The soft rays of the morning sun touched my face and I opened my eyes to see my wish come true.

"Good Morning!! I hope I kept your promise", he seemed nothing less than a god sent angel in the fresh sunlight.

I blinked my eyelids a few more times to see him clearly and a smile touched my lips to register that he kept my promise. It was relief to see him as the first thing in morning; I prayed to have the same mornings all my life.

"Good Morning", I mumbled over the pillow with my eyes half closed and half open and he just smiled looking at my face.

I could take more time to adore his handsome face but there was something else that triggered me at that moment. I got up breaking the slumber.

"Manik...Harshad...Is he okay?? Where is he??", I really had to know what happened to him.

"He is safe don't worry", he replied tugging my hair behind my ear.

"But where is he?? I mean has he got his senses back? Did you talk to him?"

"Nahh he is still sleeping in my room..I have asked Cabir to check on him and inform his friend when they get up...Now can you please stop worrying about him and concentrate on me", he sounded a little miffed by the fact that I was more into Harshad's well being than elated about the fact that he was there.

"I am worried about you Manik..are you sure he was on drugs and it wasn't something else..I mean"

"No one better than me would know that", he looked away till infinity with a choking depth in his voice.

Of course I knew what he was talking about even if he thought I was unaware of his pain. I felt an urgent need to soothe him. I clutched his shirt and pulled him in for a hug. The intimacy we shared last night had given me at least that right on him. Even if my petite frame was no where enough to engulf him but somewhere I felt the need of holding him and comforting him protectively like he was a homeless child and I was his guardian angel. He held me back and dug his face on the crook of my neck. We froze in the position for sometime lost in out proximity.

"Why were you so scared last night?", the slow movement of his lips tickled me a little but I remained still.

I took my time to answer him, "Every time that I would dream of you...you vanished the moment my eyes hit reality ...I thought I would never see you again", I confessed softly.

He slowly separated from me to have a look at my puffy face, his thumbs roamed around my cheeks and lips to find solace.

"You shouldn't be this close to me Nandini...you know nothing about me"

"What if I say I do?", I said looking into the depth in his eyes.

"Will you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Can you spend a day with me...only me?"

I didn't think twice before saying, "Yes"

"Let's go then", he pulled me out of the duvet.

I smiled at his gestures, he was extremely calm. I could have asked what were his plans regarding us but I didn't because I wanted him to know that I trusted him. I quickly went to the bathroom to freshen up and when I looked myself at the mirror I found I had the ear bobs on my ear that Manik had got for me and I had thrown out of rage.

"When did you put them on??", I half peeped from the door while he waited for me on the bed.

"Just a while before...you were sleeping so you didn't realize...they look pretty on you", he was about to get up from the bed but before he could make another move towards me I shut the door immediately gleeing like an idiot.

***

It was pretty early in the morning, I hardly saw anyone around except for 2-3 hotel staff in the lobby. I huffed as I finally breathed after the express alarm of getting ready. I quickly called Mom so that she wouldn't bother later, she got a little surprised that I had called that early but was happy by the fact that I was enjoying myself. I cut the call and looked at Manik who was admiring my animated talk with Mom.

"So where are we going?"

"You shall know", he said with an air of surprise.

"But Manik..nobody knows we are going out"

"Chill!! Cabir knows...won't be a problem", Manik blinked his eyes in assurance.

We set out for our eventful day together. Manik asked me as to what all places I would like to visit. I dragged the tour diary out of my bag and showed him a long list of church and other historic places that I wanted to visit. He distorted his face in abhorrence.

"Tum Goa church dekhne aayi ho??", he asked in a ridiculous tone.

"Hmmm..", I nodded my head innocently to flare his irritation.

"Wow people flock here from all over the world to chill on the beaches and party and you want to go to Church"

Manik's remark somewhat annoyed me. I wasn't much of a beach person besides I had come to Goa with this set list of must see places. I really wanted him to take me there. But maybe I was asking too much for. He saw me frowning a bit of not being able to have my way with him and so he gave up.

"Fine we will go where you want", he said with a bored smile.

It was really cute of him to consider my wish. I should have been used to it by now. I beamed like an excited kid and his face too reflected that. We hired a cab and reached the church. It was a beautifully decorated ancient church of the 15th century with beautiful architecture and apparently there was a wedding going on. Although Manik seemed disinterested I pulled him to sit back and enjoy the ceremony. It was wonderful to be a part of the blissful togetherness between two people. The couple looked so cute together and for a moment I imagined our self in their places, while I smile like a love struck fool Manik gave me all weird looks. Yes that was how crazy I had become for this guy to be day dreaming of getting married to him.

"So are we done now", Manik had almost tortured himself to death by sitting through the ceremony. He made cute faces to spare him.

"Okay fine..stop being dramatic...bolo kahan jana hai", I finally resigned to him and he heaved a lungful sigh.

We set out to a Manderm breach which was some 30 kilometers from where we were. We boarded a jetty and reached the place in 45 minutes. I must say it was a beautiful place, it was kind of a small village primarily occupied by the fishermen community, we walked through the town to reach the Junas beach. It was such a serene view; the shimmering white sand gave an exotic look to the beach. It wasn't that crowded and Manik got us some food while I found our self a shed and sat down looking at sea. Manik seemed calm and at peace. We were quiet for sometime enjoying the beauty of the waves hitting the shore.

"So when is your family coming?", he asked relaxing under the shed and sipping his cola

"Day after tomorrow", I replied in a dry tone. For the first time I wasn't happy that my family was going to be there because that meant I wouldn't be able to spend time with him and the very thought of it made me sad. I found him giggling at the sight of my long face.

