Mission Manik Malhotra - A MaNan FF [Completed]

Chapter 19 - Wounds of the past

The heavenly smell of freshly brewed coffee tingled her senses and she sniffed deeply, slowly opening her eyes. A tray lay on the bedside table holding a cup of coffee and a grilled cheese sandwitch. She smiled at the blissful sight until the red saree lying tangled at the foot of the bed caught her eye, reminding her of where she was after the happening night at Navya's engagement. She was in Manik's bed, in one of his shirts.. though he was nowhere to be seen. She would have stepped down and gone off to search for him the next instant, but her stomach protested and she decided to heed to its grumbling and not offend the yummy-looking meal infront of her, waiting to be dug into.

Once she had her meal, she felt energized and her lost strength slowly returned. She then freshened up and found herself a pair of Manik's bermuda shorts in his wardrobe which fit like baggy trousers on her short, petite frame, to wear along with his shirt. She rolled her hair into a messy bun and strolled down, hoping none of the servant had arrived yet to see her in this weird and wrongly suggestive state. The sound of splashing water directed her towards the pool area.

Her mouth dropped open, watching him swim. He was agile and quick, his limbs cutting sharply through the water as he swam from end to end without pausing. There was some amount of ferocity in the way he swam and Nandini felt impressed. She herself was a pretty good swimmer, but nothing close to him.

He stopped after a while on the end opposite to the one near which she stood, rising from the water like a Greek God, his bare, carved torso glistening with water, more so in the warm sunshine. His muscular back was towards her and he slowly turned in her direction, running his fingers through his wet hair.

Nandini felt her breath getting hitched. She could never get tired of gazing at this perfection.

''You can close your mouth now.'' He remarked loudly, making his way to her end through the water, smirking as he caught sight of her gaping at him.

His arrogance. It made him even more attractive, but irked her to no end.

Nandini closed her mouth quickly and looked away, her skin feeling flushed at being caught so suddenly.

''I hope you had the breakfast I had prepared and kept at the bedside table. You know it isn't good to keep skipping meals in this state.'' He said in a gentler but firm tone as he reached close to her.

''I wasn't staring at you, if that's what you think.'' Nandini said irritatedly, dropping to the edge and dipping her feet into the cool water. His cocky remark had obviously not gone down well with her and she conveniently ignored whatever he said after that.

Manik laughed ''You definitely had the food.. Where else could you get the energy to argue from, this early in the morning?''

''By the way, I don't blame you for staring. I'm a sexy beast, ain't I?'' He asked, back into his haughty mode, as he pointed to his reflection in the pool.

''Sexy? And you? Puhh-leasee. There's only one sexy person here right now and that isn't you, Mr Malhotra.'' Nandini replied, turning tables on him and shaking her head, so that her tresses fall open from her messy bun.

''Even my cook Babu is sexier than you..'' He laughed harder, enjoying seeing her all worked up and performing such antics. He didn't mean any of what he said, and he actually loved the way her silky hair fell into perfect waves when she shook her head.