Alarm was ringing but it felt like i was not able to move my body. My body was not reacting to the commands of my brain. My head also felt heavy. I want to wake up, but i was not able to even open my eyes. The alarm was silenced. I felt relieved and slipped back to sleep again.

I felt someone was shaking me, then i heard a voice.

"nandini, nandini, jaan.." it was manik calling me. there was panic in his voice. I need to open my eyes to know what has happened. Finally i managed to open my eyes with a lot of force. I saw manik sitting on the edge of the bed beside me. He looked all ready in his office wear. I riveted my eyes to the wall clock , it said 10 a.m. and my eyes widened in shock. I focussed back on manik's face. He seemed relieved by looking at me. i tried to get up , but my body felt very heavy. Manik helped me sit back with the support of the bed head and arranged cushions to support my back.

"i am sorry , i slept till so late" i apologised but my voice sounded alien to me. it was thick due to the heavy sleep.

"nandini you don't need to apologise for these things ok..but definitely i got worried when you were not responding to me. in the morning when you didn't wake up , i thought you are tired but you were sleeping till now, that was unusual , so i thought of waking you up...but it felt like you had fainted...i think you are not well, i will call a doctor" he said and got up to dial number.

"manik, listen na..please...i am a little tired that's it. Thora araam karungi..toh i will feel better...don't call the doctor" i tried to prevent him from calling the doctor, but he paid no heed.

"hello Dr anjana..yeah its manik here"
"can you plz come to my home, right now?"

"no, nothing like emergency , just a general check up"

"ok i am waiting"

"yeah ok thanks bye"

He hung up and turned to me "she will be here in 30 minutes. Till then you freshen up , ok..sweetheart , come i will help you?" he spoke in a sugar coated tone because he knew i was annoyed. I wasn't looking in his direction. He moved forward to come to me...but we heard a knock on the door and he moved to open it, while i crossed my arms near my chest, sitting on the bed.

"mom, mukti, aap yaha? Sab thk h?" i heard manik ask, before maa and mukti appeared before me answering "haan, you both didn't turn up for breakfast, so i thought of checking if everything is fine" maa replied.

i tried to get up from the bed but we all froze on our respective places hearing manik's loud voice "nandini , wait!!" seeing our horrified and confused faces , he composed himself and said a little politely " i mean, i am coming to help you , don't get up on your own"

"what happened beta? You are not well?" maa asked concerned nd came forward to check my forehead. Mukti too followed.

"your body is a little warm" maa said
"bhai , did you call the doctor?" mukti asked and manik nodded.

"i will just get her freshen up before doctor comes" maa informed and i got up with the help of manik. I was in control of myself , so i asked him to leave me. he obeyed but reluctantly. Maa asked me to freshen up without locking the washroom door. It felt so embarrassing, yet i obeyed. Manik and mukti kept calling out after every 5 minutes "nandini , tum thk ho?" and i kept answering in a yes till i came out of the washroom.

Soon the doctor arrived and checked me thoroughly. She even checked my stomach for any sign of pregnancy.

And i saw maa's face glowing in anticipation, while mukti and manik were oblivious to the meanings of the check up. They just kept a tensed expression and kept scanning my face and expressions.

"when did you have your last PMS?" she asked. God its so embarrassing! This is the reason why i didn't want to see a doctor.

"last month, but the due date is in next two days" i answered and manik looked at me , confused.

"were you involved in a lot of physical activity , these days??" she enquired and i blushed. Yes , of course i was. In the 6 days of honeymoon , we had been physically intimate almost every day and some days even twice a day, besides the scuba diving and other sports activity. But how can i tell her this?

I looked at manik for help. He already had a guilty expression colouring his face. When he saw me looking at him , he understood that i want him to answer the question. Maa and mukti were hiding their smiles. This is so so so embarrassing!

"yes . Dr anjana..we have returned just yesterday from our honeymoon" he answered clearly giving her indication of the physical activities.

"ok...she is a little weak and has fever due to the harassment of travelling and all other physical activities. I am prescribing some medicines. Take them and eat healthy food and take rest. You will be fine. " she smiled at the end and got back to scribbling on her notepad.

Maa went out with the doctor probably to enquire about my pregnancy. Mukti came to sit by my side while manik called peter and handed him the prescription to bring the medicine.

