"All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair."

-Mitch Albom

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Dedicated to @Popololo3006 who is the force behind the early update! <3

And also dedicated to all those people who have always wondered about the 'Malhotra' family, about Mr & Mrs Malhotra's relationship and their marriage but more than anything else, about Manik's childhood...

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As she walked in 'Chiltern Firehouse', a very famous restaurant in London city, Nyonika Malhotra felt very smug that she had ended the part A of their plan successfully. The midnight blue designer dress she wore moved elegantly with her as she stepped closer to the table booked under her husband's name.

A smirk made its way to her beautiful red-tinted lips when she looked at the man sitting at the table.

After staring into each other's eyes a few minutes, she knew he wouldn't move, so she gave up and moved to sit down because her high heels were hurting her legs.

"Still a perfect gentleman, aren't you, Malhotra?" She mocked him as she sat down after waiting for him to stand up for her.

"Oh, I am a gentleman for women, Nyonika, I just don't count you as one," he jabbed back in the same mocking tone.

"You haven't changed, have you?" She stated as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Nor have you, still a power-hungry gold digger as you always were!" He responded with a smirk.

"Shut up!" She snapped at him as soon as she realized that sitting in front of her was the only man who, apart from her son, knew her past well, in fact, he had been a part of it.

The past in which she was not Nyonika Malhotra, but someone about whom she never wanted the world to come to know; one of the poor, middle class she now looked down upon...

After taking in her surroundings for a few seconds - as she ignored the company of her silent mate - she again was reminded where she was sitting. A week ago when she had told Madhav, the ever-attentive PA of her husband, to inform 'Malhotra' that she was done with her part of the plan. Adding to that, she had jokingly told him that his sir owed her dinner in the famous hotel in London, Chiltern Firehouse. Nyonika had been sure that she had asked for impossible, but as she looked around, she realized she should have known better. After all, nothing was impossible for the man sitting in front of her.

She smirked, knowing how difficult it must have been for poor Madhav to arrange for a table for two in the expensive hotel which was often visited by celebrities. And she had been impressed by him as soon as he had called her to confirm with her the time and place for the dinner she and his sir were going to have.

"I wasn't sure Madhav will be able to find a table here," she said as the waiter placed the menu in front of her.

"I am not only rich, but I also employ very efficient people, Nyonika. Don't ever underestimate me," he told her, arrogantly.

Rolling her eyes, she suppressed the urge to remind him that it was Madhav who had done the job, why did it have anything to do with underestimating him? But she knew where that arrogance was coming from; after all, she had it herself.

"I didn't think you will remember," she remarked as she sipped her favorite wine. Years back, he had been the one who had introduced her to the luxurious life of the rich and despite moving on from everything that was a reminder of the time she had to spend as his lover and then his wife; the wine had been the only thing that still remained with her, even after all these years.

Mr Malhotra didn't say anything but kept looking at her as she took in their surroundings. She was as beautiful in her early forties as she had been twenty-one years back when he had met her. Then, she had been nothing but a student who had been studying in an expensive university only because of her sharp and brilliant mind. He had recognized the spark in her during their very first meeting. She had been young, wild, ambitious, had the brain of a devil. Also, sexy as sin...

He had fallen for her because of the intense attraction he had felt towards her. Even in his mid-forties, ignoring his rational side, he had behaved like a teen and acted on his attraction, overlooking all the flaws and the wrongs of their relationship. And when she had fallen pregnant with Manik, he had married her without a second thought.

He had thought that not only she would be giving him the heir he had desired for so long, but also could be the perfect business partner for him. He then had planned to mold her young mind as he wanted and work on the natural grace she had, help her reach her full potential. He had thought she would do as he says, he had been sure that he had the experience and the capacity to control the young girl she had been...

But alas, he had been wrong, so very wrong. And he had realized that when she had shown how rebellious she could be, how money minded and power-hungry she was. And not just that, what truly had broken them apart had been the fact that she hadn't even been able to connect with the child they had had. Manik, their son, had been only a few weeks old when he had been handed to a nanny and Nyonika had started to work on S.P.A.C.E, the college he had gifted her on the birth of their son.

