(A/N: Yolo. Bada twist tha na previous chapter? I'm sorry but marriage life main bhi complications hote hai and especially MaNan ke life main, because all of us know Manik Malhotra's and Nandini Murthy's nok-jhok is never ending. Their differences keep them apart yet they're idols for the other couples. Alright, now let's get to the part. And thanks a lot Parthaholic_ashu for making this cover. Yes, I know most of you love the other cover but this is fanmade so it means a lot to me. 😘 Thanks hun. Sorry for the long discussion. Now padhlo.)

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I was noting down my class lecture with no interest. I frowned as I jotted down the points he explained and put my head on the book. Navya looked a little confused. She surely got the idea that something was wrong.

"Nandini, sab teek toh hai?" She put her hand on my shoulder and asked with concern. I shook my head, still resting on my book and got up.

"Navya, kuch teek nahi hai. Sab gadbad hai. Manik..." I stopped and looked at Navya and she looked for answers.

"Kuch hua kya tum dono ke beech?" She asked in her ever-so dramatic tone and I just stared at a point behind her.

"Hua toh usse hai. Mujhe nahi." I muttered to myself.

"Huh?" I held Navya's hand to get her attention.

"Navya, main Manik se pyaar nahi karti hun." I shook my head and confessed. Her eyes popped out.

"Haaye Matarani! Tum toh bol rahi thi ki tum usse pyaar karte ho, aur issliye shaadi karna chahti ho?" She scrutinized and now I'd complicated the situation unnecessarily.

"Navya... Nahi. Rehne do."

"Arre bolo na?" She begged and I shook my head. I was in no mood to explain to her.

"Tum nahi samjhogi. I'm going to the sick bay. My head is spinning." I stood up and asked for permission. As soon as I left the room, Navya texted Cabir.

Navya: *Nandini is at the sick bay. Any details regarding the two?*

Cabir was in the middle of his practice when his phone buzzed. He rolled his eyes to check the notification to see a message from Navya. He ignored the message and continued practicing. Just then, his phone buzzed again. He wanted to block her but that's when he saw the message.

"Bro, Nandini is in the sick bay." He immediately conveyed the message and Manik slid the guitar from his hands after hearing him out.

"What? How? Why? Who told you? What happened to her?" He panicked as he approached Cabir.

"That's what you should be knowing." Mukti said in a as-a-matter-of-fact tone.

"Until yesterday, I did." He murmured to himself and Cabir twitched his facial muscles in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. I'll go check on her." He put his guitar on his chair and ran out of the room.

***

"Nahi Doctor, main teek hun. Tablets will do. Please." I panicked as I saw the huge needle. I begged and pleaded for her to let me go but she was equally adamant. After all, it was rare that students came here out of all the places. The medicines were expiring and she had to use them.

"Nandini, zidd mat karo. Seedhe baito." She commanded and I wiggled to get away. I could bear anything, not injections. The huge needles freak me out. Plus the fact that they pierce into the skin makes me get goosebumps.

"Doctor, please." I yelped and Manik came running into the room. He ran to me and cupped my cheeks.

"Tum teek ho? Kuch hua? Doctor, isse kya hua?" He panicked as he grabbed me into his arms, trying to protect me from that wicked lady who wanted to pierce me for a fake headache. He examined me quickly and then asked her.

She glanced at him with a weird creepy smile and tried acting cute. She adjusted her dress that touched her thigh in an attempt to act coy, and adjusted her body posture to show off her assets. She gently brushed her hair with her fingers and I rolled my eyes at her. Manik intentionally smiled at her and I felt my nose turn red.

"She has a headache. She isn't listening to me. Ek injection lagane se sab teek ho jaayega." I immediately freaked out and clutched onto Manik's shirt.

"Manik, main teek hun. See. I'm fine. Mera sar dard nahi ho raha. Mujhe injection nahi chahiye please." I shoved my head into his chest and clamped his shirt into my fists. He immediately wrapped his arms around me in an attempt to protect me. The lady loathed a fake smile at me.

"Acchha acchha. Doctor kuch nahi karegi. Doctor, aap bas tablets de dijiye. Hum dekh lenge." He held one of his hands out and the lady smiled coyly. She pulled out a pill strip and suggested Manik to make me have them before her. I gave her a mean look, for not listening to me and popped a pill. I swallowed it with a gulp of water and hid myself into Manik further.

"Ab voh teek hai na? Injections nahi chahiye." Manik tried to convince her further and I was hitting him to move from there, and avoid her. He unwrapped his arms from around me and led the way out. I called out for him a couple of times, as I walked towards the door. He was standing at the entrance, impatiently waiting for me to move further. I held the door and felt the whole world spin. I felt the world slip under me and my eyes automatically shut. I felt myself fall and I was held by a panicked Manik.