Mom came after a few minutes with Samantha following her with plate of food. Watching maa's expression i could tell that the doctor had answered in a negative.

"maa , iski kya jarurt thi? I would have come down for breakfast.." i said , very embarrassed on the royal treatment that i was being given.
"no beta..you are not getting up from the bed today and that's an order" maa spoke strictly and i pouted. She started feeding me spoon by spoon and her motherly love wrapping my heart. I smiled and she ran her hand on my head lovingly and got back to feeding me. mukti was sitting on my side , watching our mother-in-law -daughter-in-law bond and i know like every girl she must be wondering if she will get such loving mother-in-law or not?

There was a knock on the door and manik got up from the couch , on which he was sitting quietly till now. He came back with the packet of medicines and handed it to mukti.

"mukti prescription dekh kar , give her the medicines" he ordered in a brotherly tone and mukti nodded.

Maa turned to manik "beta, your dad has already left for office, i think you should go too..we are here to take care of nandini"

Manik nodded and left from there without looking in my direction. Now i can just wait for him to come back home, so that i can talk to him and get him free from this guilt that because of him, i am not well today! My husband is so sensitive , just like a toddler!. I sighed inwardly.

I picked my phone and typed a mail to my company informing of my ill health and asking for leave. After an hour or so..i received call from appa. I should have known.

"hello beta, abhi informed me that you have asked for extension of leave. You are not well?? What happened??" appa sounded worried.

"appa, appa, relax...its nothing serious , i just have a little fever but maa and everyone here are taking care of me" i assured him. And we talked for a while. Even bhai joined us. When i was talking to bhai, mukti was smiling inwardly and blushing although she was pretending to be looking into her phone. I think the proposal is on its way. Fingers crossed.

After my phone conversation with appa and bhai ended, amma called up, surely bhai would have informed her!! I talked with her and she offered to visit me , to which i happily agreed.

I informed maa that amma is coming and she started preparing for her arrival.

Mukti saw her caller id flashing manik's name and she asked me "bhai should be calling you..why me??"

"my phone must have been busy, that's why" i lied because i knew he deliberately avoided calling me.

"yeah bhai" mukti answered.

"yes your wife is absolutely fine and i am stuck to her like bee to honey" mukti shot me a wink and naughty smile. I blushed.

"your mother -in-law is coming , so mom is busy in preparations" mukti answered his query.

"arey why are you hanging up without talking to my lovely bhabhi??" mukti teased him. I expected that he would talk but apparently he didn't because i heard mukti say "oh ok..yeah bye"

"he said that someone has come to talk to him , so he will have to cut the call" mukti said watching my sad expression after cutting the call.

"its ok" i said and laid back as i was feeling sleepy.
...

Mukti came back after meeting the lawyer just after amma left . She informed me that , they had decided to pull back from the contract and also filed a case of harassment against khurana's company for disturbing me. she filled in other necessary details and i listened carefully. When she was done, i asked her about manik and she told that he had gone back to office. Mukti went to change and i picked up my phone and texted him on whatsapp.
:-* [kissing emoji]

After a few seconds , i saw the two blue ticks but no text came from his side. So i texted again.
[crying emoji]

Again blue ticks. But i saw that he was typing , so i waited.

"you should take rest nandini. Tum phone par busy ho. Koi ni hai tumhre paas to keep an eye on you, hai na??"

"manik please, if you are free then come home."

He didn't reply, instead he rang up. I received his call.

"hello"

"hello , kya hua tum theek ho?" he asked

"nahi mai thk ni hun..qki tum mujhse naraj ho" i said cutely

"nandini , mai naraaj ni hun" he said lowly

"toh mere paaas ajao, plz" i pleaded

He sighed "ok i am coming" he said and i jumped up in excitement "yay!!!"

"nandini , jaan relax plz jyada mt strain lo...plzz" he said concerned and i nodded as if he could see me then slapped my own forehead on the realization and said "come soon, i am waiting" and i hung up.

I got up from the bed and stood in front of the mirror. God i am looking so awful! Messed up hair, oily face and dark circles were adorning me.

