~ Maybe that's what is being in love! Both feel they are the luckier one out of the two!~

To say, Nandini was ecstatic these days, would be an understatement for her happiness. She was over the moon, if that was possible. Manik had been what she had never thought he could be, a tease when he intended to, a joker when he wanted to see her smile, a perfect husband in every sense. Moreover, she loved the rushed kisses and touches every now and then. She loved how he had started to corner her anytime of the day just to mark her or kiss her randomly. The sexual tension between them was growing ten folds each day, and even she didn't know why hadn't they crossed the 'doing it' phase yet! But at the same time, she enjoyed these little escapades, and it only tightened the knot in her stomach, her anticipation of finally knowing him in the most intimate way possible.

Ofcourse she imagined him doing things to her, she had daydreams of him kissing the hell out of her multiple times. Sometimes it was more than that, sometimes it was just holding hands with him. But Manik Malhotra had been ruling her one way or the other, heart and mind, and she had began to gauge what she felt for him.

Maybe that was why, she had spent the last two days extremely irritated. For someone who loved the attention showered on her, a complete absence of that was meant to be a curse. And owing to a high profile VIP case that had a hearing soon, Manik had been extremely busy preparing for it, so much that he didn't even bother coming to their bedroom for sleeping either. Nandini had woken up alone in the bed, for two consecutive nights, only to find him asleep in his chair with head on the table one morning, and today, he had left much before she had even seen the sun, with a 'sorry' note stuck on the refrigerator.

Now, she was angry and frustrated. Work was important, fine, but that is not any liberty to ignore your lovely wife, is it? She was about to stomp her feet and maybe message Manik about how angry she was when her phone pinged with a message.

" Nandini!".

Manik never messaged her like that, not her full name at least. All her anger was gone as worry took it's place, and Nandini ended up dialing his number, that he received before the first ring itself.

" Manik? What's wrong?", Nandini enquired, as she heard him sigh.

" I am just scared!", Now this wasn't what she had expected to hear, but the answer only made her smile. The most evident proof of how comfortable you are someone is when you don't hesitate to share your fears with them.

" You are The Manik Malhotra! All the lawyers around you are scared of you, and you are saying you are scared?", Nandini tried to cajole him with humour, but it fell flat as she heard him sigh.

" It's about an innocent Nandini. One fault and she will loose her chance at life. One fault and so many people will loose their faith in our judiciary!", Manik explained what she already knew. The case was against a high profile client's only son, who had tried to sabotage a girl, and the case was covered was almost all the big media houses.

" Manik! That's exactly why you need to win, and you will win, okay? Just trust me on this. I know you have given this case much more than your sweat and it's your Nandini's unfaltering faith in you. Just go and give your best shot!", Nandini gave a full blown lecture like she did to her students at college.

" My Nandini?" He laughed into the phone, and that made her bite her lower lip.

" Of all that I said, this caught your attention?", Nandini rolled her eyes, trying to dodge what she clearly knew was coming her way.

" Ofcourse. Makes me add a few more points to the list", he smirked on the other side, knowing well she was beet root red by now.

"List? What list? I don't know any list!", Nandini acted non-chalant, rolling both her lips in to avoid smiling that much.

" Ahaan? I will remind you wifey! The list of ways I can mark you mine!", He whispered the last part into the phone, making it sound so husky that Nandini could feel the knot in her stomach tightening. He could do that to her by mere words.

" Manik!", She chided him, half smiling when she heard him burst inti loud giggle.

" Not now Nandini, save it for when I come back!", He stated before disconnecting the call, leaving her mortified behind. Him and his double meaning sentences were sure to kill her someday.

This one eighty degree change in Manik made her feel giddy, always. He was capable of so much love, so much fun. Humour and sarcasm were his hidden forts. To believe, she had not heard him talk for more than a few sentences in the entire day back at her home and even in the initial days of their marriage only told her how far had they come, together.

She couldn't even imagine her life without him anymore. The soft kiss on her cheek every morning was her alarm, and the way his fingers played with her hairs at night, was her lullaby. His teases spiced up her life, and the food he cooked, her reward. She had not even realized when her entire day had started to revolve around him, not that she was complaining.

Haan hum badalne lage, Girne sambhalne lage.
Jab se h jaana tumhe, teri or chalne lage.
Har safar, har jagah,
Har kanhi ban gye.
Mante the khuda, aur haan whi ban gye!

Nandini spent the day at her college, and the evening at home, waiting for any update from Manik. The news channel anchors had already overdramatically told her that the first hearing went good for Manik and his team. She had called him twice, but he didn't receive her calls. Irked, she had busied herself in cooking butter chicken, his favorite with cheese cake.

