《Manan - Entangled》Part 13
Advertisement
Everyday at the orphanage felt more or less like a torture to Manik. He observed that though Nandini stayed to herself and had got annoyed with him a few times, she never seemed to be annoyed to be at the orphanage or she never tried to back out from any task. Also, he had made up his mind that he would get her to interact with him more, someway or other. So,
Manik : "What motivates you to volunteer here?"
Nandini : "Why do you want to know?"
Manik : "Maybe it will give me a reason to get motivated as well."
Nandini : "In that case, you will have to check with others here because my reason isn't going to help in motivating you."
Manik : "Why so? .. You tell me your reason, and I will figure out if it helps me or not."
Nandini : "I spent a major part of my life in an orphanage. It provided the care and support when no one else did. I will never be able to repay what it did for me in full. This is a small opportunity for me to do something in return."
Nandini's reason was way different from what his friends had predicted. However, Manik wasn't sure if she was speaking the truth or not, but he kept their conversation going.
Manik : "Major part of your life .. so where else were you other than the orphanage?"
Nandini : "I was with my mom for a few years. After she passed away, I was put in an orphanage. Then I was staying in a hostel for sometime and .. now I am here."
Nandini skipped the part between the hostel and the present, she didn't want to talk about that part of her life.
Manik : "Your mom.. what happened to her?"
Nandini : "She had a weak heart. After my birth, her health deteriorated and she left me within a few years."
Manik : "Didn't you have any relatives with whom you could stay?"
Nandini : "Mom's parents had passed away in an accident. She didn't have any siblings. .. Her husband left a few days after their marriage and never returned."
Manik : "It might have been hard on you to lose your mom and adjust to the orphanage."
Advertisement
Nandini : "I don't remember anything from then except for the day she left me. I was too young to remember."
Manik : "Then how do you know about your mom?"
Nandini : "She knew she wasn't going to live for long, so she left me a diary. Everything I know about her and what happened back then is from her diary. I remember the day she left me because .."
Manik : "Because"
Nandini realized that she had been speaking about herself for long and stopped. Everything she spoke until now was of her distant past, and she didn't want to talk about her recent past or present. Manik didn't let her stop, and he already knew about her claustrophobia so Nandini continued.
Nandini : "Whenever I am stuck in dark closed spaces, it reminds me of the day she left me. I was in a similar situation that day. My mom was struggling and I didn't know how to go out from there and get help. If I knew, may be I could have saved her. It has induced the fear that I may lose someone again and I may not be able to save them."
Manik had initiated the conversation only to get her to interact with him. He was only pretending to show concern at first, but her past made him sympathize with her a little. At the same time he felt a little guilty that they had taken advantage of the situation that was connected to her mom's death. This time, he believed what she said because he had seen her condition when she was locked in the room. She didn't open up usually, but she did so that day, so he continued the conversation.
Mukti had updated Manik on what she knew about Nandini when she stayed at the hostel, so he didn't ask her about that period and he skipped to the present. He didn't know that from the time she was at the hostel to the time Nandini came to Mumbai, a lot had happened in Nandini's life that had changed her.
Manik : "Who are you staying with here?"
Nandini : "As of now, it's only me and my caretaker. ..They will be join me soon. It's difficult to tell in one word what they are to me .. the care, love and support which I didn't receive all my life, I received it from them that too in a very short time."
Advertisement
Manik was trying to figure out till when she would be there.
Manik : "I remember you telling that you won't be staying here for long. Are you planning to leave from here once they join you?"
Nandini : "Not immediately .. but I have to leave them sooner or later."
Manik : "You mean with them."
Nandini : "No, not with them. I will have to leave them and go."
Manik : "I don't understand, why do you have to leave them and go when they care for you and support you?"
Nandini : "I don't want to be a burden on them. They have stopped focusing on their lives because they are always thinking about me. They are also staying away from their family."
Manik : "Where are you planning to go?"
Nandini : "I don't know yet. I just know that I have to go away from them so that they can get back to their lives."
Manik was lost in thoughts. What Nandini said contradicted from the discussion his friends had about her. They said that Nandini was trying to trap people for wealth and she was breaking relationships in that process, but she was talking about leaving her well wishers so that they can get back to their lives and family.
Nandini : "You know everything about me now, but I don't know much about you."
Manik : "What do you want to know?"
Nandini : "Whatever you are willing to tell me."
Manik : "There isn't much to tell. I was born and brought up here in Mumbai. .. I am the only son of my parents so they adore me. A lot of my relatives and all my friends are from here. .. Music is my passion. I can talk for hours about it, but I know you wouldn't want to hear it."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next time, when Manik met his friends he told them about his and Nandini's conversation.
Manik : "Mukti, did you know that her fear of closed spaces was connected to her mom's death?"
Mukti : "No, I didn't .."
Alya : "That girl might have made it all up just to gain your sympathy."
Manik : "I don't think so. I don't know about the rest, but this wasn't made up."
Alya : "Even if it is true, it shouldn't matter to us. Our aim is to take revenge from that girl. We shouldn't let such things change our plan or distract us. Moreover, that incident turned out to be more effective than we had thought. It changed the impression that girl had of you to a certain extent. At the same time, it hurt her emotionally which is what we want to achieve finally, isn't it?"
Cabir : "Yes, that was just a trailer for that girl. The movie is yet to begin."
Mukti : "You have to include your movies in everything, otherwise you can't stay in peace."
