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Chapter Ten
"Sometimes at the best moments a single word or a look is enough."
- Honore De Balzac
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Dedicated to the amazing Cooldude101; she has ranted, cried, pleaded and begged from God to the fairy god for this moment to come soon. When 4 months before I imagined and had penned a small part of this moment, I had decided I would dedicate this chapter to her. So here it is, you all will like it! :)
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As the phone rang in the silent office of Silvia Matteo, she couldn't help but sigh out loud. Why did she have to do her job even during lunch breaks?
"Ma'am, they are here." Her PA informed her.
"Send them in." She told him with a sigh.
As she put the receiver down, she could not help but look at the presentation made by her favorite junior strategist with longing. She preferred working to wasting her time with socializing with the youngsters her husband had sent to her for whatever reason. But what to do, she was, after all, married to a crazy extrovert. Shaking her head, she looked up to see the door of her office being opened by her PA. He took his leave after letting in a man and woman, who looked to be in their mid-twenties.
After a few polite smiles and inviting them to take a seat, she was about to ask the motive of the sudden meeting, that her phone rang again. She tried to keep the conversation short, but what to do? Nothing about work was short or simple. Without a doubt, she more of a workaholic than her husband thought her to be. She was okay with it, as whatever she did was more due to the satisfaction that came with getting the things right than anything else.
As she conversed with the junior strategist about the modifications to be made, she couldn't help but feel the glare of the young lady. Ignoring it all, Silvia got immersed in the conversation she was having with her employee.
Nandini let out a sigh, irritated with the elegant lady who was the wife of Edmond Jackson. Ever since they came in, she was on the phone, having a long discussion on the finer parts of what made a good business with someone. Any other day, it wouldn't have bothered her, anything for Manik, but after spending almost three days without sleep, everything was getting on her nerves.
She looked at Cabir, who seemed busy in observing the elegant decor without a care in the world. Was there any way to get the needed information without wasting unnecessary time? A time which could be spent in reaching the one she has been missing for more than a lifetime?
"Dio! Stop! You are worse than him," Hearing Silvia's sudden shout scared her and Cabir for a brief moment. As they looked at Silvia, alarmed, she just looked at Nandini as if she had done some sort of crime.
"Stop. Tapping. Your. Feet!" Silvia sputtered, each word said with a forced calm, annoyed as she was with the impatient girl.
"Yes, Amme, I will call you back." She told whoever was there on the other side, ending the conversation.
"Tell me, what do you want?" Silvia asked them, irritated with the girl for making her leave her work in the middle.
As she was asked so directly, being so close to her target, Nandini felt words fail her.
"I-I am trying to find someone." she stuttered, unable to voice her want. There were not enough words in which she could pour her desperation of finding that "someone". But, it seemed as if the expression on her face and the tone of her voice conveyed her desperation, her want, her need.
Looking the girl, Silvia couldn't help but feel she was being rude. Taking a deep sigh, she brought a smile on her face and asked Nandini gently.
"Okay... and how can I help you?" Silvia asked the suddenly lost girl in front of her.
"By telling me if you have ever seen this person. I had seen him in an event your company had participated in." Nandini hurriedly told her, showing her a picture of Manik.
As Silvia looked at the picture, she felt breathless at the beauty of the sight captured by the picture. The young man in the blue coat with a guitar looked as he was in his element, standing on the stage, he must have been singing a song at the moment the picture was taken. The passion and the happiness the guy must have been feeling were visible in the picture too, but what made her gasp at the sight were his eyes...
Alive. His eyes looked alive, so beautiful, and so full of life...
Silvia felt her heart torn as she looked from the happy picture of the young man to the hope shining in the girl's eyes. Pushing aside the feeling of guilt, she drew a deep breath, knowing what is it that she should do.
"Sorry, piccola, we don't employ any rockstars here." she answered Nandini, reminding herself why she was responding the girl in such way.
"Please, it's very important. After years, I have found something that can lead me to the person whom I have been searching for since long. I have to know, only you can help, please. I have to find him. I have to..." Nandini begged, for an unknown reason she felt the woman sitting in front of her knew something but was hiding it for some reason.
