Hustle For Love |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

54. The One Where Love Bloomed: An Epilogue

A/N : Hello readers, welcome for the last time. I am too overwhelmed to say anything more. I will let you guys do the talking today, after you finish reading!

Happy Reading!

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The Taj Mahal Palace, Colaba, Mumbai circa 2020

(Reception : The Emerald & Jade Room)

Nandini Murthy

"Aaalllll! I cannot believe that you guys are finally doing this!! I have waited for so damn long!" I squealed in excitement, as I dashed into the gorgeous venue all deck up in hues of rose-gold & hugged her tightly. I was breathless in excitement as my bestie Aliya was finally tying the knot with her longtime beau, Dhruv; that too in India! I was home after so many damn years!

"Nandi, I am so damn nervous" she whispered, with happy dewy eyes and glanced at me for assurance. I laughed my heart out seeing her in distress & then turned to watch Manik who was standing with Harshad & Cabir and chatting jovially.

"Don't worry, take the plunge, Aal. They get a bit difficult over time, but they're a trainable specie" I winked and Aliya giggled hearing my remark.

"It's so good to be back together like this, just like how we did at your & Manik's wedding last time!" she reminisced cheerfully and I smiled at the memory. It had been a year & half now, since my Manik and I tied the knot, in a grand celebration with all our loved ones near us, but that was only our wedding 2.O i.e. the social wedding; what no one really knew was, Manik and I had secretly gotten our marriage registered a week before the actual celebratory day, hiding the real date from everyone! It was our little secret! No one would know the actual date of our wedding anniversary & that way we could always celebrate it privately with romantic getaways forever! Our little date of love was forever going to stay ours to cherish and the social date would be when we celebrated with everyone else! Romantic, right? It was my idea! Obviously! You think Manik Malhotra is capable of so much thinking? He's perpetually busy whining for basics like, "Nandu, where is my white tee? The one with Kung Fu Panda illustration on it? It's my favorite! I can't find it! Where'd you keep it?". This one and half years of marriage has been blissful to say the least; for starters, it was less complicated than we anticipated. Our family & friends have been more than supportive, and Manik? I think he has finally found the family he was looking for since childhood & to be honest, that is why I indulge him in all his childish demands - this is my way of giving him back some part of his lost childhood..

I looked around us, we all were here; Manik, me, Aaliya, Dhruv, Aryamann, Harshad, Navya, Cabir, Priyank, Soha and even Mukti! Mukti stayed with Appa now, after her divorce with Abhimanyu. It was a rocky end to their relationship but Mukti was moving on. I had suggested that Appa asked her to come stay with him so that she could be close to her family. I knew like Manik, with time Mukti would accept Appa too & maybe Manik & Mukti could reconcile too? With her we were on the right path for now, but it was a long way home. For starters, she didn't hold any animosity against me, considering I am Abhimanyu's sister, and I am just grateful for that.

"Nandini" I heard Aliya's solemn voice and turned to look at her. She was looking a bit anxious. She was having cold feet, I figured & instead of laughing this time, I smiled at her encouragingly.

"Babe, how'd you know this was the right time? I mean, to get married? I mean, how do you know? I love Dhruv and I want to be married to him, but you know right, Dhruv just started his enterprise, and there is a lot of pressure on him..are..are we doing this right? Should we have taken some time to tie the knot? We're not hurrying into this, right?" she finally voiced her fear and I looked at her understandingly. I could relate to it. I loved Manik, but even I had cold feet when we were about to be married - in my case, Manik himself talked me out of it & today I figured, my bestie needed it too.