I came out of washroom , the room was empty. Where is manik? I looked around and saw that the French door was open, means he is in the balcony. Yes, i was right, i saw him enjoying the cool breeze with his hands in his pajama pockets.

I quietly went and stood beside him. We looked at each other and smiled. The breeze played with my open hair. We did not speak. Yet it was not awkward. After a moment , i felt manik's hand on mine over the railing . he held my hand and brought me closer . my heart started thumping . blood rushed to colour my cheeks. He cupped my face lovingly. My lips quivered in anticipation. And then he placed his lips on mine, ever so softly. The kiss was slow at first . but as the hormones kicked in , it turned wild and urgent. His hands left my face and moved down to cup my bosoms. A sudden wave of emotions ran through me and i clutched the strap of his vest tightly. I went insane but i saw him using his brains even in such high surge of emotions. He just placed his hand over my bosom , at first, gauging my reaction, to know if i was ok with it. The pleasure that i felt , made me moan in his mouth and this seems set him on fire as he squeezed them. We were still in the balcony, but my legs were giving up. He pushed me to the pillar and put his thighs in between my legs to support me. I felt breathless, so gave up on the tongue fight, he immediately left my mouth only to peck it twice again. He pulled apart grinning like a boy who got his favourite candy while i was catching up with my breath and lowering my body temperature. He said after a few moments "your kiss energises me, i m feeling so fresh . I am not sleepy. What about you?" his words made me flush even more and i just shook my head. He didn't understand what i meant , so I spoke shyly pushing the hair bangs behind my ear " I am not feeling sleepy" . he replied excitedly "so lets talk?" it seemed a nice idea to me after all we have a lot to know about each other..
...
We were half lying on the bed. Manik sat taking the support of the bed and i lied taking his support , my head on his chest. Manik spoke rather hesitantly " um nandini, i wanted to ask you something.." he stopped and pulled me up, so that he can see my face , i nodded , he continued "don't take me wrong, but i just wanted to know, what do you think about making love, you know taking relationship to next level" i kept quiet, not knowing what to say.

Does he want to take our relationship to next level? Of course he should, after all we are married now, i can't deny him, in fact i shouldn't " he saw me lost in deep thoughts , so he spoke " nandini, sweetheart, listen , as long as i get to kiss you, touch you and have you close to me, like this, i don't want anything else, i was just trying to know your opinion. If you are not comfortable with it, we wont speak about it, but please don't take stress" his words , visibly relaxed me but he is right, we must talk about it. I smiled and this seemed to relax him, i spoke " manik, i don't believe in utopian idea of love, you know where couple in love get married and live happily ever after, clichd one. What i mean to say is , yes we love each other,but sirf pyar se zindagi ni chalti na manik?? That's why i want to give ourselves some time, to be sure of each other, because we just know each other from hardly 20-25 days, hai na? Now when we will live together, get to know each other more, then if we are sure, that we will last forever, then we can mark each other. What do you think about this" i spoke in a flow, but he listened very carefully, when i was half way through, he had an awe expression. When i finished , he composed himself and spoke " you know nandini , when i talked to you first time on my birthday , i knew it that you are very thoughtful and mature, i had liked that about you . and now when you voiced your opinion, i was like this girl has such deep thoughts!!' you never seize to amaze me and i totally agree with you, its not like , i m not sure about you, but i would like to give ourselves time, i m in no hurry"
I love him and i spoke "I LOVE YOU" looking straight into his eyes. He smiled "I LOVE YOU more" i snuggled into him " manik lets sleep now" he replied quickly "yeah " and slid down to lie on the bed with me in his arms. He spoke again "nandini , tumhe yaad hai na , mom ne bola hai ki kal everyone is going to start their day late, so please sleep properly , without any stress ok?" i nodded as i was drowsy now. He kissed my hair and i fell into deep slumber instantly.

Next morning
I stretched my arms and body before opening my eyes. I felt fresh but my head felt heavy. Why? I heard a chuckle beside me and i realised, i wasn't alone. I opened my eyes and looked sideways. Manik had raised himself on his elbows and was smiling at me "good morning princess, slept well?"

PRINCESS? Wow that sounds amazing. I smiled back whispering "good morning, you are up so early?" he chuckled again leaving me confused. "princess its 1 in the noon, i don't think i m early" i was shocked "1?? Really?? Then why did you wish me good morning?" he answered while i sat up on the bed " because i didn't want to bother you first thing in the start of the new day" i smiled at his care and this also explains why my head felt heavy. I had slept for so long. I looked at manik , he looked fresh "r u done with shower and all?" he nodded again " wow i slept so deep !!" he smiled "its ok, now go and get fresh quickly, breakfast is ready" at the mention of breakfast , my stomach growled. " see i told you!!! You are hungry, get going fast" i quickly made my way to washroom. After taking shower , i went in the closet . it was attached to the washroom. I decided to wear a saree, as it was my first day after marriage. As i walked out, i felt manik's intense gaze on me, but i avoided looking in his direction and went to the dresser and dried my hair, straightened it, put on mangalsutra, diamond studs in my ears, all the rings in my finger.

