(A/N: Hey guys. Long time. So sorry for the late update. In fact, I am sorry for everything. This is comparatively a short part because there's more to this chapter which I can't write currently due to lack of time. But I wanted to give you guys a chapter. So here goes. Please vote and comment if it's nice. The other part will be added sometime tomorrow. Thanks. Loads of love.)

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I climbed the stairs after a long walk all the way home and came to see I had left my keys at home. Nevertheless, I knew he was at home. So I rang the bell. I heard it click open and I saw Manik wearing shorts, a vest and casually opening the door. My eyes scanned his scantily clad body, wet hair, seductive scent and with all my might, I pushed him inside closing the door behind me. I didn't know if it was my anger, or my possessiveness that made me push him, but that didn't matter much. He made a few pathetic faces and I walked past him, occupying the bedroom for myself.

I muttered a few abuses to him in my head and began changing my clothes. I hated that man. How could he be so heartless? Which man leaves his wife on the road alone, in the middle of the night when it's raining? Did he even bother to check on me ever since I'd come? He didn't even react when he saw me. What does he think of himself? Now I'll show him what Nandini is capable of. I spoke to myself as I grabbed some clothes. I didn't know the intention behind him being scantily dressed but I took it upon myself, as a challenge, that I was nonetheless. I dried myself, changed into pajamas and a tank top, and sat on the dresser to blow dry my hair. After I was done, I took some strands of my hair, clipped it to the side, to make me look cuter and I smiled at myself.

"So you wanna play it this way, eh Mr. Malhotra?" I giggled and stood up, with my head held high. I walked out of the door, and stepped into the kitchen to see him trying to cook something. I flipped my hair intentionally, to make it hit him and to my surprise, he was awestruck. To be honest, I liked it when he was blown away by the minutest things I did. I turned towards him, smirked and coughed, to bring him out of the trance, and immediately after, he rubbed his arm and looked at the ceiling, making faces to pretend something fell off the ceiling and that I didn't exist. How dumb.

I smirked, moved slightly closer to him and rubbed my bare shoulder over his arm and almost instantly, he stepped away. I grabbed the chapati he had made for himself, put it on my plate and ran into the room. I locked the door, slid to the floor and chuckled, while eating the first bite, when I heard him kick and bang the door, screaming abuses at me indirectly for stealing his food.

When I heard the screams subside, I opened the door a little and peeked out to see if the coast was clear. He was lying on the couch, with a grumpy face and eyes closed. I sneaked out of the room without disturbing him, put the dish into the sink with a thud to wake him up, and went back into the room. He seemed quite annoyed already that he didn't protest further. He just woke up, walked into the room in his sleep, and crashed beside me without his dinner.

"The game begins." I whispered to him, as I pulled the covers over my body and he wrapped his arm around my waist.

***

It was the morning of the wedding and I was all the more prepared to instigate my husband with my silly tricks. I chose to wear a red and white lehenga saree.

I chose to let my waist length layers loose with a small hair brooch for a section of my hair. I put on some pretty charms and ties on my hand and put on some crimson red lipstick and mascara. I adored myself with stoned long earrings and stepped out of the room with my heels.

My husband was standing outside the house, pacing back and forth restlessly as we were getting late. As soon as I stepped out of the room, I clanged my heels to the floor gracefully to attract his attention and swayed my hips carefully. His eyes were glued onto my body and I shifted under his gaze. I stood beside the door, snapped my fingers in front of him seductively and he cleared his throat. He shut the door behind him and locked it and followed me to the car.

I wondered how I managed to survive an entire night without uttering a word to him but again, I was angry at him and he would not apologize for it. Male ego I tell you. Besides, he also seemed least bothered in conversing with me.

I got into the BMW without any hesitation as soon as he unlocked it and he didn't seem very pleased with my action. He grunted, turned and walked towards the driver's seat and jumped in. It was a long, silent drive with Stitches playing in the background. And now that I'm without your kisses, I'll be needing stitches... I hummed to myself and smiled and that jerk couldn't tolerate that. He immediately switched the radio station into some random rap that I was totally unaware of, and smiled victoriously.

