~And when you find Love, it would never let you breathe without taking a puff of it~

-Affu-

In India

In MruNi's Home

Nandini's Room

"Whaaaat?!!!!! I left you for few hours and you freaking got engaged?" Mrunal shouted, while holding onto Nandini's hand, which did nothing but enhanced the beauty of the ring.

"Do I look like your 5-year-old kid that you can't think about leaving me alone, but you had to, and once you are back, I've done something that you don't approve of?" Nandini retorted, and Mrunal stared at her, shooting daggers through her eyes.

"As far as I remember from what Mishti Auntie narrated, when I left you in a park at the age of 5, you burnt a man's most important jewel of his body, using his own lighter." Mrunal pointed out, and Nandini rolled her eyes.

"It was unintentional. I didn't know it was a lighter. Who asked him to do BBQ Chicken in a freaking park where kids play around?!" Nandini threw her hands in air, exasperation. "FYI, People do grill meat or fish, where they get to have a family environment." Mrunal replied.

"Well, that's not called family environment but creating death environment. Who gave them license for all these stuffs?!" Nandini wondered out loud. "The Government." Mrunal replied, and Nandini scowled.

"Now, get back to the topic." Mrunal said, and Nandini sighed, before looking down at the ring, which she removed from her finger and stared at it. "It's a ritual of Malhotras to make their kid exchange rings with his/her partner, if at all they bring this partner home." Nandini replied, and Mrunal frowned.

"What are they? Werewolves? To claim each other on the first moment they meet?" Mrunal asked, and Nandini shrugged.

"How would I know?! I just met them." Nandini replied, and Mrunal widened her eyes. "You mean, there could be a possibility for them to be werewolves?" she cried out, and Nandini looked up at her best friend. 

"If we could be termed as vampires by our college mates, when we don't have anything identical with vampires, then anybody could be anything other than humans." Nandini stated, and Mrunal groaned out loud.

"Yaar fluffy! Tumhara jaan-pehchan wale khaandaans kaise ithna typical ho sakthe hain!(How can the families you're acquainted with turn out to be so typical?)" Mrunal laid on her back, on the bed. "I know right! DJ is too traditional that if someone tells him to pluck his eyes out or get into a relationship, he would obviously choose the former one." Nandini winced at her own thought, before adding. "While on other side, Manik's Daadu is too modern that I'm afraid one day he would ask Manik to kiss me, for we are supposedly in love." 

"Nah, that won't happen. This is India, and people over here, especially the old generation, prefer privacy over PDA." Mrunal waved her hands in air, and Nandini remembered the forehead kiss, before she slapped herself for thinking about it. "If that was the case, his family wouldn't have asked Manik to give a forehead kiss to me." Nandini replied, and Mrunal's eyes widened.

"Whaaaat!!" she screamed, and Nandini palmed her ears. 

***

"Stop scaring that ring with your eyes, and tell us everything, Bhai." Cabir yelped, and Manik kept staring at the ring in his hand. Unfortunately, his brothers and friends barged inside, at the same moment he removed the ring from his ring finger.

"What do you want, Cabir?" Manik sighed, while staring at his little finger, where there was HIS FAVORITE ring present, shining beautifully under the moonlight reflecting off the moon, which was peaking through his room's window.

"Who's Nandini?" asked Shravan, and Manik looked up at him. "We know you can't have any girlfriend, from nowhere, Bhai." Shravan added.

"Besides, Manik Malhotra cannot do dating and all. He may fall in love, but he would take ages to realize that he's in love, until he has our help." Abhimanyu commented. "Buddy, you know you can count on us." Arijit added.

"Bhai! Whatever it is, we'll listen to you before coming to a conclusion." Dhruv spoke softly, and Manik sighed out loud.

"She's Nandini." said Manik, and Cabir groaned. "Bhai, we know her name. Who e--" he trailed off, only for Manik to cut him in between. "Nandini Shekhar Yashjeet Murthy." Manik stressed on every name, which got him blank looks from his friends and brothers, in return.

"Wh-Wh-Wh" Dhruv tried to speak, but he suddenly went speechless.

