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Nandini kept glancing at her phone as it kept ringing but she couldn't muster up the courage to answer it. The phone stopped ringing but only for a few seconds before it rang again.

She took a deep breath this time and answered it without thinking much.

"Hello? Nandini are you okay? Why aren't you answering back to my messages? Is everything alright?" He asked impatiently without giving her time to speak.

For Nandini her breath hitched listening his voice because it sure was attractive. And she noticed that he didn't sound angry but concerned about her.

"Nandini?" He called out again and she came out of her trance and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry." She said rather merely whispered back and the line went silent which forced her to look at the screen to check if it was still going on.

"Manik?" It was her turn to call him and he immediately answered with a 'yes' indicating her to keep going.

"I'm really sorry but my brother gave me a surprise visit today and then he came to know about this wrong number fiasco. So I couldn't ─" She trailed off not saying anything further and Manik sighed into the phone.

"He must've been worried. Any brother would if he comes to know about his sister talking to a stranger. So did he ask you to not talk to me." He questioned and Nandini kept quiet.

"Directly, no he didn't but indirectly, yes he indicated that." She said in a low voice because in her heart she didn't want to stop talking to him, especially now when she talked to him on phone.

"What do you want?" His voice was soft like asking a baby to choose between candies when she was confused.

Nandini knew the answer but she didn't voice it out much to his dismay. He chuckled but it was rather a sad one.

"It's okay Nandini. You can block my number after we end this call. It'll be alright." He said trying to convince her but his own voice didn't sound convincing.

Still Nandini spoke nothing as he waited for her to say something. So she heard him taking a deep breath before he said,

"So it was really nice talking to you and knowing you Nandini. I'm glad you got my number as the wrong number because it could've been anyone's. I hope somewhere in future we would meet accidentally or not, but I hope I'll be able to recognise you. That's the only thing I wish for." His voice was a mere whisper in the end and Nandini felt her throat choking, trying to keep restrain her tears.

"Until we meet again Manik." She felt her voice breaking and a lone tear escaping her eye.

"Until we meet again." He whispered back and they ended the call on that note after which Nandini hid her face in her pillow and cried.

She didn't know why she cried but it felt wrong in ending things so abruptly. But she did it anyway.

Would she have felt this bad if it was Ahaan?

A thought crossed her mind until she realised that she hadn't even been thinking about him that much as she did before. He was just a pretty face that attracted her instantly and that she knew nothing more about his nature, character or even his likes and dislikes. She knew nothing about him.

Did she even like Ahaan or is he just a mere infatuation?

She neither blocked his number nor deleted it even after the whole day passed. It just existed in her call log and chats.

She knew that the name Manik will exist in her whole life until she dies and she won't forget him or the time she spent talking with him.

Sometimes even a stranger can leave a big impact on your life.

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