I crossed my arms angrily against my chest, and rolled the window down. I heard him snort and growl, as he wanted to make his point that the air conditioner was on. He pulled my window up, and I pushed it down simultaneously. Soon, he gave up, turned the air conditioner off, rolled his window down too and put his elbow on the windowsill.

I pitied him and decided not to annoy him further. I pulled my phone out and began playing Clash of Clans to occupy myself. I was having fun until Manik found the sounds of the game irritating and banged the steering horn in aggression and I closed the game. I began to look out of the window again, into oblivion.

We reached after almost an hour and I was welcomed with my friends and the bridegroom's family. I met many of my classmates from school and we caught up on our old memories, leaving Manik to mourn alone. Nevertheless, kids always loved him. He was perhaps a difficult man for me and maybe my friends, but he was one of the sweetest humans on the planet to every other human. He went out to play cricket with toddlers, teaching them tips and tricks while holding their hands and for a moment, I again captured an image of Manik with our son, holding his hand and helping him with everything he needed. It was such a cute scene to imagine and even before I realized, I was smiling.

"It's so boring, Abhi. Yaar tu aisa kabse ho gaya? You were one of the coolest dudes." Navya pushed Abhimanyu helplessly and Abhimanyu was busy looking at me, smiling to myself.

"Kya hua Nandini, bahut hasi aa rahi hai?" He rested his fingers on his chin in doubt as he looked back and forth between Manik and I.

"Nahi voh... Those kids are cute." I said in between fake giggles and Navya scrutinized at me.

"Those kids are cute? Ya phir... someone else?" She stretched and I rolled my eyes at her. God! Someone save me from these detectives.

"Navya, stop it yaar. Manik and I aren't even talking to each other now. And I don't even care. Leave." I tried to act indifferent about the situation. To be honest, I actually didn't care. I wouldn't apologize to him. What have I done wrong?

"What? Why? Why do you guys fight so much? Do you realize you guys are married and you should be able to progress in your relationship. These fights aren't gonna take you anywhere." Abhimanyu sighed and I clicked my lips in disapproval.

"Thanks for your advice, but I would appreciate if you could tell that to the person who needs it." I stood up and walked away to help Aryamann's mother with the ceremony.

"Isse kya ho gaya?" Navya asked with a confused expression and Cabir popped from nowhere, to make his appearance.

"Kuch toh hua hai..." He sang into Navya's ear as he passed by, trying to irritate her with his one-liners. Navya smiled evilly at him and began to blush and I walked further away to avoid them. I ran into Aryamann on the way, who supposedly had left the group to attend some ritual.

"Whoa, easy lady. Relax. Why such a hurry?" He tried to put his hands in front of me and calm my raging senses and I glared at him. He looked horrified at first but then, I relaxed myself. After all, I had to show I was happy.

"I need wine. Where can I get some?" I asked in a polite tone and he smirked, teasingly.

"Nandini Murthy? You drink too?" He teased in a overly girly tone and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Not often. Would you mind answering my question?" I tapped my foot restlessly and he understood the seriousness. He stopped fooling around.

"Across the aisle, in the left hall." He signaled and I was grateful. I jerked my head for an assurance and then walked towards the hall. "And yeah, don't forget the party this afternoon?" He called out and I turned. He winked at me and I smirked. Bachelor's party? In the afternoon?

***

I had a few pegs of some alcohol I didn't bother to check on. Certainly, I was not pleased with the way he was behaving around me. He always brought out the worst in me and just as I began to believe nobody could affect me that bad, I was proven wrong, every single time by just a single man who could flip my world upside down.

