Bade Acche Lagte Hain | MaNan

Kashmir Diaries- IIIb

The Melody of his heart.

Nandini came out of the washroom after freshening up and saw Manik lighting the candles in the room, illuminating it with a soft golden glow. Power cuts were quite frequent at this time.

There was a knock at the door and he straightened up with a burning candle in his hand and felt her standing close to him. The flame bestowed a warm radiance across her face. The sparkle in her ardent hazel eyes from the reflection took his breath away, undertaking him to a journey towards dawn, the sunrise that came after a prolonged dark night.

The melody from that restaurant still hung heavy in his conscience. Its essence wouldn't fade away in this lifetime. The fear of the unknown was gradually evanescing from his heart as he wasn't alone, not anymore. Her impassioned eyes promised him a companionship of a lifetime, a lifetime of that mystically pure emotion that people called love. He found himself the luckiest to be in love, and to be loved so unconditionally.

The hot wax trickled down the candle, collecting on his hand. There was a knock, louder this time startling them out of their enchanted reverie and Nandini's gaze fell on the white scabs that had formed on his hand. She hissed involuntarily and immediately took the candle from his hand, simultaneously blowing air on the small burn.

She was about to blow the candle to keep it aside and peel the hard wax from his hand but he stopped her midway, wrapping his fingers around her hand that had held the candle. He simply shook his head when she looked at him in question and found herself at the receiving end of an intense gaze. Reddened at the realisation that he didn't feel the burning sensation, she looked at their hands holding the candle and she felt herself smiling in shyness.

Taking the candle, he placed it on the nightstand, its flame burning bright, as bright as his hope and he didn't want it to be extinguished.

"Sir ji, Baji!!" Two hard knocks followed the voice of a boy standing outside their room.

"I had ordered Kahwa", Manik said. The warm drink would be soothing in the chilling weather.

"I'll get it. You freshen up", she replied and stripped the hard wax off of his hand caringly.

When Manik came out wiping his face, he saw his wife sitting at a corner of the bed warming herself up from the coal sigri he had put at a small distance from the bed. It was the only source of warmth in the freezing room. His teeth cluttered slightly and he ambled himself towards the warmth.

With a tray of beverages in between them, they sat quietly by the coal sigri, warming their hands over it. The window panes rattled with the wind swooshing outside.

"The boy told me this one is yours. He was very specific", Nandini said, an undertone of curiosity unmistakably apparent.

"It has an extra ingredient", Manik picked up her kulhad and offered it to her. She didn't take it and looked at him with inquisitive eyes.

"I thought it might be too strong for you", she narrowed her eyes at his reason and mixed the two liquids deftly while he watched her in surprise. She had not been the one to get instigated so quickly.

"What did you do? Mine had brandy mixed in it", her alarmed eyes grew bigger with regret and she said in a complaining tone, "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"You didn't let me. Now it's okay, drink", assuring her with his eyes, he took one kulhad from her hand. He wrapped his fingers around it to feel the warmth and took a long sip.

"I can't. It has alcohol", she said in a small voice and put the tea back on the tray.

"It's concentration is very low, now only half a table spoon in each of our cups."