Love will Find The way

Chapter 51- Replacement

Nandini's POV:

I held on to Manik and I was least expecting him to kiss me. His hold on me was not so tight. He is gentle yet passionate. He is nibbling on my lower lip while my hands roamed on his back. My heart raced and I have always heard of butterflies in tummy but today I'm experiencing it today. ''Manik, stop'' I put my hands on his chest in an attempt to stop him. ''Do you really want me to stop?'' he asked. What happened to him! Why is he behaving like this. I never saw this side of Manik. I always thought he reserved his frowns and rudeness for me but today he is like a new person to me, just like the way I always wanted him. ''Yes, I want to go out, someone will come here looking for us'' I said. ''No one will search for us, Cabir aur Navya ko ab humare zarurat nahi hai, they will sort out themselves'' he said. 

''So, you don't want us to leave from here?'' I asked. ''No, I don't want you to leave'' he said. ''Me neither'' I admitted. He bent down and reached the crook of my neck. He placed soft butterfly kisses. It was too overwhelming for me. Did he also feel the same way as I feel for him. I wanted to say that I love him but he never gave me a chance. Manik was uncontrollable. I tightly held the collar of his kurta and he took my hands and put them around his neck. We were out of this trance within a second as his mobile phone rang. He took it out but he had cut the call without even looking at his screen. ''Shall we make a move now'' I asked him. I was about to unlock the door but he hugged me from backside. ''Don't you dare going too far'' he whispered to me. I turned towards him breaking the hug. ''Never, I promise'' I said taking his hand in mine. ''This nose pin suits you very much'' he said planting a soft kiss on the nose. 

I opened the door and went out while he was still in the room. I took out my phone and looked at myself in the selfie camera. I might be looking like a tomato now. ''There she is!'' Cabir pointed out at me and I saw a familiar face coming towards me. ''Aryaman!'' he hugged me. ''Tum yaha kaise?'' I was surprised and happy at the same time to see him. ''Strange! Sirf tum log aa sakte ho kya shaadi mein. Stupid question, I came for Cabir Navya ki shaadi''he said. ''I have been looking for you since long, where were you?'' he asked. Ab tak Manik aaya kyu nahi, I looked for him but he is no where to be seen. ''Ek call karne gayi thi'' I lied to him. ''Manik, kaha hai, did you see him?'' he asked me. ''Ha, he might be in the backyard'' I said and we saw Manik coming. ''Tum kab aaye ho? What a surprise!'' Manik was surprised to see Aryaman and they hugged each other. ''I have a surprise for you'' Manik said to Aryaman. ''Dude, you don't even know that I'll come'' Aryaman said not believing him. ''Not only for you, for Cabir, for Nandini and for all of us'' he said. We were together till now but what surprise Manik is talking about?

''Iss happy occasion mein hum sabka ek group selfie tho banta hai'' Manik said and everyone posed for a groupfie. ''Guess what! Dhruv, today he went to Pune for ViralFilmy Awards screening and the inside news is that our movie won in 8 categories'' Manik announced. I can't believe what he said. Cabir hugged Manik as soon as he announced it. ''Matlab 8 awards for our movie, that's great'' Aryaman exclaimed. ''I'm so happy for us, that's a great start indeed'' I cheered them too. ''Wo 8 categories kya hai?'' Navya was enthusiastic. ''Best regional film, Best original screenplay, Best background score, Best supporting actor, Best Director, Best cinematography, Best actor and actress'' he said. ''This is mind-blowing Manik, I can't believe, I'm so happy'' Cabir said. ''Me too, Dhruv said kal tak official confirmation aa jayega, but until then congratulations to the whole team'' he said. Manik looked so happy and content. After all he worked so hard for his father's dream. 

''Congratulations to the best actress of the year'' he whispered to me. ''Thank you to the best actor of the year'' I said to him. ''Main aaj bahut khush hu'' he need not say as I could see it in him. ''Main bhi'' I said. ''But please stop blushing, shaadi nahi hai tumhari aaj'' he teased me. He pulled me with my pallu but released me as Aryaman neared us. ''This is the time for a happy dance Manik, C'mon'' Aryaman took Manik with him. I never thought Aryaman kabhi mera aur Manik ke beech mein haddi ban jayega. Today, I strongly felt Manik and I have a same feeling on each other. I think main jo bhi feel karti hu uske baare mein, mujhe bata dena chahiye usse. Yes, I should not delay it. But main ye kaise karu? What will he think if I propose first? Agar usne reject kiya tho! Nahi reject wo nahi karega because I know he won't refuse. But what if he makes fun of me?

