An arranged journey to forever!✔️

112

An year ago in London,

Nandini stirred on the bed as she heard disturbing noises from the outside . She opened her eyes to see Manik sleeping on his side. Who could it be ? As a matter of fact, all that clicked Nandini's mind first was a thief. She looked at Manik who was sleeping soundly with his head into the pillow but he had to get up. What if it really was a thief. They did not even have the house help on duty today.

"Manik, Manik get up" said Nandini tapping his back . Not seeing him flinch, she gave a tight spank on his arms.

"Oww,what the hell" screamed Manik as he got up rubbing his arms.
" I was sleeping, what is wrong with you?" asked Manik looking at Nandini unbelievably who in turn was glaring at him.

"Heck with your sleep, there's a thief in the house" said Nandini .

"Whatt?" asked Manik confused. Early morning , 5 or 6 am. Nandini was telling him that there was a thief in the house.

"What what? Can you be a little in your surroundings and hear all this noise?" said Nandini as she shushed him and gestured him to listen carefully.

"Do you hear? All this khat pat?" asked Nandini as the intensity of the voices increased.

Manik looked at her uninterested as he tried to focus and hear what she was trying to make him hear. All he could hear was utensils clashing, an oven running maybe.

"What could a thief possible steal from kitchen Nandini? Let him take whatever he wants to and let me sleep" said Manik going back into the bed .

"Are you crazy? Get up" said Nandini pulling him up again much to his annoyance.

"Nandini koi house help ho ga yaar" said Manik looking at him. The girl had successfully managed to send his sleep far away.

"House help nahi hai aaj Manik. And besides obviously kitchen se no one can steal anything, but how is there someone in the house? And Amayra is out in her room. We need to go" said Nandini. Hearing of Amayra,Manik had the horses of his brain running. He got up in no time followed by Nandini as the two went out of the room.

"Are we going like this?" said Nandini

"What do you mean? You want to do your makeup and stuff?" Said Manik trying to speak low.

"No I mean what if they would have some weapon or something" said Nandini holding him by his arms stopping him

"Gosh, you stop watching those Bollywoods I am telling you. Lets go check on Amayra first" said Manik holding her hands tightly as they creeped towards Amayra's room which was on the same floor while the kitchen was downstairs.

They entered the room to find it empty. Manik looked at Nandini to see her getting all worked up and tensed . Tightening his hold on her hand, he checked in the washroom but she was not there.
It did not take a moment for Manik to run down from where all of the voices were coming from followed by Nandini. Manik was running ahead and Nandini was trying to match up with his steps as he turned back making her collide to him hardly.

"You stay here" said Manik as he proceeded towards the dining area following the noises but what was he even expecting. Nandini followed him ignoring his words completely. Manik sighed knowing Nandini obviously did not listen to him , he could feel him following her. He peeked into the kitchen and there, there was Amayra doing something with the utensils.

Manik let go of his breath that he was holding all this while and gestured Nandini to look inside. She chuckled seeing what Amayra had made of herself. Apron all messed up with the batter, was she trying to bake?

Nandini went inside to check upon her followed by Nandini.
"Here is your thief" said Manik eyeing Nandini and Amayra as Amayra looked at him expressionless confusing him.

"What happened?" asked Manik bending to her level, he still could not make out how would she have managed arranging for that stool and standing up on that moreover why.

"Happy Father's Day" said Amayra kissing his cheeks . Manik took a second to settle and had a wide smile as soon as he did. He picked her up in his arms and nuzzled in her cheeks dropping a peck there.
"Thankyou so much Amayra. I love you" said Manik smiling at her.
"But I hate you Dad" said Amayra as tears welled up in her eyes worrying both Manik and Nandini.

"Why do you hate me?" said Manik wiping off her tears
"You ruined her surprise Manik, not done at all" said Nandini looking around the kitchen and understanding what she was trying to do.

"What surprise?" asked Manik looking at Nandini and then at his little cutie.
"I was trying to bake a cake Dad. but you came in" said Amayra welcoming a fresh stream of tears .

Though Manik would have turned the world upside down seeing the tears in his daughters eyes but today, he could not help but feel happy about it, feel happy about the efforts that she was putting in for him, to make him feel special and Nandini could see through him ofcourse. Taking Amayra from his arms, she first cleaned her hands and face which had pecks of cream and bread.

"Amayra we did not know you were here and then you could have asked me to help you na? What if you would have hurt yourself?" asked Nandini taking off her messed up apron.

"Sorry Mamma but you were very tired yesterday so.." said Amayra looking down. Nandini looked at Manik to see him looking at them.

"What now Mamma? I wanted to surprise dad and tell him that he's the best" said Amayra looking at Manik who passed her a small smile.

"You can do that even now Amayra" said Nandini as she led her to Manik who kneeled down on her level. Amayra hugged him tight as he embraced the little figure in his arms.

"You are the best dad. I love you a lot. Thankyou for everything that you do for me and mamma" said Amayra making Manik feel the happiest. All that had happened, all that went wrong everything unsettled felt perfect when he had his daughter and his wife with him. Each single day, returning from work, all the tiredness went flying away when he was hugged by Amayra, when he was made to feel special by Nandini. He could not have been happier in this life. Blinking his eyes and shooing away the tears that were formed in his eyes,

"You are the best daughter trust me and I love you too. Thankyou baby" said Manik tightening the hug as Nandini joined the duo kneeling on the floor

"And I love you guys the most" said Nandini dropping a kiss on both of their heads as Manik hugged her back.

"Now, about the cake, we will make it together, all three of us okay?" said Nandini cheering Amayra up.

"Yayy yessss, I will go and change first and mamma and dad you two go freshen up too" said Amayra or rather ordered and went running away from the kitchen only to return in a nanosec

"Dad you are not going to office today" said Amayra and went upstairs again leaving a chuckling Manik behing who got up and helped Nandini get up. Hugging her tightly and dropping a kiss on her head ,"Thankyou for making me a dad",said he.

The day followed with this beautiful family spending the day in. Baking, watching movies, dancing and celebrating. What Manik and Nandini discovered today was that their daughter had a developing interest in cooking, she was keen to learn to cook, to bake . Though her first ever cooking fever ended up being so imperfect, yet the day could not have been perfect.

Not always do we need fancy restaurants, day outs to celebrate. A homebaked cake, songs on the tv, dim lights and pretty heartfelt movies with a blanket, is just as perfect✨