Friday

Manik returned from office , went to his floor of the house, changed, freshened up and came down to his parent's floor. As he entered , he saw his parents engaged in some conversation. Manik looked at them and realised that after the marriage thing happened, he had not spent quality time with neyonika and maan. So he went and sat on the floor keeping his head in neyonika's lap.

Neyonika and maan got surprised first but then neyonika started ruffling his hair slowly and lovingly.

Manik: i m sorry mom dad, maine aap logo ke sath kitne dino se theek se time spend nhi kiya. I am a very bad son.

Neyonika: manik , tum apne ye childish antics band karo (laughing) ar hame ye btao, ki tum khush ho na?

Manik: mom , aap ar dad kse jaan lete ho hamesa ki mere lye kya sahi h? Maine kabhi apni life partner k bare me koi image ni bnai thi , kuch nahi socha tha. But jabse nandini se mila hun , use jitna jyada jaan raha hu, mujhe asa lagne laga h ki mujhe asi hi life partner chahye thi, in fact nandini hi chahye thi. Dad mom i cant tell you how happy i am and its all because of you two...thank you. (he kissed neyonika's palm)

Maan: we are happy son that we could give you what you wanted (he patted manik's shoulder lovingly)

Neyonika: i can see my son is already in love with his fianc. (smiled)

Manik: (happy) mom do you really think so? I mean i don't if what i feel for her is love or not.

Neyonika: manik as much as i can see yes u love her. But its too soon to say that. Give yourself some time. You will realise yourself.

Maan: neyonika are you a love guru??
(laughing) ok ok i was joking, don't give me those looks, but don't you think u should discuss with manik about what we had decided.

Manik: what?

Neyonika: actually we were thinking to give you a honeymoon package as gift, so tell us where do you want to go??

Manik: mom dad, can i tell you after discussing with nandini? (he was all red by now)

Maan and neyonika both agreed. After that the three went to the floor where the guests had been accommodated.

On Sunday the girl gang went for shopping as was decided earlier. They shopped to their hearts full and all the shopping bags of nandini were sent to MANILLA (prior mentioned, malhotra's abode). Everyone had a gala time.

Finally it was MONDAY. Malhotras reached the resort before noon. Fab 5 were to come later together. Everyone took their desired rooms on one side of the resort. The other side was left for the murthys. Murthys along with nandini reached after noon. The manager took them to their side and everyone took their rooms as they wished. Nandini and manik were given one rooms each on their respective sides as they were the bride and groom. Murthys were awestruck by the resort. It looked more like a palace, a heritage building. It was in a sprawling 10 acre campus with the hills on one side and greenery all-around.They felt like , they have come for the wedding of a royal couple!!

Nandini rang up neyonika and then went to meet her. After spending some time with neyonika and maan , nandini came back to her side. She received manik's message.

"i will be there in 5 mins. Be at the entrance. Dying to see u. Muaah...:-* "

Nandini got ready and was going towards the entrance. She bumped into rishabh. Everyone except rishabh was aware of manik being the groom, so nandini decided that this is the right time to introduce manik to rishabh. She asked rishabh to accompany her. As she reached the entrance , manik and fab 4 were coming out of their car. Rishabh saw them coming towards him.

He looked at nandini. She was blushing and smiling. Rishabh was not a kid so he understood the matter. He confirmed with nandini " is manik malhotra my jiju??" nandini nodded. Nandini felt rishabh had gone into a shock. Manik reached nandini and gave her a side hug. Rest fab 4 exchanged greetings. All of them looked at rishabh, who had turned into a statue, like he is in a daze. Manik asked nandini raising his eyebrows.

Nandini: he just came to know that manik malhotra is his jiju. This is the after effect of that news.

Fab 5 burst into laughter. This brought rishabh out of his trance. He took out his phone. Nandini was noticing his actions." He did not say hi or hello to anyone and now whom is he calling?" were nandini's thought. Everyone else were also perplexed , so they waited to understand the matter.

One-sided conversation!

Rishabh: hello molly!(his girlfriend, nandini understood, she laughed, everyone else looked at her, she signalled them to wait and watch)
" i m standing in front of manik malhotra"
"yes u heard it right"
"yeah he is my jiju"
"no not yet"
"fool?? Why?? I thought of first informing u...i can talk to him later"
" selfie??? Yeeeaaah...ok"
" then why don't u come here?? I ll ask chitti to invite your family...what say??"
" but why?"
"o..k"
"yeah i will ask them to come to mangalore"
" i love you too"
" yeah ok bye"
After he was done talking, he turned and found fab 5 looking at him like he is a zombie.

Rishabh: what?? Why are you looking like that? I was talking to my girlfriend, she is a big fan of yours.

Nandini was amused at the turn of events.

Nandini: rishu u r behaving like a jerk!! Instead exchanging greetings with fab 5 , u first talked to molly!! She is more important than us...?

Manik: oh com' on nandini , of course gf is important ,,let it be..by the way champ...i guess ur gf must be waiting for the selfie..??

Rishabh: yeah yeah...hello jiju...
And he shook hands with everyone.

