Thankyou nefelibata-xx for this beautiful cover!❤

Guys before you start reading this update, i would suggest you to just go through chapter 15, first. Trust me it will help in forming a momentum and you will understand this chapter better!
........
Manali trip continues....

Next morning. Breakfast time.
"Guys , ye manik, nandini, navya...kaha hain??" asked mukti. Rest of them were present on the breakfast table waiting for others.

"2 min ago, on my way i met manik..he said teachers have called the group leaders for a meeting , so may be they both are there and about navya...i don't know" cabir informed.

"oh ok...but this is strange ki tujhe navya k baare mein ni pta..i thought you are her GPS" abhimanyu joked and others laughed while cabir just shook his head rolling his eyes.

"what is the joke??" navya said coming from behind cabir, and cabir's eyes dilated in horror that if his friends would embarrass him in front of navya. Navya walked ahead and sat on the opposite of cabir.

Mukti gave an evil look to cabir while cabir signalled her to keep her mouth shut. Rest of them pressed their lips to stifle their laugh.

"nothing navya..we were just doing time pass...tum btao where were you?" cabir said innocently.

"oh ok...wo actually i got up late and didn't find nandini so i was looking for her, then riya told me that nandu has gone to meet the teachers . then i got freshen up and came here. Isliye late ho gyi...tumlogo ne breakfast kar liya?" navya explained unaware of the joke and then asked the last question.

"no navya we did not have our breakfast yet, because you know cabir was missing (got a kick under the table) ouch!" Dhruv couldn't complete, instead ended up yelping.

Navya was confused "kya hua??"
Dhruv spoke through gritted teeth

"wo i think..some nasty insect bit me...never mind...i was saying that we were missing manik, nandini and you, that's why we thought to wait"

"oh ok..then let's wait" navya too, agreed. They started chit chatting while Dhruv settled scores with cabir and they ended up kicking each other under the table, numerous times.

After a few minutes
Nandini came to the table murmuring something. Rest of them looked at her confused.

"kya hua? Whom are you abusing?" Dhruv asked chuckling.

"i am not abusing...its just that this girl Ayesha..she doesn't feel cold or what??" as she said this rest of them looked in the direction where she was pointing. And they saw that Ayesha was standing with manik and discussing something.

"pullover toh pehna h usne!" abhimanyu countered not understanding the point. While the gals understood the majra .

"pullover pehen liya toh ho gya!! Legs mein thand ni lagti hai kya! If she falls sick...toh who will take care of her!!" spoke a furious nandini and abhi got scared.

"acha acha...ok..tu mujh pe q chilla rahi hai...maine kya kiya hai??" spoke abhi defensively.

"nandini chill maar!..manik sirf baat hi toh kar raha hai..!" as cabir hit the right spot, nandini suddenly got embarrassed. "arey i wasn't saying that.." nandini said defensively.

"yeah yeah..of course you weren't saying that..! right guys??" mukti said and they burst out laughing while nandini bit her lips.

After a few minutes , manik too joined them.

"guys i am really hungry...let's have our breakfast!" manik said settling down beside nandini, unaware of her bad mood.

"ha ha , me too! Let's start" said cabir, deliberately not telling manik about nandini's bad mood.

So they started eating, while nandini was murdering the sandwich with the knife!

After last night's confession, nandini had thought that they(manan) will have some good coo-chi-coo type moments, but here manik was behaving as if nothing extra-ordinary had happened last night.

Early morning, when she was getting ready, she had taken extra efforts to get ready, she had even for the first time applied red lipstick to look attractive, but when she met him, he stared at her for a while as she blushed but then just walked ahead asking her to follow. She had expected some nice compliments from him but.....

Manik noticed nandini jabbing the knife on the poor sandwich, so he nudged her lightly and asked through gestures as to what happened as his mouth was full with the morsel. She glared at him but said "nothing".

"nothing?? Really...? your words and expressions are not matching,

though!" he said finally gulping down the morsel.

"wow! You can read my expressions? " she said in an over-dramatic manner. Manik was confused by her mood, now what had he done? He wondered while still looking at her.

Nandini grunted at his dumbness and got up without having even a bite of her food. As nandini walked away, others who were unaware of the exchange between MaNan, too got up to get dressed.

"guys and gals i want your attention please!" nandini spoke loudly standing on a chair and other students gathered around her.

"as you all know we are going to solang valley, where we are gonna be skiing, sledging, motor racing, ice skating and many other ice sports activity...so for that you have to get dressed accordingly. I can see many of you skimpily dressed...so i will warn you against frost bite...which is a very common thing in these conditions. Rest is your choice" nandini finished speaking and hopped down the chair. She had specifically said that skimpily dressed thing pointing towards Ayesha, while Ayesha gave her a as-if-i-care-look.

"students , its not a choice, its an order!" the tour in-charge added just as nandini finished speaking. Ayesha and other girls of her type, had no choice left so they had to dress up.
Nandini gave a cold look to manik, before grabbing navya's arm and getting in the bus. Manik had his eyebrows creased in confusion, when cabir patted his shoulder from back and said "chal!". He nodded and walked with cabir.

"tera aur nandini ka settlement ho gya??" cabir asked while walking. Manik was now confused as to how cabir knows about it.

"tujhe kese pta?"

cabir, who had been enjoing the show silently, saw that nandini took navya with her, and this rang a bell in his head. If manik and nandini have a fight, nandini will be with navya all the time, and this will result in his loss, so he thought of doing damage control.

"wo when you were talking to Ayesha, a while ago, nandini came to us grumbling. And we came to know that she is upset because she thinks that Ayesha is hitting on you" cabir informed.

Cabir told manik what he thought was the reason behind nandini's bad mood, but in reality, even he was unaware of the real reason(the morning encounter with manik).

"what rubbish is this? Why will Ayesha try to hit on me? we were just discussing something" manik lashed out at cabir.

"chill, manik, i know i trust you...but girls are like this only...and i think nandini is just possessive about you..that's it...talk to her..she will understand"

"yeah ok" said an upset manik.
With this they too got in the bus and sat down on the seats reserved for them by their friends. The bus started heading towards its destination.

Nandini acted busy with navya, while cabir sulked and manik was thinking of a way to talk to nandini.