I wanted him to know about my love but mujhe pehle nahi batana. Oh God! Why my relationships had to be this complicated always! Kya karu aisa! I thought for a while until this master plan crossed my mind. Agar maine ek love letter likh ke diya tho main technically usse propose kar raha hu but I'll not be the one who will tell it first. Ye idea mujhe sahi lag raha hai, after all Manik was quite impressed with the idea of love letter when Navya wrote it for Cabir. I hope ye idea fail nahi hoga. Kal award ke announcement ke baad, main usse love letter dungi. Mr. Malhotra, Miss. Murthy tum ko kabhi nahi chodne wali hai. You will be mine.

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Manik's POV:

''What happened Manik? Aryaman ko dekh ke tum sirf surprised nahi shocked bhi lag rahe ho?'' Cabir asked me. ''You're right, he doesn't know about my feelings for Nandini. In fact Aryaman thinks that I and Nandini are not on good terms. I can't risk telling him anything about us'' I was concerned about it. ''But why? I mean Aryaman is your best friend, agar tum iss baat mujhse share kar sakte ho to usse bhi share karna chahiye na'' Cabir suggested. "No Cabir, Aryaman ke according tho me and Siya are eternal lovers. Pehle, he used to make fun of me and Siya but since Tara died, he changed completely. He thinks pyaar sirf ek baar hota hai tho usse Tara se hua aur mujhe Siya se. He may not receive well about my idea of loving Nandini. He will think that I'm cheating on Siya. So jab tak main Siya ko sab kuch nahi bolunga, tab tak Aryaman ko Nandini ke baare mein kuch pata nahi chalna chahiye'' I hope Nandini se main sab kuch share kar paatha. 

''Don't worry, first talk to Nandini and Siya and then sort anything with Aryaman too'' Cabir wished me all the best. ''Once again congratulations on your wedding and the award too'' I wished him before leaving. I asked him if he could come to Dhruv's office before the official announcement and he readily agreed. ''Nayi nayi shaadi hua uska'' Aryaman whined for calling Cabir. ''But main aa jaunga, because this movie was my dream and Navya is the one who helped me make it true, so wo aaj mujhe mana nahi karegi'' Cabir said. ''Kitna naseebwala hai na Cabir, uska true love jo mila usko'' Aryaman said. ''Waise tum bhi naseeb wala ban sakte ho, if you want to get married'' he said to me. ''Not anytime soon Aryaman'' I said. ''But Siya is telling a different story?'' he said. ''What?'' I didn't get what he said. 

''Siya said that you have a new found love interest, and yaha aakar dekhte ho tho mujhe bhi wo sach lag raha hai'' he said. Kahi usse Nandini ke baare mein pata tho nahi chala but Siya ko kaise pata chala jo isko bola. I was confused and clueless about what Aryaman said. ''Kya new found love, kuch bhi?'' I ignored his statement but he didn't. ''Aaj kal tum kisi se zyada time spend kar rahe ho! Siya ke movie ke premiere pe bhi tum ne usko invite kiya na'' he said. ''Cabir!'' I was relieved that Aryaman was just joking. ''Dekha, pakde gaye ho'' he said. ''Very funny, Cabir is not my new found love, in fact wo apne purane pyar se aaj shaadi bhi kar liya na'' I said. ''So, Dhruv ke saath meeting mein tum bhi join karlo'' I asked him to come. ''You go, I'll come after dropping Nandini home'' he said. Ye Aryaman tho aate hai Nandini aur mujhe dhoor karne mein tula hua lag raha hai. ''But she might have got her car, why will you drop her?'' I asked him. 

''In that case, she will drop me. In either case, I would want to visit her place, chill there and then will come to Dhruv's office'' he decided to do so. Now I know I cannot stop him anyway so I let him do whatever he wants. I straight away drove to Dhruv's office and congratulated Dhruv for the awards we won. ''Congratulations to you too and the whole team Manik'' he wished hugging me. ''As usual Siya likes partying so I'm sure wo kal ke liye bhi kuch planning kar rahi hogi'' I said to Dhruv but he looked worried. '''Kya hua Dhruv? Is everything alright?'' I asked him. ''Manik, when I went there, I learned that even Shrivastav's has sent nominations for the awards'' he said. ''Main kuch samjha nahi, awards ke liye tho sab nominations bhejte'' I said. ''It means Siya is also there in nominations but the best actress award is won by Nandini for our film'' Dhruv said. 

Maybe this is the reason why Siya was so keen on me going to award screening. This means she is waiting for the result. ''Is there any provision to share the award between these two?'' I asked Dhruv. ''Nahi, hum aisa nahi sakte, best actress ko shared award jury accept nahi karenge'' he said. Cabir came there and looked at us. ''Is there any problem?'' he asked us. ''Siya got nominated for best actress but Nandini won'' Dhruv said to Cabir. ''That is sad but we can't do anything about it right'' Cabir said. ''Dekha jaye tho hum actually bahut kuch kar sakte hai'' I said as I got an idea. ''Jaise ki?'' Dhruv had no idea. 

''Awards ka official announcement kal hone wala hai tho best actress ke name change karwa dete hai, Nandini ke jagah Siya likh dete'' I said.