Chapter 7 part 6

A month later:

It has been a month since manik is regularly coming to the orphanage at lunch tym nd having lunch with the girls...though nandini never eat with them saying that she is not hungry nd soo manik also jst eat a little....

It is evening nd today manik hasnt visited them yet,which did bothered nandini a little,reason unknown her also...

She was sitting on bench monitoring the lil girls playing around bt her heart was jst thinking abt one person offcourse again it was unknown to her that y she is thinking abt him...

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It was 8:30 in evening when manik decided to visit orphanage as today he was having back-to-back meeting even at lunch tym nd soo he cant make it up for lunch at orphanage bt now when he was going back to his home,he thought of having a glimpse of his girl ....

Manik reached orphanage to get welcome by unusual silence which made him frown bt nevertheless he entered the orphanage to see it all vacant nd then he heard loud screams of a girl...he immediately recognise the voice nd fastened his steps towards the direction sound coming from nd scene in front of him jst pained his heart to the core...

Nandini was sitting curled up like a ball in the corner of a room with mother beside her consolling her... her knees were touching her chest while her face full of tear stains,digged in her knees muttering something....her body was shivering vigourously nd rocking to nd fro giving idea that she is scared of something...manik look around the room to see each nd everything broken nd messed up on the floor...

His trance was broken by mother's voice who said-

Mother:girls get back to ur room...its tym to go to ur bed...

Girl:but didi-

mother:*cutting her on between*she is f9..u all go back to ur room...

All girls immediately vacant the room when mother's eyes went to the figure standing there looking at nandini with painful eyes....

Mother:manik??

Manik looked at mother before advancing towards them when nandini sensing someone coming near her,jst shouted loudly on him...

Nandini:*shouted*NOOO JST GO AWAY FROM HERE...JST GOO...GOO AWAY...PLZZZ LEAVE ME PLZZ....GO AWAY...

mother again took her in her embrace ruffling her hair whereas manik could only look at her with teary eyes...

Mother:*ruffling her hair*shh bss bss no one is doing anything to u my child...no one will harm u...

Nandini:*shaking vigourously*NOO THEY-THEY KILL MY BABY....THEY WILL TAKE MY BABY AWAY....THEY WILL KILL HIM....*murmers*they kill him...

Manik looked at her wid wide eyes listening her baby nd immediately his questioning eyes went to mother who was looking at his expression bt then she immediately shifted her eyes back on nandini...

Manik again came to nandini nd said-

Manik:*keeping his hand slowly on her shoulder*nandini...

sensing some unknown touch,nandini immediately took piece of broken glass from beside her nd gave a sharp cut on manik's palm causing blood coming out of it bt still he didnt move from there...

Nandini:*to manik*DONT...DONT COME NEAR ME...I KNOW U WANT TO TAKE AWAY MY BABY...U WILL KILL HIM...BT I WONT LET U KILL HIM...I WILL PROTECT HIM...YSS I WILL PROTECT HIM...

Manik immediately settled beside her,forcefully taking her in a hug with tears flowing down his eyes while for nandini,it was first time that she felt an unknown peace in his hug...she kept murmering abt baby snuggling in his arms more while mother looked at them shocked...

Manik:*ruffling her hair*shh no one is taking ur baby from u...no one will take it...calm down nandini..calm down...

Mother looked them shocked as it was first tym in this 1 year when she saw nandini getting calm after such situation as till now she also cant get proper control on her,specially in this situation of hers'...

After few minutes,manik looked down to see her fast asleep with frowns on her forehead whereas tear stains still marked on her cheeks....she was having many bruises on her arms which she might have got while she was messing up the room....

Manik:*whispers to mother*she slept...let me put her back on bed...

Manik slowly picked up nandini in bridal style nd immediately keep her figure on bed covering her properly with duvet while nandini stir due to moment bt manik immediately patted her head drawing her back to sleep...

Mother:come let me treat ur hand...it has got a deep cut...

Thats when manik noticed the cut otherwise he was soo much into nandini's messed up condition that he didnt feel pain when nandini gave him deep cut on his palm...

Manik:we cant leave her here alone...she might wake up nd again get frighten...

Mother:*nodding her head*u stay here,i will get a first aid box here itself...

Manik nodded nd soo mother left to get first aid box while manik settled himself beside nandini...he slowly started caressing her hair while thinking-

Manik:*looking at her face keenly*what has happened wid u that u r lyk this nd whose baby u were talking abt...aisa kya hua hai tumhare saath nandini....

His trance was broken by mother who came there wid first aid box...she came nd sat on bed opposite to manik taking his hand when manik said-

Manik:*keenly*nandini kis baby ki baat kar rahi thi mother???

Mother:*while dressing*her own baby...

Manik:*frown*what!!!

Mother:*keeping first aid box at side*haan nandini was pregnant a year back bt she had a miss-carriage nd reason....well woh toh sirf uska right hai batane kaa...*looking at nandini*she has gone through a lot in her early age...bahut face kiya hai meri child ne...bahut pain bare kiya hai...god usko happiness dein...

Manik:*still lost*she was ..preg-pregnant??

Mother:*while getting up*yss...i hope soon she open up to u....i have a hope that u can get her back...

Manik:*looking at nandini lovingly*i will try my best...i will get her back from her darkness...i will become light to her darkness....i will take her out from her depression...*to mother* she frequently get this kind of attacks??

Mother:almost every alternate day she get this panic attacks...infact it becomes very difficult for me also to calm her down bt today i was also shocked that its first tym she calmed this early otherwise it takes whole night to jst put her back to sleep....