All the while manik had not taken his eyes off me, i could feel it. Finally i picked up the vermillion case to apply in my hair parting. He held my hand, i looked up surprised "can i?" he asked, i bobbed my head eagerly. Of course , every girl will love it. I got up from the chair , faced him and forwarded my palm with the case on it . "nandini, should i apply little or full?" i replied lovingly looking straight in his eyes " manik, its totally up to you" he applied fully and i closed my eyes. Some of the sindoor fell on my nose tip. I opened my eyes when he was done and he had turned me to face the mirror. I looked at my reflection while he murmured "beautiful" huskily in my ears. I blushed and picked up a cloth to clean the sindoor off my nose and whispered a "thank you" to him. He didn't move and just stood behind me admiring all the time while i searched for a perfect lip color among the hundreds of shades in front of me. "nandini" i heard him call huskily and my breath hitched at the tone. I looked in the mirror inquisitively without turning. "can I kiss you before you apply lipstick, you know you will be saved from double effort" he said sheepishly. I turned around and spoke seductively " of course" and without waiting for him to take the initiative , I fused my lips with his. I could feel him smiling against my lips. I fisted his hair pulling him in, more, while he held my waist . we pulled back after a few moments breathing heavily and joined our foreheads. "you know , i don't think , i can get enough of this, everytime i kiss you, i feel its different from the last one" i blushed hard and turned around to pick a shade of lipstick and applied it .

he was looking at my lips longingly "manik you are not going to get it any time soon, so stop staring" i spoke mischievously and he grinned "ok wifey, come lets have breakfast together" . i asked him" manik , don't you think, we should have our breakfast with the elders and family?" he smiled "nandini , i enquired, whole malhotra clan , is sleeping , even mom dad and mukti" i replied "ok then lets have our breakfast, then we will wake them up, its too late , they should eat" he nodded and took me to the dining area. It was beautiful and exquisite.

He pulled a chair for me and sat beside me. "peter, lunch lao" I heard him call and man appeared with dish followed by two other helpers. They placed and served the food, i ate to my stomach's full. Lunch was a quiet affair, we didn't speak much. After we were free and resting on the couch in the living area , i spoke " manik i want to see the whole house" he got up and pulled me up too " come i will show you, "

I had a whole round of the house and was mesmerised by everything . "rest of the floors, you can see later, i guess mom will show you around and explain you the system , introduction to the servants and all that, so lets go see, them" i was excited like a little kid and we went to meet the rest of the family.

Manik rang the bell and a servant opened it "mom dad jag gye, albert??" manik asked and i mentally noted the name of the servant. Albert shook his head "no sir" manik replied crisply "ok" and moved forward and i smiled at albert and followed manik. I had been here , for the first, and the living space was bigger here but equally beautiful. We reached to a room, most probably , its ma-papa's room. Manik knocked twice and we heard " i am coming" in a sleepy voice. Maa opened the door and we greeted her "good afternoon mom"

Neyo: wow, you both were expected to sleep more than us, how come you are up so early?

Manik replied "because we were not as tired as you and dad. Is dad still sleeping? You both are fine right?

Maa smiled and led us in. Dad just got up and spoke "i m absolutely in pink of my health son" cheerfully. That seemed to relax manik. Maa complimented me "wow , nandini, you are looking stunning in saree" i thanked her " maa-papa, you should get fresh quickly, its not good to remain empty stomach , so late" i spoke softly and hesistantly. papa came forward and patted my head. It felt good. " tumlogo ne kuch khaya?" papa asked. We both nodded together while i spoke "ji papa, humne kha liya" manik spoke next " mom dad you go get fresh , while i will see, what mukti is doing" they nodded and we left for mukti's room . as we reached manik ordered me "open the door and go in, i will follow you, she never locks the room" i obeyed but the door knob didn't turn "manik, its locked" he was suspicious "its strange, she never does that" i had a hint of the reason for the door being locked so i tried to distract manik so that he doesn't bombard her with questions, first thing in the day "manik , relax , she is grown up now, of course she will need privacy, don't ponder over such a small thing". He sighed "ok if you say so" . I knocked twice and called out "mukti.." she opened the door and went back to sleep muttering "i am very tired please...let me sleep"

Manik: oh come on mukti, its so late in the day. Tujhe bhukh nahi lagi ? uth ja chal..

