Chapter ~ 10
1263 Words
DHAWAN INDUSTRIES
Cabeer was behind his laptop when the door opened without a knock, which narrowed it down to one person.
“Sit. Coffee?”
Said Cabeer.
“Yes.”
Said Manik.
Cabeer ordered two, shut the laptop, and put his elbows on the desk.
“Right. Three, two, one. What is going on, and why did you land in Mumbai yesterday without telling a single human being?”
Said
“Neyonika.”
Said Manik.
“That is the whole answer. She tests it, and every so often I run out.”
“And then you walked into Nandini.”
Said Cabeer.
Manik’s face did something, and he covered it badly by looking out of the window.
“That girl is a menace. Genuinely. She is small, and she is loud, and she does not stop, and I have decided to stay away from her, and I want you to know that the decision is final.”
Said Manik.
Cabeer put his head back and laughed for some time.
“A girl drove Manik Malhotra out of his mind in a day. She must be remarkable.”
Said Cabeer.
.
“You are laughing. I was losing my sanity.”
Said Manik.
“She was perfectly normal when I met her. She was perfectly normal at breakfast. Then you arrive and something happens with the weather. Honestly, if either of you needs to stay away from the other, it is her from you.”
Said Cabeer.
“What actually happened in that room?”
Said Cabeer.
“Priya has told you.”
Said Manik.
“Priya told me Nandini’s version. I would like yours.”
“Hers was accurate.”
Said Manik, to the window.
Cabeer watched him for a moment.
“Are you certain nothing else happened? Only I have a distinct feeling that one of us is leaving something out, and I do not think it is me.”
Said Cabeer.
Manik turned around with an expression that was already unpleasant.
“Not something. Somebody. Which brings us neatly to you.”
Said Manik.
Every trace of amusement left Cabeer Dhawan’s face.
“There is nothing there.”
Said Cabeer, to the desk.
.
“Certainly.”
Said Manik.
“Nothing at all.”
“When are you going to tell her?”
Said Manik.
“I have not thought about it.”
Said Cabeer.
“Then when will you? When she likes somebody else? It is a small window, Cabeer, and it does not stay open out of politeness.”
Said Manik.
“It is not that simple.”
Said Cabeer.
“I do not know what she thinks. I have no idea. And if I get it wrong, Priya will take my head off my shoulders, because that is her sister, and you have seen what she is like about those two.”
“So find out what she thinks.”
Said Manik.
“How? Ask Priya? Hello Priya, I am in love with your younger sister. Could you make some enquiries and get back to me? Excellent plan. Extremely well thought through.”
Said Cabeer.
Then he stopped.
His face changed completely.
“Manik. Nandini.”
Said Cabeer.
“What about her?”
“She is Navya’s closest friend. She has known her since they were children. She can find out.”
Said Cabeer.
“That peanut.”
Said Manik.
“Absolutely not. Do you understand what you are proposing? She would take it straight to Priya inside an hour, out of pure enthusiasm. She cannot be trusted with a shopping list.”
“You cannot trust her. I can.”
Said Cabeer.
“And from today you are going to be good to her. Are you listening to me?”
“Good. To her.”
Said Manik.
“Cabeer.”
“Manik.”
Said Cabeer.
The phone rang before Manik could get any further, and it was Priya, and both of them looked at the clock at the same moment and arrived at the same conclusion.
Cabeer answered before she could say a word.
“We are on our way. Fifteen minutes.”
Said Cabeer.
“I have not said anything yet.”
Said Priya.
Op
“You were about to.”
EVENING
Priya and Navya were in the kitchen. Aman was on a call by the window. Nandini was in her room with the light off, sitting where she always sat, looking at the sky.
The bell went and Priya called down the corridor, and Nandini opened the door to find the two of them on the steps.
“Hello.”
Said Cabeer.
“Hello.”
Said Nandini, faintly, and stood back.
There were hugs, and noise, and everybody arranged themselves in the hall, and Nandini and Navya went to fetch drinks.
She came round the room with the tray and reached Manik last.
They looked at each other. Neither of them said anything at all — and neither of them looked away either, which is why Manik’s hand missed the glass entirely, caught the edge of it, and put most of a cold drink down his own shirt and a fair amount of it on hers.
There was a pause of about two seconds.
Cabeer put his face in a cushion.
Everybody else made a serious effort and failed, and the only two people in the room not laughing were the two standing in the middle of it, expressionless, still holding a tilted tray between them.
“Both of you. Go and change.”
Said Priya, arriving with a cloth and a great deal of composure.
They came out of their rooms four minutes later, into the same stretch of corridor, at the same moment, and walked directly into one another for the third time in two days.
“Some people are never going to change.”
Said Nandini, to nobody.
“Did you say something?”
Said Manik.
“No. Nothing at all.”
Said Nandini, and went.
He followed her in, entirely too pleased with himself, and Cabeer took one look at the pair of them arriving together and shook his head slowly.
“You have been at her again.”
Said Cabeer.
“She keeps walking into me. I cannot be held responsible for the traffic.”
Said Manik.
“Or it is the other way round.”
Said Cabeer.
Manik ignored that, sat down, and said, out of the side of his mouth:
“Now. Mission Navya. Concentrate.”
Cabeer went rigid.
.
“What mission? Manik. Manik. Do not do anything. I am asking you seriously.”
Said Cabeer.
“Wait and watch.”
Said Manik, with enormous satisfaction.
CABEER’S POV
Please. Whoever is listening.
Do not let this end before it has started.
POV ENDS
Six of them in a hall on a Sunday evening with nothing to do, which is a dangerous condition for any household.
“Never Have I Ever.”
Said Manik.
Nandini frowned.
“What is that?”
Every head turned, and Nandini looked round at all of them, and Manik Malhotra found himself smiling before he could get a hand to it.
.
“It is a game, angel.”
Said Priya.
“Somebody says a thing they have never done. Anybody who has done it takes a drink. Anybody who hasn’t does nothing.”
“Oh. That is very simple.”
Said Nandini.
“Let’s play.”
“It is not simple at all.”
Said Priya.
“What do you mean?”
Said Nandini.
“You will find out.”.
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