I Will Be Waiting

Chapter 5

Finally, the 31st night was here.

Cabir & Anant Murthy's eyes bulged out of their sockets as they called Manik after a lot of preparations of multiple ways to emotionally blackmail him and the mighty Malhotra agreed to join them at the party even before they could execute their oh-so-great plan. Like the guy who used to give every possible stupid, silly, weird excuse to skip any sort of gatherings, he instantly agreed to attend the grand New Year's party thrown by the Indian Navy.

But our Malhotra least cared about their reactions, for he knew such drama queens they are. Not that Anant is such a melodramatic person usually, but he becomes one when he joins his hand with that joker, as Manik likes to acknowledge Cabir, who is supposedly his best friend... unfortunately.

It had almost been half an hour since Manik was still staring at his closet to decide what to wear tonight. He was never fancy kind of person. So he selected a simple, yet elegant tuxedo for the night.

He didn't know if she had talked to Aryaman yet or not. If yes, what did he say to her, that he couldn't in front of their own friend, Navya, Manik thought.

Manik had surely given Nandini her much needed courage to not overthink about the matter, and that it might be something small, something minor.. but somewhere deep down, he himself knew that he used those words not only to comfort her, but himself as well.

Cause Manik himself wasn't sure.. he didn't get good vibes from that guy. Maybe Nandini didn't notice, but he definitely saw those looks Aryaman was giving him, when he was talking to her at the Christmas night.. when he had come to take Nandini to his friends.

He mentally noted to ask her about Aryaman, if he got a chance to talk to her at the party tonight.

It was 8 o'clock already, so he quickly got into his tux, gelled his hair perfectly.. and made his way to the party hall.

On the other hand, Nandini had once called Aryaman to ask him what the matter was, which he wanted to tell her. But he simply said he would talk to her at the party, after dinner, in the lawn.

She didn't even say anything much and agreed with him.

She didn't want to over-think about this matter, because the more she thought, the more it ended up complicating her mind.

So she just closed her eyes, to get some peace. And the face came in front of her which she had seen almost 2 days back. Only she knew how she had controlled her eyes from ogling at that handsome face, that tired yet nice-looking, attractive face after his tiring workout session, as she guessed by seeing the sweat beads formed on his face.

She didn't know why she got stunned, speechless seeing him every time.. she met him 2 times after that long gap, and in both these times, she found herself lost somewhere staring at him, Manik.

She didn't get to know when sleep took over her, while thinking about him.

The huge hall was beautifully decorated for the grand celebrations of New Years Eve. The Murthy family had arrived at the venue already. There weren't many people in the hall yet.

Cabir's few coursemates were there, so he went to them. And Nandini stood by her parents as she couldn't locate any of her friends yet.

Just then, her eyes fell on the entrance, at him.

He was dressed in a classic jet black, simple yet elegant tuxedo, paired with a plain white shirt with a black bow tie and a pair of shiny black polished shoes.

Whatever he wore, he looked like a Greek God, be it normal vest and sweat pants and messy hair at a gym or elegant formal clothes and perfectly gelled hair at parties.

She found herself gawking at him unabashedly all over again, and mentally slapped her to divert her eyes from him.

Manik looked around the hall and stopped at the Murthy couple as he located them beside the beautiful chandelier.

He made his way to them. With the decreasing distance, he could finally see her.

Her eyes were fixed on him only. She was looking angelic in that peachy baby-pink, off-shoulder gown, hair tied up in a loose bun at the nape of her neck and some loose strands falling beautifully at the side of her face. All in all, she looked heavenly gorgeous.

Manik smiled a little as he saw her looking at him. She smiled back.

He diverted his gaze to the elder Murthys, saluted Mr Murthy and greeted Mrs Murthy. Both acknowledged him and talked about random topics, when Anant Murthy saw one of his senior officers and took Tara Murthy with him to meet Vice Admiral Prakash.

The two were now left alone..