Cabir: manik you have got talented in laws, i must say!!( a little sarcasm) He is smart..i like him... so buddy, you are going to stick around with us , we will need u .

Rishabh: really!! Thank u thank u thank u so much

Mukti and alia pulled either cheeks of rishabh and said in unison " cute little brother!!"

Dhruv put his arms around rishabh's shoulder and whispered "tu toh gya bachchu!!" and laughed "inn do deviyon ko pehli baar chota bhai mila hai..sambhal lena"

Alia: what did you say dhruv??? I m not gonna leave u!! Wait

And both of them started running and came back only after alia had hit him properly.

Cabir: chalo rishu lets take the "most wanted" selfie.

And everyone including nandini posed and rishabh clicked the selfie with his phone and sent to molly.

Mukti: ok guys lets go..come rishu..let the couple have some privacy.

Manik hugged mukti and said dramatically "mukti tu ni hoti toh mera kya hota!!"

Cabir: mai hu na..(and they all laughed)

Everyone walked away leaving manik and nandini alone.

Manik: so you remember your promise , right?

Nandini: (acting innocent) which promise?

Manik started walking towards her with slow steps and she was moving back.

Manik: oh so u forgot?? Shall i remind u??

Nandini: kya...kya...yaad dilaoge?
She hit the wall and now stuck between manik and wall. Manik started tracing his fingers on her bare arms, she shivered.

Manik: bolo yaad dilaun??

Nandini: manik..koi ajaega..

Manik: so ??

Nandini: ok ok mujhe yaad hai..mai ajaungi..ab chale please?

Manik smiled and freed her..he went and met alok sheetal and abhi. After spending sometime with them. He retired to his room . everyone rested in their rooms as from tomorrow the back to back events will leave everyone breathless and without any free time.
At night, manik messaged nandini
"i m at the poolside...back of resort building...come fast...waiting for u.."

Nandini replied
" i ll be there in 5 mins"

Nandini went to alok and sheetal!

Nandini: amma, appa, manik wants to talk about something, so he is calling me to meet him, can i go?? (shyly)

Sheetal : of course beta u can go but come back early and sleep properly, tomorrow is your day..u have to look the best

Nandini: ok amma

Alok: jao jaldi..go run

Nandini: (hugged them together) bye ..and yeah i love you both!!

Alok and sheetal: we love you too beta

Nandini came on the poolside and saw manik with his guitar sitting on a bench and a veena placed on the mat on the ground beside him. She got confused. She walked ahead and palmed his eyes from behind.

Manik: of course its you nandini
She didn't remove her palms

Manik: nandini, i can recognise your footsteps, you can't fool me!

Nandini removed her palm and walked across to sit beside him

Nandini: whats all this?? (pointing towards the veena.

Manik: i'll answer that later, first listen, i want to ask something..

Nandini: yeah ok..i am listening!

Manik: nandini, mom dad want to gift us honeymoon package, they want to know where u would like to go..

Nandini: (butterflies doing somersaults in her tummy) honeymoon??

Manik: yeah (naughty)

Manik: i was thinking we should go somewhere where we need to wear lesser number of cloths..like somewhere in the Mediterranean , on a secluded, private island..what say??

Nandini: (widened eyes) less clothes...private island...mediterranean...(she gulped)

Manik: you didn't like the idea..ok ...then...lets go to the poles...ummm...switzerland...ice all around..no need to go out...you me alone in our room,,fire lit up to warm us...although we wont need that...you know we can keep each other warm..how's this??

Nandini was confused as the wild ideas of manik were increasing the butterfly somersaults in her tummy whereas her mind was not ready to give in to the intimacy so soon. Manik understood her mental turmoil but he wanted that she should open up herself. He too didn't want the intimacy thing so soon.

Nandini: manik...i wanted to say that...can we go on honeymoon when we really feel like..i guess then we would be able to enjoy much more.. i want to frankly tell you that i wont be comfortable so soon (she took his palm in her hers) have i offended you??

Manik: no sweetheart i can understand..and i too think we should take it slow..earlier i was just teasing u!

Nandini: Hawwwww!! You prove again you are a MONSTER!! (she hit him and he pulled her for a tight hug)

Manik: (still hugging) nandini I LOVE U...

Nandini: (taken aback..she broke the hug to look into his eyes) manik

Manik: nandini u don't need to reciprocate my feelings instantly...take your time...i have confessed ..that doesn't mean it should be a burden on you...say it when u truly feel it...

Nandini hugged him again and was not ready to leave himn

Manik: nandini , baby...dont you want to know why veena and guitar are here??

Nandini: no please let me be like this!

Manik: ok..as you wish..but i need to tell u , so i m speaking you have to just hear.

Nandini: ok i am listening!

Manik: (smiling) well fab 4 want us to prepare for 2 songs...one for the sangeet and the other for reception...they want the sangeet performance to be a fusion ...so i'll play guitar and you veena..are you willing to do that??

Nandini broke the hug

Nandini: hmmm i guess i have no other option...lets start..instruct me what i have to do?

And then they practiced together for 5 hours straight..at 2 a.m. finally they retired to their respective rooms..to welcome the most awaited day of their life...
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Credits to the writer- Manini Mehra