36. TOWEL!

Raj:- What if Abhi gets angry and he will beat you like hell. Then you would need an ambulance to reach the hospital because at that time you are not going to be in a state to drive your car. ( Giving mischievous looks )

Ma:- are you motivating me or demotivating me? You know what you are the most hilarious / the coolest / the most unique dad that ever took birth on this land.

Raj:- ( with a proud smile ) say thanks to your grandma. She is the one who gave birth to me.

Ma:- ( with a lip-tight smile ) and she did the most dangerous crime by giving birth to you.

Manik shoots glares at him and runs out of the room because he can’t handle his dad anymore. He is already getting late and he doesn’t want to give any bad impression to anyone as Nandini’s boyfriend.

Raj smiles and gets down to have his breakfast. Nyonika came towards him and frowned seeing something in his hand.

Nyo:- ( pointing towards Raj’s hand ) what is it, Raj?

Raj:- ( casually ) ohh… It’s Manik’s trousers. ( Something stuck in his mind ) wait…… If it is in my hand then, how did Manik go for a meeting? ………. ( Shockingly ) IN TOWEL.

Nyo:- what towel?

Aly:- ( breathing heavily because of running ) mom….. What happened to Manik? I mean, what happened to his dressing sense? Who wears a shirt with a towel?

Raj:- ( crying dramatically ) Manik went for an important meeting in a towel and here she is focusing on his dressing sense.

Nyo:- ( disbelief ) oh god……. What happened to my son? How can he leave for a meeting in a towel?

Raj:- ( thought ) I am sure now he is going to be rejected by Abhi. Whose brother will say yes to the marriage after seeing the groom’s unshaved legs? Although Manik has sexy legs, still…

Whereas Manik is driving the car unknown to everything as he is nervous. Within 10 minutes he is standing outside the meeting venue and takes a deep breath. After gathering courage he moves towards his favorite corner table.

On the way, he receives many strange gazes. These stares boosted his confidence.

Ma:- ( smirkingly ) NO ONE CAN RESIST MANIK MALHOTRA’S CHARM.

Did he know that they are staring at him because of his attire? I think the answer is definitely NO.

IN MURTHY MANSION, Nandini and Abhi are leaving for the restaurant. Cabir sees them going out. He immediately ran and stood in front of them.

Ca:- where are you guys going, Leaving me alone?

Nan:- we are going to the supreme plaza for breakfast.

Ca:- ( dramatically ) wow…… This is your love for your brother. How can you go for breakfast leaving me here?

Abhi:- ( angrily ) we are going to hell, wanna come?

Ca:- ( while taking back steps ) No… Way. I am made for heaven. I never did any bad deeds then going to hell is not even a question. You guys proceed, I changed my mind. I am not coming.

Saying this he moved inside but stopped hearing Raman’s voice.

Ram:- ohh….. Mr. Potato Head.

Cabir looks here and there to find potato heads. Finding no one around he looks at Raman with confused expressions. Seeing his gestures, Raman pointed his finger towards him, making him shocked.

Ca:- ( angrily ) I am not a Mr. Potato.

Ram:- ( calmly ) ok, so…… Mrs. Potato’s head. Is it ok? ( Without waiting for his reply he further said ) Where did Nandini and Abhi go? Don’t they know that we have to leave for the Malhotra mansion?

Ca:- I am not saying anything. ( palms his mouth )

Ram:- You want to sleep in a bed or do you want to sleep on the street tonight?

Ca:- ( gulped his saliva ) they went to some restaurant for breakfast.

Ram:- breakfast? But we already have it. (Though ) There is something behind this breakfast plan and I want to know. Who will tell me? ( After thinking for some seconds ) Who else?…. THE KHABRI OF THE FAMILY. ( Grinned on his thoughts )

Ram:- ( to Cabir ) ohh potato head called KHABRI…

Ca:- ( confuse ) who?

Ish:- Raj Malhotra!!!

Ca:- oh… The personal khabri of MURTHY’s and MALHOTRA’s.

Cabir immediately makes a call to Raj Malhotra and gives the cell phone to Raman.

Raj is still in his gloomy land and Manik’s trousers are still present in his hands. He cries after every five minutes seeing the trouser. At the same time his phone rang and seeing the caller ID he rejected the call not wanting to talk with Cabir.

Ram:- ( to Cabir ) see he cut the call after seeing your name. At Least do anything which makes me proud of you.

Ca:- ( non- interestingly ) ok… I will make you a grandfather of two kids. Is it ok?

In reply, Raman passes him a strong glare. Seeing this he again spoke.

Ca:- ok fine ….. Don’t become Hulk. Three kids? Finale!! Please stick to this number because I can’t handle one more kid when Navya is also there.

Hearing him, Raman is finding the perfect place to banged his head.

Ram:- ( joining his both hands ) do one favor on me. Please go from here before I kick you out of the house.

