Pune.
Next day, 8 A.M.
Manik walked inside the house to see his dad sitting with the newspaper with his track suit on.

Manik:Hey dad!

Manik's dad looked up from the newspaper extremely surprised to see manik standing in front of his eyes that too at 8 in the morning. He stood up and both father and son hugged each other. Both wiped the lone tear that escaped their eye.

They never could stay together even if they wanted to, reason obvious Nyonika. The court had given manik's custody to Nyonika stating he needed mother's love. Only if the law knew that she was nothing like a mother and was never capable to give even half percent of mothers love that manik deserved.

Mr. Mahir Malhotra being so wealthy could have transferred the custody to his name. But how could the she-devil give away her only trump card. Manik was the only key for Nyonika to wealthy bank balance. All her life she was only bothered about money. Emotions, feeling, relations didn't matter to her.

She had always used manik's weaknesses as her strengths. She was never like this. But as they say na paise ki chamak ke aage Dil dikhta nahi. Same was the case with Nyonika. Success and power had blinded her. She kept a father away from his son. She deprived her own son of family love. She never let her in laws meet their grandson.

The only thing she feared was what if Mr. Malhotra stopped sending money into her account, what if Mr. Malhotra decides to use powers and snatch manik away. She always tried to portray in front of Mr. Malhotra that she was a perfect gaurdian for manik and was fulfilling all his needs. She never let the father and son contact each other. Everytime manik would go to meet Mahir, she would have made a deal with manik that would force him to shut his mouth.

Mahir patted manik's back and both sat down on the couch. That is when Mahir noticed the back folder in maniks hands.

Mahir smiled sarcastically: aaj kounse papers pe mere signatures chahiye manik.

Manik:meri freedom ke papers par.

Mahir: matlab?

Manik forwarded the file to Mahir who opened it and read the papers with a frown. His eyes widened when he realised what it was

Mahir: Termination Of Gaurdianship.......tu Nyonika ki guardianship kyu terminate kar rha hai.......achanak kya ho gya......usne kuch kiya kya?

Manik:kuch!

Manik laughed, sarcastically.

Manik:bohot kuch kiya hai jiska aapko thoda sa bhi idea nahi hai. Aur main ab tang aa gya hoon uske roz ke chochlon se. I m fed up of her and I cant live with that lady anymore.

Mahir: aisa kya hua manik. Mujhe jaan na hai sab.

Manik:ab jaan ke kya kar loge aap dad. Jab barah saal pehle kuch nahi kiya toh ab kya kar loge. I just need your signatures on these papers. Aur waise bhi aaj itna puch tach kyu? Aaj se pehle toh har paper ko bina padh sign kar liya hai. Phir aaj suddenly yeh itni care, security, questions kyu dad?

Mahir sat there silently listening to manik rant. Manik was right on his part. But so was Mahir.

Manik:agar isse pehle ke papers ko bhi itna dhyaan se padha hota aur phir sign kiye hote toh shayad aaj mujhe yeh karna hi nahi padhta. Bohot pehle hi meri life sort ho chuki hoti.

Mahir: tujhe kya lagta hai manik mujhe kuch pta nahi hai. Kya main nahi jaanta Nyonika ke extra marital affairs, band of boys ka tootna, Harshad aur Nyonika ka relation, Nyonika ke "give and takes", Fab5 ko target bana ke tujhse kaam nikal wana. Tujhe main itna nikamma aur nich lagta hoon kya manik?

Manik was shocked. He was really shocked. His father knew everything and yet he decided to stay quite. This enraged him and he got and threw the things lying on the coffee table.

Manik:JAB AAP SAB JAANTE THE TOH AAJ TAK KUCH KIYA KYU NAHI.

Manik pulled Mahir by his collars and yelled.

Mahir:pyaar manik pyaar.

In an instance manik left Mahir who stumbled a little.

Manik:pyaar?

Mahir:haan manik pyaar. Mujhe lagta tha ki kisi din ek bete ka pyaar ek pati ka pyaar Nyonika ki aankhon pe bandhi patti ko khola dega. Par shayad main galat tha.

Manik:haan......bilkul.....galat the aap......BOHOT galat the.......aapne kaise soch liya ki jo aurat ek rishte ki ehmiyat na samajh paayi woh kya kisi bete ya pati ke pyaar ko samjhegi.......uss ke liye pyaar sirf sirf aur paisa power aur possession hai. AUR KUCH NAHI. Aur aap uss aurat ko ek mauka dena chahte. Seriously.

