Chapter 40

"Manik, I want to make this work. You mean a lot. I will tell Mukti tomorrow. I just want to wait until after the meeting," Nandani told him.

"Seriously? Thank God," Manik said grinning.

Round three after that was sweeter, but not slow.

***********

The next day she was still lying on her back, fast asleep, when the knock sounded at the door. Manik jumped up to answer it, pulling the door handle.

"Why did you order room service? We just had..." Nandani stopped mid-sentence. She froze at the familiar voice.

"Manik? I am freaking out. I need you to help me find Nandani."

In slow-motion Mukti stepped into the room. Nandani noticed she was dressed a bit more conservatively than usual in a gray wool skirt and a violet blouse. Her polished appearance did not match her face, which wore an expression of panic. But her eyes connected with Nandani's and the expression was instantly replaced with one of horror and disbelief.

Then she turned on her heel and took off as quickly as she had come, leaving a wide-open door in the process.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Nandani muttered and rushed to pull on clothes, looked around for her cell. A worried and contrite-looking Manik seemed to realize what she was doing, then dug around in the pocket of his jeans from the night before to produce the phone.

"Thanks." She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "I have to..."

"I know. Go," Manik said as she was already rushing towards the door.

Nandani did not know where Mukti had gone but thought she would try their hotel. She wanted to call her in the meantime and hit the power button, but the battery was dead. Great, she thought, irritatingly. If Mukti had gone to millions of other places instead of the hotel, Nandani would be screwed.

As she ran she thought about what she was going to say. Obviously, this was not the scenario that Nandani had envisioned.

Bursting into their hotel room twenty minutes later, she saw Mukti throwing things into a suitcase with her back to the door. Mukti whirled around when she entered.

"Mukti thank God you are here," Nandani said.

"You missed the meeting," Mukti stated.

"What meeting?" panicking, Nandani asked. "The meeting with Crystal?" She checked her watch which she had thrown in her jacket pocket as opposed to putting it back on her wrist, in her rush to leave Manik's place. It was only ten-thirty.

"You remember the part where Crystal had said the meeting might move up? Well, Crystal called this morning to say she was bumping the meeting up to nine-thirty. Apparently, two of her colleagues had to switch their plans to leave early for their vacation to Europe. I assumed you must have got the message since she calls you first thing. But I called you just in case," Mukti stated.

Nandani was rooted to the spot, speechless, she felt like all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. Out of the entire room. This could not be happening. this had to be a bad dream. But the pieces clicked into place one by one.

Manik. He had put her phone in his pocket. And the battery died.

Mukti turned to face her. "I came here first and was freaking out you were not home. So I went to your office, thinking maybe... I don't know, you had gone in early. Because this is the most important thing in our lives and I know you would never let anything get in the way of that," Mukti's voice was rough when she said that.

Words finally returned. "Oh God, Mukti. I am so sorry." Nandani had gone very pale. Her head was spinning as her worst nightmare unfolded before her. But apparently, it could get worse.

"For what are you sorry? Missing the meeting? Or for being with my brother behind my back?" Mukti waited deadly quiet. "What were you doing there, Nandani? And don't you dare tell me it was just a hookup. I know, you would not do that. Not with him." Mukti had never looked so serious.

Nandani swallowed. "Mukti, I ..."

"We don't keep secrets, Nandani. Remember?"

"Mukti ..." Nandani's brain had not worked out a plan for this. The few times she had thought of telling Mukti, it had been in a controlled way. Not seeded with betrayal and hurt.

"How long?" Mukti asked.

"What?" Nandani asked.

"How long has this been going on?"

Nandani did the quick math in her head. Sucked in a breath. "Two months," she replied.

Mukti looked even more disgusted than she had a moment before. She did not know that was even possible. "You have been together this whole time behind my back? Lying to me? You were the one who said we needed to plan and put business as our priority."

Tears burned the back of her eyes. "I know. I am so, so sorry," Nandani apologized.

"The worst part is, I do not know how you could be with him. He has been trying to get in our way all along."

Nandani's throat dried up. "What? What are you talking about?"

"My parents were going to invest in 'Dream Girl' label. I spoke to them last year about loaning some money for us to get started, and thought it was settled. But they told Manik about it this summer, and he said it was a bad idea. He has been trying to convince them otherwise ever since. Told them to wait until after Christmas to decide, that things would change by then. He also started pushing other programs on me. Trying to get Mom and Dad to pull my tuition unless I switched," Mukti revealed.

Nandani was horrified.

"He thinks I do not know. In the end, they decided not to pull my tuition. But now I cannot see them loaning us any money either. And we just missed the chance to sell your boss's friends on the idea, so ..." Mukti shrugged in a way that was anything but careless. "You tell me. Where do we go from here?"

Nandani's brain was incapable of processing all of this. She just stood there, gazing wildly between points on the floor. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

Mukti's gaze reflected hurt and pity. "Looks like there is finally something you don't know, Nandani. You thought you had it all figured out. But Manik is used to getting his way, and he outsmarted us all, you included."

Mukti then zipped her bag closed and started back toward the door, suitcase in tow. "Now you have just blown up our best lead for the business. I hope you are in the market for a new job post-graduation. Maybe you should be in the market for a new best friend too." The door shut loudly behind Mukti.

Nandani's knees gave out under her and she sunk to the floor. For the first time in ten years, she let the tears flow freely. She then sat there for a long time.