Almost Not Love! |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

28. Our Little Palace Of Illusions

A/N : Hello Readers, firstly the title credit goes to a book I have read in the past, called, 'The Palace of Illusions' by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (This is a book based on the Hindu epic of Mahabharata; it is a take on the whole epic from the female protagonist Draupadi's perspective). I loved the book so much, that it made me curious about the actual epic & I was referred to read 'Jaya' by Devdutt Patnaik and later even 'Sita' based on the other Hindu epic, Ramayana by the same writer, this is also a perspective of the epic from the female protagonist's point of view!

Okay, enough digression, now coming back to my story, which you are here to read. (This stands no place before the above mentioned stories, but it does hold a humble place in my readers' heart, for which I am grateful!). Thank you for coming back every week to read it, readers!

On that note, Happy Reading!

***

Nandini woke up with a splitting headache; she quickly turned to the other side of the bed, it was empty; what did she expect, after her assault yesterday, would any sane man stay?

"Shit, Holy Fucking Shit!" she mumbled as she held her head in her hand, what did she do? She loved him, but Manik didn't know! She was confused, not him, she had chosen Aryamann, but then why'd she want to be with him? How would she ever explain this to him? She quickly clutched her phone, and there was a text message from Manik.

[Calm the fuck down okay? ;) You were drunk, it meant nothing. Take an aspirin :)]

Nandini breathed easy after reading the message, Manik always managed to ease her.

[I am so, so, so, shamefully sorry Manik]

She quickly texted back, but there was no response for a while; she slowly got up freshened up and had an aspirin, when he replied back.

[You forget about last night, okay? Delete these messages. It never happened, it won't ever happen again. Clean slate :)]

Her smile flickered a little; she understood that it couldn't happen again but why delete this memory? Why did they need to forget this? Would he be able to forget it just like that? Of course he would. It's not like he's in love with her; but her? Will she be able to, she asked herself. Yes she figured she loved Aryamann more, but even then Manik still meant something. A lot more than just something actually, she still fucking loved him.

Manik's text messages were bothering her. Would she ever be able to forget Manik completely? What if he always lingered in her heart and messed her up like this? Would she be able to just keep friendship with him? What if she completely lost him, would she be able to walk away unscathed? And Mani...but her thoughts were interrupted by a ring in the doorbell. Must be Manik, she thought to herself and ran to the door, with an eager smile playing on her lips. She opened it with a bright smile to find Aryamann standing there. Her smile froze.

"You?" she asked, with uncertainty.

"You were expecting someone else?" he asked, with a smirk.

"No, No. Just wasn't expecting you, that's all" she managed to save it.

"But we got engaged yesterday, where else will I be, Nandu?" he asked softly and he casually walked in and bent forward and placed a peck on her lips. Nandini was rooted to her spot, and she froze again. Aryamann hadn't noticed it, he was busy exploring her place. Nandini was numb, what just happened, did he just kiss her like that? A more rational part of her brain tried to reason with her. Wasn't that obvious, he was her fiancé, he had every right. It was Aryamann; who had more right on her but him? But why did she suddenly feel so damn violated? No, no, no, it was all wrong – all damn wrong – but why? Maybe it was too fast? The hiatus in their relationship was for too long, maybe she needed him to take things slow? Yes, she was going to tell him that.