(A/N: Okay I think you guys will love this update. It's short yet really long, if you know what I mean. Aaaahhh! 190 bhi cross karli aap logo ne. Hats off to you guys. Seriously. So for your reward, I'm here with a new update. The beginning of their story. :) Vote and comment guys. Thanks a lot for all your love. Keep smiling. Xoxo.)

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He unlocked the door and we walked in. It was a little apartment, yet elegant with all the interiors complimenting the accent of the respective rooms.

"I can't believe this. You and I, staying together?" He started laughing, mocking me. After all, we had a little argument in the car again and he had to get back at me with his nasty comments.

"Now you must be scared, Nandu... Because we're alone here... And you can't even complain." He said in a creepy tone, playing with my hair and I made a disgusted expression, stepping away from him. He was back to the Manik he was, after our engagement. We were never normal around each other. It was always me acting weird, or he being opportunistic.

"I am not scared of you, Manik. You know that, don't you?" I said, in an equally intimidating tone but that wasn't going to shut him up. Moron Manik. He knew I would fight him anyways. What was it with his fake threats?

We stepped into our room in our new apartment. Gosh! That house was extremely luxurious. Wait. What? Just one bedroom? Damn! That meant I had to share a room with that jerk. To top it all, the bed was decorated with flower garlands which just added to the awkward situation we were in.

"Ooo... So we're going to share this bed huh? Now that's going to be some fun." Manik was known for perverted talk. One reason he disgusted me so much.

"Don't get your hopes high." I said, smirking. It was gonna be one hell of a life with him around. I was stuck with a jerk for the rest of my life. But it was high time to stop complaining and crying. It was my decision, and I had to fight for myself, rather than wasting time with an idiot.

"Let's see for how long you can resist 'The Manik Malhotra'." He said, with his hands in his pockets and an evil grin. He thought he was a Greek God? Well, like I said, he looked good. But overconfidence kills.

"Challenge accepted." I said as I faked a smile at him and he grunted. He walked into the room. He opened the closet and picked a tank top and some shorts. He began to unbutton his kurta in front of me. I gaped and then turned around, cursing him.

"What is wrong with you? There is a bathroom there. Why don't you change there?" I screamed and I could hear a chuckle.

"Why? Are you shy? Are you shy to see me?" He was such a tease. I knew he was doing all that on purpose. I felt my cheeks flush. I just excused myself and walked out of the room, shutting it closed behind me. I stood against the door and looked at the ceiling. Ayyappa, please help me through this hard night.

I heard the door click and before I could move, I felt his hand grasp my upper arm and he pulled me towards him. I almost fell on his chest and he shut the door behind me. I gasped and he looked at me deeply.

"You look so beautiful today." He whispered as he tucked my hair behind my ear. I shut my eyes tight as his fingers grazed on my face. He leaned closer and ran his nose along my cheek and breathed a soft, warm breath into my ear. My hands played with the neckline of his tank top and he withdrew. He looked at my face and a giggle escaped his lips. I shot my eyes open and pressing his smile, he signaled my hand with his eyes. I immediately took my hand back and embarrassed, walked towards the closet. I grabbed a loose t-shirt and pajamas and walked into the bathroom. I changed my heavy lehenga into my casual clothes and stepped out. I indeed looked like an idiot, dressed in casuals with loads of jewelry and makeup on my face.

I came out of the bathroom to see Manik ripping the garlands off, cursing to himself. I pressed my smile and walked towards the dresser. I was not allowed to remove my bangles and of course, my mangalsutra so I removed the rest of the jewelry. First the forehead piece, then the necklaces, the bracelets and my anklets. I opened the dresser drawer and l placed my jewelry neatly inside the box kept, shutting it tight. I got some wipes out of my cosmetics bag, which lied in the room and wiped my makeup off. Manik didn't give a damn to me and neither did I. I called Amma to assure her that I was okay and I was going to sleep. After a couple of teases, they cut the call.

"I am taking the bed." I declared in an assertive tone, clear enough for that not-so-attentive idiot to get it straight into his head.

"Nope. I am sleeping on the bed. You can go to the couch." He waved and I gasped.

"Excuse me? Why would I sleep on the couch, that too in the living room?" I stomped towards him and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Why would I either?" He rolled his eyes at me and looked at his phone again. Was he thinking I would share the bed with him? If he was, he was so wrong.

"I am not going to sleep with you, Mr. Malhotra." I snapped my fingers at him and he smirked.

"I don't want to sleep with you either, Mrs. Malhotra." Ugh. Forget it. I went back to the closet and rummaged through to find some extra bedsheets.

"Where are the sheets?" I cried in despair as I couldn't see anything that could save me from that jerk. He winced and I glared at him.

"Ah, just cut the crap. I am sick and tired of you. Let me sleep in peace." He fell back on the bed and grabbed the air conditioner remote.

"I wish you die in your sleep. That will be peace for me, my entire life." I muttered under my breath but I saw a change in his expression. I unfortunately said it out loud enough for him to hear. I closed my eyes and cursed myself.

"Oh no! You don't want that to happen? You'll be blamed for killing your husband." He made a dramatic face and I put my hands on my waist.

"I will not." I said in a stern voice.

"Oh sure you will." He tried changing the temperature or God knows what he was trying to do with the remote.

"Urgh. Will you shut up? Let me find a way." I tried ransacking my brain to find a way out of this mess. The last option in my head was sharing the bed with him.

"Stupid orthodox women." I heard him grunt and my last bit of patience flew out of my body.