"Nandini... Nandini, wake up. Look at me. Nandini..." He called out for me as he lightly slapped my cheek to get me to look at him. The doctor came closer to us and leaned over my face.

"Uh-oh! What happened? I think she fell unconscious. I insisted for her to take an injection but..." She tried to fake her sympathy and Manik groaned.

"I don't wanna hear your complains. Can you do anything about this or not?" He looked at her to see if she could be of any help. That desperate woman immediately signaled she could.

"Oh surely. She can lay here until she's okay. You'll... stay with her until... she's okay na?" She spoke in broken words, observing his expressions after every few words she said to not offend him. Manik looked at her with a ridiculous face.

"Excuse me?" She straightened herself after seeing his grumpy face and began to mix some solution. Manik looked at me helplessly.

"Aap uske liye kaun ho?" Manik rolled his eyes at her priorities.

"Husband." He spat with a sarcastic expression and looked back at me to see any movement.

"College main?" She questioned again and Manik let out a pathetic sigh.

"Yeah. Any problem? Well, Madam, I'd be glad if you could do something. Else I have my contacts." She walked swiftly towards Manik and handed him a glass of cloudy water.

"Get her to drink this. It has a lot of protein. She'll wake up in a few minutes." Manik sat me up and poured the liquid in my mouth. The lady took advantage of his concern for me and stealthily put her hand on his shoulder. Manik instantly looked at her and she pretended to lean over him to see if I was okay, faking her concern. "I think she'll wake up now."

"Mind moving your hand, Madam?" Manik grunted and she slowly withdrew, muttering a displeased 'sorry'. She tried another way to get cozy. She stood on the other side of me and called for him.

"Umm... If you could come over to this side and help her..." Manik stood up, only for helping me. He'd do anything for me. He was special. He walked towards her and she put her hands on his chest, with an excuse to stop him, while she traced his chest muscles. He grabbed her hands and stepped away; just then, he heard the bed creak. He came to me and I glanced at him with a blank expression.

"Manik, hum kahan hai?" He rolled his eyes and lifted me in his arms. He took me out of the room without saying a word, mainly because he wanted to get rid of the doctor. I didn't question him further because it was more than 14 hours since he'd been this close to me. I needed him close to me. It made me feel I had someone there for me always, through thick and thin. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he took me till my class. I tried to struggle out of his arms, to avoid the embarrassment, but he didn't nudge.

He excused himself into my Physics class and carried me to my seat. It was hell embarrassing to see the professor and the entire class staring at me because of Manik, who wouldn't have to face any of these people often.

"Navya, Madam ko sambhalo. Agar pareshaan karti hai, toh bol dena. Dekhta hun usse." He eyed me, attempting to threaten me while getting his task completed. I made faces at him and he walked out of the room, paying no heed to my professor, who was not pleased with the disturbance.

***

I finished making dinner and put the dishes on the dining table. I arranged the plates and food while Manik just swapped channels on the television. I looked at him with a hopeless face. How in the world did I marry such a man?

"Khana tayyar hai. Jisko khaana hai, voh khaa sakte hai." I taunted and put my own food. I sat down to eat, giving looks at him every few seconds. It was after a few seconds that Manik came to eat. Like I said, he'd never sacrifice food for anything in his life. He'll somehow come around, for food's sake. He ate quietly, without looking anywhere but his plate and I sighed.

"FYI. Amma and Appa are coming over tomorrow for a couple of days, to spend time with ME." I said as I gobbled the morsel of rice in my mouth. He just shrugged. If only he understood the inside meaning of the sentence. That meant no arguments, no fights and no reasons to doubt our relationship whatsoever. The question is, would Manik follow that?

"I will follow. At least I respect elders and care about their feelings. Unlike some lame jerks who can never move on from their..." I cut him off. I was hell annoyed with his constant picking on Maddy. I didn't know what he was going to say and I didn't wanna know either. I was done and dusted with Madhyam. He meant nothing to me and I didn't understand which part of my assertion would put some sense into Manik's head.

"Do not complete that sentence. I've told you time and again to not say that. Haven't I?" I shouted and he rolled his eyes at me. Like seriously, that man had the audacity to talk to me like that? And what was I thinking of him? Ugh. He is Manik Malhotra, after all. One hell of a human.