"Ho-How?" Abhimanyu managed to squeak out. 

"Well, a child is born when their parents decide to have one. Now, don't ask me to give you full details about that too, Abhi." Manik replied, sarcastically, before glaring up at him. "What kind of question is that, dude? How? Like how the hell did you come up with a question that 'How' is she Nandini Murthy?!" Manik bellowed, and Abhimanyu scratched at his head.

"My bad! It came out wrong." Abhimanyu smiled nervously at Manik.

"Buddy!" Arijit stared at Manik in disbelief, and Manik started to narrate his eventful meeting with Nandini Murthy.

"Wow! Such a dangerous specie, she is. Initiating a contract marriage and all." said Shravan, and for some reason, Manik didn't like the fact that she was getting accused, in here. "She was desperate to get her Appa's happiness back in life, Shravan. Being a son, I know how I would feel if I get to see Dad sad. So, don't blame her." said Manik, and Cabir's and Dhruv's jaws dropped down in shock.

"Did you just prefer a stranger girl over your friend, Bhai?" Dhruv asked out loud, and Manik looked up at him, blankly, before realization dawned upon him that his brother was right.

"N-No. I just defend people who are right, and I know she-she is right in here. Mein--jantha hun usko." Manik stuttered, and Abhimanyu and Cabir shared looks, before nodding at each other.

"Koi nahi, yaar. Tu sahi hi hain. Tu sahi hain. Bas tere dimaag ab teek nahi, so teek it, and then we'll talk." said Abhimanyu, leading Manik to glare at him.

"Par plan kya hai tera?" asked Arijit, and Manik shrugged. "For now, we'll go ahead with this plan. Once she gets close to DJ, we'll let everyone know about her, except for Murthys obviously." Manik replied, and they sighed.

"You're going to be a chutney, by our Mothers, Bhai." Cabir said, and Manik nodded. "I know. But I want to do this." Manik replied, and the boys stared at Manik for a while, before moving towards him and giving him a hug. 

"It's for a good thing, after all. We are with you." Dhruv smiled at Manik, and he looked at the smiling faces of his friends. "I'm glad." Manik smiled back at them.

"Besides, she's a gorgeous doctor. She'll be a good company to me." Shravan added, only for Manik to narrow his gaze at him. "Well, let's see about that, Shravan." Cabir commented, while staring at the discomfort on Manik's face.

For sure, Cabir intends to know more about this fake-relationship.

Next Day

"Ma! I'm leaving." Manik rushed down the stairs, in hurry. "I have an early meeting. Bye, Mums!" He called out again, and rushed towards the entrance.

"Manu!" He turned around, to have a look at a frowning Arpita. "Where are you going?" she asked, and he gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Aaru Ma. Actually, I'm having an early meeting today. I won't be able to have breakfast with everyone. Don't worry, I'll have my breakfast after meeting." he moved forward to kiss Arpita's forehead, to bid her a proper bye.

"Sunn tho sahi, Manu." she held onto Manik's hand, who was about to move back to the entrance door. "How can you forget today, Manu?" she accused him, and he bit onto his lips. "Aaj koi special day hai kya? Ma! I don't remember. Aaj kya hai? Aapka birthday tho nahi hai aaj." Manik frowned, and Arpita sighed.

"Of course, aaj special day hain." Anjali came forward and twisted Manik's left ear. "You're not a bachelor, anymore." she added, and Manik freed himself from her hold, while wincing in pain. "Ma! It hurts okay." he complained, and Anjali nodded. "I know. Ab fatafat jaake girlfriend ko ghar leke aao.(Now go and get your girlfriend home.)" Anjali instructed.

"Kaun girlfriend!" Manik rubbed at his ears, before widening his eyes. Looking up at his mothers with the same widened eyes, he was met with narrowed gazes. "Oh! My girlfriend, you meant!" he grinned nervously at them.

"Manu! We won't ask you to bring Cabu's or Duggu's girlfriend home, right? So why are you behaving stupid?" asked Anjali, and he gulped. "Wo Ma. Aadat nahi hai na.(I don't have the habit, right!)" he replied. "Girlfriend ki? I thought you were dating each other for 2 months." Anjali gazed at him, suspiciously.

