A/N: Hello dear readers! Yes, I know the chapter title is exciting and you don't want to read my rambling before diving into it, straight! Okay then, me zipping it for today!

Just don't forget to drop your thoughts on in-line comments :D <3

aaaaand, Happy Reading!

***

As Manik silently watched her walk out of his car and walk into the elevator, pressing the button to take them to his penthouse, he felt strangely routine. It seemed like all the distance there was between the two of them for all these months, didn't ever exist. It felt so normal to be walking in with Nandini, into their penthouse. It felt like they've been sharing it forever and just like yesterday, today they're coming home from work, like they will again, tomorrow. It felt so normal and mundane, that for a moment Manik was surprised; was this how life would have been for them, had he given them a chance, when she was married to him?

When Nandini had mentioned in a drunken state sometime back, that her home meant their penthouse, Manik had felt like his breath was knocked out of him, and for the life of him, he didn't know how to react. He hadn't said anything since then actually, other than silently following her request, as he drove her to his penthouse.

"Manik keys" Nandini's melodious voice broke his trance as he realised they had arrived at their doorstep. He cleared his voice, to sound neutral, lest Nandini understood how dazed he was.

"You can ring the doorbell. I am not carrying the keys." he replied, as normally as he could. Nandini rolled her eyes at him.

"How many times have I told you to carry the keys, when you'd be out till late? Tarun works all day, Manik. Can't you let him sleep in peace at night?" she frowned, complaining, and a bout of nostalgia hit Manik, as a lump formed inside his throat. He tried to gulp it down and croaked a small apology to her, before going ahead and ringing the bell, as Nandini stood by his side.

"Madam, aap?" Tarun, their butler, asked surprised, as he opened the door in a moment and Nandini gave him her brightest grin. Tarun quickly glanced at Manik's neutral expression and no matter how many questions he had, he sobered down and didn't ask any.

"Madam, should I get you a nice cup of herbal tea?" Tarun asked politely, clearly seeming very happy at her arrival. Manik smiled. It looked like not only him, even Tarun had missed his madam a lot. His house needed his Nandini more than he thought.

"No, no Tarun, you go back to sleep. I don't want anything." Nandini answered with a fond smile, and he left after that.

Manik now turned to look at Nandini, extremely cautious of her actions. She wasn't as high as she was when they left Alia's party, so he was half worried, she'd snap at him for bringing her here and not dropping her home. Nandini on the other hand, turned to Manik after Tarun left, and wished him a goodnight and walked to his guest room, which was her bedroom, during the time she stayed with him, for the PR cleanup. A part of him was relieved to see her take her room and not his, so as to avoid complications, next morning, but the other part that selfishly wanted Nandini's affection, wished she'd come to his room, and they could spend another night together, simply in each other's embrace.

***

Manik was tossing and turning on his bed, it had just been ten odd minutes since Nandini had closed the door to her room, and he had walked into his bedroom to call it a night, but sleep was evading him. It felt like he was lying there for hours and hours and time was playing a cruel trick with him. Just as he decided to get up, and get some water from the kitchen, a soft knock on his door made him still. Could it be?

Manik sprang to the door with a thudding heart, but waited for a moment to compose himself and even out his breathing before getting the door. There she stood in front of him. She didn't look too drunk, but she looked impatient and maybe even a little bit anxious?

"Nandini, you need something?" he asked her softly, seeing her agitated state.

"She's..she is not there, Manik. I looked for her everywhere." Nandini answered in a panicked voice.

"Who's not there, Nandini?" Manik asked gravely, peering at her, even though he had an inkling of her behaviour. He was hoping he was wrong, and Nandini didn't mean what he thought she did.

"Manik..Manik.." Nandini tried answering, but her eyes smarted with tears and she looked down in desperation. How was she going to explain this to him, without telling him much? She didn't want to hurt him anymore.

Manik stared at her, and realised there was no point in pushing her. Who was he kidding? If he remembered it, how did he think Nandini wouldn't?

"She's not there, come I will take you to her." he whispered, after a moment and gently clutched her wrist, and pulled her into his bedroom. He didn't turn on the light, as he was too guilty to look into her hurt eyes in bright light; instead he walked her to his closet and opened his locker for her.

Nandini was silently looking at him, all this while, feeling astounded that he actually remembered, and it broke her heart to see, he had kept her safely in his safe. Manik gestured for her to take what she came to seek, and Nandini slowly bent down to the level of the safe before, gently pulling out her old pregnancy belt that was securely kept inside Manik's locker.

