A/N: Hello readers, and we're back! This is the kinda chapter all MaNan readers crave for. A little bit of fluff, a little bit of romance, a li'l piece of MaNan paradise, just for you guy!

No more teasing! Happy Reading!

***

Manik woke up at the sound of his phone ringing, it was 11AM in the morning; he turned around and saw Nandini was not in bed with him, he turned towards the phone and Abhimanyu's name flashed on it. He had a goofy smile on his face; Abhimanyu and Mukti had no clue of what he had done, now all hell will break loose.

- Good morning, Abhimanyu

- Manik, are you okay? I know you are disturbed, but trust me I will fix this.

- Abhimanyu, are you always this caring? No wonder Mukti loves you so much

- What? Manik, are you okay? I think he's in shock, Mukti, he doesn't know what he's saying!!

Manik heard him talk to Mukti who was possibly next to him; he laughed soundlessly, these two had no clue of his doings

- Arre guys, I am fine. More than fine actually! today is your big day, focus on that, okay? We will talk about me later.

- No Manik, what happened yesterday was bad! Umm..do something, you come to the engagement venue a bit early, we can talk then. If you are late, people will start pouring in & it will get difficult to discuss this.

- Okay, Abhimanyu. Calm down, I will be there in an hour and half max.

He hung up the call and called out to Nandini, he wanted to discuss how and when she was going to the venue. Could they even coordinate outfits maybe? He still had a silly smile on his face, but Nandini didn't respond; he was about to get out of bed and look for her in the other room when his eyes fell on his phone, there was a text notification from Nandini.

[Manik, I am on decoration duty; I have to reach the venue by 10AM so I am leaving now; if the place is not done as per Mukti's request, all hell will break loose. You sleep some more, then directly come to the venue, I shall see you there :)]

Manik smiled, so he was alone in her apartment; this felt like a real relationship he thought with a goofy grin on his face. "Nandini Murthy, this is it, I am not leaving you; now I just need to talk to Abhimanyu and Mukti and tell them my plan; and talk to Alia too" he said out loud and before getting up from bed to get ready, he replied to Nandini's text.

[Okay, all the best with your duty. I am in charge of catering. I will be there, in some time. Also, send me a pic of what you're wearing; I will pick up something accordingly]

***

Nandini was talking to the guy who was arranging the flowers near the gate, she was instructing him how to arrange it, when she received Manik's text; She blushed a little reading it, and quickly replied back.

[I can't take selfies to save my life, you know it; also, no need of coordinating outfits; it's such a cliché! Surprise me with your sense of dressing! ;)]

Nandini found herself standing and smiling to herself, what was happening to her? She didn't remember the last time she stood all by herself and smiled in contentment; was her darkness receding a little? Did it have anything to do with Manik? What was this guy doing to him, was it possible that after all this while, she was healing a little? She never thought it was possible; it was true that her love for Aryamann would never die, never subside, she liked it or not, it was like he had taken control over her; but can it be possible that amidst this 'Aryamann' beating heart, Manik had slowly crept in and owned a small corner? Did she really 'feel' something for him? Did his nurturing succeed in actually making her feel something, an emotion other than anger or rage? Nandini was stumped, was it possible that maybe slightly but she was healing too? Did Manik really mean so much to her?

"Standing here and smiling by yourself, I take it the night went well?" she jumped hearing a voice close to her ears, it was Parth; Nandini blushed.

"Shut up, Parth"

"Okay, but where is Abhimanyu? I mean you'd think he'd at least turn up at his own engagement on time?" he complained.

"He will; the engagement is in the late afternoon; why should he be here now? Now is the time for us, the folks in charge of different duties to ensure the place is done up as he and Mukti dreamt of!" Nandini replied with a dreamy smile.

"Wait, Nandini! What's wrong?" asked Parth, suddenly sounding tense, Nandini was taken aback.

"What?"

"Did you hit your head last night while driving home?"

"No. What nonsense! Why?"

"Because suddenly you are behaving like the hopeless romantic you were about a decade back when we were in college! Smiling, being positive and optimistic and even indulging Abhimanyu in his big romantic engagement!? Whatever happened to the perpetually pissed and indifferent Nandini who thought 'boys are toys', 'love is stupid, it's all hormones'?? Tell her I am used to her sass now, I miss her" he laughed.