"Of course, we are." Manik exclaimed. "What I meant is, I don't have the habit of hearing you talk about my girlfriend. Like, ghar leke aao. Wo kaisi hai ab. Wagera wagera." Manik babbled, and Anjali nodded at him. Arpita let out a sigh.

"Jo bhi ho. Bring Nandini home." Arpita broke the tension, and Manik glanced at her. "But why now?" he asked, worryingly.

"Awe, tu tension math le, beta. We are not going to eat her up. It's our ritual. You know that we eat breakfast together on the next day one of you bring your partner home. Don't you, Manu?" Anjali patted at Manik's cheeks, and he felt like crying.

"But Ma! Now? I have a meeting. Can't we postpone it to tomorrow?" Manik complained. "Ji nahi! Ye sab bachelor life mein teek tha, par ab se nahi. Meeting badh mein, aur pyar pehle.(No!These excuses were fine when you were a bachelor, but not anymore. Love comes first, and then meeting.)" Arpita said, and left to kitchen.

"It's just breakfast, Manu. You're behaving as if you mind bringing your girlfriend home." Anjali squinted her eyes at Manik, who widened his eyes. "Kuch bhi, Ma. Hamesha suspicious." Manik pouted, and Anjali smiled sweetly at him. "Then bring her home." Anjali patted at Manik's arm, and left to kitchen.

"Yaar, now how will I get Lilliput Murthy home?!" He muttered to himself, before fishing out his mobile.

***

"Hello! Murthy here! Whoever it is, m--" Nandini started, while making orange juice for herself and Mrunal, only to get cut by the voice on the other end. "Yup, I'm making it fast. Isiliye bol raha hun, ghar aaja." she heard the very familiar voice, and she looked at the caller ID to read 'Malhotra kid' on her screen.

"Isn't ghar aaja pardesi some dialogue from some movie?" Nandini wondered out loud, and Manik hissed at it. "Nandini! Mere paas time nahi hai. (I don't have time.)" he gritted his teeth, in irritation. "Kyu? You going to die?" she asked, without any hesitation in her voice.

"Marne se pehle tumhe kyu phone karunga mein?(Why would I call you before dying?)" he scowled, from the other side, and Nandini shrugged. "How would I know! Maybe you find me important enough to let me know that, you would like to say Tata and Birla to this world." Nandini replied, and she heard something getting banged to something.

"Did something fall?" she asked. "Yes! My brain just fell off my skull." Manik retorted, while rubbing at his head, which he banged to a nearby tree in his garden. "You never had brain in the first place. Apparently people who yell more and talk less don't have brains." she replied, and she heard him screaming.

"You talk one more word, I'm really going to jump in front of some car." Manik barked out, and Nandini sighed. "I'm not willing to do autopsy, so for now, tell me what do you want me to do before I get to see you jumping in front of any vehicle." Nandini replied, and this time Manik's ears had started to emit smoke from them.

"Come.Home." He gritted his teeth, while pressing onto his head. "Or better, tell me where you stay. I'll bring you home." he corrected himself, and Nandini walked out of her home, while sipping on her juice.

"As far as I remember, haqq jathana is among husband-wife. Hamari bas like-an-engagement hui hai, shadi nahi that you start to act like a grumpy husband who would like to see his wife around." Nandini pointed out. "Well, for a fake relationship to look fake forever, you need to sacrifice something important, always." Manik retorted, and Nandini frowned.

"And what is that I have to sacrifice now?" she asked. "Your breakfast time. You're supposed to have breakfast at my place, with me and my family." Manik sighed, and Nandini frowned. "And why is that so?" Nandini asked, in return. "Because, that's a ritual." he cried out, and Nandini sighed out loud.

"For hell's sake Malhotra kid! Ithne rituals tho meri asli shadi mein bhi nahi hogi yaar.(There won't be these many rituals even in my real marriage.)" She said while throwing her handbag in her car, and locked it, before opening the gate, to walk out.