Cabir : "I love (he stretched on that word) movies, so what's wrong in including it. Moreover, Manik is acting in front of her, the only difference is there is no camera. Otherwise, even we could watch his act."
It was only Manik who had seen Nandini in a serious condition and heard about her past, not the others, so they didn't feel guilty or sympathize with her as Manik did.
Alya : "Manik, you shouldn't sympathize with that girl. It will weaken your resolution to take revenge. We shouldn't let her past or her present change or affect our plan. It doesn't change the fact that she broke Mukti's trust and cheated her."
Cabir : "She is right, Manik. You should focus only on taking revenge from that girl. You shouldn't let anything else about her bother you. You only have to pretend to be concerned for that girl and not actually get concerned, so don't sympathize with her."
Cabir : "You don't have to feel guilty either. You weren't the one who locked that girl, I did. What she did with Mukti was wrong, so there is nothing wrong in us doing the same to her."
Advertisement
- In Serial17 Chapters
Curse Gunner
Curse Gunner is urban fantasy, set in a realm where magic is common but powerful magicians are not. Unfortunately for Helena Aoede, if your magical specialties are necromancy, curses, and blowing things up it's hard to find a job no matter how strong a magician you are. So when a rich woman who needs a curse removed shows up at her apartment, it seems like a solution to her problems. Or at least a good way to pay the rent. Unfortunately this curse is backed by a raging inferno of hatred, and it seems it won't relent until it's sated with blood. Then again Helena's never been shy about shedding blood. Especially if she gets to decide who's blood it is.
8 66 - In Serial190 Chapters
Getting Hard (Journey of a Tank)
Herald Stone always built tank characters in every MMORPG he played. To be immortal—that was his first Goal, a simple childhood dream. However, the turbulent realities of life put an end to his gaming days. Years passed, and Herald Stone, now having attained success and stability, was presented with the opportunity to redeem himself...to fulfill his first Goal. Trivial? Childish? Others might think so. But Herald Stone always fulfilled his Goals—every single one. No matter what. Immortality beckoned in Mother Core Online, and this time Herald Stone would answer. Choosing a long-forgotten race, hidden away in an unknown region, the journey of an immortal tank begins. This is the tale of Herald Stone...getting hard. Schedule: Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat, 10am Central/ 3pm GMT. ~1.8k-2.3k words per chapter. Also published on Scribblehub. My other ongoing story: REND | Royal Road Expect a focus on building a true tank in MMORPGs. Heavy game elements and numbers are present. But actual math will take a backseat to strategies involving skill builds and synergies that steadily become more complex while remaining understandable. The main character is atypical in LitRPGs or web novels as a whole. He might take some getting used to. Character arcs will develop over a long period. What you see now will be different as the main character changes. The start of Getting Hard is slow-paced (more so than others of the genre) and includes world-building and character development before focusing on the LitRPG.
8 635 - In Serial68 Chapters
Requiem of the Sea
Maya is going to kill gods and rule the seas with an iron fist. She doesn't know that yet. Outcasted her entire life, she has had to fight for every scrap of food she's eaten. Her only escape is to get enough Essence, a powerful resource that awakens the innate magic within humans, to make something of herself. And just when she managed to defeat an entire dungeon on her own, her tormenters arrive to steal it from her. Cast into an abyss, Maya meets a man who the world has long thought to be dead. He's willing to train her, and Maya has grand plans of becoming a pirate captain. Maya is going to gather a crew, grow in strength, and carve her legacy into the world with blood. Requiem of the Sea is a vast seafaring story. The world is very large, and I enjoy trickling information in about it slowly as opposed to dumping it all at once. The story is updated once every two days. Thanks for reading!
8 193 - In Serial12 Chapters
reincarnated adversaries
Mathew who has spent most of his adult life trying to catch the legendary drug baron Abbas is killed and finds himself reincarnated in another world as his brother. In this ancient world based on the Roman Republic, the two have to figure out how to live or get rid of each other. Will the two of them be able to come to an agreement or will they have to fight to the death like they did before? Disclaimer: This story is loosely based on ancient Rome and is not historically accurate.
8 189 - In Serial98 Chapters
teen on set ~ marvel cast
15 year old y/n y/l/n got a new job for marvel does she get a new family or be an outcast forever. had this idea for a while i do not own marvel characters and also am not an expert on how things work on set but i know enough i think
8 62 - In Serial14 Chapters
The Core of a Factory
An abandoned steampunk arms factory, in the middle of a conflict torn former state of the Empire it served, gains a soul. This transforms it into a Lord, capable of turning land into power. Beset by enemies on all sides it must figure out how to win the war its creators lost a century ago. This is a progressive Dungeon Core novel (which is to say the core will progress and expand in scale, eventually) across multiple dimensions with different characteristics (e.g. steampunk, magic, mythological). It has rationalist leanings (paragraphs of reasoning) and litrpg leanings (there are stat blocks). The core game mechanical idea is something like "what if different flavors of magic power actually did come from controlling land" and then the story is: "what if there was a flavorless (artifact deck) dungeon core". Chapters will be relatively short (my aim is that in three column format each would fit on a wide screen monitor), the first few chapters - setting up the main character and mechanics - are currently the longest in the entire series. I write chapters in blocks, and then release them one a weekday (M-F; 6 PM GMT, unless RoyalRoad's publish thing screws up) until I run out. There may be a few days of gaps here and there if someone finds an egregious error I have to re-write around or if I am behind. In general though one can read this once a weekend. I may do slight retconns and edits, I'll make sure to put it in an authors note if I do.
8 89