"Parth!! You are pathetic!" She laughed and lightly slapped him on his shoulder, but deep inside it did puzzle her. Indeed these were glimpses of the older Nandini, the one that had died inside her; could it be, was it Manik's doing? Did Manik have this much hold over her, she wondered.

Manik had entered the venue with a big smile. She was here, he wanted to see how she was looking today. He had noticed two three options of earrings with yellow stones on her dressers, so he guessed her dress had yellow in it, he tried matching it by sporting a mustard coloured waistcoat on his white kurta and jodhpuri set; he laughed imagining how surprised she'd be to see that their clothes matched by 'coincidence'.

Although his smile vanished when he saw her, firstly she wasn't wearing yellow! She was wearing an off-white 'lehenga' with intricate thread work of the same colour and a bright magenta 'dupatta'; damn even her earrings were silver and magenta! There was no trace of yellow there! How'd he get it wrong, he wondered. Oh and secondly she was laughing and what looked like flirting away to glory with some guy. As he approached her, Manik's irritation grew when he saw who that was, not just any guy, it was dear Parth from last night, and why on earth did he have to have a magenta silk kerchief folded in the breast pocket of his black 'sherwani'! Also, who wore a 'sherwani' for a late afternoon event, 'stupid monkey' he grudgingly thought to himself.

"...by the way you're looking ravishing Nandz" Parth was complimenting her when Manik reached them; Nandini turned around and saw him and smiled brightly.

"You have arrived? What took you so long?" she asked Manik as Parth turned around and greeted him too.

Manik smiled and nodded at Parth and diverted his attention to Nandini, "Acha Nandini are you carrying band-aids by any chance?" he asked her seriously.

Nandini frowned, "No, why? Do you need it? Where did you injure yourself, Manik?" she asked, concerned.

"Nothing serious, just the nail scratch here from last night, it's burning" he said innocently, pointing towards his shoulder that was covered with his clothes. Nandini realised what he was hinting at, and widened her eyes in embarrassment while Parth faked a small cough and excused himself from there.

"Manik, you are so pathetic" she laughed hopelessly as she looked at the now retreating figure of Parth; Manik tried to act innocent but soon gave up and started laughing.

"Waise, Parth is right, you look beautiful" he complimented her, as she smiled; then he suddenly remembered, "..but I thought you're wearing something in yellow, hence I tried to match with this" he said as he pointed towards his waistcoat.

"Why'd you suppose I'd wear yellow?" she asked, surprised.

"I saw two, three options of yellow earrings on the dressers, made a guess" he replied reasonably.

"If I was wearing yellow, why would they lie on the dresser genius?" Nandini teased him, as he realised his mistake.

"Fine. Point is we're not matching" he said while rolling his eyes as Nandini looked at him with a small smile. What was happening to her? Why was she enjoying this? Given any ordinary day she'd snap at the idea of coordinated outfits, the last person she tried that with..no she didn't want to get there now; but today she was smiling, she was okay with the idea, in fact she was wishing she could somehow make a match.

"Okay, enough chit-chat, now go overlook the catering arrangement, while I look at the decorations inside" she commanded and made a move, while Manik reluctantly agreed and started towards the catering area.

"Bro, what all colour tulips do you have with you here?" Nandini asked the flower guy working inside the venue, as he started showing her his offering. Nandini smiled when she found the one she was looking for.

"Give me one piece of this" she pointed at the flower with a smile.

Manik was reiterating the counter arrangements in the lawn with the decorators when someone tapped him on his shoulder; he turned around and saw Abhimanyu had arrived. He smiled brightly seeing his soon to be brother-in-law; this guy Abhimanyu, had somehow managed to win everyone's heart including his. Today he had no regret that Mukti had chosen him, in fact, although he never admitted it, Abhimanyu was the closest thing to a brother figure he ever had.

"Manik, are you okay? Did you see her? Did you try talking to her?" he asked seriously.

"Arre, Abhimanyu, relax! It's all okay; let us get you engaged first!" he smiled.

"Are you serious? Manik please tell me you are serious about this, about Nandini. I thought you were and that's why I supported you.." he looked genuinely troubled.

"Abhimanyu, I am damn serious, what makes you doubt my intention?" asked Manik, surprised.

"..I don't know Manik, but after yesterday, I thought you'd be heartbroken, shattered because frankly I saw Nandini's face and it is not good news brother" he completed.

