What's a soulmate? ~ MaNan

Chapter 1

Manik

I walked into my house, which was unusually quiet. Unlike other days, it wasn't filled with Mia's laughter or cries or her toys that she would keep throwing. Nor was my wife's voice present, filled with love and happiness to see me after office, welcoming me home. The only sound I could hear was of my own steps, and the silent that was screaming at me.

But to be more honest, I was glad about it. It had been a terrible day at work-- I had lost the deal I was preparing for months about because Mia had 'accidentally' spilled her water on my laptop last night, but who could blame her? She was a baby after all. I had to explain my clients, but they just wouldn't understand the problem of a twenty two year old who was stuck in his house with a wife and a one and half year old kid, when I should be working, traveling and enjoying my life.

Instead, I was bounded in this terrible and undetachable agreement of marriage. And to make it even more permanent, we had Mia.

Don't take me wrong. I loved my daughter. Like any other father, I loved her with all my heart. She was the apple of my eye and I think I could do anything for her, maybe even break a few stars.

And I had loved Nandini ever since I was eighteen and we met in college for the first time. She was seventeen then, my junior. Senior-junior relationships were very common in college, but who knew we'd fall in love?

Everything was perfect back then, and I think I could trade anything in the world to go back to my college days-- I had the best bestfriends in this world, a perfect girlfriend, a rocking band and a wonderful career in music ahead of me.

But as time passed, everything changed. Fab5, my band, realised we want different things from life. Problems came, and we had to split. Dad forced me to leave music and take over his company. His health had been dicy since a few years now and he had this feeling that he could pass away anytime, so he wanted to leave his precious possessions in the hand of his only heir, which unfortunately happened to be me.

I was barely taking in all the changes when something even more drastic happened.

Nandini became pregnant.

She was just twenty, I was twenty one. She was studying, I was trying to learn how to take over the company. And our parents thought it would be perfect to get us married, which definitely pissed me off, because they acted as if they had never heard of abortions.

We got married in a court marriage, because Nandini was adamant she wouldn't get married properly with a baby bump. And I would do anything that made her happy.

Nine months later, Mia was born.

Ever since birth, she bound me and Nandini together. The distance that had come between us gradually due to all the changes, started decreasing. We started spending more time together for Mia, got out of the house for her, took her to the park, to shop and do anything that would make our little baby happy.

Mia became the moon of my dark night, my only source of light. Her laughter made even my worst days so much better and there was nothing as good as being as Home and spending a full day with her. She made our House, a Home.

But things had changed between me and Nandini. Nandini wasn't the bubbly, talkative girl I had known in college who was determined for her dreams and what she wanted to become. This Nandini had become house oriented, her entire world started revolving around me, Mia, and our home. And that wasn't her fault, but I could see it. She talked lesser, wasn't that chirpy, and the light in her eyes of happiness that I first fell in love with, was lost. She wasn't herself anymore.