger. He tried informing this to Cabir but his brother was in a flow and didn't even look at him.

"I don't mind getting my ego crushed by a beautiful girl. Especially when she blows my mind by her racing skills. May we have the opportunity of you introducing your gorgeous self to us?", asked Cabir.

Manik wanted to snort. Not even his romantic novels were this cheesy. Even before he could think of any other attempt to convince Cabir to leave, the girl turned back and Manik's heart had almost jumped out of his body when he noticed the head girl herself in front of him. 

Nandini is a racer. Cabir is a racer and Manik is stuck between them. :P

A/N - People who aren't liking a soft Manik, who needs someone else to defend him or protect him, I just want you to trust me. By the end of the story, you will fall in love with Manik, Nandini, and their love. I did.  :)