And from then on, as years passed, he had realized she was not the one to be dominated. Nor she was loyal to him, in any way. Only seven years in and their marriage had fallen apart, but she had refused to divorce him as she hadn't wanted to lose the power that came with being Mrs Malhotra.

He hadn't been forceful in his demand for divorce because of Manik, his son who had been seven years old back then, that's what he had told his son when he had been just six, too young to contradict him... 

Even though he had, when his son had grown up, he had told him that he knew the real reason; that he had been too proud to admit to society and the people who had opposed the idea of him having an affair with a girl half of his age right by divorcing her. That was also what Nyonika and other thought...

But the real reason had been the fact that even though he had made her sign the prenuptial agreement, unfortunately, it didn't cover the properties that he had originally inherited from his father. Nyonika had had no idea about it even now, but his father, Santok Malhotra - a great believer of the notion that marriages lasted forever - had made his will in such a way that he couldn't divorce his wife without losing twenty-five percent of his property.

On their own, both Nyonika and he had used different ways to cover up their own reason why the divorce shouldn't have happened. She had threatened him to use Manik - then only six years old - to avoid the divorce. While he too had used the childhood of his son as an excuse, and that fact that she would win not only the custody but also make him a laughing stock in their society. He had let her think she had won the battle, without letting her know that he was winning the war.

But that didn't mean he had let her go unpunished. He had punished her by leaving behind Manik with her, knowing very well how much she would dislike dealing with the child. She was a witch, no father would have left his child with her, but that had been the only punishment he could think of. He had not realized what kind of effect his decision was going to have on the child. It was because she exposed Manik to her selfish and self-centered nature that his son now thought that he - his father - was doing all this because he had something to gain...

Bitterness filled his being, snapping him out of the spell that Nyonika Malhotra's beauty could cast on anyone. Shaking his head, he moved forward, sitting upright while looking at the cunning woman sitting in front of him.

"Let's talk about what we are here for, shall we?" He said with a firm tone in his voice.

"Here! Not just the documents, but also a CD in which I have recorded three of his friends signing the papers," Nyonika informed him as she handed him the file.

"Three? But Madhav told me only two signed the papers," he said as he opened the file to verify.

"Well, yes. Dhruv and Alya had signed the papers on their own and I have taped whatever was said then. Mukti has signed the papers under the impression it was something related to her social work," she informed him with a smirk.

"And Cabir didn't sign, right? Matters not, this will be enough to leave an impact," he said without waiting for the answer.

"You despite being his father don't know Manik Malhotra, do you?" Nyonika stated with a smirk, knowing how delusional he was being. 

"And anyway, if I had forged Cabir's signatures, Manik would have known that something is wrong," she told him as she sipped the expensive French wine as the waiter placed their order on the table.

"Why is that? I thought Dhruv was his favorite one," he asked, confused before he started to eat his dinner.

"Oh, that's old news. Things had changed last year, with the entry of Nandini, Cabir had become very close to him. And Manik had become very protective of that idiot after all the teen drama Cabir had in his life," she said as she expressed her dislike for the friend of her son, ignoring the fact that he was the only one who had proved himself to be worthy of the bond of friendship.

"What's your deal with the Nandini girl, anyway?" Mr Malhotra asked what he had been wondering ever since they had met in Pune after Manik's accident.

He and Madhav had thought she didn't know about Manik's being in London, but as soon as the attempt of Nandini and Cabir to find Manik had picked up the pace, Nyonika had made herself known. When he had denied her any right to meet Manik, she had yelled that even though she wasn't there for that, she didn't need his permission to meet her son. The only demand she had made was to keep Nandini way from Manik, in exchange for that, she would do what he wanted, to make Fab 5 disappear from Manik's life and she too would not interfere in his life.

"Why are you doing this, Nyonika?" He asked her when she didn't answer.

"I have my reasons just as you have yours," she told him without giving him the reason.

Looking up from his plate, Mr Malhotra stared at her - who seemed too busy in savoring her wine with the dish ordered by her.

"You knew how much Manik was attached to this girl, then why did you make me lie to him? You may not act like his mother, but I am his father," he said as he glared at her, suddenly angry at her for forcing him to deny his son what he had asked him so ardently.

"Don't delude yourself into thinking that you are doing this for me, or that you are any better than me, Malhotra," she told him, annoyed.

