Manik stopped laughing when he saw that nandini was looking very intently at him. When nandini saw manik looking at her she moved her eyes from him and quickly crossed him to go saying " everybody must be waiting for us, lets go". just then manik held her wrist, nandini turned around asking " kya hua" and looked at her wrist captured by manik and at that moment she noticed that manik was wearing the same watch she gifted him. Nandini was very happy that manik gave importance to her gift. Manik did not see that nandini was noticing his watch and he said" so i guess we are getting maarried soon, would-be-mrs-nandini-manik-malhotra. He said that line with so much longing as if , he wished that he could have avoided that 'would-be' thing. The same line had a different effect on nandini, hearing herself referred as mrs nandini manik malhotra brought strange kind of emotions, but definitely a feeling of pride was associated with it. Being the wife of THE MANIK MALHOTRA, is the dream of god knows how many girls but here she was the lucky one!!

She smiled and said" that sounds good". Manik also smiled and then walked out of the room with nandini on his side. As they came towards the others, neyonika asked" so what have you both decided?" Both manik and nandini kept quite.

Neyo: so shall we take the silence as a yes?

nandini smiled and looked at her mother. Sheetal understood nandini's silence and answered on her behalf " well i see, my daughter is ready for the marriage"

neyo: and i dont have a doubt about my son's decision

neyonika picked up a sweet dish and put it in sheetal's mouth saying " so aaj se officially hm samdhan hue!!" and they both hugged each other and then the rounds of sweet eating started with everyone filling each others mouth.

Amidst the revelry, abhi in excitement picked a sweet and was about to put it in mukti's mouth , but thankfully he realised on time and just gave the sweet in her hand and moved as fast as he could from there leaving a shocked mukti behind who was still coming out of the daze of the encounter.

And everyone again sat down to discuss further plans.

Maan: mr murhty...
but before he could continue alok stopped him and said

alok: please call me alok, mr murthy sounds very formal, mr. malhotra

maan: well i agree but in that case u too will call me maan, if u agree only then i will listen to your request.

alok agreed happily and the ladies too followed the men and agreed on calling each other by their respective names.

maan: ok then i was saying that since u all know the craziness of manik's and fab 5's fans, it would be very difficult to have a full-fledged wedding because once the news of manik's marriage comes out , life of nandini will become very difficult like us, the paparazzi will be hovering like bees for bytes.

manik looked disappointed thinking that nandini might want a grand wedding as marriage is every girl's dream. Nandini noticed manik and understood his dilemma. she stopped maan in between his talk

nan: uncle, sorry to interrupt you but i wanted to say something.

maan: yes beta say!

nan: uncle i never wanted a grand wedding, so you don't need to feel guilty for this.

she said that looking at manik and maan understood that . He looked at his son and patted his shoulder saying "we will have a grand reception though. The reception will be such that people will remember for ages, i promise u that"

Manik looked at nandini that how easily she managed the situation and manik smiled at his dad's effort to make him happy.

Then finally it was decided that after consulting panditji, three days will be fixed for engagement followed by a day for mehendi haldi sangeet and then next day early morning marriage according to tamilian style and then at gurudwara and in the evening Grand reception.The venue and all will be decided after discussing with the wedding planner.
After this was done murthys forced malhotras to have dinner with them.

On the dining table nandini was serving everyone with the help of the servants. Neyonika asked her to sit too. nandini noticed that her place on the table was taken by navya and 2 places one on neyonika's side and the other on manik's side were empty. Manik gestured her to sit with him. nandini then faking that she had to give a chapati to navya came and sat on manik's side . No one noticed as they were busy talking. Mukti was sitting beside manik and opposite to abhi. mukti and abhi were playing look-look game. Manik was so happy as soon as nandini sat beside him he whispered a " thank you" and nandini said " it was my pleasure sir" and secretly winked at him. Manik was smitten by her. She was everything he ever needed.

After the dinner, malhotra's were ready to leave. Maan informed that he will inform the dates of the marriage by tomorrow. Suddenly it struck manik that he had not taken nandini's number yet. But he had no opportunity to ask her now so he took mukti's help and mukti brought him the number and he felt relaxed.After bidding each other bye , malhotra's left.

After the Malhotra's departed , Murthys sat in their living room for a while. They were discussing about the plan for the wedding and they had to just do the shopping as Malhotra's had requested that all the arrangements for the marriage from the venue to the caterer, everything will be done by them but of course by asking their preferences too!! After that navya left for her home.