I silently began gulping the alcohol. The place was pretty silent. Not many drink during the ceremony, they drink after. A few friendly men from Aryamann's side began checking me out subtly and gestured a small 'hello'. They asked me a few general questions, told me about themselves and in a matter of seconds, we gelled along pretty well. Perhaps I wasn't as bad as I thought I was.

But how could I forget that during my most loveliest times, I have to encounter a grumpy, arrogant and immensely difficult husband of mine. Just as I was laughing hard, I heard him barge through the doors, grab my arm and pull me out inappropriately. I pulled away from him all of a sudden and before he could register what was happening, those guys circled Manik. They had probably gotten the wrong idea as I heard a strong unexpected blow on his jawbone. He gripped his jaw tight, grit his teeth and hit the man back, punching him twice as hard as he was blown. I tried to make my point clear and tried to get them to understand but my shouts and screams were of no use. Manik hit a few of them terribly hard and somehow managed to take me away from there.

He shoved me against a wall and closed in me. He brought his face close to mine and I felt his breathing hitch. He slid his fingers onto my mangalsutra and held it between his fingers.

"Don't forget." He whispered and I feel a sting in my heart. How dare he said that? How could he even think that? I understand, the way they were behaving with me and the way I was reacting to their gestures was probably not right, but I knew my limits. I didn't cross the line or behave inappropriate. How could he think so low of me? I fisted my hand and punched him with all my might, on his jawbone yet again. He winced in pain as I huffed in anger and walked away, ignoring his presence after that.

Later that evening, while I was helping the aunties out, a few men tried approaching me to offer help which I rejected politely. His words hurt bad. No matter what issues were, between us, it was not right of him to say that. But I knew he wouldn't apologise and neither would I.

I got busy with the ceremony, trying to avoid thinking about his words but the more I tried, the more it hurt. I couldn't believe Manik could think I would cheat on him. Probably just that punch wasn't enough. I should've said something more, that would've brought him to his senses or atleast, hurt him more for what he had done.

I dressed myself, revealing myself a little lesser than the afternoon, but trying to work on my physical appearance. I tried to apply makeup, like a woman and wore heels to compliment the orange and black saree I wore. I stashed my right arm with a set of black bangles and curled my hair to make it look pretty.

I stepped out of the room and headed towards the mandap. The pre-rituals for the marriage were going on and I occupied a seat in the first row. Just then, a kid came over to me and handed me a note.

Second floor, room number 228 in 10.

I ripped the note apart and handed it to the kid. The kid smiled and ran away and I took a deep breath. No more drama for now. I met some of the friends from morning and chatted with them for a while. After a good 10 minutes, I headed to the washroom when I felt a strong pull. The door closed behind me and my wrists were clutched tight.

"Why can't you just listen to me for heaven sake huh?" He growled into my face with a pathetic frown and the same reflected on my lips.

"What have you even spoken till now, for me to listen to you?" I tried to act smart with him but it was obvious I sucked at it.

"Tum itni ziddi kyun hoti ho?" He scowled and I scowled back, with a worse face.

"Tum itne egoistic kyun hote ho? Subah se try kar rahi hun par tum maan hi nahi rahe. I am trying to get your attention for last night but you toh don't care na? You think you know everything about women, with is a big no-no." I blurted out everything in a fit of anger and I heard a helpless sigh from him.

"You want me to look at you eh? Well, if you haven't observed then let me tell you Mrs. Malhotra, I have a busy life. It doesn't revolve around only you." He remarked rudely and I frowned further. "Okay I'm sorry. This is new to me alright? It'll take time. You look gorgeous." He kissed me on my cheek and I slapped him playfully.

"Say sorry for being an asshole also." I pouted and he flicked his fingers against my lips.

"I'm sorry for being an asshole Nandini. Now please accept my apology." He held his hands together and begged and I smiled.

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(Guys, I came up with a small update. I'll be updating small parts often and then consolidating them into chapters so that you guys can read. For now this is all I can do. Once I get used to my school schedule, I promise to dedicate time the way I did before. Thanks for being patient. Loads of love.)