But mukti was in no mood to listen. I sat on her side of bed and ruffled her hair "mukti, uth jao, you know jitna tum sogi , utni nind aegi, ek bar bas get up and shake your body, see kse nind bhag jaegi" i tried convincing her and it worked, she opened her eyes.

Manik came from the other side "I know tu shadi mein bahut thaki hai, but please abh uth jaa, tere bina mera mann ni lagta h , please" mukti had to get up and she got up "itna emotional atyachaar!! Rehne do main uth hi jati hun" manik grinned "chal hm ja rahe hain, tu fresh ho kar jaldi aa ja , we will be waiting" with that we left her room.

I was serving food while maa-papa-mukti ate and manik was trying to find reasons to come close to me. His family were passing sheepish smiles seeing him like that, following me every where on pretence of helping me. I turned and gave him a what-look accompanied by a glare. I was surprised , that turned out to be enough for him as he directly went and occupied a chair. I got worried , did i hurt him? Is he angry? I looked at him. He was busy talking to maa. Is he ignoring me? I stood there , on the verge of crying, but all of a sudden , he looked at me, noticing my expression , he asked through gesture what? I quickly blinked my eyes to hide the moist and smiled at him shaking my head. I m such a fool. Ho kya gya h mujhe? Itni choti si baat pe, how can i start crying!! I heard maa calling my name, so i turned to listen "ji maa"

Neyo: aaj pag phere ke liye jana hai. But it's too late, so i will suggest aaj tumlog wahi ruk jana ar kal subah ana. Thk h?
I nodded "jaisa aap thk samjhe maa"

Neyo: ok toh tumlog nikalne ki tyari karo.
Out of nowhere, this idea popped up in my mind "maa, agar aap k oar papa ko thk lage toh main mukti ko v le jaun sath mein?" after speaking i quickly looked at mukti to notice her reaction. She tried to behave normal and spoke before maa .

"nahi nandini, i cant go, i am already so tired, aur wese bhi waha pe main bore ho jaungi" i smiled noticing her uneasiness.

Papa spoke next " mukti sahi bol rahi hai, tumlog jao , enjoy karo, use yahi rehne do"
...
Manik was driving and i was leaning on him holding his arm. This felt just so good. This is the best time of my life. I raised my head to look at him and at the same moment he steered the wheel to his right and guess what !! i ended up kissing him on the cheek. Both of us were like what-just-happened? Manik laughed heartily "it seems i got a bonus for good driving" and winked at me. I just rolled my eyes. With these little-little moments of ours , we reached my home, no, ex-home. Everyone was right outside waiting for us. I quickly got off the car and ran in the arms of appa. Manik came up behind me with the bag of changes that we had brought and his guards followed him with gifts, that maa had given, for everyone. He greeted everyone and touched the feets of elders like a sanskari jamai and i fell in love with him all over again.

After the snacks and tea, the brother-in-laws of my husband dragged him along to play cricket. I kept bhai back, giving excuse that i had some imp office matter to discuss with him. Bhai was suspicious but kept quiet. I took him to the terrace , for some peaceful talk. I could also see manik from there.

I do not believe in small talks , so i directly began "bhai is there something you want to share about mukti and you?" i could see him taken aback , he was not expecting this. He fumbled as he searched for words " what do you mean ?" "bhai you know , what i mean, you know you can share with me" i urged him to speak up . "nandini...ok...yes...i like her...but ..but...but..first listen carefully...she doesn't know it, i have never confessed and we are still in the friend zone" i don't know how to feel right now, i could clearly see the feelings of bhai, but knowing mukti's past, its a whole lot of mess right now. "bhai has mukti told you about her past, anything?" bhai shook his head "i never asked her and i don't feel its needed , yeah once she had said about someone hurting her but i had not pondered much over that" "bhai , mukti has had a terrible experience of failed relationship, its not as simple as it seems, and moreover, she is my sister-in-law now, if anything goes wrong from your side, i will have to face the repercussions, please be very careful" its not like i am afraid for my relationship, its just that bhai should know, all the effects that his one wrong step can have. After a moments silence, bhai spoke up " this explains why mukti is so reserved , i have always seen her happy and cheerful among her friends and family, but when it comes to me, she quietens down a bit, and i understand your concern behen, thanks for warning me, but you know , i will never do anything that may hurt you" i hugged him "bhai , i didn't mean to hurt you" bhai broke the hug "arey , who said i m hurt, now smile please" i smiled "thora aur" i played along with him, smiling a little more broadly , he said again "thora sa aur" and i broke into giggles. And he laughed along with me . "so meri pyari behen, tu khush hai na? Manik tera khayal rakhta hai na?" i smiled "bahut" and blushed at the mention of his name. It had gotten dark and i saw manik walking towards the house with others. I need to go down, before he starts searching for me.
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Credits to the writer- Manini Mehra