"And Max, the king of all wild things, was lonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all."

Maurice Sendak,

Where the Wild Things Are

* * * * *

"I need to call someone," he suddenly said after a long silence.

Jennifer looked at the patient critically, and thought about the demand that he had made. Being used to the softer side of him who just talked about his lady-love and how much he needed her, she had thought of him as somebody calm, kind, and a true gentleman. But there he was, ever since he could, which was only a few hours now, he has been hurling out demands and orders, then trade and plan to make them comply. In short, he was bossy and a whiny brat, and such a disappointment!

It had taken him a few minutes, after talking to his father, to nod at Dr Waltz, which apparently meant that he was going to let the doctor and nurse do their jobs. After having all the needed conversation to know his medical condition, getting out of him the needed answers to know how to assist him, Dr Waltz had walked out, leaving him in her care. The care which he was acting like he didn't need nor would he like to be around her. He wasn't letting her help him - basically, he wasn't letting her do her job peacefully, which was the real reason why he was getting on her nerves.

"Excuse me, if you are done with glaring at me, make a move." she heard him tell her with an exasperated tone in his voice.

"I am going to need the phone number for that," she complied after a sigh.

"And I am going to need a paper and pen to write down the number for that," was his smart answer for her.

Shaking her head, she again complied. Giving him the needed she stood there to look at him as he started to write down the number. When after a few minutes, he still was unable to give her the needed number; she looked at him more closely. He had written down a few numbers just to erase them again. After watching him make a few more attempts, she understood what the problem was. He didn't remember the number.

As she looked at him, she noticed his tight grip around the pen, almost breaking it in between his left hand while he kept glaring at the paper as it was all its fault, she decided to call Dr Waltz for help.

"I can't remember the numbers, any number. How? Why?" Manik asked as soon as he saw Dr Waltz walk in.

"Calm down, Manik. Let's see what the problem seems to be, okay?" Dr Waltz said as he came to stand near the bed.

"But I remembered the phone numbers, all of them. I always have been good at remembering the numbers. How can I not remember them now?" He panicked.

As Dr. Waltz asked him different questions, he realized his memory was fuzzy, he didn't remember what happened before the accident, or when was that he had the accident that has caused him so many injuries. He couldn't pinpoint the events before his accident, not even the far away ones. Which one came before and what happened after, he couldn't place his memories in order.

"Even though it's early to diagnose, I think you may be suffering from cognitive disorders," Dr Waltz concluded.

"What?" Manik asked him.

"You are suffering from cognitive disorders, Manik, because of the head injury caused by the accident," Dr Waltz informed him.

"And what that does mean?" He asked confused.

"Cognitive disorders are a category of mental health disorders that primarily affect learning, memory, perception, and problem-solving, and includes amnesia, dementia, and delirium," Dr Waltz explained as he came to sit on the chair near to the bed.

"And how I can recover from this?" He asked somewhat calmly. His brain was already trying to come up with a plan to fight it.

"That's the spirit!" Dr Waltz encouraged him with a smile. Looking at him, he was somewhat sure that the patient was only mildly affected by cognitive disorders.

As the days passed by, he was more and more sure of the fact that the patient was a fighter. But also that he functioned like no other patient he ever had. He would snap and get impatient at little things, but would keep his calm when others would expect him to freak out. Dr Waltz was fascinated by the young man just like his colleagues were.

* * * * * *

"So, how are you feeling?" Dr Waltz asked as he smiled down at him.

"I don't know," he answered as he looked down at his body, now free from all the bandages and plasters.

"With physical therapy and exercise, you will be good as you were before. Don't worry about that. Just a little bit patience and that strong will of yours would do wonders, you will see," Dr Waltz kept encouraging him. But when he looked up at his patient, he knew he failed in his attempt to distract the boy who had his sight fixed on the door.

His father was late. The disappointment and anger could be seen in his eyes even though his face remained expressionless. With a deep sigh and frown, Dr Waltz recalled the phone call he had received from the patient's father, telling him 'not to wait' for him and then demanded him to 'proceed' with removing the plasters as he wouldn't be there in time.

