|Manik's POV|

Finally, the day had come. I reached the court at 11 am as instructed. As soon as I reached the court, I was groped by the media and was bombarded by questions. As requested by Arora's uncle, I stayed quiet and ignored them. There were a few people present in the court when I entered. My gaze was particularly pulled by that one girl and she was none other than my Nandini. I saw her smiling at me but it couldn't cover the nervousness on her face. I smiled back at her, signalling that there was nothing to worry about. Suddenly, she clenched her jaw and her fists. She wore an irritated expression and so I followed her gaze only to meet my eyes with my enemy. Harshad stood there with a smirk. He wore a confident face and I felt like smacking him right there but I just smirked back at him.

After a couple of minutes, the judge arrived and everyone in the room stood up in respect. He then signalled everyone to settle down. In the next five minutes, Harshad's lawyer started explaining the case in his version. I looked at Arora's uncle. He was just smiling and looked extremely patient which I wasn't. Harshad's lawyer accused me of betraying Harshad and illegally taking money from. He said that I had signed a contract that said that Harshad had 50% share and claim on my company.

Well, this is something new.

He then took out a paper from a file saying that it was the contract that I had signed. Almost everyone present there sighed dramatically while I just kept a straight face, impatiently waiting for Arora uncle to take an objection. He looked extremely relaxed though.

'Sometimes overconfidence can ruin everything.' I said to myself but then realized that Arora uncle had more experience than me, so he must be knowing when to strike the chord. Plus, he had had a history of hundred percent success, so doubting his ability was imbecility.

Just as Harshad's lawyer finished exhibiting the so-called "contract", Arora's uncle stood up finally.

'Your Honour, I have a strong evidence to prove that Mr.Manik Malhotra is innocent.' Arora's uncle announced it to the Judge. Everyone else was quiet now. The Judge nodded, indicating to go ahead.

'Your Honour, I have a recording with me which I want to share amongst everyone present in this room.' Arora uncle said, producing a CD from the file in his hand.
The Judge nodded again and signalled something to the man beside him. That man went away and came back after a couple of minutes with a DVD player and speakers in his hand. A smile crept on to my face, thinking of the victory I was going to taste soon.

'Start the recording.' The Judge said. That was the first time the Judge spoke. Till then, I was almost sure that he was dumb.
In no time, the recording started playing and the gasps of people could be heard. I saw Harshad through my peripheral vision. He was pale in shock. He would have never thought that something like this would happen. Arora's uncle looked at me and I returned the gaze with a victorious smile. Victory had never felt so good before. Nandini was also beaming with happiness.
Finally, the Judge announced that I was innocent in this case and for falsely accusing me and for creating fake documents and presenting them in the court, Harshad had to pay five lakh rupees as fine.

'The court is dismissed.' The Judge announced and everyone got up. Many people came to me to congratulate me. I just smiled at them since my focus was only on the love of my life, Nandini and she was looking breathtakingly beautiful that day. That was the first time I had seen her wear an Indian outfit. She wore plain white Salwar Kameez with colourful dupatta. She had put on minimal makeup. Her attire was simple but she still looked mesmerising. She came to me, opening her arms and we hugged each other tightly. We held each other in embrace for quite a long time than it was necessary since we were among the public but none of us cared. Our love was divine and that mattered to us more than anything ever could.

'I am so glad about this victory.' Nandini said cheerfully.

'Why? You didn't believe I would win?' I asked, playfully.

'I knew you would win but witnessing victory through my own eyes was more exciting.' She replied.

I chuckled.

'I am so proud of you.' She said, stroking her fingers through my hair.

'Now you sound like my mother.' I said.

'Huh...what?!

What did you just say?

Your mother?

Did you just say that I sound like your mother?' She asked in shock and anger.

'Yes.' I said, smiling.

'You are so mean.' She said, hitting tiny punches on my chest. I laughed at her cuteness. I pinched her cheeks.

'Ahh...it hurts.' She shouted, slapping my arm.

I laughed again as she rested her head on my chest.

'I love you.' She whispered.

'I love you too.' I replied.

Arora's uncle came to us and faked a cough to let us out of our fantasy. I didn't really care what others felt about us. I just loved her and I could say it aloud to the whole world if needed.

Nandini quickly broke her embrace, becoming conscious of her surroundings.
She'll always be my shy little princess, I thought to myself and smiled.

'Arora uncle, thanks a lot for helping me. I can't ever pay you back for what you did.' I said, shaking my hands with him.

'You don't have to pay me, my son. As I said earlier, you just have to visit me regularly. That's it.' He replied.

'I will.' I assured him.

Next, I introduced Nandini to Arora's uncle.

'Ahh...so she is the lucky girl. You are beautiful. Nice to meet you.' He said, shaking her hands.

'Thank you.' Nandini said, blushing.

We all laughed.

I looked around the courtroom and Harshad wasn't there.

'He must have felt ashamed and must have gone back.' Arora's uncle said, noticing that I was looking for him.

'Yeah, I suppose so.' I said with a smile.
'Uncle....' I was going to say when Arora's uncle interrupted me.

'Don't even think of asking about the fees. I'm not gonna take a single penny from you.' He said and we laughed again.

There wasn't any reason for our laughs. Our victory just summed it all up. That day, I tasted an actual victory and escaped by a very thin line from losing everything. If I had not thought about recording our conversation back at my farmhouse, I may have been behind the bars. But it is as they say, 'In the end, truth always wins'

How was the chapter. Hope you liked it.

Comment your favourite part and don't forget to vote.

Stay home, stay safe.