They did not allow me to take bath even, so i was still wearing the night dress from yesterday. Before manik comes and sees me like this, i quickly went to the closet and picked shorts and tee. I wiped my body with wet towel and wore the dress and then came out and did some make up, combed my hair, applied vermillion in the hair parting. And finally i was ready, looking a little better.

I sat on the bed waiting for him. Finally i heard his footsteps and the next moment he opened the door. I gave him a bright smile and he returned me a feeble one. He kept his bag on the couch and i got up from the bed but he stopped me and made me sit back again. I held his hand and made him sit in front of me.

"manik, why are you ignoring me?" i asked sadly.

"jaan i am not ignoring you, but i am feeling so guilty that i am not able to look into your eyes" he said looking away.

I cupped his cheek and made him look into my eyes "manik, we shouldn't feel guilty for loving each other. We were on honeymoon and we enjoyed it to the fullest. I don't know about you , but i enjoyed to my fullest. Aur agar abhi thori tabiyat kharab ho v gyi toh kya...mai rest karungi, healthy food khaungi, bilkul thk ho jaungi...par tum agar ase sad face bana k rahoge toh meri recovery process slow hogi...tum sochlo.." i said
"jaan , of course i enjoyed our honeymoon. It is the best memory of ours...tum ase mt bolo k ii didn't enjoy...infact maine itna enjoy kiya ki tumhri tabiyat hi kharab kar di maine...but anyways as you are saying ki if i will be sad then your recovery will be slowed then i will be happy!" he said smiling at the end.

"meri tabiyat tumhri wajah se kharab ni hui hai...hamare beech jo v hota hai, usme hm dono ka equal participation ar involvement hota hai...so you are not solely responsible for everything ok???...kal ko agar tumhri tabiyat kharab hui and i will blame myself toh tume acha lagega?? Ni na..toh fir..stop blaming yourself!!" i chided him.

He pulled me in a bear hug and said "nandini, you are my life..i can't even tolerate a scratch on you..it hurts me to see you like this...plzzz always take care of yourself.." he said almost on the verge of crying.

I pulled back from the hug and looked at him. He quickly tried to blink away the tears. I smiled and cupped his cheeks and pulled him down and kissed his forehead. He closed his eyes and two big fat tears fell from his eyes which he was controlling till now. He hugged me immediately burying his face in the crook of my neck and sobbed "nandini you don't know how i scared i was in the morning when you were not responding to me...i ...i ...can't live without you...i just can't.." i hugged him tight pulling close to me. he was looking like a vulnerable kid right now, who needed assurance that his favourite toy wouldn't be snatched from him. I rubbed his back and whispered "manik main tumhe chorkar kahi ni jaa rahi...even i can't live without you...stop crying na baby..please" i spoke lovingly and he pulled back after a few moments, wiping his tears.

"i love you.." he said smiling and crying.

"i love you more than you.." i said and pecked his lips. I thought he would kiss me back, but he didn't.

He lied on the bed keeping his head in my lap and i ran my fingers in his hair "feeling better?" i asked and he hummed in response, keeping his eyes closed. I put my fingers near his lips and stretched it , signalling him to smile "smile ok" i ordered and he smiled. I asked him about the meeting with the lawyer and he told that the two notices will reach khurana by tomorrow "let's see, what his reaction is" he said.

"nandini, why did the doctor ask you about your PMS date?"

"because she wanted to check if i was pregnant" i said blushing hard.

"but you are not...we are using protection, right?" he tried to confirm.

"hmmm..but she doesn't know that na.." i replied shyly and he gave me a naughty smile.

And we talked for some more time before we heard a knock on the door. Manik got up to open the door.

Maa walked in with snacks and juice.

She looked at manik "beta you were crying??" she asked manik seeing his puffy eyes. He didn't reply and just smiled. Maa looked at both of us and then decided to not enquire further. I started eating the snacks and drank the juice.

"beta, maan wants to see nandini...if you two don't mind then come down, let's have evening coffee together" maa suggested and i nodded quickly.

"mom aap chaliye , main ar nandini atey hain" manik informed her and she left.

"manik, give me 2 minutes, main saree pehen kar ati hun" i told him and went to the closet and he followed me "i will just take my changes" he said when i raised my eyebrows. He took his changes and left the closet room without doing anything. That means i will have to seduce my unwilling husband...
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Credits to the writer-Manini Mehra