She had for some minutes forgotten the victim card that her husband always played, so well. She hated how he thought he was a better parent than her without realizing he had not been one to begin with; they both hadn't been parents nor had ever acted like one. She at least realized and admitted it, but he never had. Ever since the birth of their son, he had looked down upon her inability to be Manik's mother while he conveniently forgot that he too had never been the ideal father himself. But as he was a man, he was forgiven for not feeling any attachment to the child, to not give his attention to their son. And because she was a woman, she had to be the typical self-sacrificing mother. Anything less was a sin...

'Ha, double standard much,' Nyonika thought to herself bitterly.

Never could he see that while he always had the privileged to enjoy his life without sacrifices, she had to take her time out and be around to cover up the damages their reckless son had done to himself or the things around him.

While he, apart from the occasional once in a week hang-out with his child, had nothing more, and once he had moved out - left for Pune - it became even less, once a month till Manik was ten and then only in summer breaks. And once Manik had found the members of Fab 5, that had stopped altogether.

While for her, things only got worse. As from then on, Nyonika not only one had to keep Manik out of the trouble, but also his friends. True, she had gained something every time she had gotten him out of the messes that he or his friends got themselves into by the deals she made with Manik, but what goes without saying that she had been more part of their son's life that he ever had been.

'Hypocrite - he has always been one,' Nyonika thought as she shook her head.

"I didn't know she was this important to him. You didn't tell me that she held this much power over him. And because of your mistake, now I don't know how to deal with him, how to control him!" Mr Malhotra continued to accuse her as he glared at her.

'And here he goes,' Nyonika thought.

By accusing her he had proved her right, he only wanted to control Manik, dominate his life as he had attempted to control and dominate hers, two decades ago.

"Don't live in the illusion that you can, ever, control him, Malhotra. After all, Manik is my son," she stated proudly as she smirked at him.

"You were not present while he was growing up, so let me inform you; I have raised him in such a way that has made him a living, breathing monster. No one can ever have the ability to control him, nor can anyone have any power over him," she continued and smirked victoriously when she saw him glaring at her because the look on his face told her that he got what she was trying to say.

"Well, no one apart from that Nandini Murthy that is," she muttered, "and here you go, I give you another reason for making sure she stays away from him," she told him as gracefully moved her chair away and stood up.

"And here I leave you, Malhotra. I have done what you had asked; now make sure you do your part," she told him and walked away, only to turn and look at him.

"If you failed to keep them away from each other, know that you will fall. They both together are dangerous. And without a doubt, after knowing that you have kept her away from him, Manik would have the power and the needed will to destroy you as nothing else can. Do not take that kid lightly, Malhotra," she warned him before walking away gracefully, with her head high and a smirk on her face, knowing very well in what kind of the mess she was leaving her 'husband' in.

Fourteen years back, he had left Manik with her as her punishment, now she was returning him the same favor raised to the power of infinity. Because the Manik of now was not a punishment, but destruction waiting to happen...

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As soon as Mr Malhotra entered into the main hall of the penthouse he had brought in London, especially for Manik, he thought to check on him before going to his room.

Opening the door of Manik's room, he peeked inside, only to find him missing. After asking John, he got to know that with his help; somehow Manik had dragged himself up to the top floor. And he could guess why he had done that.

Even as a child, his son had always been fascinated by the dazzling shining objects in the sky. The early six years of Manik's life that he had been around to witness, he had countless times found the child gazing out of the window of his room at nights. The nannies he had appointed for Manik, each one had told him that every night they had to drag the child to sleep on the bed but had found him asleep near the window each morning. He remembered how he had countless books on stars, even as a child.

Mr Malhotra could never understand why the stars fascinated him so much, nor had he ever the time to ask him. Maybe he should now that he had time, he decided as he walked on the stairs the led him to the top floor. When he reached there, he found Manik sitting down on the floor, with his back pressed to grill behind him - and as he had guessed - gazing at the sky.

With a sigh, he started to walk closer to Manik but before he could call him out, make his presence known, Mr Malhotra noticed that there something strange was with the aura around his son.

