CURSED....to be together! (COMPLETE)

Chapter 30

Day 5
Nandani's POV
I woke up early and went out to find nobody at all present in the living room. I suppose they all were getting ready, so I headed back to my room. Then I thought of calling Mom because she must be worrying for us and I knew Manik and Mukti were very bad with phone calls. They could talk to you for years if you are in front of them, but on phones, I wonder what got to them. I called Mom, but she didn't pick her call. This got me worried as mom would knew do this. I called for two more times but then luckily she picked her call.

"Mom, are you okay. Everything is fine there right. Should we come back now itself." I spoke in a hurry as I was scared.

"Beta, calm down. Everything is fine here and no need to come back early. Just enjoy your stay there." Said dad.

"Dad, how are you and where is mom." I asked as I wondered why dad was answering on mom's phone.

"I am good beta, just missing you guys. And your mom.....don't ask me! She can't find her mangalsutra, so she has taken the whole house on her head. And she is so worried about it. I don't know how to calm her down at the moment." Dad said in annoyance.

"Why is she worried? Please ask her to be calm and she will find it." I said.

"Beta the thing is that this was our wedding mangalsutra, and she thinks it's not a good sign if you loss the mangalsutra. Something happens to your husband and all. I told her not to believe in all this but you know how she is. But you don't worry, I will ask her to call you when she finds it. Okay bye beta. Take care of yourself and Manik and Mukti too." He said and cut the call.

This got me thinking, is all of this true. I mean, Manik and I don't share the relationship but we are married. So does that imply on us to? I got up from my bed and started searching for my mangalsutra which I had gotten with me because of mom. I got everything out of my bags but still couldn't find it. This was just increasing my restlessness. What if what mom believes is true! What if something happens to Manik. No....I need to find it. I sat on the floor, trying to remember where it could possibly have been, when it struck to me. In my purse! I quickly ran towards it and emptied it on the bed. The moment I saw it, I got my breath back.

"Nandani, breakfast is ready. Everyone is waiting." I heard Manik say as he knocked on the door.

I packed everything and quickly and put the mangalsutra safely in my purse and headed out for breakfast."
End of POV

Manik's POV
We all had our breakfast and made a plan to go for river rafting. All the girls disagreed first but then we convinced them. Although I know they will still protest but I really wanted to give it a try. It was one of the things that I hadn't tried before. Dhruv, Cabir and Navya had already done it before. Aryaman too seem to be excited. So we all sat in the fortuna and reached the spot. But we had to walk for 8 kms as the cars couldn't go ahead. I tried sticking with Nandani as I wanted to know wether she likes me or were my feelings one-sided. Just then a guy came and snatched her bag. She started chasing him and so did the rest of us. I tried to tell her to stop and I would get the bag but she didn't listen to me and kept chasing the thief. After about 5 minutes chase I finally got hold of the thief and snatched the bag, however he escaped. Nandani came running into me. I held to see if she was fine but she took her bag from my hand and started searching for something.

"Nandani are you okay?" I asked but she still continued searching as if her life was in it. This got me annoyed and I held her elbows and made her look at me. "What's so important in here that you can't even think of anything else?"

"My phone....my phone is in here." She said and continued searching but I wasn't convinced. Just then her phone rang and it was in jeans.

She looked at me as if I had caught her doing something wrong but she looked aways and picked her call.

"Yeah, Cabir........we got him....Okay." She cut the call and looked at me. "They are waiting for us. I think we should go now." I knew she was lying to me, but I guess it wasn't the right time to ask so I let the matter go.
End of POV

Nandani's POV
It was a long day as we spent the entire day outside in the valleys of Shimla and the rafting being the most adventurous of them all. It was night when I got a call from mom.

"How are you mom?" I asked as I walk to my usual place, the bench in the garden. But to my surprise, it was already occupied by him.

"Beta, I am good. Are you enjoying there?" Mom asked me. I walk towards the bench and sit next to Manik. He seemed to be in a good mood as he smiled brightly when he saw me.

"Yeah, we are having fun. Did you find your mangalsutra?" I asked and smiled back at Manik.

"Yes beta. It was under my pillow and I started to panic for no reason." She laughed as she said.

"Mom, why were you so worried about it?" I asked and Manik's expression changed as I asked her this. Perhaps he though something happened to her. I smiled and nodded my head to assure him she was okay.

"Mangalsutra represents the invisible bond that a husband and a wife share. The bond of love, trust and faith. It was given to me by your dad as a promise of togetherness for the eternity. I know that he could have gotten me another one, in fact I already had many others. But this one was a little special as it was given to me on my wedding day. How could I have afford to loss it? It's not that I believe in all the apsagun things and all. But if it's anything related to Raj, then I want to believe in it. Would you like it if something wrong would happen to Manik because of something like this?" She asked me.

I looked into Manik's eyes to find my answer. Was there love, trust and faith between us? Will he actually be with me for eternity? Do I want to believe in anything that is related to Manik? Would I do anything to protect Manik? He smiled at me as he found me staring at him. "I won't like it." I replied to mom.

"That's the reason why I was worried, because I love your Raj. Do you love Manik?" She asked from the other side of the phone.

My eyes were still stuck onto him. Did I love him? "Yes." I automatically said as I was lost into his eyes.

"Okay goodnight beta." Mom said and cut the call.

I couldn't believe I was falling for the Monster or I had already fallen. My lips curved into a billion dollar smile as I realise that I was deeply, madly in love with him. But looked away as suddenly there was this nervousness for him. I didn't know his feelings yet.

"Nandani, can I ask you something?" Manik said breaking the silence between us.

"You can ask me anything Manik." I said.

"What was in the bag that got you worried so much? I know it was not your phone." He asked me.

I didn't know why but this time I didn't want to lie to him. "My mangalsutra was in there so......"

Manik's POV
She was panicking because her mangalsutra was in there. Does that mean that she also feels for me? I mean if she didn't that she wouldn't get so stressed about it. She offered me her showl as always and I took it as always. This time we didn't talk much. We just looked at the sky and admired all the stars flashing in the dark and fighting our own little battles inside our heads. The silence between us was no longer awkward but it was much more conformable. I still looked at the sky but felt Nandani's hands on my chest. I looked at her to see that she was in a deep sleep. I slowly carried her and placed her on her bed. Her face was glowing, I had never seen this glow before. I tuck the hair strands behind her ear and kissed on her forehead. "I Love You Nandani." I whisper and leave her to sleep.