I woke up after hearing the continuous knock on my door. Nandini was still in deep sleep. I checked the time, its way past 9. I opened the door. Mom was on the door.

"manik , what is this beta, aaj lohri hai ar tum abhi tak so rahe ho?? Nandini uthi ya ni??" ok mom is angry. Do something manik. Pacify her.

"sorry mom hm bas abhi ready ho kar ate hain.." i spoke softly.

"tum gate par ase q khare ho? Mujhe andar toh ane do..nandini se kuch baat karni hai.." damn manik!! Ab kya karega tu?? Pehle se hi nandini is angry aura b mom ne kuch bola toh uska mood off ho jaega . but the fact is i can't do anything. I have to let mom in , so i moved aside. Mom walked inside and found nandini sleeping. She looked at me disappointed.

"mom, kal raat bahut late se soi hai nandini, i will just wake her up, and come down in a few minutes, you relax" i tried to convince and pacify mom.

She shook her head disapprovingly looking at me. Ok i have disappointed her. I hugged mom "mom sorry please, don't get angry. Asa fir ni hoga. I promise"

" i want you two in 30 mins on dining table. Everyone is waiting" she spoke crisply.

I nodded "ok we will be there."
As soon as mom left, i rushed to the bathroom and brushed teeth and took a quick shower and i was ready in 10 mins. I came running to the bed to wake up nandini " nandini, baby, wake up, we are late" i spoke almost panicking. As soon as she heard my voice she got up hurriedly "what is the time??"

"baby you have 15 minutes to get ready, mom is really angry, make it fast please" i filled in the piece of information. She read my expressions and understood the urgency of the situation. She ran to the wash room shouting "manik, please ek salwar kameez nikal do, saree pehne na ka time ni h"

I searched through her cloth and took out a salwar kameez and gave it to her. I sat there , waiting for her. Such a bad start to the day. I had to sort out and talk to her about yesterday. Ab toh ek kiss ka bhi time ni hai. I sighed. So foolish of me, alarm lagana chahye tha! I think due to the chaos nandini had forgotten our little tiff.

Nandini came out of the washroom and went to the dresser "manik, maa is angry? When did you talk to her?? Ar agar tum jag rahe the toh mujhe uthaya q ni?" she spoke while combing her hair.

I had to tell her "nandini main v so raha tha, mom knocked on the door , only then i got up. And the worst part is that she saw you sleeping as she got in here" i finished and nandini turned around to face me, giving a horrified expression "manik, maa-saw-me-sleeping??" she stressed on each word. I nodded and nervousness gripped her. She looked one last time in the mirror and we hurried out. We were the last on the table. Nandini apologised instantly. Rest of them assured her that it was ok except mom. Breakfast went peacefully. As everyone got up after breakfast, nandini approached mom and i hoped mom wouldn't be rude. I followed her.

"maa, i m sorry. I know meri galti hai. I should have got up early. I won't repeat my mistake. sorry" she made a baby face, pouting.. and i knew mom can't be angry on so much cuteness. And yes i was right!! Mom smiled and patted her cheeks "beta, any other day, if you get up late, its not a problem but right now people are here and it does not feel good to keep them waiting for breakfast na?? And they won't eat unless all are present. Just take care of these little things.

Ok??" nandini bobbed her head cutely "i will maa. " she spoke with lot of determination. Maa smiled and then excused herself. Nandini started to leave without acknowledging my presence. I caught her wrist "nandini"
She turned around and her look said that she had remembered our tiff. I didn't leave her hand .

"kya h manik?" she asked annoyed "r we talking??" sarcasm dripped from that line.

Ok so she is going to be difficult. Try harder manik.

"mujhe tumse baat karni hai, chalo mere sath"

"mujhe kaam h, main ni aungi, choro mera hath"

"hath chorne k lye ni pakra hai"

"cheesy !! kuch naya try karo"

Ok ! let's do this manik!!

"I should try something new??"

"yes!"

"r u sure?"

"yes!"

"ok then , don't blame me for this?"

"for what?" she asked confused. And i showed her what! I picked her up in my arms. She was shocked and i was enjoying. She started hitting my chest "manik put me down ..what r u doing??" but i didn't pay attention to her rant and started moving towards our room. On the way, i was given amused expressions by people.

"manik you are being ridiculous!! What will they think?? Tumhe sharm ni arahi ??" and she went on and on and on..god how much she speaks!! "ok everybody, i need a minute with my wife, i hope you don't mind" i spoke as i entered the living space from the dining space, to my family present there. Some rolled their eyes, some passed sheepish smiles, a few even gave proud smiles!. And nandini gave up on the protest. Finally!!
As i reached the door,i put her down and held her hand as she tried to run away. She thinks she can win in this. I opened the door and literally dragged her in, she is so stubborn!!.

"what is this manik?" she asked irritated.

"what!! You only told na..kuch naya try karo..ab kiya toh..." she didn't let me complete.

"don't try to act innocent!! You did it purposely to embarrass me" she accused.