Manik looked at Abhimanyu and smiled, "Calm down, I didn't want to bring this up before the engagement because today is your day Abhimanyu, your and Mukti's. But if this is bothering you so much, let us discuss it now." Manik placed an assuring hand on his shoulder and took him to one corner of the open garden, then he turned around to see the sceptical face of Abhimanyu and began.

"Abhimanyu, I met Nandini yesterday, after she left with Parth"

"What? You mean you went to her place???" he looked scandalised.

"Yes, mostly to ward off Parth, but I also had to meet her"

"But Parth wasn't there, he texted me that he had checked into a hotel for the night" answered Abhimanyu casually.

"I didn't know that you see, so I went to check; also, I needed to talk to her. I know you and Mukti had a plan, but honestly the plan was hurting her, I could see it. I wasn't going to be able to follow through it anyway Abhimanyu, not knowing it was hurting her - my indifference; so I kind of improvised" Manik spoke carefully, he knew how this was going to go down from hereon.

"Improvised?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, "How exactly?"

"Well, I told her I don't love Alia"

"What!?!? Now how will she realise she loves you Manik?? What have you done!!" he almost shouted back in frustration.

"Relax!! I didn't tell her my feelings for her either" reasoned Manik

"Wow, like that now makes a big difference" Abhimanyu mocked

"It doesn't in your original plan, but it does change things in my improvised version though" Manik replied testily, it caught Abhimanyu's attention.

"What are you upto Manik?" he asked, worriedly.

"Abhimanyu, I told her that when I fall in love, I would let go of what I have with her, but only when I am in love; Alia is not the one and between Alia and her, she and our 'arrangement' will always trump. So we are back on!" Manik finished with a happy smile. Abhimanyu looked stumped.

"Sorry, but Manik, are you delusional? I mean what are you happy about?? How does this help?! You are back to square one, you didn't progress; you are back with your 'thing' and there is nothing about love or a relationship here!!" Abhimanyu ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Arre baba, I am not going to fall in love with anyone but her; she claims she will never be in love, right? So our 'thing' is kind of permanent you see! Plus that's the beauty of our arrangement, we can tweak it to what we like, make it more relationship-like if we want; plus now it is only Nandini who thinks it's our 'thing', but I know, that's what we decided to call it, we call it our 'thing' instead of love; it's just a word, it makes her comfortable, what difference does it make?" asked Manik earnestly.

Abhimanyu looked at him seriously for a moment, he knew Manik was in a bubble but he didn't have the heart to burst it, but he had to try.

"Manik, how do you progress in this? Eventually you would like to settle down with her? Maybe marry her? How will you fit that in, in this arrangement? Will you be okay not having any claim on her officially ever?"

Manik's smile faltered, "Abhimanyu, if you love someone, you can only hope to be loved back, you can't claim it; if you are loved back in return you should be happy, if not then you were not destined for it. With Nandini, yes I would love to make it official with her someday but I'm okay, if she doesn't reach there, I just want to be with her, claiming her is not important to me, and I won't take the help of any other tricks to confuse her into accepting she has feelings for me. Whatever she has for me in her heart, I am happy to be the recipient of just that, even if it is less than love, a lot like love or almost not love" Abhimanyu smiled, he was proud of Manik today, and it surpassed his affection for him. He wished Nandini would see this man for what he truly is and move ahead in life with him; he deserved it and after all that she had been through, she deserved no less than a man like him.

"Manik, I wish you all the best then; but my advice is don't stop trying to show your love for her in subtle ways, keep giving her hints, I am sure she will respond someday" he said with a smile. Manik smiled at Abhimanyu but his eyes fell on Nandini who was walking by, she was smiling at him, he smiled back; she then deliberately used her hand to tuck in a flock of hair behind her ear, in doing so her hand lingered for a moment in her hair, his eyes followed and there he saw neatly clipped to her hair was a beautiful mustard yellow tulip. His eyes widened in amazement as he looked down at his waistcoat to check, yes they finally matched; she ensured they did. As a happy grin plastered in his face, he replied to Abhimanyu,

"And she has responded" then with a tap on Abhimanyu's shoulder he left from there, but the thrill he felt was unimaginable; his Nandini was finally reciprocating?

***

A/N : So, readers, do I get a big hug or not?

Also, to the ones' who're wondering, we are so NOT done yet, we are not even close, don't worry ;)

Do let me know how you feel about this chapter & please leave some comments! I love, love, love reading them!!

Thanks, and next update will be on 10th July (Sunday)

Until then,

Stay safe.

A.