Forever And A Day || Completed

4. Regrets?

~Some decisons that hurt at present are better than later regrets~

"Do you love someone else?", The question escaped Nandini before she could process it.

Manik turned at her, and looked with wide eyes that gave away nothing. Yet, he knew she was waiting for an answer, so he shook his head, softly, and for a second he thought he saw her release a heavy breath, but he dismissed it.

Nandini on the other hand, was relieved to hear it from him. A part of her mind knew the question was unnecessary, because she had heard her Appa and he was clear that Manik loved her, and still, it all confused her. Why was her husband willing to behave this self sacrificing deity, when it was not even like she loved someone else or something?

She released a breath she was holding, and went two steps ahead to hold his hand. He went stiff at her touch, but let her drag him to the drawing room Sofa.

" Maybe, somewhere according to your logic, you might be correct in proposing this, but Manik, I have no idea about it. Either help me understand why do you want your own leaglly wedded one day old wife to find love somewhere else, or tell me why can't we find this love, you are so worried about in each other?", She had always been straightforward in her approach, and it was one of her qualities that Manik loved about her too.

Perks of being a lawyer's daughter.

But right now, it scared Manik, the direct questions coming from her. It had been a really long time he had opened up to someone, anyone for that matter. Even Abhik couldn't succeed when it came to reaching his inner circle, and here she was, threatening him to invade it.

"Nandini!", He exhlaed again and she rolled her eyes at him. She really wanted to lash out at him for his stupid idea. Roomates? Seriously? But she didn't, and waited for him to speak.

" I am waiting", she reminded him when the silence became unbearable after a few prolonged minutes.

Manik looked up, then down. He opened his mouth to speak, but failed, and closed it again. But when he saw her face, he just knew she was not going to leave the topic.

"Nandini, i just don't want you to regret marrying me later. Maybe I won't be able to take it then, and this is why I am asking you now, to explore your options!", He spoke it out finally, but Nandini stared at him like he had grown two horns.

"Don't you think it's too late for options, Manik? We are married for God's sake!", She threw her hands up in the air, and Manik gulped watching her loose her calm.

Nandini was not a melodramatic person by nature, and right now, she felt like she had been served a heap of melodrama on a silver platter. At that moment, she knew nothing about Manik to know why was he behaving that absurd, and she actually wanted to hit him in head and make him realize what crap he was uttering.

But there was something about his eyes, that gripped her. They didnt agree to his words, they had an ocean of their own set of words inside them, wrapped in myraid of emotions. She could not even identify them all, but what she could see reflecting the most was some kind of Hesitance.

And maybe, it was exactly in his eyes where she was lost, as she stood up to walk away, but tripped, and landed directly in his arms. She had closed her eyes out of a fear that her ass will kiss the floor, in front of her hubby, but like a scene straight out of a romantic movie, she landed in his arms instead.

" Nandini, are you alright?", She didn't miss the worry and concern in his voice, as he helped her sit, checking for any injuries. She found it damn cute, since she didn't even exactly fall, and here he was checking if she was hurt.

" I am fine! Relax!",  She placed her hand over his, and that broke the trance he was in, since he immediately withdrawed his hand. Nandini instantly missed his touch, and made a pout.

He looked here and there before stealing a glance at her, who was already staring at him, unblinking. Saying nothing, he moved towards his study and a dejected Nandini walked back to her room.

It was now that she noticed the room properly, and she was actually impressed. It wasn't too lavish for her taste, and neither too simple. The bed was in the centre, and both sides, there were small bed side tables with drawers. There were bean bags placed in the right corner, whereas the left side had a glass window, and an attached bedding near it, the place where Manik had slept the other night. What caught her attention was the bunch of photoframes on the walls.

She had never seen so many frames together, except in shops. She giggled as she ran a hand over them, Manik was a chubby child,she noticed. There were several pictures of him as a child, over the years, of his birthdays, with his parents. Then the adolescent Manik was quite a charmer too, and she noticed particularly four people in almost all of his high school photographs. One of them had a scribbled on it~ Fab5 forever!

But later, as she searched for some  pictures of recent years, there weren't many. One was his parents, that she guessed was just before their untimely death, one with Abhik and his family, and a few more work related, that she guessed again to be gifted. She was so lost in discovering him via photographs that she lost track of time, and her reverie broke with Manik's knock on the door.

"Nandini, lunch is ready!", He called her out, and Nandini slapped her forehead.

Shit! Wasn't it her forte? She was expected to make food for her family, and not the other way around.

Embarrassed, she moved out and found lunch served on the table, some rice, Dal, and a vegetable with salad. Nothing extravagant but enough to make her mouth water. She was so happy watching the food that she immediately sat down, and tore a morsel of Chapati from the casrole itself, and dipped it directly in the container of Dal.

"Hmmmm!", Nandini Malhotra moaned in delight, making sounds and that was when she found Manik watching her with big orange like eyes.

Her hand stopoed with the next morsel in her mouth only, and she gulped down thinking about the embarrassment again, when she heard a sound, the same one from last night~ his laughter.

And boy! She was for sure clean bowled again, her husband had the most addictive laugh in the world.

Nandini turned to find Manik laughing without a care in the world, and as much as she wanted to creepily stare, she didn't because she understood that would make him conscious. Manik stopped after a while, as he sat down beside her and was about to serve her in a plate when he stopped.

" Will serving do, or you prefer the big containers?", He giggled again, and Nandini lowered her eyes, elbowing him that led to another round of chuckles from him.

They had their lunch with silence and muffled chuckles, until they both broke into loud laughter, laughing until their stomach hurt. When it subsided, Nandini tucked a loose strand behind her ear, and raised her eyes to look at him.

" I was serious yesterday, you should do it more often, laugh, i mean!", She mentioned it as casually as she could, but she found a small blush erupting his cheeks.

He looked at her and then looked down, and then fumbled as he spoke.

"Umm, we have to go meet Maa in the evening", Manik tried diverting the topic, but it did the opposite, for the curoius cat in her immediately bent down to another question.

" Why do you call her Maa? And what should i call her then?", She spoke without thinking, for her the questions were extremely normal, she was trying to get and know her husband property.

For Manik the two questions had entirely opposite effects. While the first one pulled him down his not so favorite memory lanes, the second one made him sweetly happy. She meant the question like she was a part of him, of his life, and it made the gone loner part of him really happy.

"You can ask her what to call her, that will be better I guess", he casually shrugged, dodging the first question, and even though Nandini noticed it, she didn't pester.

She was looking forward to this metting anyway. There were questions she needed answers too, and she was hopeful Mrs. Chaterjee would help her understand this layered man who was her husband.