Silvia didn't know if it was the age, the pleading or the restlessness - whatever it was - it made her snap out, question herself as to why she attempted to hide the truth and for the first time, really look at the girl sitting in front of her keeping in mind the description she had heard from someone.
As she did that, there was something else too that she could see; a glimpse of the pain lived by someone she knew very well staring back at her on the girl's face, the pain which was giving her the possibility to finish the endless torture. As she thought of the impact of the consequences of not doing what her heart was telling her to do, she felt obligated to at least try.
"What did you say your name is?" she asked, almost daring to hope of already knowing the answer.
"We never reached that part, my name is Nandini, Nandini Murthy," she answered as she looked at the wide eyes of the woman sitting in front of her.
"What? You-how?" was all Silvia could utter for a few breathless seconds. Shocked beyond belief, she felt her head spin.
"You are not supposed to exist," she whispered to the ghost of the girl who actually existed.
"Excuse me?" Nandini asked incredulously.
As Cabir looked at the woman in front of him, he couldn't decide, should he laugh at the woman who was opening and closing her mouth, imitating a fish out of water or should he try to understand the situation? Controlling his laugh at the comical expression the woman had on her face, he redirected his attention towards the conversation between his friend and the woman.
As the effect of the shocking news started to wear off, Silvia snapped out of the trance she was in. Standing from her chair, she picked her phone and started to walk without looking back.
"Follow me," she ordered the other two as she made her way out of her office.
"What?" Nandini asked her, puzzled by the strange behavior of the woman.
"Come on, hurry!" she shouted at them as she stepped out of the office.
"O - kay! Let's find out where the crazy woman is leading us. If she is some serial killer of young good looking people, I feel very sorry for Edmond Jackson." Cabir commented dramatically, making Nandini shake her head at him as they walked out the office.
Looking in front of them, they found Silvia standing near the lift, almost punching the button in a hurried manner while she talked to someone on the phone.
"Shut up! Tell me you both are still in office or I will kill you," she shouted at whoever it was on the other side.
"Oh, grazie a dio! Stay there Dev, force Amme if you can, just don't let him go anywhere till I am there," She ordered the person on the phone as she stepped into the lift.
"Dai, dai, dai, piu veloce!" she exclaimed in her native language, making the duo standing behind her share an amusing look.
As they got off the lift, Silvia felt her heart skip some beats in anticipation as her eyes found the men they were searching for. Almost near the entrance, they were busy in an argument. The first one, who had his back to them and was walking without a care, unmindful of the second man who was begging him to stop.
'Must be the guys she was talking to.' Nandini thought as she walked behind Silvia.
"Dev!" she heard Silvia shout out, making both of the men stop moving forward. While the one who must be 'Dev' looked up at Silvia, the other one who had his back to them stood there, shaking his head as if he was irritated with the happenings around him.
Sighing in relief, Silvia ran to them, as fast as the six inches heels she was wearing let her. When she reached them, she blocked the entrance by standing in front the two men with her back to the only escape.
"Amme, you have to listen to me!" Silvia told him, out of breath.
"Not you too, Silvia. I said I am going, no matter how unwell you both think I may be. Now move!" A very familiar voice snapped, stopping Cabir and Nandini in midway.
If someone asked her then, Nandini wouldn't have been able to describe what was that she felt in that second. The second in which she heard the voice she had been deprived of; when the one voice she longed to hear, was ringing in her ears. All she did know that she was stuck under the spell of the moment; her soul was at peace, knowing it had finally found its home while her heart beat a million beats per second and her brain, overwhelmed by the sight, the first sound of that voice, it had lost its ability to do anything.
As the discussion between the people standing a little far away from her continued, Nandini tried to break out of her stupor, the immobile contentment her whole being wanted to be stuck in. Despite the voices falling in her ears, she could not give a meaning to the words spoken by them. And how could the words matter? Her whole being was just so immersed in the sound of that voice that nothing else mattered.