Usually, Manik sat upright, with an arrogance and confidence in his posture as if he owned the world, with a smirk on his lips which mocked the next person so much that they started to doubt any and everything they claim as the truth. But as he sat there now, looking up at the sky, Manik looked nothing like the boy he had been ever since he had met him once he was awake - a few weeks ago - who despite being broken and hurt had the will and determination that made him - the feared Mr Malhotra - doubt himself.

Suddenly, he noticed that Manik was crying. Gaping at the sight he had in front of him, Mr Malhotra tried to remember when he was the last time he had seen his son cry apart from the day when he had walked out of his marriage, leaving him alone with his mother.

The sight in front of him was unbelievable: with his hands that shook furiously, Manik kept wiping his wet eyes and cheeks, but as the second passed the trembling in his shoulders increased, so did his breathing pattern and then suddenly he gave up on blinking frequently and burst into tears as he covered his face with his shaky hands.

There was such despair, loneliness, and hopelessness in the act that not anyone would ever have associated it with Manik if they knew him and Mr Malhotra had known from the past twenty years. The boy crying in front of him had no trace of his son. Gaping and shocked beyond belief, he couldn't believe what was witnessing.

Leaving behind the crying boy, he turned around and slowly walked down the stairs, wondering what was that he had to do to make those tears stop. Then suddenly he realized, it was only because Manik had been alone, on his own from the past seven months. He was feeling lonely, nothing else.

With a sigh of relief, he realized it was natural for Manik to feel sad. He was someone who was used to have at least four people around him all the time. From whatever Madhav had been telling him from the past few years, he knew Manik had the members of Fab 5 around him day and night, so it was only natural for him to feel lonely.

'He will come around,' Mr Malhotra assured himself, 'Manik will learn to deal with it as he had learned everything else', he proudly stated to himself as he walked into his own room.

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In the morning, after doing his cardio, with a glass of fresh orange juice in his hand, Mr Malhotra came to stand before the wall-size window which opened into the area now only reserved for Manik's physical therapy. As he looked at the sight in front of him, he let out a sigh of relief; there was his son who - with the help of his therapist - was doing an exercise that seemed to require all of his strength. There was no trace of the boy he had seen last night. With his chin set in a stubborn determination, he looked like the Manik he had always been.

Shaking his head, Mr Malhotra assured himself, he had been worrying unnecessarily, Manik was fine and well.

'Last night was just a momentary loss of control, that's all. Otherwise, he is fine,' he thought as he smiled seeing his son pushing himself hard to take control over his body which was now almost healed.

But when he heard Manik asking his therapist how long more it was going to take him to be fine enough to walk on his own, without the crutches, Mr Malhotra wondered if what he was about to do would actually be enough to stop Manik.

'Am I played my cards right?' He once again asked himself.

After a few seconds, with a sigh, he realized, he only had to wait a few hours to find that out...

When - after an hour or so, Manik came to sit beside him on the breakfast table, Mr Malhotra kept looking at his face to find any sign that indicated that he was the same boy he had seen last night, crying the way he had been. But no matter how he closely looked at his son, he couldn't find any trace, any evidence that gave that fact away. Sitting in front of him was the Manik he had always seen: in control, his chin high and his eyes held so much confidence that he could take on the world.

He noted with fascination that his kid had an aura of arrogance around him that gave him an edge without making him look like an immature brat who was too full of himself.

He smiled in awe as he looked at his son.

"Did you call me here so you could stare at me creepily?" Manik asked him annoyed at being stared at, and his annoyance only increased when the man sitting in front of him laughed out loud.

"No, I wanted to talk to about something," Mr Malhotra told him, the seriousness of the subject sobered him a bit.

"Last week, your mother..." Before he could complete the sentence he was interrupted.

"Nyonika!" Manik corrected him with a glare that told him he better not refer her as his mother.

"Nyonika," Mr Malhotra corrected himself as he glared at the kid for interrupting him before continuing; "had a week back tried to seek a declaration of your death by submitting a petition in court." 

He paused to observe his son's reason but found him unaffected.

"You are not shocked," he declared as he handed his son the documents they were talking about.

"Of course, I am not. She is Nyonika!" Manik stated as he casually looked at the papers in front of him.

Mr Malhotra was appalled and shocked; did the fact that his own mother had sought the declaration of his death didn't affect him, at all?

"She knows I am alive, doesn't she?" Manik asked.

"Yes, she does," he answered with a nod.

