11
Manik
As soon as my meeting with the international clients was over, I walked out of the conference room and went to my office.
Once I got my things from there, I immediately walked out of the building and headed home to apologize to Nandini.
Looking at the watch, I saw it was already 11 pm.
I had wanted to go home as soon as I hung up the call with Vikash, my private investigator, and told him to find everything about Nandini. It had been right after Nandini stormed out of my office.
But as I walked out, I was reminded about the important meeting. We had been trying to get this meeting with the clients to expand our business to Europe since the last one month and I could not cancel it and risk our expansion getting in danger after all the hard work from the whole team.
So, I sat back and reviewed all the presentations for the meeting for hours before sitting through the meeting and finally signing the deal.
And now, when that part of my duty is over, I know I must fulfill another part, too-the duty of apologizing to Nandini.
No matter what happened and why I got angry at her, I felt it had been wrong of me to invade her personal space.
Yes, I had no intention of touching her inappropriately, but still, what I did was wrong. I realized it immediately once Nandini's reaction calmed my anger and made me curious.
***********
Reaching home, I first went to my room to see if Nandini was there, but she wasn't. I also knocked and opened the bathroom door, but Nandini was not there either.
I walked out of my room and went to the living room, still looking around for Nandini, when I bumped into one of my staff.
"Have you seen Nandini?" I asked him.
"No, Sir. Nandini Ma'am has not returned from the office yet," he replied, and I nodded, letting him go about his work.
It is good that Mom and Dad have already gone out of town for a short getaway and will not return until next week.
If not, I have no idea what excuse I could have given them regarding Nandini storming out of the office and not coming home until this time of the night.
'Where did you go, Nandini?' I felt concerned about her as I looked at my watch and saw it was already 1 am.
The way she had stormed out, I was worried that she would do something careless.
Not wanting to keep waiting for Nandini to come home, I walked out of the house intending to call the police and take their help to find out about Nandini's whereabouts.
But the moment I stepped out of the house, I saw something move through my peripheral vision and followed that vision to find Nandini slumped in the corner of the garden.
She was kneeling on the floor, covering her face with her hands and rocking back and forth.
***********
Third Person's POV
Seeing Nandini slumped on the garden floor, Manik felt a pinch in his heart.
As he went near her, he could hear her sobs, and it was so potent that it made even his eyes misty.
The heart-wrenching sobs from her felt as if she was trying to wash something very hurtful from her heart but was unable to.
"Nandini, what are you doing here?" Manik asked gently, surprised at how hoarse his voice sounded.
He could not understand why the pain radiating off Nandini was also affecting him.
When she neither replied to him nor stopped crying, Manik raised his hand to keep it on her shoulder but hesitated, remembering her reaction to his closeness earlier.
Fisting his hand, he drew it back and kneeled in front of Nandini. "It is chilly outside. Let's go inside?"
After asking the question, Manik kept kneeling in front of Nandini, waiting for her response.
He did not say or do anything when a few minutes passed, and she kept sobbing, not answering him or even uncovering her face to look at him.
Although he could not understand why she was crying, Manik knew she was not faking it.
Until now, he has had many doubts about her intentions because, after all, she is a stranger to him, and he does not know what kind of person she is.
But these heartbreaking cries, with enough strength to prick at even his cold heart, were not fake.
He still does not know if her intentions are good or evil. But at this moment, he knows she is vulnerable.
And it is due to what he did in the afternoon. That had been the trigger for this reaction of hers, and he could not let her be alone until he calmed her down.
Finally, after a while, when Nandini's sobs turned to hiccups and finally into silence, she lowered her hands from her face, and Manik drew in a deep breath seeing her red face and puffy eyes.
When she looked up at him with those big, tear-filled eyes, he felt a rush of emotion toward her, which surprised him.
He could not figure out why her vulnerability was making him protective of her.
"Let's go inside?" Manik simply repeated, not saying or asking her anything else.
Nandini wanted to shout she did not need him to be here. She wanted to scream at him for triggering her to relive one of the most traumatic experiences of her life. She wanted to fight with him and push him away.
But she was too drained to even speak a word, let alone shout or scream.
She had kept wandering the streets the whole day, not knowing where to go as she had no one and no place to call her own.
Something had happened to her when Manik had advanced her with anger in his eyes. That had triggered her mind to open the memory she had kept locked away since her brother's death.
Vivek's death had been partly her fault, which is why she had locked herself in her room right after his final rites and had not come out for a few hours.
And her parents were not bothered about her at all. They had not come to her room once to check on her and see if she was fine.
She had slept off in those hours of loneliness. Slept off and forced her mind to lock everything away, right from when she told Vivek everything until the accident that caused his death.
It is not that she had made her mind forget about her brother's death. But she had tricked it into thinking that Vivek had died in a random road accident and she had nothing to do with it.
Even when her parents had looked at her with accusing eyes, she had chosen to ignore it by making herself think they are looking at her like that because she was their unwanted child.
Agreed that her brother's death still caused her pain but freeing herself from the guilt of having something to do with that death had made it easier for her to continue living.
But now, when that trigger has made her mind remember what she had tricked it into forgetting, she feels too exhausted. The guilt doubled down on her as she felt it weigh down on her shoulders.
Nandini took a deep breath and reminded herself to keep breathing through the pain in her chest. To keep it together, as she could not afford to be shattered when she was all alone in this world.
Manik's voice jolted her out of her thoughts.
"Nandini, you are shivering. Please, let us go inside?" He asked again, and she nodded.
She knows she will feel pathetic about taking his help once she comes out of this emotional upheaval, but she does not want to be alone right now.
She wants to lean on someone for once. She wants someone to be there. Even if it is her husband who thinks of her as an unwanted wife, so be it.
He had been selfish enough to marry her with an ulterior motive, so tonight, she would be selfish by making him be there for her.
Just for once, she does not want to be strong. Just for once, she wants to be taken care of when she is vulnerable.
All her life, she has cried alone. Be it due to the pain from her parents' indifference, their ignorant attitude toward her, and their showering of love on her brother but not giving a damn about her. The pain of her brother's death, her parents' accusations, her own parents' wishing for their daughter's death instead of their son, and the pain of being an unwanted wife.
All the pains she endured and cried alone. So, for this once, she wanted to lean on her husband and cry in his arm. Is it too much to want for? Is it?
Nandini shook her head, not caring anymore if it was too much to wish for or not.
"I am too tired," Nandini said, her voice low and teary.
Hearing Nandini, Manik slowly forwarded his hand and looked at Nandini, waiting for her to hold his hand if she felt comfortable enough to do so.
After a few minutes, Nandini moved her hand and kept it in his, softly holding onto him.
Slightly tightening his hold on her, Manik started walking toward the house, gently pulling Nandini along.
