On the Run

Chapter 19 : New Beginnings

10:00 am, Srivastav house, Karwar.

I woke up when I felt sunlight streaming in on my face. I scrunched up my nose in annoyance. I still felt exhausted! I turned to the other side, in order to avoid the sunlight, only to find the other side of the bed empty. It felt odd...the warm presence I had felt all night was missing.

When I realized what this meant, I sat up with a start.

Manik...where was he?

I immediately got off the bed, and scanned the room to find that he wasn't in it. I checked the washroom as well, but it was empty. I was overcome by a sudden feeling of paranoia, as I searched for him.

Had he left? No! He couldn't have done that! Not after what he shared with me last night!

I went to the living room, but he wasn't there either. My panic began to increase.

I started walking towards aunty's room frantically, in order to ask her if she had seen Manik, when I banged into something hard.

I was dizzy for a few seconds and rubbed my head, before finally opening my eyes.

The sight I beheld was enough to soothe my nerves. The wall I thought I had banged into-turned out to be Manik!

"Good Morning!" He greeted me with a smile.

A sense of relief washed over me as I saw him, and I instinctively crashed on his chest, hugging him.

"Nandini, what happened? Are you okay?" He asked in a concerned voice.

"I thought ki tum chale gaye the..." I whispered into his chest, still in the same position.

He slowly, made me stand up straight, took a loose strand of my hair, and tucked it behind my ears.

"Nandini, I'm not going to leave you until I drop you off at the Singhania home, and your family picks you up from there. I promise! After all, we made a deal, right?" He smirked as he spoke.

I was happy to see that he was back to his earlier snarky self. Seeing him broken last night, had made my insides churn, in the most horrible way possible.

I just smiled in return. However, I still wanted to know why he was up so early in the morning.

"Manik, where were you? How did you manage to wake up so early? And why didn't you call me as well?" I asked.

"Nandini, I didn't wake up early. I woke up at 9 am. That's just one hour ago..." He chuckled slightly, at my confusion.

"What? You mean I've been sleeping for nearly twelve hours?!" I exclaimed.

"Yes...you were sleeping so peacefully that I didn't have the heart to wake you up..." He said in a tender voice.

"But, Manik, what were you doing?" I asked.

"Actually, I managed to go into town, and get a mechanic to fix our car. Since I already knew what the problem was-thanks to you-it didn't take much time for him to get the car working again." He answered.

I slapped my own forehead in annoyance. Aiyappa, why do I always mess up? I should have been helping him instead of snoozing!

"Nandini, it's okay...waking up late is not a crime. Anyway, I need you to freshen up and get dressed as quickly as possible. We need to leave soon. Here! I got some clothes for you from a local shop. After all, I can't have you gallivanting in Goa wearing a sari." He said, with a slight chuckle, handing me a packet.

I removed the garments from the packet, to find a white short kurti and a long red ethnic skirt, akin to the one I was wearing earlier.

"I didn't know what to buy- so, I just played it safe by buying something similar to what you wearing earlier..." He said, in an uncertain voice, adjusting his hair in nervousness.