And hence when a sudden bouquet of Stargazers appeared in front of his eyes, along with a steamy sensation as his right palm grazed over her stomach, she was left flabbergasted.

But when she turned to him with a smile, Manik kissed her forehead before dropping his head on her.

"Thank you for the pep talk in the morning", his breaths tickled her, as she looped her arms around his neck.

"Anytime", she giggled.

Suddenly Manik's expressions changed into sheer irritation, and he made faces at her.

" What?", Nandini arched her eyebrows well aware of the reason, but teasing him was super fun.

" Why don't you wear Sarees at home? Or a t-shirt even?", He blurted, twisting his lips, as Nandini smiled mysteriously, grasping his palm in hers.

Maintaining eye contact, She let his hand rest over her bare waist, through the long front slit in her kurta that he had not noticed. As soon as his hand came in contact with her bare skin, a satisfied smile reappeared on his lips, while a naughty one at hers.

He roamed his hand all over her waist, his hand lurking dangerously over her midriff, and the probability that it could go both up or down, made Nandini shiver in anticipation. He leaned towards her to place an open mouthed kiss over her nape, but Nandini unconsciously took a step back, her hands coming to rest on the kitchen slab behind, and somehow, she got disbalanced yelling in pain as her right leg got twisted.

"Ouch!", She broke the contact between them as she limped, leaving a startled Manik, who recovered quick, stopping her before picking her up in his arms and helped her sit on their bed.

Nandini was still hissing in pain, her eyes teary and watching her like that, did something to his heart. He immediately went on to his knees, examining her foot.

" Ahh! Manik!", She yelled as he touched her foot, gently inspecting for any swelling. Luckily, there was none.

" It's a sprain Nandini, just relax", he tried calming her down, before running to the kitchen to fetch some ice.

Nandini watched in amazement and embarrassment as Manik ran the ice over her aching skin, and slowly the pain started to lessen. When he found that she had stopped crying and was looking at him like a lost puppy, he smiled at her, before helping her sit properly.

Letting her rest, Manik cooked the remaining meal, irrespective of the fact about how dead tired he was, and then made her eat with his own hands. Nandini could not help but let tears roll down her cheeks, that he meticulously wiped with the back of his hand.

" Appa was right. I am too lucky!", Nandini whispered as she tore a bite and forwarded to him. He ate, licking her fingers and laughed.

" So am I", they both continued to feed each other. Once done, he cleaned up the kitchen, helped her to and from the washroom so that she could change into her nightwear, and then changed himself too.

Nandini watched him doing all the remaining chores, like closing the doors and windows, checking if the gas was off, filling the jug for their bedroom, and everything else, fighting his yawns, but not a single complain on his lips, while she sat in leisure, comfortable on the bed.

Finishing it all, he joined her in bed, and wrapped a crepe bandage around her foot, lovingly, taking care to not hurt her at all.

Nandini didn't know what to say or what to feel anymore. What else could she want from life? She stared at him, adoration filled in her eyes, and grattitude in her stance.

" Stop staring at me like that", Manik commented, not meeting her eyes, but fighting the redness sprawled on her cheeks.

" Like what?", She asked, smiling.

" Like I am candy you deliberately want-", he teased her, making faces, leaving the sentence incomplete, open to her imagination. But then, he had underestimated Nandini Malhotra.

" Maybe I do", she winked, licking her lips, leaving Manik in a frenzy with his emotions.

He knew he could very well tease her back but he also knew this could go to a whole new level if they continued now and she wad injured. So ignoring her heart felt laughter, he helped her lie down on the bed, and himself joined her, switching off the lights. Soon, both had drifted off to sleep.

It was almost near to three when Manik  finally woke up and sat on the bed, troubled by his dreams. Drinking a glass of water, he was about to lie down again when he noticed Nandini wasn't on the bed. He switched on the bed lamp, when his phone caught his attention that had a text message from her Appa.

Reading it, he plopped down the bed, trying to search her but he found his heart twisting in pain when he saw her in the study room.

She was sitting on the floor, her knees drawn to her chest, while her hands made a maze over them, where her head rested. Soft sobs echoed in the room, breaking the deafening silence.

" Nandini?", Manik called her name, but she didn't dare to look up, until she felt him settle down beside her.
He wrapped her arm around her, and she rested her head on his chest, still weeping.

In that moment, Manik knew what sound he hated the most in the world.

It was the sound of her sobs.