61• End Of Friendship?

"Ethan, what happened? Why are you saying this?" Ella asked Ethan, while Nandini stood there dumbfounded. Her breath came to a halt after hearing his words. How could she forget Manik? He was the sole source of her happiness, and she couldn't imagine her life without him.

"Ella, Manik is using her, I-" Before he could complete his sentence, Nandini interrupted.

"No, Ethan. Manik loves me. Why are you saying this?" She said in a cracked voice.

She had complete faith in Manik, and if God had shown up and told her that he was using her, she wouldn't have believed it either, because she was so sure of their love.

"I'm coming after seeing her kissing another woman. I was such a fool that I thought that he had changed." He gritted his teeth in fury.

She couldn't believe it when she got to know Manik had kissed another woman. 'No, he can never do that because he loves me so much, as I can see in his eyes, and eyes never lie. I believe him; Ethan must have misunderstood him.'

"You must have misunderstood him, Ethan. Manik has changed, I changed him." She attempted to justify him.

"You're still on his side, Nandini. Unbelievable." Ethan shook his head in disbelief and turned to leave.

She looked at Ella with moist eyes and uttered, "I'm not on anyone's side Ella, I trust him."

She placed her hand on her shoulder and said, "Call, Manik."

As she took the phone out of her jeans pocket, Ethan snatched the phone from her hand. "You're not going to contact him." He marched to his room after taking her phone.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. She couldn't figure out why all of this was happening to her. Everything was fine a few hours ago, and she was overjoyed, but now this was her worst nightmare.

"Calm down, I'm going to talk to him." Ella rushed after Ethan after blinking at Nandini.

"I trust Manik. I'm sure there is some misunderstanding. Please, God, make everything fine." She prayed to God, sobbing.

Then only Manik entered the house, his eyes were burning red in rage. He strode towards her. He was so enraged that he didn't even notice his kiddo crying.

"Nandini, you're going with me to my house." He stated in a commanding tone, grasping her hand.

"But Manik, at least tell me what happened. Why was Ethan saying that you're using me?" She questioned him.

"Do you trust me, Nandini?" He asked in a serious tone.

Without a second thought, she responded to him directly. "I have complete faith in you, Manik. I'm aware of your unwavering devotion to me." She clasped his face and said with utter confidence, gazing into his eyes deeply.

"We started dating a month ago, and you trust me so much, but Ethan, who has known me since childhood, has no faith in me," Manik uttered in a dejected tone, rolling his eyes. He was devastated because his best friend didn't trust him.

"Please tell me exactly what's the matter, Manik." She implored, looking at him with pleading eyes.

Flashback

Ethan sent me a message saying he was on his way to meet me. I asked him to meet me at my place. When I returned home, I noticed a woman sitting in the hall.

"Who are you?" I suspiciously asked after approaching her.

She rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around my neck. "I love you, Manik." She confessed and captured my lips, but before I could push her away, Ethan hurled her to the floor and punched me in the face, shocking me.

He glared at me. "I just can't believe it, Manik. How could you use my sister? She loves you so much. I feel like killing you." He grabbed my collar and growled at me.

"Ethan,"

"I despise you, Manik. I rued the day I met you." He pushed me away and left the house without even listening to what I had to say. I just stood there, hurt, staring at the door. He didn't even give me a chance to justify myself.

Flashback Over

"I'm so hurt, Nandini. He didn't trust me. He believed what he saw without even thinking how I could hurt him. He thought I'm using you, his sister." He shook his head incredulously. "God! I just can't believe my best friend has no faith in me. He thinks that I can stoop so low." His voice and eyes both radiated intense pain.

"But, Manik, he trusted you. It's just that he misunderstood everything after seeing you with that woman. We can clarify things to him." She made an effort to explain things to him, but he was too hurt and furious to understand after learning that his best friend didn't believe in him.

"Now I don't want to explain anything to him, Nandini. You tell me, are you coming with me or not?" He asked her in a stern tone, and she just stared at him silently.