Mahir:HAAN DENA CHAHTA THA MAIN USSE MAUKA.

Manik:KYU DAD KYU? WHY?

Mahir: BECAUSE I LOVED HER MANIK. PYAAR KARTA THA MAIN USSE. ITNA AASAN NAHI PYAAR KARKE BHOOL JANA.

Manik:pyaar.

Manik chortled and fell on the sofa.

Manik:aap jaante bhi hai true love kya hota hai......Nahi jaante.....Agar pata hota toh iss waqt yahan aise khade nahi hote. True love. Aap kya jaante true love ke baare main. Pyaar woh hota hai jo aapke saath khada rahe naa ki aapki pith main khanjar bhoke. Pyaar woh hota hai jo aapko uss waqt saath the jab puri duniya apko galat samajh rhi ho.

Mahir smiled listening to manik. And he was feeling proud of his own son.

Manik:aap jaante hai dad pyaar aisa shabd hai jo sirf Dil se nahi pur tumhare pure mind and soul se kare. Every cell in your body only screams one word and that is love. When you love that person not only in your conscious but unconscious state as well. Woh pyaar jo aapko kabhi kisi aur cheez ki kami na mehsoos hone de. Aur Nyonika ne kya kiya dad, usne toh aapko hi mujhse alag kar diya. Meri apni family ko mujhse dur kar diya.

Mahir's eyes shed tears. He could feel manik's pain and why not he too lost his son due to that one woman.

Manik:aaj agar mere khud ke grandparents mere baju se guzar ke jayege toh bhi mujhe pata nahi hoga ki woh mere apne hai. Aur waise bhi mujhe koi interest bhi nahi hai unhe jaan ne main. Jo log kabhi mere liye khadi nahi hui unke liye meri life main koi importance nahi hai. Meri liye family sirf ek hi hai aur woh hai Fab5. They are my only family. And.......

Mahir:aur woh ladki jisne Manik Malhotra ke pure nervous system ko hila diya.

Manik: whaaa.....whaattt?

Mahir:naam kya hai uska?

Manik who was still under shock: huh! Hain!

Mahir: naam....uss ladki ka jiski wajah se aaj tu yaha hai mere saamne.....aur mujhe hi pyaar ka matlab samjha raha hai. Aur yeh Alya toh definitely NAHI hai. Toh bata koun hai.

Manik looked away and bit his inner cheeks. Mahir was now even more eager to know about her. He had seen his son blush first time. Manik didn't even blush, forget blush never even spoke much,  when Mahir spoke to him about Alya. This means that girl is special and different. Manik looked at Mahir who raised his eyebrows waiting for manik's answers.

Manik smiled and bit the corner of his lips. He rubbed his nape and looked at mahir. Mahir laughed seeing manik all embarrassed and nervous.

Mahir:accha sun meri ek meeting hai aadhe ghante main. Yeh file main leke jaa rha hoon. Tu tension na le Nyonika se ab main deal karungi apne tareeke se. Tune itna kar liya wohi kaafi hai. Ab usse humari Zindagi se main khud phekunga. Aur haan wapas mumbai mat chale jaana.

Manik frowned. He wanted to go back early so that he could meet nandini.

Manik:kyu?

Mahir: kyu ki main chalunga tere saath. Main Shaam tak aa jauga aur phir hum saath main chalega. Tab tak main iss Nyonika naam ke chapter ke the end ki preparation kar leta hoon. Theek hai na?

Manik nodded. He sighed inwardly. Finally he would be free from the clutches of a bi....blood sucking vampire.

Mahir:aur sun mujhe mumbai jaake sabse pehle uss ladki se milna hai.

Manik simply nodded. He walked to his room in pune mansion and fished out his phone, that was on silent, to see 5 missed calls from nandini and 7 messages. He nooded his head in disbelief.

Not bothering to check the messages manik directly called nandini ho picked up the call in the first ring itself.

Manik:hel....

Nandini: kaha ho tum? Itne calls kiye tumhe uthaya kyu nahi? Aur tum theek toh ho na? Tum pune paunche? Uncle se baat ki? Kya kaha unhone? Tumne unse fight toh nahi ki na? Aiyappa! Manik tumne unhe kuch galat toh nahi bola na. Tum kaha ho iss waqt? Tumne kuch khaya? Aur tumhara phone kaha tha? Tum kuch bol kyu nahi rhe. Manikkkkkk

Manik:hello nandini! Good morning.