"Don't worry I am not going to leave you easily...dekhna sabke saamne se kidnap karke leke jaunga", he laughed like a fool and lied down on my lap. He had a child like laugh and he looked adorable like that. It felt good to see him smiling and laughing. I brushed his hair lightly while he smiled more.

"Manik can I ask you something?"

"Sure"

"Are you really okay?? I know whatever happened must be really painful but you know it is often that we have to live with the ugliest truth in our lives."

"What are you talking about?", he sat up immediately.

"Prateek", I said in a mild almost inaudible tone, "Actually Mukti told me..last night.."

His face changed in a moment, "Oh!!! So precisely this is the reason why you are so good to me", he sprung up on his feet

"No Manik..you are getting it all wrong", I tried to explain him things.

"Really!!! And like a fool I thought you genuinely liked me...so all of this care and concern it is basically out of pity and sympathy"

"Manik please"

"Listen Ms. Murthy I am fine the way I am I don't need anyone's consolation okay.. I was so stupid to think that you changed your opinion about me you really needed someone else to trust me..no sorry not trust but have pity on me...oh he is so sad he is so lonely let me give him a shoulder to mourn...right"

"Manik stop behaving like a kid okay...yes I spoke to Mukti but I didn't force her to say something , she herself said because she felt the need to. Do you really think it was easy for me to trust you just like that especially after the way you behaved with me. You kiss me like I am your property, you manhandle me when ever and where ever you want, your mood swings give me a heart attack.. at one moment you are all sweet and caring and the next you leave me to suffer, if I bloody talk to someone you go ahead and break his nose..I...I almost spent a night with you on the same bed..do you think I am all used to it and I keep sleeping around with random men", I was fighting my uncontrollable tears but I was in no mood to give up. Manik had to give me the respect I deserved no matter what tragedy he had faced in his life but I had every right to be treated as a human and not any shit.

Manik's eyes had softened. He knew he had crossed the line with his over the top behavior. He tried to hold me but I jerked his hands off.

"When Mukti told me about you, I felt really bad, I cursed myself for being rude to you for tagging you as a criminal not because I was pitying you...do you even know how hard is it for me to deal with my emotions when it comes to you...like a fool I was attracted to you without knowing a thing about you but you have to accuse me", I said with tears rolling down my cheek. He gaped at me like a boyfriend to didn't have a clue how to deal with his crying girlfriend. He took his time to brace himself.

"Sorry", he said sheepishly, "I am really sorry Nandini..I know I hurt you a lot but sometimes it is just so difficult to deal with my emotions...I have never felt this affected after Prateek", he confessed looking at the sand underneath.

I don't know what happened to me suddenly but I stepped forward and hugged him tightly. It was difficult to figure whether I was trying to console him or myself.

"Mr. Manik Malhotra this girl clinging to you right now has helplessly and hopelessly fallen for you and dare you if you ever think of leaving me alone", I spoke to his chest and I found his arms bind around my waist.

We were indeed so lost in each other that we lost the trail of time. We didn't realize when the day passed and dusk fell, we sat and chatted for hours together. Mostly I was doing the talking where as he rested his head on his palm and laid sideways on the sand and just listened to me. I told him every single detail of my life right from my life in Delhi, to my family, to college in Pune with all the needed descriptions. He tried talking a little about Prateek and I realized he was still not in a state to talk about it and I didn't want to spoil his mood so we chuck it. It had almost got dark we quickly got off from there and came back. We were on the road outside the hotel.

"Manik lets have dinner with the rest of them...they must be curious about us vanishing together", I teased him a little, somewhere I was okay being spotted with him or should I say I wanted the world to know I was with him.

"No I will just go and crash...kal raat tumhari chowkidaari karne ke chakkar mein I couldn't get a wink of sleep", he said with sleepy red eyes.

"Then let's go"

"No you go...Cabir is around I will come with him"

"Okay", I shrugged unmindfully while waving a bye at him and moved a little ahead to cross the road and suddenly I saw an unsteady flash of light in front of my eyes. My vision blurred and by the time I could make my senses work I saw a car rushing onto my direction. I literally froze there in shock when I felt a sudden jerk on my arms and was pulled backwards in a nanosecond.

"Are you crazy?? You look first when you cross a road...you are surely planning to give me a heart attack", Manik banged my eardrums with his shrill voice. I had somewhere stuffed myself in his chest. I was so damn scared by the sudden incident that I couldn't help myself to move. I clutched his shirt tight trying to assure myself that I was still alive.

"What happened guys?", Cabir came running from the other side.

Manik was super pissed on me for being careless, he didn't hold me back to comfort neither tried to separate me from him but as Cabir's voice rang in my ears I managed to loosen my grip on him and shifted a little. I was scared to even to look into his eyes so I directly looked at Cabir with sorry eyes.

"Nothing just take her with you..she is hungry", Manik instructed Cabir in a stern voice.

I looked at Manik because he wasn't looking at me. He spoke to Cabir as if I was no where there.

"Nandini relax...nothing happened you are fine...the car must have lost balance or something", Cabir tried to calm me as my hands were still trembling in fear. I had never had a near death experience.

"No she needs to open her eyes and walk", Manik darted angrily at Cabir.

Although Manik was screaming at me but his words felt like honey to my ears because they were filled with fear and concern similar to what I felt for him the other night when he was with Harshad, the feeling of not being able to see each other, the feeling of losing each other- forever. I was still waiting for Manik to talk to me or at least look at me.

"Cabir be with her and make sure she is not alone"

Cabir just nodded in response and escorted me towards the hotel. I had just taken a step when he again grabbed my arm and pulled me to him.

"Dare you hurt yourself", he said with fiery red eyes and a warning in his voice.

Okay I know I am a little extra late but I hope u liked d update do comment guys...it makes me sad that this story is not getting enough response.