'Why, God, why are you doing this to me?' You know I can't choose between my brother and my lover because they both have an equal place in my heart. Why are you complicating things for me?'

Before she could say anything, Ethan reached there, and Ella came behind him. "No, she is not going with you anywhere. I won't let you use my innocent sister anymore." He answered Manik's question in a grim tone, glaring at him. Nandini was just shedding silent tears. She didn't understand to whom she should explain.

Ella also didn't understand how to explain them. They were both not in their senses, anger possessed their minds.

"I fucking love her, man! I am deeply in love with your sister; I'm not using her, Ethan. For God's sake will you please just stop saying this?" Manik lost his temper and yelled at Ethan for the first time in his life, making Nandini flinch.

In anger, Ethan didn't even listen to his pure confession of how much he loved his sister and snapped at him. "No, I won't stop. You think you'll use my sister and I won't say anything. Manik, you know how important my sister is to me, but you still."

Manik grabbed his collar and thundered at him. "Just shut up, Ethan. Just shut the fuck up."

'Because of me, today the two best friends are fighting. I adored their friendship all my life. Why is this happening? I can't see them ruining their friendship like this.' It was hurting her badly because, in front of her eyes, the two most important people in her life were quarrelling, and it was hurting her more because she was the reason they were fighting.

Suddenly, her heartbeat accelerated, and she started breathing heavily. She had a panic attack. Ella looked at her and shouted, "Nandini."

Listening to Ella's scream, Manik and Ethan returned to the earth, and as they moved their gaze to Nandini, their anger immediately vanished and they became extremely anxious for her. Manik left his collar and rushed towards her. Ethan ran towards her as well, because she was about to lose her balance.

They both held her together and didn't let her fall. "Please don't fight because of me. I can't see this." She pursed her lips and cried, shutting her eyes after requesting them. Seeing her condition, regret immediately took over their bodies. They stared at her with guilt in their eyes.

"I'm sorry." They together apologised to her and glanced at each other before moving their eyes back to her.

"Don't apologise to me; instead, talk to each other by putting your anger aside." She requested, her gaze shifting from Manik to Ethan.

They both again looked at each other. Manik sighed deeply. "Ethan, I'm sorry. I know Nandini is important to you, which is why you are so protective of her, but do you seriously believe I could ever use her to harm you?" He asked him calmly. Finally, Ethan calmed down and saw honesty in his eyes.

"No, Manik, I'm sorry. I didn't know what had happened to me after seeing that girl kissing you. I just lost my temper, misunderstanding that you're hurting my baby sister because I can't see her in pain. I forgot about everything else, just only that scene revolved in my mind. I trust you, Manik. I know you can never hurt anybody, and I saw love in your eyes for my sister. I noticed your changed behaviour. I already had an idea that you're in love. I'm so sorry for hurting you because of my anger. I really didn't mean anything, Bro." Ethan apologised to him.

"You don't need to apologise, Ethan. I can understand. Your anger was justified. Any brother would have reacted like you if he had seen his sister's boyfriend kissing another girl. But believe me, I wasn't kissing her. She kissed me, and I was just about to push her away, but before I could do it, you barged in and misunderstood everything." Manik explained to him. Nandini and Ella sighed with profound relief, seeing them behaving normally.

"I'm sorry. I should have listened to you." Ethan was regretting not trusting him.

"It's okay, Bro. We are both equally at fault." Manik hugged him, and a smile flashed on Nandini's face.

"I love you, guys." As they pulled, she squealed merrily. They both smiled at her. "Please never fight like this or else I'll cry non-stop." She warned them adorably, waggling her finger at them.

"We'll never fight, Kiddo, promise." Manik leaned down and sealed the promise with a forehead kiss after clasping her face. A contented smile flashed on her face, feeling his lips.

"I'm sorry for making you cry, love." He apologised and kissed her eyelids.

Ethan just smiled at them and thanked God for blessing his sister with Manik. He was a hundred percent sure Manik would look after his sister and love her as much as he did, and he felt relieved for his sister because he had complete faith in his best friend. He was certain nobody could cherish his sister better than his best friend.