"We give a lot of importance to love and relationship." Manik replied, pressing onto his head. "Dikh rahi hai mujhe.(I can see it.)" she said. "Sometimes I wonder why is it that my Appa couldn't be a Malhotra? Your Daadu is cool with love, relationship and all." she pointed out, before gasping out loud. "Oh my God! That would snatch my Bhayyyus from me. They'll be strangers." she shook her head at herself. "Nope! Not happening. I cannot have you and your two brothers as my own brothers and my Bhayyus as strangers." she denied immediately, thinking about her brothers.

While Manik's eyes were widened.

"You-You want me as your B-B-Bhai? Freaking serious, you're?" Manik boomed on the phone, and Nandini rubbed at her ears. "Manik, stop yelling. I said, I don't want you as my brother. I'm happy with my Bhayyus, and having you as my brother would only make them strangers, which I don't approve of." Nandini retorted.

"Is that the only reason for you to be uncomfortable with me being your brother? Do you even remember we're acting like lovers?!" He hissed out, and she stopped at his gate. "Oww! Ye tho mene socha hi nahi.(I never thought about it.)" she said out loud, guiltily, and his head shot upwards in shock, on hearing her voice from somewhere nearby.

"How come you reached so soon?" Manik asked out loud, forgetting to unclamp the mobile from his ears. Nandini was about to reply, when her gaze fell on Raj, who was coming towards where Manik stood, scrolling through something in his mobile.

"We'll save it for later." she said, and looked behind Manik again, and this time she saw Raj looking up from his mobile. She tore her gaze from Raj, and rushed to Manik, while faking a smile.

"Good morning, Manik." Nandini spoke rather softly, and Manik raised his eyebrows, but before he could ponder about it, she threw her arms around his neck and stood on her toes, to hug him tight.

His eyes widened. His body went stiff. His jaws dropped down. His arms hung in the air.

"Your father is behind you." she whispered in his ears, and Manik's eyes shifted a little that he saw his father, from his peripheral vision. "Hug me back. This is by far the least I could do, in the form of greeting a lover." she whispered again, and he shuddered, before wrapping his arms around her, slowly, which came out rather sensually. Thanks to his nervousness!

And that increased the temperature for Nandini, as she went stiff in his arms, when she got cocooned in his warmth.

"Good morning!" he replied, in her ears, and it was her turn to gulp down the lump in her throat.

Nandini peeked through her eyelashes, to see Raj turning around to get inside the Mansion, but she didn't miss the smile on his face.

She felt relieved, and looked back at Manik, who seemed to be lost in a daze, as he had completely buried his head in her neck.

She tried to detach herself from his hold, but he looked adamant not to. Turning slightly in his arms, she brought her fist to punch in his stomach, lightly. 

"He's gone, Malhotra kid." she whispered, and Manik opened his eyes, coming out of his trance. He shifted his head back, to have a look at her face. She looked up at him, to see his face just inches away from hers.

"He's gone." she repeated, before detaching herself, from his hold, slowly and he let go off her, almost reluctantly.

"Uh..come in." he said, and she nodded at him, looking elsewhere, and followed him inside.

What had gotten into them, all of a sudden!

***

"Ah Nandini bete! Good morning." Harshvardhan greeted Nandini, with a wide smile playing on his lips. "Good morning..Daadu!" She replied, and his smile widened a little more. "It's good to see you here again, bete." He added, and she smiled gleefully at him. 

He gives her all the grandfather vibes, which she never expected to receive from anyone, not even from her own grandfather!

"Thank you! Um, I'm sorry about being late. I mean, I didn't know that you had such a ritual, otherwise, I would have been here a little early." Nandini smiled at Harshvardhan, before moving her gaze towards the entire male population of the house.

"Why do I meet families which have more of male population than females!" she thought to herself, and chose not to comment about it.

"Oh, its okay, Nandini. You are not late. See, the table just got filled with food." Nyonika pointed at the table, and Nandini nodded at her. "Yeah, that's what I meant. Yaani, I should have been here to help you get the table ready. I've never been to anyone's home just to eat." Nandini replied, and Nyonika kept staring at her.