Manik watched Nandini with hawk eyes, as she pulled the belt out and held it close to her heart before whimpering softly. It broke his heart. After the PR drama was over, he was given clear instructions to destroy all evidence, and as per the orders everything was, so that even if any of the people who knew about this ever opened their mouth, there was no proof to support the claim. All evidence was destroyed barring the belt. Manik had hidden it from everyones' eye and had provided a duplicate belt to destroy. He couldn't part with the belt. It was his only connection to his lost baby girl and the woman he loved so dearly. It was a single physical form of love he had left in his life, he could never let it go.

As Nandini sat down on the floor, hugging the belt and crying, Manik kneeled beside her and held her close, in an embrace, calming her. Tears were incessantly dropping from his eyes and he wanted to scream in raw agony. He wanted to break everything around him for the unfair hand life had thrown towards them, but he couldn't because he knew if he broke, there was no one to handle Nandini.

"Sshh, love. Calm down.." he tried distracting her, as he dropped soft kisses on her head.

"Manik, do you know, as per the calculation of dates, we'd done for the PR, today..." Nandini began but couldn't continue, as she gave in to weeping.

"I know, baby. I know. Today was to be the 280th day since inception, which means..." Manik mumbled, but couldn't speak further, it felt like someone was jamming a rock down his heart.

"If she was real Manik, we'd have her in our arms today; I would have birthed her, today." Nandini whimpered.  Manik clutched her tighter, before breaking down completely this time.

As they both stayed tightly in each other's embrace with their little phantom baby cuddled in between, the boundaries of reality and their dreams blurred and in that moment, more than lovers, more than man and wife, they were two parents who missed their child and wanted her back at any cost.

After a while, Manik pulled her up, as she stayed nestled to his chest, with the belt nestled to her's. "Nandini, we've got to be strong, baby. I know this is unfair, I know it is painful, but we have to live, right? Come with me to the bed." Manik implored before walking her out of the closet. She let him take her, and put her to bed; his bed. She didn't protest. She wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or the fact that she was exhausted after shedding tears for her daughter after so long, but she needed this intimacy with him right then. Somehow, being close to him, his embrace along with her belt, transported her back to a time when she felt safe & hopeful about life. It felt like they were in a time warp and they were still expecting their baby; she wasn't fictional or lost.

As Manik held her close to his chest while laying down, he noticed she was still clutching the belt. He tried pulling it away but her clutch on it tightened. He sighed, but he let her have it. As he slowly stroked her head, trying to put her to sleep, murmuring sweet nothings to her ears, she kept shedding tears, as a helpless Manik stared on.

"Nandini, we've got to let this go now.." Manik whispered after a while. Nandini slowly nodded her head and whispered, "I tried, Manik. I just cannot.."

"Baby, this pain will consume us whole, if we don't let go. We have to accept it, that she was never there to begin with, so we never lost her; baby we never had her.." Manik tried gently, as Nandini's head shot up at him.

"Don't ever say that, Manik. This, between the two of us, this is the only place she was ever alive, don't kill her here too. Please." Nandini begged, holding Manik by the collar.

"Nandini, baby, we have to let her go now.." Manik whispered, as his voice shook and more tears broke out. He was softly caressing her cheeks with his knuckles and rubbing off all the tears that were flowing out of her eyes. Nandini looked at him with defiant eyes and jerked his hand away this time. She looked a bit mad, and Manik was taken aback.

"I can't let her go, Manik. I won't let her go. I want her back, Manik. I want our girl back with us." she demanded looking dead in his eyes. Manik froze at the meaning of it.

"Nandini..." Manik began perplexed, but Nandini stopped him this time.

"Make love to me Manik. I want my baby back." Nandini ordered, like she owned him. Manik's eyes widened as he looked at her perplexed. Nandini held his eyes in determination, and he realised she wasn't in a mood to refute.

"Nan..dini..you're drunk. I don't think.." he began, but again she cut him short.  "So? Being drunk doesn't mean I don't know what I want." she argued, still looking into his eyes.

"Nandini, we..you know we can't. Tomorrow when you're sober, you will regret this." he managed to construct a full statement, trying to stop it. Suddenly, he was very aware of how her soft body was plastered to his, and suddenly, it was sending currents down his spine.

"I will regret this, or you will, Manik? Was it all talks? Don't you really want our girl back?" she whispered back, looking deeply hurt and dejected. Manik looked at her disappointed eyes and his insides revolted. He had disappointed her enough to last many lifetimes, he wasn't going to do it again. In that moment, a decision was made, which read, fuck all the complications, as Manik ignored all the warning signals his brain was issuing and bent down and pulled away the belt from her hand, and before she could protest, distracted her with a soft kiss on Nandini's lips.

