Bade Acche Lagte Hain | MaNan

Sharing the Solitude

12th November, 1995.

Standing in the balcony of her room, Nandini silently gazed the starry sky with a smile on her face. The calm cool breeze, the serene view of the bright crescent moon shedding it's moonlight on her face, everything was in harmony with her happy mood.

Borrowing out few minutes from her busy schedule for herself, she breathed the fresh air and thought about the past ten days of her married life. She thought about the girl who entered this house with least expectations and that to only from her husband, the only person she has faith in, the only reason she is living in this house. It was true that these past days weren't rosy for them, they had their share of differences but she also got to know that how important it is to communicate your feelings to the other one and it's equally important for the other to comprehend your words and intentions.

Her thoughts drifted to the day she talked to her family in Delhi.

They were ecstatic hearing from her and so was she. Sitting with her husband but not in their own house, she couldn't express how much she missed them. Her in-laws gave her enough privacy but she still felt conscious. However, she did shed her share of tears silently while Manik sat next to her, giving her a moment of her own. He wanted to go too, but Nandini's eyes pleaded him to stay and he complied.

Hearing her one sided conversation, he couldn't decipher the depth of her sadness because he wasn't forced by the societal norms to leave the place he was born in and the people he grew up with. According to him he would've also definitely adjusted in a new environment, not because it was easy, because he never had a family like Nandini. He doesn't know what a happy family means, how life with both the parents loving you feels like; it must be bliss, he could only dream. He never felt sad being away from his father and siblings when he was a child. He was happy, with his maternal grandparents who loved him like their own, tried giving him the love which his mother must've showered upon him, only if, she would've been alive.

"How ironic is life na Nandini! You have such a loving family and you are forced to live with a person like me whereas I always liked being away from everyone." Her eyebrows twitched in perplexity hearing him say this as she kept the receiver back.

She didn't understand the hidden reason behind his words but his glum features told her that the thoughts arose from some dark place, where she didn't want him to stay, not when he has her.

"I am not forced to live with you." Her voice was soft and held assurance. A twitch on his lips was the result of that. "I know. Your family wouldn't have ever forced you to marry me or for anything. But after today's incidence, you surely wouldn't have dreamt of a person like me, to be your husband." She didn't expect him to say this, not when they had talked out everything, clearly.

His words still ring crystal clear in her ears and she wishes to ask more but never got a chance and when there was time, she didn't want to spoil his mood. The conversation of their trip to Vaishno Devi, initiated by Anil brought a smile on their faces. The thought of traveling alone with him erupted excited butterflies in her belly and she couldn't help but giggle like a school girl.

A loud horn broke her reverie and she saw his scooter coming closer to their house. Her smile turned into a grin as he parked the scooter and looked up as a reflex. Under the moonlight, she could see a small smile making it's way on his lips too before he latched the door and climbed the stairs up to their home.

She moved out of her room to open the door but stopped in the living room as her father-in-law sat there and watched the television. Prakash stood up to open the door when the door bell rang while she moved back to bring water for him.