"Nyo! I'll get the table ready. I can't simply eat. I've never done that before." Nyonika remembered her best friend's words. Somehow, this girl, who's supposedly her son's girlfriend resembles her best friend a lot, and that bothers her, especially when she's still suspicious of her son's relationship with the girl.

"That's really thoughtful of you, bete. Why don't we call you for an early lunch, then?" Rishi asked, and Nandini stared up at him. "Um..I come back home, only at 7 in the evening. Yaani, I eat my lunch from the hospital Restaurant. I'm sorry." she gave Rishi an apologetic smile. "But some other time, for sure." she quickly added, and Rishi smiled at her. "Sure! Do one thing. Come for tomorrow's breakfast as well." he replied, and Nandini looked at Manik, who bobbed his head, and she copied his reaction.

Everyone smiled at the supposedly couple-in-love!

"Now come, have a seat. The rats have started to grow themselves into horses, in my stomach." Rohit complained, and Nandini looked up at him. Manik immediately held her hand, halting her in tracks. She looked at Manik, to see him shaking his head at him. "You won't talk when Rohit Papa talks, Nandini. Nope. I can't handle the both of you." Manik replied, and she rolled her eyes at him. "Such a kid, you are. No wonder why I still prefer Malhotra kid over Manik, for you." she replied, and he glared at her.

"Manik!" Anjali gazed at Manik, who raised his eyebrows at her. She looked back at the chair, which Nandini was about to pull back, for herself to sit. "Pull back the chair for her." she muttered out loud, when he didn't catch her eye-conversation.

"Oh!" and Manik remembered that every other male of Malhotras pull out the chair for their lady, before dining. "I forgot." he commented cheekily, and the ladies sighed. "Wait..you mean, the chair for..me?" Nandini asked, turning her head frantically from Anjali to Manik, who nodded at her.

"Oh, please don't. I can do it by myself." Nandini's reply was in an instant. "Don't be shy, bete. We are all family. And this is something taught to our sons, from their teenage." Harshvardhan commented, with a chuckle. "Oh no, no, no. You're getting me wrong. Actually, I don't like it when someone does something for me, which I could do by myself." Nandini replied.

"Er..Nandini, this is something Daadu and my fathers believed to be chivalrous if a man does it for his partner." Manik said, and Nandini looked up at him. "You're not called chivalrous if you do something for me, which I could have done for myself." she turned to face the elders. "I'm so sorry, but please, can I do it myself?" she asked, and they looked at each other, before nodding in positive, still amused with her behavior.

This was the first time any girl brought to their home, behaved so differently from the others.

"Thank you." she said, and took a seat, followed by Manik, on her right, and she noticed someone jumping on the seat, on her left. She looked towards her left to see a smiling Mukti.

"Hi, Bhabi!" she grinned again, and Nandini choked on air. "B-Bhabi?" she asked, with her eyes widened. Manik came forward, and sighed at Mukti. "She calls all her brothers' girlfriends as Bhabi." Manik's reply was coming from so near to her ears, and she looked back at him. "Really? Even before marriage?" she asked, and he nodded. She looked back at Mukti, to see her smiling.

"Hi..Mukti." She smiled back at Mukti, who looked at Nandini, adoringly. "I've been wanting to speak to you since yesterday, but you know..it was an eventful day, so I couldn't. But maybe, we could talk now." Mukti said. "Muku! What did I say about talking and eating?" Manik squinted his eyes at Mukti, who pouted at Manik.

"What about it?" Nandini asked. "Bhai hates when someone talks while eating."she turned towards her right, to see a guy grinning cheekily, at her, from the farthest right. "Hi, Bhabi. I'm Shravan." He grinned at her, and she smiled at him. "And this is Arijit, my Bhai who has my blood, while this is Abhimanyu, my Bhai who doesn't have my blood in his veins." Shravan introduced Abhimanyu and Arijit, quite dramatically, that others let out sighs at him.

"Seriously, that was pathetic!" Cabir commented, and Shravan just glared at him. "Well, why don't you come with me, to my hospital, then?" Nandini asked, and Shravan's eyes shone in delight. "Hospital? Really?" He asked, all ready to jump and smirked at Mukti, who pouted sadly, for not being invited to a hospital.