Nandini gasped at the suddenness, probably because she didn't expect him to give in to her demands this easily, but soon her hands traced his biceps and reached the back of his head, clutching a tuft of his hair. Manik groaned at the pull, and Nandini pressed herself more into him, flushing herself into him.

Manik first sucked her lower lip softly as she reciprocated, but once she started pressing herself onto him, his carnal instincts took over and he gently bit her lips, to gain access to the inner cavern on her mouth. As Nandini let his tongue roll into her mouth, she instinctively tugged at his tee, and that broke their momentum. Manik snapped back to reality and pulled away from her, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Nandini, promise me, you won't regret this tomorrow. I cannot live to see you regret us coming together." Manik's eyes were soft and pleading. Nandini looked into his eyes and nodded in assurance. "I will never regret tonight, Manik." she whispered, and it was as if a lid had gone off Manik; then there was no looking back.

He dived right back into her lips, tracing his fingers, on the side of her waist, softly tracing circles on her skin. His mouth left Nandini's just long enough for the both of them to take a couple of breaths, before he was back to kissing her with an open mouth on her cheeks, going lower into her jawline and thereby neck. Nandini moaned, as his teeth gently grazed the soft skin of her neck, and her hands went down, to pull out his tees. In a dash his tee was off him and discarded to a corner of the room, as he roughly sucked the base of her throat and she clawed his chest, tracing his hard muscles and abs, and groaning at the marble like hard muscles and it's perfection.

As Manik's finger went further up her waist, playing with her skin under her top, his mouth found her sweet spot right at the base of her neck, at the joining place of her shoulder blades. He nipped her there, and Nandini moaned loudly in pleasure, thereby hardening him down in the southern region. Manik pushed himself more into her, and she suddenly felt his arousal between her legs and her head shot up at him, shocked at the girth of it.

"Manik, your bulge is huge.." she moaned, and bit her lips, looking irresistible as Manik dived right into her mouth seeing that, before relying, "It's only for you, love."

Nandini couldn't deny the excitement she felt, everytime she felt his bulge between her thighs, and in a state of extreme need she grinded herself more with him, making him yelp animalistically, before biting her on the skin just below her collar bone, as his hands finally found the perky bulge it was itching to touch; her breasts. A moan escaped Manik, as he softly kneaded her one breast and tried tracing the nipple on the other, over her bra cups. "Aah" Nandini moaned, when he fondled her breast firmly and in a moment, Manik pulled up her top and got her out of it, before placing open mouth kisses all across her cleavage, leaving a shiny film of saliva all over her exposed mounds.

His fondling her breasts, turned her on so much that her hands automatically moved from tracing his well defined pelvic muscles to his junk and Manik groaned, as she softly grabbed it over his pants. "Fuck, you're turning me crazy, Nandini.." Manik hissed, before pulling down the strap of her bra, and leaving hot kisses over her shoulders, and ever so slowly, ever so gently, he took his hands behind her and in a flick, unhooked her bra.

Nandini gasped at the realisation and quickly turned on her stomach, feeling shy. She could hear the soft indulgent chuckle of Manik, before he came on top of her from behind and bunched her hair to one side, before leaving hot mouthed kisses across her back. Nandini moaned in pleasure as he teethed her soft skin across the expanse of her back, right from her shoulder to her lower waist.

"Baby, please turn around for me?" His soft & gentle request moved Nandini, and as much as she felt shy, she slowly turned around to face him. There was this sense of divinity impeaching her senses, everytime he made an intimate contact with her. It told her deep within, his touch was pure, it was that of love and no misintention and in that moment she was not only willing to give him her body, but also her soul.

Manik looked deeply into her eyes to gauge if she was comfortable and upon finding affirmation, he finally looked down at her gorgeous breasts and soon dived down to take one in his mouth, as his hands played while it twirled the nipple of the other one. As he sucked her tighter, Nandini left a heated pit pool between her thighs, his restless hands, kept pulling her other nipple between his thumb and index finger and with each tug, the discomfort in her lower abdomen felt more pronounced. Just as Manik teethed her nipple, she gasped, pushing her body upward, thereby pressing Manik's face more into her soft mounds; Manik groaned in ecstasy, as his mouth latched on her nipple tighter, but his other hand now steadily glided through her entire body to tug at her pants; before Nandini knew it, Manik momentarily unlatched from her breast and moved down to pull her pants down, and shoved them away, before going up and kissing her on her midribs, as his both hands grabbed her ass cheeks, pressing them, as he moaned in delight at the softness that met him.