'As if I, the doctor, or any of my team needed the man's permission to do our job.' Dr Waltz thought with a frown, irritated with the man's self-assumed importance.

"He told me he would come in a few days," he still reassured the boy, wishing with all his heart for that to be true, at least this time.

But as he kept looking at his face, he saw the boy slowly shake his head, as if he was denying his claim. The father in him found the sight heart breaking every time found the boy struggling and dealing with his condition and the trauma of the accident, all alone, without anyone by his side. The boy was strong but he had learned during his long career that the strong were the ones who needed the love and care of the family the most. But the boy had no one around him ever since the day he had been admitted to the hospital, six months ago.

"Anyway, your therapist would be here tomorrow morning, so you better take some rest because you are going to need all your energy then," Dr Waltz told him in a fatherly tone as he stood up to go.

As he walked out of the room, he met John who was about to come in for his night duty.

"Make sure he rests," he told John who in turn nodded at him, knowing what they were talking about.

No matter how much his patient hated any kind of sedative, he needed some to be able to rest and have a good sleep before the start of the tiring day that was waiting for him.

* * * * * *

As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw there was someone sitting near him on the bed. A girl -a very familiar girl. A slow smile formed on his face because there she was...

"Nandini," he called her out, his voice husky with sleep.

She let out a deep sigh before turning to him. There was no smile on her face, but a frown. The ones she had when she was angry or annoyed at him, or maybe both. And that made him smile even more.

"I am angry at you and you are smiling?" she said with fake anger in her voice.

"Oh, you are the one who is angry? I am the one who should be angry at you. Where were you?" He asked her as he willed his hand to reach hers.

Unable to do that as simply as he should have, he looked down at his hand. As he fixed all of his attention on his hand, he didn't notice how the hand he was trying to reach was no more there. And when he did, he looked around to found that she was nowhere. She had never been there to begin with...

"Nandini?" He called her out loud, dragging himself up from the bed to look around. But it was fruitless, he knew.

Falling back on the bed, he let out a shaky breath, the helplessness and anger that he was feeling made him more tired than the physical therapy had. And tired he was, from everything, from the hospital bed he was stuck in, from the dreams, the hallucinations and then from his inability to do the simplest thing - all of it.

That wasn't anything new, nothing to be surprised about, Manik told himself. He willed himself to not feel disappointed over how his father had broken his promise, forcing himself to realize that he should have known better than believe what his father had said as the truth and chastised himself for being so naive.

He asked himself, when was the time that either of his parents had not broken their promises? And why should have his father done something different this time? Only because the son he claimed to love was in the hospital, alone, miles away? Or maybe because it was the only time his son had really asked him something? Something a child would normally ask his father, something that was more than a few papers to sign in favor of Nyonika Malhotra.

But no, why should that matter to the great Mr Malhotra, he thought bitterly. When has anything mattered about him? Mattered to either of his parents? They didn't care, he had always known it. So how come he had started to think differently this time around? Manik told himself it was nothing new for him, he was after all used to the broken promises of his father and selfishness of his mother. They never were there, not even now when they should have had.

And anyway he had long back stopped pitying him, he reminded himself. He didn't have the parents that others had, so what? He had...

He had...

No. Shaking his head, with a profound sadness he realized that he no more could claim to have a family in the form of Fab 5. He couldn't delude himself anymore. The bond between them was broken, too damaged and toxic to think of it as a bond of a family. They were no more his family; he didn't have a family anymore. Maybe never had, because clearly the family he thought he had was just an illusion of his.

But still, they must care for him even now, or was he being naive in believing that he was someone who was dear to them? He has been asking himself that ever since he woke up. They were still his friends, weren't they? Maybe Cabir was, at least from what he could recall from their last interaction. But was that the last interaction they had? He didn't know. Maybe even Mukti was, but he wasn't sure about her neither. He didn't remember what was his last memory of Mukti - he couldn't place anything in order.