"Manik..." Nandini whispered with her voice full of awe.
His name whispered by her was soundless for everyone else, but somehow loud enough to stop the moving steps of someone. Standing there with his back to her was her Manik, she knew.
As the time stood still for each person standing near the isolated exit of the office, for Nandini it suddenly started to move. And why wouldn't it? The one she was longing for years was here, standing just a few steps away from her. She could not move fast enough, taking steps forward till she reached him who was standing still as a statue. Standing on her toes, she placed a shaking hand on his shoulder to turn him around, knowing her touch had the power to breathe life in the unmovable statue.
As she turned him around, she was hit by the enormity of the moment they were living. As she looked at him, after so long the ever-present emptiness within her was filled with the vision of him. The consuming pain she felt in her heart gave its place to immeasurable happiness. As the relief drowned her, her whole being sang in peace. She was whole again, yes, she was...
"Manik..." She quavered, her lips trembling, whispering his name in joy, in certainty, after so long.
"Nandini..." He gasped, looking at her as if he has seen a ghost. His eyes wide open, his skin started to turn paler.
Frowning at the uncharacteristic reaction, Nandini looked at him puzzled.
"Manik? Kya hua?" she asked, worried as she saw him blinking as he was dizzy.
"Nandini..." Whispering her name in answer, his eyes closed while his head slowly rolled back and within a second, his feet gave in.
Despite standing so close to him, Nandini could do nothing but look at him as he began to fall to the floor. When just within the second she snapped out of her shock, all she could do to save him was grasp his hand, but all it did was to take her down with him.
Falling on the floor hard, she bruised her elbows and knees but she didn't waste time to feel the pain, forget tending to it. She quickly sat on her knees near him, bending down on his unmoving body on the floor to understand what was wrong with him. As she looked down at him, she saw the man Silvia called 'Dev', cushioning Manik's head. It looked as he only thought of saving Manik's head, letting the rest of him fall.
Nandini frowned at the man as she gently pulled Manik away from the man, placing his head on her lap. She placed her trembling hand Manik's cheek, caressing it gently. Unable to understand how to act, what to do, she just tenderly called him out, stroking his hair, pleading him to wake up.
Spell bounded by the sight, Dev could do nothing but gasp at the sight of a tiny girl pulling the giant of his friend in her protective arms. While he was awestruck, the sight in front of them was compelling enough to snap Silvia out of the trance she was in.
"Devansh! Hurry, we have to take him to the hospital," she shouted at the man while punching some numbers on her phone.
As the others were tending the friend he thought he had lost, Cabir tried to give whatever was happening around him a meaning. The second he heard it, he was frozen by the voice he thought he would never hear again. With his eyes were wide open, he felt as if he was trapped in an incredible spell. A perfect illusion they were living in.
'Were Nandini's delusions contagious?' he wondered, marveling at whatever was happening in front of him. In his childhood, he had heard countless stories about how the people lost in the desert run after mirages, maybe the only time when two people could see the same illusion. But as the looks of it, it wasn't the only time.
"Cabir!" he heard his name being shouted out and as if in response to the call, his mind recovered from the overwhelming confusion he was feeling.
"A little help?" The man called Dav asked him while indicating the unmoving body of his friend which was embraced protectively by the tiny girl who has achieved the impossible and was holding close to her the most precious treasure of hers...
His feet started to move towards them before his mind could give meaning to the thought that crossed his mind; Manik was alive. Maybe not well, but alive. Till he didn't get better, the rest could wait...
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Beta by:- The amazing - The Symbol of Faith, from FanFiction
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A/N:- My beta's 'what in the world does this mean?' is what made me realize that I have to not forget to translate the italian words for you guys before updating.
Dio! = God!
'Am-me' = M (latter M is pronounced like that in Italian)
Piccola = little one, Kid.
Grazie a dio! = Thank God!
Dai, piu veloce! = Come on, faster.
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Thank you...😳
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Edited by A.Hajnal - 8 years ago
DO NOT COPY THIS POST AS THIS IS EXCLUSIVE TO INDIA FORUMS
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