"Well, for me to NOT say it, you should prove it but obviously, who cares about me, my feelings, how I feel about him? Nobody na?" He spat and gobbled a few more morsels of the rice he was served. His constant nagging was getting irritating. Every time he talked about his feelings it hurt, the guilt pricked me, but if only he listened to me. If only he heard me out... I put the plate on the table with a thud, helpless about the situation.

"Manik, tum itna gussa kar bhi kyun rahe ho?" I frowned and I could bet my face looked pathetic. I was exhausted. He had the capability to exhaust me, in the literal sense. Emotionally, physically and mentally. He shook his head and ate. It was so surprising how he loved food so much that even amidst our serious argument, he could eat with a happy heart.

"Nandini, you don't know how it feels, trust me. Even after you realized you were wrong, you just said 'sorry'. No acceptance of MY feelings for YOU, no reply, nothing." He was a complicated soul. He was angry, I could sense that but he never tried to bring it to my notice the 'exact' reason why he was behaving so strange. This was not the Manik I married. I didn't like this Manik but I couldn't fight longer.

"What do you want me to say? That's what I asked the other day too. I can't play these mind games, Manik. I like to be to the point, always." I just shot it up, straight at his face and he sighed. Can't he fucking tell me what's wrong? Are men gonna die if they just accept their weaknesses? Goddamned ego.

"I can't tell it like that. Do you think it's easy for me to tell you everything about me so easily? You are highly mistaken if you think so, Mrs. Nandini Ma..." He stopped and blinked at me and I stared at him, waiting for him to complete his sentence. He just closed his mouth, pressed his lips together in disappointment and lifted his plate off the table. "Forget it. I'm sleeping on the couch today. You can do whatever you want. I don't care." He chucked the plate into the dishwasher and headed to the room.

I watched him as he grabbed one of the comforters from the previous night and placed himself on the couch comfortably. He turned the lights of the living room off and I was left alone, in the dining with a dim light. I sighed and ate a few morsels and chucked the rest. Food meant nothing to me when the people concerning me were disturbed. I wearily walked to the room and fell to the bed, crying helplessly.

I hated it when he behaved like that with me. Maybe it was my fault but he cannot force me to have feelings for him. It would be better to honestly accept your feelings for someone than to lie to please them and ditch them after it gets too deep but Manik would never understand. He was just so full of himself, so self-centered, so cruel. I shoved my face into the pillow, drenching a part of it with my flooding tears as I thought to myself, it's gonna be a long week.

***

I got up earlier than usual in the morning and the first thing I did, was turn to see if Manik was beside me and I wasn't surprised to see an empty bed. It would be funny to know Nandini has hopes. After all, nothing is going right in my life. Hopes were useless. I stepped out of bed and went to check on Manik. He was struggling to sleep in that little couch, given it was half his size and he was quite tall. He didn't look like he got a good night's sleep and that saddened me further. I pat his cheek gently and he cringed and nagged and turned around.

"Manik, I'm sorry. You know about Madhyam na? Tumne itna kuch keh diya uske aur mere... Mujhe bhi gussa aata hai but I don't show it." I whispered as his state got me to tears. I kissed his cheek and he turned towards me with closed eyes. He clasped my hand in his and cuddled with it. It was a little startling at first and I struggled to get out of his grip. It was only when the doorbell rang that I became alert.

"Manik, utho. Manik, Amma-Appa came. Go sleep inside na? If they see you here, they'll think something. Please. Manik!" I shouted and he rubbed his eyes and blinked at me. I shook my hand that he was clasping and he looked at it for a moment and then immediately let go.

"Manik, andhar jao. Please?" I begged and he huffed and took the comforter inside. He fell on the bed and drifted to sleep again and I adjusted myself, grabbed my towel and ran to the door, to pretend I'd just popped out of the shower. By then, the doorbell would have rung almost 20 times. I opened the door and warmly welcomed my family.

"Amma-Appa, I'm sorry. Main naha rahi thi aur..." They smiled at me, as I still looked like a bride and then pat my cheek.

"It's alright Nandu. We knew you were a little busy." She faked a cough and I felt my cheeks turn red. To divert the topic, I enquired about my brother. Rishabh was sadly, off to school already and had his exams going on.

I quickly made my parents some dosas inspite of their protests. Just then, Manik stepped out of the room, stretching himself and yawning a huge yawn, like a little baby. He blinked for a while, and then sensed my parents were around. To pretend, he came towards me with sleepy eyes, kissed me on the cheek and wished.

"Good morning, love." He said loud enough for my parents to hear and for me to not get wrong ideas. I almost fell for it and then realized through his signals that he didn't 'mean' it.

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(I have my Physics exam tomorrow but still have managed to write a part for you all because I love you and the story :P Thanks a ton.)