The only people who could be excited to go to a hospital would be them. Mukti and Shravan!

"Of course, yeah. I mean, after all you donate blood to everyone. You can give blood to the patients like how you gave it to your Bhai and the other Bhai of yours, whom you wanted to give to, but couldn't." Nandini replied, shrugging, and Shravan stared at her blankly.

Soon enough Cabir barked out laughing, like a crazy person.

"Aaja Shravan, hum leke chalenge tujhe.(Come on Shravan, we'll take you there.)" Dhruv too joined Cabir, in laughing at Shravan's miserable look on his face. Others too couldn't keep their laughter in check, that they started to stifle the laughter that escaped their mouths. Manik chuckled, while staring at Nandini, who looked unbothered.

"That hit me so badly, Bhabi." Shravan pouted at Nandini. "I was just being honest." she replied, honestly and Manik chuckled. "Shravan! You must know that Nandini really doesn't check before giving a reply to any of your comments." Manik said, on behalf of Nandini, who nodded in acknowledgement. "He's right, unfortunately, though." she replied, and Manik narrowed his eyes at her.

"So..what exactly is being chivalrous for you, Nandini?" asked Anjali breaking the laughter going on, and Nandini looked up at her. "You said to Manu that if he does something for you, that you could have done for yourself, then it's not chivalrous." Anjali added, and Nandini nodded in positive, on remembering her own words.

"That's right. Actually, I feel like it's PDA. I mean, I can pull the chair for myself. I can order food for myself, that he doesn't need to ask me what would I like to have. I can open my car's door for myself, and he doesn't have to do that." she said, thinking about her parents who always pull each other's legs, rather than being lovey-dovey in front of her.

"I find a man chivalrous, when he knows his partner well. Yaani, if a guy is in love with a girl, he must know if the girl he loves is comfortable with his touch or not. When he wants to take her somewhere, then let her know the place, because we women are moody, so the place you expected us to like may not be the one we really like. Well, that's because of our schedule, you know. We work outside as well as at home. We're always working. So I think being moody when you work a lot is just quite common, unlike men who has to think about only the work outside." she said, and then raised her hands in air. "Oh, I didn't mean to offend anyone. There are men who do both household chores and office works as well, but that's just 10 percent of men's population." she replied.

And the ladies stared at her, impressively. Not just the ladies, but everyone else were in awe with her description about her kind of chivalrous men.

"So yeah..that's chivalrous for me. I mean, just support you woman's choices." she concluded, and Manik stared at her, intently. The more they spend time with each other, the more he learns about her, and he still wonders the number of shades her character possessed.

"Now, that's something different." Raj commented, and she noticed that he was always the silent one among the family members. Her father called him stupid, but he nearly looked like that. He looked intimidating yet gentle, but OLD. He reminds her of a stern but a cute GRANDPA.

She smiled at him, before looking back at her plate.

"Who would like to have waffles?" Raj took the plate of waffles to distribute to kids. "Et toi, mon or ?(And you, my Gold?)" Raj moved the plate towards Nandini, and Manik frowned at the endearment he used for Nandini, when he nearly gives endearments to anyone apart from his own children. "Oui, Oui, Oui, mon r-- (Yes, yes, yes, My K--)." Nandini replied absentmindedly, only to widen her eyes. 

Manik stared on, with his eyes widened at Nandini, and then at Raj.

She looked up at Raj, with the same widened eyes, and a stiffened body, only to see a smirk on Raj's lips. "You know french, then. Mon or." he repeated, the very same nickname her father used to call her with, when they speak in French.

And she gulped down the lump in her throat before muttering. "He knows!"

And Raj smirked before staring to eat, leaving a scared Nandini and a baffled Manik, with their plates untouched.

***

Alright, it is a double update week. 

How was the chapter?

I'm kind of getting back to Lilliput and Grumpy coffee, and I kinda feel happy about it. Hoping for it to continue till the ending of this book.

P.S: Manik's and Nandini's rings given in the mediabox. Hope you'll like it!

With love,

Affu.