Manik:can i stay here with her for tonight??i dont want to leave her alone...what iff she get this attack back...plzz...

Mother:i m sry my child bt this is against protocol of our orphanage nd moreover if she will get up at night nd if she will see u,she might again freak out nd might hurt u...

Manik:i dont care mother if she will hurt me bt i cant leave her alone...plzz...

Mother:*after thinking for a while*ok i m letting u stay here bt jst for tonight..

Manik:*smiles*ty mother...

Mother:*roaming her hand on his head*may god bless u my child....i will send u ur dinner..have it..

Manik:noo i jst came from dinner meeting so i dont need..i will jst have a sleep...

Mother:*nodding her head*f9 then i will take ur leave...

Manik nodded nd soo mother vacant the room leaving a broken soul nd her saviour behind...

Manik first message nyonika abt his staying back in the office for an urgent presentation nd then slowly come to nandini's side nd settled on bed...he was looking at her innocent face which was shining due to moonlight bt still had tear stains nd frown...he was smoothly started caressing her hair nd slowly he also drifted in sleep being in sitting position only...

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Next morning:

It was 4 in the morning when nandini's sleep broke nd she blinked her eyes to adjust the light when she saw someone sitting beside her...

She jerkily woke up nd looked at manik who was sleeping peacefully while sitting with his back at support of head-rest...nandini looked around to see the whole room devasted nd thats when the flashes from last night came in front of her nd her eyes immediately travelled to manik's hand which had dressing around it...

Nandini:*looking at manik*who r u nd y r u doing this??y do i feel connected to u...y u want to come near me...y u care for a girl who is no less than a curse...dont do this plzz...it hurts to ignore u...only i know how i ignored u in this whole month when u wanted to talk to me...

She tried to get up from bed only to hiss in pain as a broken glass pierce her leg...listening her painful hiss,manik's sleep immediately broke nd he sat stright..he look around to see Nandini on other side of bed, having painful feature on her face...manik immediately got down from bed nd came to her side-

Manik:*worriedly* r u ok?? Tum thik hoo r8??

Nandini:*looking down*hmm...

Manik:*frown*then y u hissed?

Nandini:umm woh...woh glass pierced in my leg...

Nd listening her manik immediately got onto his knees for examining her leg....he took her injured leg in his hand despite of her protest nd keeping it on his one knee,he started checking out...

Blood was ozzing out from her delicate skin whereas glass was still stuck in her skin...

Manik:*looking at glass piece*u sit here i will get first aid....yeh glass nikalna padega...

Nd without waiting for her reply he came to side table nd fetch first aid box while nandini could only observe his panick actions...

Manik came to her nd again sat in previous position nd taking her leg he started taking out the glass while hissing as if the glass is stuck in his leg whereas nandini was jst looking at him with blank expression...

Manik:*bandaging her leg*dont keep ur feet down...rest karo bcoz cut is already deep nd if u will strain toh it will worsen..

With this he picked up her both legs nd made her sit confortably on the bed when for first tym nandini said-

Nandini:*with blank expression*y r u doing this??

Manik:*frown*huh???

Nandini:y yesterday nd today also u took care of me???y r u coming regularly to orphanage from last one month nd eating this normal food wid us??y u r doing this...y r u trying to talk to me...

Manik:*blankly*bcoz i cant see u in pain....

Nandini:*frown*y??

Bt manik jst choosed to ignore her question nd said-

Manik:is it still paining??

Nandini:*confuses*huh??

Manik:ur leg...

Nandini:*composing herself*noo it is not...

Manik settled on bed opposite to her nd said-

Manik:*taking her palm between his palms*i dont know what has happened in ur past bt i want to help u to come out of it nd i mean it...plzz give me a chance...plzz trust me...

Nandini:*chuckle*huh!!trust???*with teary eyes*i can never trust anyone nd i dont want ur help...plzz...plzz leave me alone plzz....

Manik:*calming her*ok ok u dont trust me naa then let it be...dont trust me bt atleast we can become friends r8??i wont harm u ever...plzz...

Saying this he forward his hand for friendship while nandini look at his hand first then at his face nd again at his hand...she hesitatingly held his hand for hand-shake which manik immediately held tightly...

Manik:*smilingly*thank u for accepting my friendship...i promise i will never hurt u...

Nandini:*blankly*i dont know whether i should trust u or not...

Listening her,manik's heart pained a little bt he composed as he knows that he has to earn her trust....

Manik:*smiles*dont worry i promise i will never let ur trust break on me....

Nandini immediately withdraw her hand back...

Nandini:*looking down*i m sry...

Manik:*frown*kyu??

Nandini:*looking at his hand*woh i-i hurted ur hand...

Manik:*smiles*its ok...if it can calm u down then i m ready to take more wounds like this...

Nandini:*changing topic*umm i think u should go back...its almost dawn..

Manik:*chuckles*aap bolti bhi hai...

Nandini jst shifted unconfortably nd seeing this manik decide not to tease her...he got up from bed nd said-

Manik:i think u r r8..i should leave now bt plzz u take rest nd dont get up from bed...

Nandini nodded nd soo bidding her byee manik left for his home while nandini could jst looked at his retreating figure poundering whether to trust him or not...

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Soo how did u find the chappy..

I really dont know what i have made out of this chappy..

Plzz do tell me that whether it was upto mark or not...

Finally manan ki friendship hoo hi gai now lots of manan moments will b on track..

Nandini was having a baby??what do u think what would have happened wid her....

to know more,stay tuned wid me..

-yashu...