"But you don't want others to come to know that I am - for whatever reason that is - and she is using that fact to gain what she wants from you," Manik remarked with a sardonic smirk.

He had long back stopped being surprised at how the twisted brain of his parents worked, but sometimes he could just not understand the reason why they were, the way they were. Shaking his head, he realized that he should not even try.

With a deep sigh, he looked up from the papers and narrowed his eyes at the man sitting in front of him.

"You both do realize that I am not a minor anymore, don't you? Either of you has any right to decide for me. You never had, but you lost it even by law when I turned eighteen, which was the two years ago, by the way," Manik sarcastically informed before continuing; 

"And you know the first thing I did when I found out you were hiding the fact that I was here; to think of anything and everything you or Nyonika could use against me. And this 'declaration of death' to gain power and shares happened to be one of the options I thought about," he said in a flat tone before he leaned forward as picked up the paper, and waved it in the air between them as he talked.

"This case had no chance to be even filed. You telling me that you actually paid for a settlement out the court - that you were fearing Nyonika - is an insult to everything you are. Don't be this mean to yourself, Mr Malhotra," he said as he mockingly patted his father on his shoulder while he pretended to feel pity for him, before - within a blink - his face once again became expressionless.

"Now, let me be very clear, Mr Malhotra, for whatever reason you both are doing this and whatever is that you want, end this drama. And know that you will gain nothing by letting me see these papers because I don't care about the games you both play with each other. Do what you both want to do, but do it on your own without deluding yourself that you can make me a weapon to use against her as you please," Manik concluded with a hard tone in his voice before standing up with the support of crutches.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go and waste my time in trying to find more ways in which both my parents could plot against me to mess up my already messed up life," he said with a sardonic smirk before walking away.

"Manik, listen to me. Come back!" Mr Malhotra called him out as he kept walking.

"Don't you even dare, Madhav," Manik warned when his father PA moved to stand in his way.

"Let him go, Madhav," Mr Malhotra said, standing up as a new plan started to take shape within his mind.

The talk with Manik hadn't gone as well as he had thought it to be, but he still had the master cards in his hand. He just needed to plan it well, he decided. He had to throw all his cards on the table to have a powerful impact on his son, and he decided to do it as soon as possible.

'The sooner the better,' he thought.

Not paying the two men any attention, Manik slowly made his way out of the hall. Balancing each step, he carefully moved forward with the help of the crutches. When after fifteen minutes he finally reached his room and sat down on his bed. As he took in deep breaths, exhausted, he realized just how much he missed walking on his own feet, without any problem or the fear of falling down. No more he could storm away or walk out the way he was used to, and it bothered him more than he had thought it would. Never before he had given the liberty of movement much thought. Despite having countless injuries during his childhood, he had never taken any of it seriously.

He had been a reckless child, and it had only increased when his father had moved away to Pune. Then the only thing that could scare him off had been Nyonika locking him up in the dark rooms. But not even that had stopped him from jumping off things, messing up with the kids older than him and getting into fights which ended up with him hurt as much as he hurt the next person.

He had learned how to fight in the proper way at the age of seven, and when he had been nine, he had already perfected the art of throwing a punch strong enough to leave an impressive damage on the jaw of the person standing in his way. He had been violent and unstoppable as a child, never had the patience to sit down in one place for more than a few minutes.

He had thought that as a grown-up now, he was somewhat better at it, but he was being proven wrong. He still was as restless as he had been back in his childhood - a few weeks being trapped in a bed has proved that.

Walking with crutches still was way too slow for his taste, but now at least he had the liberty of movement, he had to - again and again - reason with himself but the restlessness didn't go. He assured himself that anyway, with the progress he had been making, his therapist was sure he would be walking on his own in a few weeks. That thought somewhat improved his mood.

'Just one more month,' he told himself...

One more month and then he would go back home, leave the coldness of London behind him for the warmth of Mumbai...

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A/N:- Here it was, a chapter on The Malhotras, some of you have wanted a Nyonika and Mr Malhotra's interaction, so here it is, I hope you all liked it... :)

Please leave a comment or two to let me know your thoughts, reactions, and your feedback on the chapter. I would like to know if you are liking the story so far... :)

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, for the sweet comments and for the votes! :)

Thank you! :)

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