"waah mera pyar tumhe embarrass karta h!!" when nothing works, emotional atyachar works!!
I faked hurt and left her hand and walked away from her to sit on the bed. Such a drama queen i have become!! All thanks to cabir...sangati ka asar..but its helping now, as i can see , nandini walking towards me with an apologetic look. Yes!! I m genius..control manik control..

"manik i didn't mean that, you know it!! " she sat beside me and held my hand "acha ok, bolo what did you want to talk about?"

My heart started dancing but i controlled my expressions and turned to face her "i don't want to talk, i want a kiss" and her jaw dropped to the floor "hawww manik!!" she started hitting me as she realised i was trolling her. I couldn't control my laugh.

Ok enough!! I held her hands to stop her from hitting me and pulled her closer with a jerk. We had an eyelock and i seemed to drown in her deep, doe eyes and i guess same was the case with her as she did not move her eyes from mine. I left her hand and slowly moved and cupped her face with both the hands. As i inched closer, she closed her eyes and i ever so softly fused my lips with her. It felt like eternity since i last kissed her.

The hunger increased and i couldn't contain myself, i took whole of her mouth between my lips. I guess i kissed her with too much force that she fell back on the bed along with me. I kissed and kissed and kissed her , not allowing her to take the lead.

i just love her lower lip, its so full, soft and juicy. It seems i can never get enough of the kiss.

Oh she is getting breathless, damn , sorry!! I immediately pulled back and she started panting like the one after running a 100 metre race. It was a one-sided kiss, i had not allowed her to kiss me back and i know she will shout on me now for being unfair!! We both were lying flat on the bed catching up with our breaths and i was waiting for her to speak but..what is this!! Damn this girl, i didn't even realise when she raised her self on her elbows and started kissing me!! I just love her!! Ok i can feel her smiling in between the kiss...she is awesome and i so love her..

After a few minutes she ended the kiss with a quick peck and then hid her face in my chest. I m feeling hot..her body temperature is high too...effects of the kiss.. i wrap my arms around her securely. She is my life.. no matter how much we disagree on things , have little tiffs, .i can't imagine a single moment of my life without her...i kissed her head over the hair. I wanted to see her face but she is not ready to leave me. "nandini"

"hmmm"

"i realised my fault "

She raises her head to look at me, a smile playing on her lips. "so i can expect changes?"

"definitely"

She kissed me on my cheeks happily "manik you are the best!! I love you"
Her happiness tells , how much she cares and loves mukti..i m blessed to have her as my wife. No woman will care for her in laws as much as nandini does. And this is not just to impress me, because she does things behind my back and i come to know when mom praises her. This is my nandini, my jaan. She is mine, only mine, i cannot get luckier than this!
"I love you more than my life jaan and sorry for my rude behaviour earlier"
I held my ear as a sign of my heartfelt apology. She undoes my posture "manik , i can understand, its the way you are. And i don't have any issues with that. Like you are accepting me as i am, i am doing the same..so no need to apologise ok...what is important that you understood my point of view "

"ok then lets go...everyone must be waiting"

"ok"
...

The whole day passed swiftly. In the night the bon fire was lit and necessary rituals were performed. We had a good time. Lots of fun.

Cabir: kal holi hai!! Maja aega..

Cabir spoke rubbing his palms together. Of course, this is his favourite festival and mukti's too! Its because of them that fab 5 is famous for its nasty holi celebrations. I enjoy too..and this time is gonna be even more adventurous as nandini is there. How exciting it will be to drench her in colours. I looked at her . she is playing with the ends of her saree. Hmmm what's the matter? She doesn't seem excited about holi...ok ...i guess , the cleanliness freak that she is...may be she doesn't like playing holi..i have to know.

"so nandini , r u ready for the nastiest holi of your life? The fab 5 style holi??" i asked her so that i can know her opinion. Rest of them also look at us waiting for her reply. She sees the expression of them all and then finally her eyes rest on me , but before she could speak, Abhi spoke " my cleanliness freak sister , doesn't like playing holi, she shuts herself in her room, god knows what she is going to do this year!!" and he gave nandini an amused smile. So i was right on point!! My wife doesn't like playing holi and guess what i m gonna change this trend...pehla rang toh hum hi ek dusre ko lagaenge..chahe jo ho jae.

Nandini's pov:
Aiyappa !!
After bhai informed them about my aversion for holi, i saw manik smirking at me...this is a clear sign of trouble for me. Kuch toh sochna parega..but what!! No ideas are coming to my mind right now.
"manik ...kya kar rahe ho...you are distracting me!" i complained as because of his sweet tortures ideas are not coming to my mind.
"distracting you?? What do you mean? What are you focussing on , when we are on the bed to sleep?" he asked confused. That's stupid of me. I shouldn't have said that.

"arey i mean i m focussing on sleep, ab chalo mere hair se khelna band karo aur so jao..goodnight!

"ohk..good night jaan" he wished me and kissed my head over the hair.
Soon we were fast asleep...hugging each other.
___________________________________
Credits to the writer+- Manini Mehra