But about the other two, he was sure. They hated him, both thought of him as someone who was the reason of all their sufferings. All of their pain and all the failures they had in their lives - to them, he was the root and cause of it and wholly responsible for it. He had failed them. But did they not even care if he was alive or dead? Could he not be forgiven? Were these past six months not enough for them to forgive him?

Or were these past six months all they required to forget him and stop thinking of him as someone who mattered to them?

He feared the answers to all the questions he had while he spent his days trying to remember what were the last words said between them. Had he lost all four of them? Were they no longer his friends? Did he not have even one friend? Not even Cabir?

That thought pained him. In the past year, ever since Nandini came in his life, Cabir had become very close to him. He had become someone with who he had shared his thoughts and dilemmas. One more thing he had thanks to the presence of Nandini Murthy in his life: the depth of his and Cabir's friendship. Before her, he was more of a mystery for Cabir, he had realized. Unreachable - Cabir had used that word to describe Manik before Nandini had influenced his life - he could recall that conversation between them. He remembered how Cabir had laughed and joked as they talked but couldn't remember when was it that it happened.

Cabir...No matter how Dhruv was the oldest friend of his, Cabir was the closest. While Dhruv had been his brother, Cabir was the perfect combination of the best friend he could talk to, about anything and the adult child he would always try to protect but set free to find his own path, not to mention a wingman he could always count on.

But was their bond still the same? Did the breaking of Fab 5 and the past six months make their bond forgetful? Has he lost Cabir too? He didn't know, he couldn't remember.

Losing Cabir would destroy him, the more he thought about it, the more he became sure, more than losing Dhruv had. He had been devastated the night he had lost Dhruv, he feared what would happen the day he got to know if Cabir too thought of him as someone not worthy of his friendship. That night he had had Nandini to pull him together, gather his broken self in her arms and heal him. But she too wasn't around him now. That thought once again made him angry at his father for choosing London to send him to, so far away from home he was. So helpless...

Would Cabir come if he asked him to? Would he at least do him the favor of reaching out Nandini to tell her about him if he asked him to?

He would have done anything for him, all four of them, as he had countless times before, would do anything for them, but would they do the same for him? Maybe Cabir would...

Maybe...

Now only if he could remember Cabir's number, Manik thought with a tiring sigh.

He was working on remembering it from the past two weeks, but he couldn't remember the phone number of any one of the Fab 5 or Nandini's. He was cut off from the outside world, unable to communicate with anyone apart from his father, who apparently was way too busy to take his calls.

Maybe he should have offered a deal to his father? And he was actually seriously considering to do just that. Offer his father a deal, something that he would do if Mr Malhotra brought Nandini to him. After all, that was the only way to make sure his parents did something for him.

With a deep sigh, he decided, he preferred Nyonika. The 'give and take' policy of hers was more believable and effective than his father's 'love' and broken promises.

Now, he must come up with something, an offer his father wouldn't refuse. He has to think of it, and then call his father to make the deal, he decided.

'Now, what would Mr Malhotra want from me?' He asked himself.

* * * * *

"Dr Waltz, Mr Malhotra is here," he heard his receptionist tell him as he was on his way to his cabin.

"Finally!" He said out loud as he picked up his pace and entered in his cabin.

"Dr Waltz, I thought to talk to you before meeting Manik," Mr Malhotra told him.

"You did good, Mr Malhotra, but before anything else, where is Nandini?" He asked him with a smile.

The truth was, he and his whole team have been curious about the girl ever since their patient had started to ask for her. But as he looked around, he found was no girl in his cabin.

'Must have rushed to meet the boy first,' he thought with a smile. The kind of love he had seen in Manik's eyes, he was sure it was mutual.

"That is what I wanted to talk to you, Dr Waltz. I don't know what, when or how it happened, but the truth is that there is no Nandini in Manik's life, there hasn't been any girl named Nandini around him ever. I don't know what Manik has been telling you, or what has happened to him." Mr Malhotra explained sadly shocking the Doctor to the core.

"What?" He asked, confused. What did he mean by there was no Nandini?