"Oh really? Stupid orthodox women, eh? Guess what? They are not to be blamed because a married woman has all the rights to sleep next to the man she's married to but the truth is, I 'opted' to not do so because you are nothing but a cheap chauvinist." I drew quotes in the air and he just mouthed a 'blah-blah-blah' looking at the ceiling.

"You know what, Nandini? Just find a way out and stop troubling me with that irritating voice of yours." He snapped and fell to the bed, wrapping the duvet around him.

"Then rip your eardrums, so you never hear my voice again." I snapped back at him and walked out of the room.

"I hate her, God!" I heard him shout and I ignored. I lied on the couch and used one of the cushions as a pillow. Unfortunately, there was no fan there. It was getting so humid and there was no way I could sleep. I rolled a couple of times and then frustrated, I sat up.

Come on Nandini, it's either no sleeping or sleeping with the monster. I considered the first option and walked to the kitchen to make myself some cold coffee. Something that would contrast the humid weather and keep me up at the same time. Midway through the preparation session, I was dozing. It was such a tiring day for me and I needed some sleep no matter what I did to escape that. I sighed and walked towards the room again.

I turned the doorknob and entered the room. The cool breeze in the room felt so welcoming. I looked at the bed to see Manik lying on his stomach, almost covering the entire bed with his arms and legs. I lifted his arm a little and slid my body in its place. I moved his arm closer to him. I lifted his leg too, to make place for myself and slid the duvet over my body too. I undid my hair and let it loose on the pillow. He moved a little and his arm lied on my waist. I looked at him and then stealthily moved his hand off me.

"Stop disturbing me. Let's sleep." He muttered as he moved again and this time, not only his arm, but his leg was over me too. He turned his head to the other side. I moved a little to find a comfortable position and I felt his arm tighten around my waist. I whacked it away and turned to a side, to sleep.

I woke up to the sound of my alarm in the morning. 6:15. That was way too early. I snoozed it. I had slept at around 2:30 last night. I slept for less than 4 hours. I turned towards the other side, to see Manik snuggling into me, with a small smile on his lips. The smile reflected on my face as I admired him like that. His breathing was slow, in contrast to my heartbeats. His arm and leg were shoved on me and his body made its way closer to mine, to derive some warmth. In a matter of seconds, the ring of my arm flooded my ears. Manik groaned and shoved his face into my hair.

"Turn the damn alarm off, Nandini." He grunted and his grip on me became tighter. I fiddled with my phone and turned it off.

***

"Damn! This is annoying. How long will you take, Nandini? It's been 30 minutes." He stood there with his clothes, kicking the door with his leg impatiently. I clicked the door open and pushed him away. I stood in the balcony drying my hair, which had already dampened my white kurti.

"What the hell is this? Nandini!" He screamed for me. I went inside the bathroom to see him holding out a wet towel that was dripping. "There are only 2 towels in this house. You soaked one and you're using the other." He sighed helplessly. I smirked and walked away. Indeed I had done that for what he did to me last night. Chucking me on the couch, eh? Deal with this, Moron Malhotra.

"Stop complaining. I have college." I asserted and walked back to the balcony. After air-drying my hair partially, I got my hair blow-dried. I brushed my tangles out and braided my hair into a side-swept fish-braid. I looked at myself in the mirror and Manik pushed me away. He was shirtless and in beige colored shorts. He grabbed his deodorant and sprayed tons of it. I almost choked to death because of the strength of it and he just gave me a challenging smile. Idiot. He wore a red t-shirt and walked out.

"Breakfast." He shouted for me and I groaned. I went to the kitchen and grabbed some juice from the refrigerator. I poured it into a glass and grabbed some toasted bread in my plate. He looked at me ardently. I walked right past him, and sat on the couch, swapping channels. He whined and strolled towards me. He snatched a toast slice from my hands with his teeth and my juice too.

"Manik, that's mine." I stood up and reached for it and he had already sipped the juice. I hit his arm unintentionally and the juice dripped on on both of us, soaking the two of us in sticky mixed fruit juice.

"Eww... Look at what you've done. Chee." He showed disgust and I hit him on his chest. I went to the washroom and cleaned the juice off but not before he came in and threw a cup of water on my face.

"Manik!" I shouted and ran behind him. He ran around the dining table, shooting grapes at me. I pulled out a spatula which I found on the way of my chase. He laughed as he escaped and threw a shoulder-bag over his shoulder. He jumped over the couch, dodging my attack and grabbed his car keys.

"Bye Nandu." He mocked as he pulled the door-lock open and ran for his life. I threw the spatula down and looked at the clock. 8:46. I had like 14 minutes before class started and I was looking like a zombie.

I popped the hair-dryer on high and ran it over my head, to dry my hair. I washed the juice from my kurti and pointed the hair-dryer on those spots too, to dry them quick. My hands and bangles were sticky with juice but I couldn't care much. I unpacked my suitcase, grabbed three books and notebooks for the three classes I had and shoved them into a tiny bag along with my pencil case. I rummaged for a water bottle from the kitchen and filled it. I shoved that into my bag too and looked at myself for the last time. I didn't look really presentable but not bad for a 5 minute makeover. I grabbed my phone and popped my keys out to lock the door, when I found Manik's there. I smiled to myself mischievously and took it along.

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(That was soooo long but I enjoyed writing. Writing an entire update filled with MaNan is bliss. The upcoming chapters will also be something like this or even better. ;) Thanks for the support. And I will also continue updating. Love, your writer.)