Cabir immediately ran from there saving his life. After calming down himself Raman again makes a call to Raj. This time he picked up the call. Before Raj could say anything Raman spoke desperately.

Ram:- what is the news?

Raj knows what he is asking. After some time he spoke in his gloomy tone.

Raj:- TOWEL HAPPENED !!!

Ram:- huh???

Raj:- come here … I will tell you everything. That’s how a towel became an obstacle in my son’s love life.

Ram:- Are you ok? Or I bring a physiatrist with me. You badly need the treatment.

Raj:- ( helplessly ) I just need you.

Listening to these words Raman immediately cuts the call.

Ram:- ( with wide eyes ) what happened to him? What does he think of me?

Otherside Nandini and Abhi reached the restaurant. Nandini is sweating like hell seeing the place because this is the same place where Manik and she always visit and spend quality time. Seeing Nandini here, the manager came towards her to greet her.

Manager:- Good morning mam….. It’s been a long time since you visited here.

Abhi is looking at it all surprised. The restaurant is not just a random one. It’s Mumbai’s famous plaza. Before she could reply, the manager again spoke.

Manager:- sir, is waiting for you. Please come. I will lead you to your favorite corner table.

Hearing the “corner table”, Abhi is concluding all the advantages of it. He made a bad face for thinking dirty stuff.

Abhi:- ( mummers ) no… Abhi corner table is not used for doing that only. It can be used for doing talks. Yaa….. Only talks.

Somehow he managed his raging heart and moved towards the table. He relaxed seeing Manik there and went and sat beside him keeping his left hand on his shoulder. Whereas Nandini sits in front of them.

Nandini and Manik share a quick eye lock. Through eyes, Manik told her how nervous he was! Nandini blinks her eyelids, giving him much-needed strength.

Manik again looks into her eyes and conveys the message through it, “Just make sure that I reach home without any damage to any part of my body”.

Nandini rolls her eyes seeing his over-dramatic nature.

Abhi:- thank god, you are here Manik. Today I need your help.

Ma:- ( weakly ) what type of help?

Abhi:- I am here to meet Nandini’s boyfriend. So, I need your help to interrogate him. By the way, what are you doing here?

Ma:- ( faking surprise ) what…. ( Looking at Nandini ) Nandini, you have a boyfriend? Nice yaa …….

Nan:- ( glaring at him ) yaaaaa…… Very nice.

She looks here and there to find something so that she can hit him on his head to bring him back to his senses.

Ma:- ( divert his eyes after reading Nandini’s mind ) why do you want to interrogate him? If Nandini loves him that means he must be a gentleman.

Nandini gritted her teeth seeing his drama. She got irritated with his fake acting. Now she has to pull him back on earth.

Nan:- Bhai….. I am ready with my decision.

Both the men looked at her with confusion.

Abhi:- what decision?

Nan:- ( directly looking into Manik’s eyes ) I DON’T HAVE ANY BOYFRIEND IT’S A PRANK. LET’S GO BACK AND TELL EVERYONE THAT I AM READY FOR MARRYING ARYAMAN.

Hearing her both the man shouts at the same time while getting up from their seats.

Abhi shouts after listening, it’s a prank. Whereas Manik is really angry hearing Aryaman’s name from her mouth in front of him. Overall “I AM READY FOR MARRYING ARYAMAN” these six words just take his anger to another level.

Ma:- ( angrily ) How can you say this? When you exactly know how much I hate hearing his name from your mouth. How can you? …….

Abhimanyu gets surprised seeing Manik’s anger. He looks at Nandini to find her sitting coolly as if nothing happened. She is smirking. He again looks at Manik to find him raging like a bull.

Ma:- And how can you say that I don’t have any boyfriend. ( Pointing towards himself ) then WHO I AM TO YOU?

Abhi suddenly moves his head towards him, three times. The same thing always happens in Ekta Kapoor’s serial.

Abhi:- ( Extremely shocked ) kya!!! Kya!!! Kya!!! ( What!! )

Ma:- ( being frustrated on Abhi’s kya ( what ) ) YES!! YES!! YES!! I AM HER BOYFRIEND. YES!! YES!! YES!! SHE IS MY GIRLFRIEND. YES!! YES!! YES!! WE LOVE EACH OTHER. YES!! YES!! YES!! I AM THE SAME GUY FOR WHOM SHE WILL KEEP FAST OF KARWA CHAUTH. YES!! YES!! YES!! I AM THE FATHER OF HER FUTURE KIDS.

At last, he stops while breathing heavily and drinks the water to calm himself down.

Whereas Nandini blushes while listening to his last line and turns her gaze away. No doubt they always talk about their future kids but this time Manik said all this in front of her brother which made her shy.

After hearing all this Abhi just needs a hospital bed to lie on. His head is twirling around after all this YES!! YES!!. He kept one hand on his head to stop the revolving image in his mind.

To be continued…