"I myself don't know anything about this whole mess. That is why Dr Shah is here for, to tell us what is happening," Mr Malhotra told him as he introduced the old man sitting next to him.

"Dr Shah here is the most famous psychiatrist in London. I know you already have one psychiatrist in your team but I would like Manik's case to be handled by Dr Shah from now on. After being discharged, he is the one who will be Manik's psychiatrist anyway," Mr Malhotra concluded.

As Mr Malhotra stood up to talk to the physical therapist of his son, he very well knew that he had left a very confused and conflicted Dr Waltz behind who was now absent-mindedly calling the psychiatrist of his team to meet Dr Shah and discuss the case with him.

All of a sudden, Dr Waltz felt as if he was not in control of the situation anymore. Mr Malhotra, the father of his patient was here, and he was the one who would undoubtedly call the shots, he knew. And anyways, the patient was going to be discharged in a few days, he reminded himself. There was nothing more that he or his team could do for the boy, other than wishing him luck.

But something was not adding up, his practical self could tell. The case which to him was simple suddenly was becoming a complicated one. As and if Mr Malhotra was to believe, there was no girl named Nandini is the boy's life. So how come the patient kept asking for her?

Was he wrong? Dr Waltz asked himself. As he thought about it, cognitive disorders suddenly started to sound a less complicated condition to him.

'A wishful thinking on my part.' Dr Waltz thought, 'After all, the patient had suffered a head injury, was in the coma for a week or two. He had been sedated with various heavy drugs for the last five months. The human brain was a mystery on its own and behaved extra unpredictably after a trauma,' he reminded himself.

After half an hour, when he was leading Mr Malhotra and another man to the patient's room, he wondered the impact that the news of the nonexistence of the Nandini girl would have on the boy who behaved as if he lived only for her.

* * * * *

"Good afternoon, Manik!" Dr Waltz greeted him as he walked in.

"Look who is here," he smiled at his patient as he stepped away from the door to let Mr Malhotra and other man enter.

"You are late!" Manik said as his eyes met his father's before moving back to the door.

"Where is Nandini?" He asked his father as the other man closed the door behind him.

"Manik, why don't we both talk before moving to that part?" His father told him as he came to sit near his bed.

"Is she fine?" He asked as his heartbeat increased in fear.

There was something wrong; everything about the silence in the room told him that something was wrong.

"What happened?" He asked his father fearfully after everyone else walked out of the room.

"Manik, I searched for her. Ever since you told me to, in Mumbai, your college, even asked your Fab 5 about her but no one knows her. There hasn't been any Nandini Murthy there, last year, actually never has been. She wasn't there," Mr Malhotra explained to him calmly while looking in his eyes.

"What do you mean there was no Nandini? What are you talking about?" Manik asked confused.

As he got only silence from his father's side, he took the matter into his own hands.

"Madhav," he yelled loudly, calling out for the loyal employee of his father, who came in almost running.

"You searched for her? Nandini Murthy? And you couldn't find her?" He asked sternly, not at all sounding the younger one.

'Why does his voice always has such authority in it that makes denying him the most difficult task ever?' Madhav thought as he looked at his employer who in turn nodded at him.

"No Manik baba, I couldn't find her anywhere. There is no one named as such in the college record, I even asked some of the students about her, but no one knows her," Madhav informed as he looked down at the floor, unable to look in the boy's eyes.

"Really? You checked the college records which Nyonika could change and had asked a few students if they could recognize her by her name from the student body of thousands? So efficient you have become, Madhav Mathur!" Manik praised him sarcastically.

"Manik, I have talked to Nyonika about this situation. She says there has been no one named Nandini in college," his father interfered.

"And Nyonika has never lied, right?" He asked his father disappointed to know he would believe Nyonika Malhotra so easily.

"That isn't all. Madhav had hired a private investigation company. Their report came yesterday. It says the same thing. There was no Nandini Murthy, ever," Mr Malhotra told him as he looked at his unconvinced son.

"I don't know what you are trying to do here. But whatever is that you want, I am ready to do it. I was anyway thinking to call you. So, what is that you want, Mr Malhotra?"Manik came straight to the point.