Nandini:Maaaaanikkkk

Manik laughed listening to her irritated voice.

Manik:accha baba pehle toh baith jao ek jagah pe.

Nandini sighed and sat on the bed with a thump.

Manik:ab pehle tum batao ki tum college nahi gayi.

Nandini: bas nikal rahi hoon thodi der  main. Woh navya is not well toh I m going to her home.

Manik:yeh sahi hai maine bola tha college skip karo toh meri toh suni nahi but navya ne bola toh ek jhatke main haan bol diya. Matlab ab yahi value hai na meri.

Nandini rolled his eyes listening to him.

Nandini:kaha ho tum?

Manik:Pune.

Nandini:kab nikal rhe ho?

Manik:kyu missing me already?

Nandini:forget it.

Manik laughed: accha baba gussa mat ho. Shaam ko nikal raha hoon.

Nandini: aur tum........

Manik:sssssssshhhhhhhh

Manik's voice turned low and intimidating. Nandini immediately shut up.

Manik:yeh CBI inquiry baad main le lena philhal maine apni girlfriend se baat karne ke liye phone kiya hai.

Nandini smiled.

Manik:waise kya hua hai navya ko?

Nandini:ab koun kar rha hai CBI inquiry...Hmmm?

Manik made a bad face: fine mat batao.

Nandini giggled while manik too smiled.

Nandini:waise manik kya kaha uncle ne.

Manik:he said he will look into the matter.

Nandini: ohhhhhhh.

Manik:Hmmmm

There was a momentary silence.

Nandini:kya kar rhe ho tum?

Manik smirked: maine maine abhi apna shirt nikala aur washing rack main daala. Ab apna vest nikal rha hoon aur uske baad apna pant....

Nandini:cheeee manik shut up

Manik laughed. Nandini felt her cheeks heating up due to manik's shameless answer.

Manik laid down on the bed after changing and Continued talking random stuff.  Nandini smiled. She picked her hand bag and walked out of her room.

Waving a bye to chachi she walked out of the house and hauled a rickshaw to navya's house. All this while she was listening to manik ho ws talking all sorts of random stuff.

Manik:nandini tumhe yaad hai na maine bola tha tumhe to be free tonight.

Nandini:hmmmmm

Manik:I have a surprise for you. Toh main highway se pehle tumhe pick kruga phir hum mere ghar jayege. Tum chachi se baat kar lena.

Nandini: lekin main unhe kya bolungi.

Manik:woh tum socho. Main around 8:30 waha aa jauga.

Nandini:manik main kal bhi late night tak bahar thi.

Manik:mujhe kuch nahi pata nandini. Main tumhara wait kruga.

Nandini:manik aisa bhi kya hai jo wait nhi kar sakta kal subha tak. Kal hum college main milega na. Tab bata dena. Waise bhi tum travelling ki wajah se thake hue honge. Take rest na.

Manik: nandini what is it? Kal raat bhi tum mujhe dur kar rhi thi. Aur abhi bhi. Kuch hua hai kya?

Nandini:manik I think chachi knows about us.

Manik:toh? It is pretty obvious that she knows about it. The way she helps us and the way Chacha too seems to be very fond of me it's all very obvious that they know it.

Nandini:exactly manik they know it and yet haven't worded anything. Probably they are waiting for us to walk upto them and tell them. Ek toh we haven't told them and then we going out like this everyday is not right na.

Manik:toh nandini what is the big deal. Bta denge. Aur humare na bta ne se aur tumhare mere saath aane se kya connection.

Nandini:manik they might get wrong ideas about us. They might not think in a decent way about our relationship.

Manik was silent. He never wanted anyone to raise question on his love.

Manik:theek hai main thodi der main tumhe message karta hoon. Tum apna aur navya ka dhyaan rakho.

Nandini:Hmmm

Manik:bye. See you.

Nandini:Bye.

Both had huge frowns on their forehead. The screen freezes.

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I hope you guys liked the update.
Do vote and comment.❤

Presenting Mahir Malhotra.
Age: 49 years.
Resides in Pune
Owner & Founder of Malhotra Industries.
Handles business across and in India
More details on his character as the story progresses.