Nandini was still with her family when her phone rang, it was an unknown number , she picked it. She heard his voice from the other side and she looked at her family . They stopped chatting and looked at her. Nandini got uncomfortable and started looking for excuses in her mind. Sheetal understood that maybe its manik and she said everyone to go to their rooms as it was quite late. Nandini mouthed a "thank you" to her mother and ran upstairs.

Manik was waiting as nandini just said "Hello" and was quiet after that and then he heard her mother asking everyone to go to their rooms. Manik thought he should have first messaged her to know if she is free and he asked her, " should i call you later? There is no hurry"
Nandini was moving towards her room when he said that and she hurriedly said" no no its ok , i am just going to my room , we can talk" Manik relaxed that he would not have to wait to talk to her and he smiled at his own desperation.

Nandini entered her room and closed the door and plopped on her bed and said ," so when did u reach home?" in order to start a conversation .

Manik: a while ago and after coming back i directly came to my room and freshened up and called you.

Nandini: so tell me more about yourself, about your family and friends.

Manik: well i want you to know that when i say family , it includes fab 5 too, and mukti , she is our small little doll , we r very protective about her specially after ...

Manik stopped for a while and nandini felt that something is wrong.

Nandini: its ok manik , if you don't want to share! relax!

Manik: no, you are going to join the family, you should know. Its just that mukti was in a relationship with a guy named Harshad for 2 years , but mukti found him cheating on her and she left him but after that it took a long time for her to come out of her pain. I felt so disgusted with myself that i could not protect her...

His voice trailed and then he became quite .Nandini understood his pain as she had seen abhi worrying for her in the same way. The feeling of not being there for your lovedones when they needed you, is very painful.

Nandini : manik , its not possible for a single person to be available for everyone, sometimes you have to make compromises and sacrifices and in mukti's case u could not prevent the pain but u took her out of the pain and that's the most important thing. No one can say that mukti has gone through so much, by looking at her. And i know mukti is strong because she knows that she has backing of a brother like you. She is very lucky.

Her words felt like a medicine to him, which healed him. She was so mature , so understanding. Manik felt like he was the luckiest person on earth, because he had her.

Manik: and what about you?

Nandini: what about me?

Manik: are you happy with this marriage? With me? Do you feel you are lucky?

Nandini started blushing and bit her lip.

Manik: does your silence mean that i will have to work hard to make u feel lucky?
Nandini had not seen this coming but she liked the idea. Manik trying to woo her will be great fun .

Manik: ok so this silent treatment means i have to make u feel that u r the luckiest girl on earth. Ok should i change the topic why r u not speaking? U slept or what?

Nandini: no i am awake

Manik: oh thank god!! I thought i bored you so much that you slept!

Nandini: arey you are not as boring as you think yourself to be!
And she laughed.

Manik: did you really mean it or are you making fun of me?

He said in a serious tone and she felt he might be feeling offended so she hurriedly justified herself

Nandini: arey no i really meant it and sorry if i hurt you!

Manik: who said i am hurt? I was just asking...

And then they talked and talked and talked till both of them slept without even disconnecting the call. In the morning manik got up early as his alarm buzzed and looked at the phone. It showed the call had not ended , he picked up and said hello 2-3 times checking if she had her phone near her ear but he didn't get a reply so he disconnected the call and messaged
" Good morning beautiful lady"

After that he went to freshen up and then went for his morning workout.

Nandini got up in the morning and the first thing she did was to check her phone, which was a rare act by her, but she checked today expecting a message or a call from him. She was delighted when she read his message, it made her day, she thought. She replied him back

"Good morning to you too my would- be ;-)"

She waited for a while that if he replies , she will call him back. But he didn't reply so she went to freshen up and then she sat for her riyaz . Yes she was a classical singer . her amms had taught her, but she never took singing seriously .She did not tell this to malhotra's as she thought it is a minor thing and will sound like bragging. After the riyaz , she did some yoga and then got ready and once again checked her phone. It had a message and 2 missed calls from manik

" going for a meeting for new contract for Fab 5 concert. Will be a little busy. I hope u don't mind. As soon a i m free i will call u. I will miss u till then. bye "

Nandini messaged him back

" sorry i didn't picked your call, i didn't saw it. I will be waiting for your call . bye . take care."

And with this the new day started for them...

...
Guys A note for you all the readers of Kahi Ankahi Love Dose!!
"Guys I will not be able to update most probably by 13 July
Because my exams are starting from 5 July and My cousins have given a surprise visit to me!
So please wait till 13 Till then I will try to give the update!! But I will continuously be giving the updates of this Story!!
Take care!!"
_____________________________________
Credits to the writer- Manini Mehra