"What do you mean by what do I want?" Mr Malhotra asked confused.

"Of course, you want something in return, Malhotra's don't do favors for free. Whatever is that you want, I will do it, just bring her here," Manik said confidently, but the hard tone in his voice was not missed by anyone as he looked down at his father.

"I don't want anything from you, Manik. I just want you to be okay. And I am not lying or telling you that because I have something to gain from it," Mr Malhotra told in a calm voice.

He knew it would be difficult to convince him - that's why he came prepared. As he looked at Madhav, he nodded slowly, indicating him to show Manik the file which contained the information which would be enough to convince anyone.

"Business school. You always wanted me to study something else than Music. I will do it; I will even work for you, as long as you want me to," Manik offered without even a glance at the file Madhav was trying to give him.

"Read the file Manik," his father said calmly.

Shaking his head, Manik yanked the file to him and opened it to read the rubbish his father believed in.

"That's wrong, all lies," he dismissed whatever was written after reading the first few lines of it.

"That is the truth Manik, and you better start believing in it and stop wasting my time," Mr Malhotra said sternly.

"Get out!" Manik said in return.

"What?" his father asked shocked.

"I would have never asked you, anything to begin with if I wasn't trapped in here. I would have never asked you a thing if I was able to contact anyone else," Manik growled with his jaw clenched in pure fury.

"But as it is, I am trapped, unable to move for a few more weeks, so I ask you to tell me fast, whatever is that you want from me. Because that offer stands only till I am able to walk again," he continued with a hard tone in his voice, his hands clenched in fists.

"So think thoroughly, Mr Malhotra, what I am offering is a very good but limited time offer," he declared before turning around to look at the wall in front of him, clearly dismissing the old man.

With a frustrated sigh, hands clenched in fists, he tried to find the will to stop himself from yelling out loud as Mr Malhotra didn't make his move to get out of the room even after being asked. Could he not even do that for him? Was it necessary to make him realize that he had no power till he was stuck on the bed, unable to move, unable to do a thing?

"I said get out!" He growled, gritted his teeth to stop himself from yelling out loud.

"You aren't welcome here till you stop pretending and will tell me what it is that you want in return for bringing her to me," he continued, forcing him to appear the one who had the upper hand, after all, that was what he has learned very early in his life while dealing with people alike to his parents - to not look desperate, to not show weakness.

Forced to make the opposition walk away, he tried, with great difficulty, to raise his shaking arm to indicate the door with his left hand, and he said it again, clearly telling the old man to get out.

Incredulous, Mr Malhotra simply looked at him. Was the fact that he, his father, wanted something from him more believable than the existence of a mere girl?

Manik was no longer a child, one with doe-brown eyes who would do as he asked, Mr Malhotra knew, but what he didn't know was that Manik had become something a father would never want his child to become. He believed he, his father, was doing it because he wanted something from him. But the truth was, he has never wanted but the best for his only son. Manik was, after all, the most prized possession of his.

'What had he and Nyonika forced his child to become?' He asked himself as he walked out of the room.

He felt defeated, till he reminded himself to think of the reason why he was doing what he was doing. Only and only for the betterment of his son.

"What now, sir?" Madhav asked him.

"We have to convince him, Madhav, anyway, anyhow!" he said with determination.

"But how, sir?" he was asked.

"We have someone working on it," he was reminded suddenly and smirked as he remembered the meeting they had almost three weeks back. For once, he felt happy to have the cunning wife of his at his side.

* * * * * *

A/N:- Here, an early update, at least if we are talking about my usual standard... ;D

I hope you liked this chapter and are liking the story so far...We entered in the most interesting part of the story. From now on we will explore the three Malhotras and their unique dynamic and complex relationships, so I hope you will enjoy the mind games and everything Malhotras are...

I am excited to hear from you guys, your reactions and thoughts and feedback are highly appreciated, so please leave a comment or two or more to let me know your thoughts...

As always, thank you for reading and for voting, for the support and the encouragement... :)