An arranged journey to forever!✔️

115

"Nandini" called out Manik roaming around the hallway.
"Haan Manik" said Nandini from downstairs. Manik peeked down the railing to see her in the hall with her cousins.
Manik gestured her to come up and went back in the room.
"Excuse me" said Nandini getting up from the couch .
"Amayra, let's get you to sleep now" said Nandini holding Amayra's hand as they moved up the stairs.
"Mamma I wanted to play more" said Amayra with a pout.
"Baby, your friends are also sleepy. Play tomorrow now okay?" said Nandini getting into the room followed by Amayra to see a grumpy Manik sitting on the bed leaning on the bedrest.
Nandini looked at him confused, she had no idea of what was he upto.
"Amayra go change" said Nandini passing Amayra her nightwear as Amayra grabbed them .
"And now you Manik, what happened?" said Nandini looking at Manik after Amayra was in the closet to change.
"You finally realize you have a husband" said Manik giving her a tight lipped smile.
"Haan?" said Nandini chuckling.
"What haan. You have been so busy whole day, hardly looked at me and then you refuse to even come out of your gossip session . I doubt if you even missed me" said Manik . It would be wrong if Nandini said he was not looking cute. All these 8 years that they were married now, a lot changed but what remained same was the beauty of their relationship. Nandini still remembered how she thought that Manik being all engrossed in work back in London would take a toll over their relationship but she was so proud of Manik that he handles it all so well. However busy was he, he made sure he dropped Nandini to the hospital and picked her up. This used to be their time and that did not distanced them at all. It was only after Amayra's heart disease came up that Nandini decided to stay at home and go to hospital only when necessary. Manik had no say in that decision and so he decided to not even interfere. Nandini had her priorities and he was okay with it. Amayra's health condition actually brought them closer. Manik used to work from home whenever possible.

"Just look at how shameless you are Murthy. I am complaining here and god knows what you are thinking about." said Manik unbelievably as he got up the bed and moved towards the door .

Nandini shooed away her thoughts and hugged Manik from the back.
"Go to your girl gang" said Manik .
"Oh shut up. Ab de rahi hoon attention to nakhre karne hai" said Nandini hugging him tighter .
"As if I am dying for your attention" said Manik turning around
"Yes you are" said Nandini smiling at him.
"No I am not" said Manik passing her a fake smile before getting into the bed followed by Nandini who got into his arms.
"Yes you aree Manik" said Nandini pecking his nose and as expected he had that small smile playing on his lips. Nandini knew what made him smile, and what could change his mood from anything to happy.

"I love you" said Manik pulling her closer as Nandini snuggled in his arms.
"And I love you both" screamed Amayra jumping on the two .
"Oww careful you girl" said Manik pulling Amayra to himself as she kissed his cheeks and slept on his chest.
"Okay Manik, you sleep too and I need to go up. Suman has planned something . You come too if you want to" said Nandini getting up from the bed.
"No I love my sleep" said Manik laying Amayra on his side and pulling up the blankets to his face.
Nandini knew he would pass on, he really did not enjoy her cousins' company . They were too frank at times making things awkward.
Closing the lights and setting the temperature of the room, she went out to join everyone on the terrace.

"Hello Nandini" said Sujata seeing her coming towards them with a water bottle.
Nandini passed her a smile as she settled beside Abhimanyu.
"Bhai, Shanaya had called me. Why are you not picking up her phone?" asked Nandini
"I called her back Nandini. I was busy somewhere" said Abhimanyu.
"Okay everyone, attention please. Since all of us are here together after god knows how long, let's have some fun" said Ravi bringing in whiskey.
"Woohoo yes, I mean I guess it was some family wedding when we were 17 or 18 probably when we last met." said Sujata
"Guys I won't drink today" said Abhimanyu.
"Oh my god please. No saadhus and sants today. Come on" said Ravi
"Are please yaar. I will have my appy" said Abhimanyu grabbing a bottle of fizz.
"Bhai, one for me too" said Nandini. She never indulged in drinking somehow. That thing was just not her cup of tea.

"Okay so we are playing nothing and just talking today" said Sujata "We have so much to talk about "

"Yes, so Abhi, how did you meet Shanaya?" asked Ravi
Abhimanyu was taken in for surprise. He was expecting him to be questioned very first but okay.
"So I was going through this very rough phase. The girl that I was dating then that was Nia, she wanted different things from life, she wanted to travel , live her life to the fullest and I wanted to settle. We were different and we realized this quite late so we thought of ending it on a good note. Though I pretended to be very understanding and all but obviously I loved her but things didn't work out. So among all of this, Shanaya joined in at our office as a PR Manager and I liked how she worked. It was not love at first sight at all infact she was dating someone then but we found our way to each other" said Abhimanyu. While talking about Nia, he definitely went on thinking about where she would be but he even was grateful that he met Shanaya, the girl who he cannot imagine his life without now.

"Woah that's some destiny" said Ravi sipping on his whiskey.

"Okay so moving on,Nandini you and Manik look so good together. We don't think you guys fight ever do you?" asked Suman looking at Nandini.