"Oh Manik.." Nandini moaned, as she could barely, move with Manik holding her in place with his other arm and his body hovering over her, but still she traced his shoulder blades, and nailed his back till her palms clutched his hair again, guiding his head further downwards, towards that hot pool at the base of her stomach.

Manik sensed her urgency, and moved further down, and was facing her panty clad vagina, safely tucked between her solid, firm thighs. An animalistic instinct took over his senses as he bit her on her inner thighs, earning a yelp from Nandini, before he slipped his fingers under the fine satin of her panty, and pulled it down, exposing her core to his eyes.

As her damp panty came off her and flew to the other end of the room, Nandini looked down to see Manik looking at her womanhood; she felt both shy and exhilarated at the same time, as he stretched her thighs to dip closer to her vaginal lips and placed a soft kiss on them. A groan escaped Nandini and suddenly she felt her whole pelvic region was on fire and only Manik and his mouth could douse it.

"Manik, please" she ushered him, before her words were lost to incoherent sounds, as taking her cue, Manik immediately dived into her honeypot, sucking her lips. The sweet musky smell of Nandini was driving him nuts, and even though it was his first time being this intimate with Nandini, he realised, never in his life, he has been this close to ecstasy as he was with her in his mouth. As Manik's tongue lapped all her juices, Nandini writhed in pleasure making ungodly noises and before she knew it, Manik unlatched his mouth from her core, earning an irritated huff from her.

"Why'd you stop?" she asked, frustrated, and Manik almost had a smile on his lips, seeing her impatience, as he quickly got rid of his pants and knelt between her legs in full glory. Nandini's eyes were wide seeing him, and a sudden worry gripped her, what if she couldn't satisfy him? Her frown lines told Manik what she was worried about, so he dived to her mouth and kissed her senseless, before whispering how beautiful she was, and she was all that he ever wanted in life.

"Baby, I am going to enter you now; if you're even a little bit unsure, stop me now, before it's too late.." he whispered hoarsely, knowing fully well, they were already too late to stop, but he'd stop despite that, if Nandini asked him to, if she was uncomfortable.

"I want my girl, Manik." she answered, determined, and Manik let out a sigh. Her reminder reminded him in how many ways what they were doing was going to complicate their lives, even if she didn't bear his child, but he also knew her determined, obstinate face. She wasn't going to budge, and he loved her too much to refuse her his love, from this point. Manik exhaled a long breath and slowly placed a long kiss on her mouth, as he positioned himself right before her core to make love to her. He didn't know if this was what Nandini really wanted, or was this her drunk self, mourning and obsessing over her lost child, but he knew, this was probably his only chance in life to show Nandini how much he loved her, and he was going to love her enough to last his lifetime, lest this was the only chance he had.

As Manik penetrated the deepest layer of her core again and again, she trembled in his arms, like a shaking leaf on a windy day and flew in the air, in the whims of the wind, and slowly yet surely, she landed right back on his arms, after the both hit an euphoria neither had known was attainable in the physical form. She was his need and he was her solace and after years of struggle, tug, pain and war, their souls had united in love and peace in that moment.

Manik and Nandini were truly one, now.

***

Word Count: 3,624

A/N: Welllll? Has the romantic bone in your readers been satiated now?

So, I wanted Nandini to be confused & not emotional about the love-making, yet I wanted it to have some deep-seated meaning for her. So she thinks it's no string attached as far as Manik is concerned, but nothing relating to their lost baby girl is devoid of emotion, right?

Well, this was a tricky chapter in terms of the build up and sub-layered emotions, so I'd like to know how you felt about it? Did the sub-text justify the theme and mood of the story? I didn't want a no strings attached out of horniness you know :P

Again, I just have one question to ask, (but I am hoping you will leave enough in-line comments making up for the drop in comments that I usually see, when I ask only one question!)

So, how was the mini MaNan and li'l baby girl reunion after so long? Nandini scheming to reach Manik's place just to meet her, the fact that if it were all true, she'd be born today. What are your thoughts on that narrative?

Oh, and just one more thing. With Nandini coming close to Manik, thinking she is doing so for her baby, how many of you feel this is true, or is it just her way of justifying her unbridled need to be with Manik, despite her logic, and memory giving her enough reason not to?

I am hoping you will leave me with your last thoughts on this chapter, irrespective of whether I ask for it or not, but I will indeed remind you all to VOTE! So, please readers, do vote. I know you are reading it, so dropping a vote shouldn't be too cumbersome :)

On that note, I shall be back with the next chapter on 21st April'24 (Sunday)

Until then,

Keep reading & stay safe.

Much love,

A.