This might be a three part back-to-back update situation :P Thinking of getting the full 18th chapter out by this weekend, but it all depends on how you guys find it.

Lots of love to those who do support!

𓆩𓆪

How was he supposed to bring up the topic?

Nandini had lit a kadai on the stove with a pool of oil when she spotted him moving closer to her from the corner of her eyes.

What happened to the one-foot distance they had enforced? Not that she cared that much anymore about it, because she could smell his cologne from his shirt on her at all times... as if he had invaded her space regardless. She could not completely blame everything on him, she too had embarrassed herself once already by naively bumping into him while he was just minding his own business.

Yet, the silver lining of the evening was she was going to have a home-cooked meal, along with a man (which was a first in her life) and he was helping her out with it in whatever capacity he could, unlike her Chacha who only teased her Chachi's atrangi homemade recipes.

Her Chacha-Chachi. They must have been worried sick thinking about her whereabouts. Perhaps by now, they would have harassed Navya and Soha about it, or even gone to the cops to file a complaint. No, cops were a bit of a stretch.

Nandini remembered how approximately the police twisted the case in all angles and directions when one of the houses in her colony got robbed. Later, they found out the police received a cut of the robbed money as bribe to close the case quickly. That was a sharp reality check for Nandini's family, and they had vouched not to step foot at a police station any time in their life.

Then, seven months ago, Nandini had shown courage and tried to give them a second chance when she submitted her statement, only to be scarred by the callous manner in which they treated Nandini.

Freshly irritated with her companion of the hour, she poured something from her hands and clapped them together to rid herself of any specks. The monster's lockup strategy had barred them from reaching her mobile – which was probably still kissing the seatmats of the cab – and had thrown fuel on her family's fires of panic. As soon as she was done with this task, she would either go fetch the phone from the cab herself or she would nicely ask him if he could convey a message to her family, depending on which of those suggestions he allowed.

Just as Manik was about to open his mouth, something crackled and jumped in Manik's direction. "What the hell?" He scowled, glancing at his bare forearm, which had received a hit. Startled by the subsequent snapping sounds that he could not recognise or examine in the dimly lit surroundings, he naturally gravitated towards her figure, a source of comfort in the discomfort. "What the hell is that?"

She scouted him, scurrying a wee bit away from her, cowering behind her tiny frame as if he had seen a rat. On seeing him agitatedly looking everywhere, Nandini pursed her lips. "It's just mustard seeds," she assured, finding the whole scenario somewhat amusing. A six-foot-two-inch-tall, otherwise intimidating man was rattled by some tiny seeds, haw?!

So it was coming from that fucking pot, was it? "Get that thing to fucking stop," he demanded, tapping her shoulder and then pointing at the flame, enraged by the reckless spluttering that was setting off anxiety alarms within him.

"Tum itne mein hi darr gaye!" A burst of chuckles accidentally escaped Nandini's lips, but to be honest, she wasn't trying that hard to stop them. It was so freaking funny that just after she threw in some dry red chillies and peanuts to roast in the oil, she doubled up in laughter, clapping and palming her chest to control herself.

He was swatting himself clean from the oil dots when the first ring of her laughter filled the room. As if he was been parched dry of that sound, he jolted up to watch her gloriously sway before the stove.

"Bas itne se, chote se toh hai, and you got scared?! Aw, very bad, very bad!" Bewitched in her own humour, she tried to enact the size of those particles, only to fall back into snowballing guffaws.

On seeing her reference her characteristic phrase, very bad, the one she used in their very first chat on a dating app several months ago, a tiny seed of hope sprouted within him.

It was true that until today, gunshots also had not startled him but those... those speck-sized black seeds jumping had freaked the hell out of him... he could take that insult even a million times over if it got her losing herself heartily like that.

Mesmerised by the sight and sound of her, he was practically drawn towards the countertop, on which he parched an elbow and leaned his back, gazing at her. The canvas of dull lifelessness that he lived with for seven months were enchantingly splattered with a vibrant spectrum of beautiful shades – maybe some pinks, some blues and some purples – just the presence of her had done that.

"Seven months and sixteen days," he mindlessly uttered, his fingers kneading the black band on his left hand.

Her laugh faded out at his sudden interruption and she consciously straightened in her spot, tucking her hair away and fiddling with the chillies and peanuts on the stove. That was when her mind registered the snippet of information. It wasn't a threat; he had mentioned it in such a matter-of-fact way, as if it were a truth in his life he just could not walk away from, and so he resignedly accepted it for what it was.

Her eyebrows furrowed as some neurons began firing in her top floor. He had abandoned her seven months and some days ago, was he reminding her of the day he left her?

Somehow, he had appeared so pleased at the mention of seven months and sixteen days, and for him to say something like that when she was laughing... of all instances... It seemed like it was purely out of admiration, wasn't it?

Keyword: seemed. She was clinically insane if she thought he was counting the number of days until he would get to see her smile again. At that rate, she might as well check herself into therapy and handle her own delusions with proper guidance.

He was most likely either mocking her, or trying to exhibit the power he had over her; if that was the case, why was she finding it hard to believe herself? After all, wasn't Manik being so accommodating of her all evening?

Since the truce, wasn't she, on some levels, not even fighting with him anymore? Her own priorities had changed from escaping the hell-hole to making the most of every moment stuck there as long as she was unharmed; it was as if her heart had irrationally demanded a few redeeming memories to wipe out the last ugly image it had of him. Or to prove her wrong, and itself right.

He was giving her whatever she wished for no palpable reason.

It was as if all they had wanted was to be around each other, just like that one night they spent together.

There was something eerie about how secure Nandini felt despite being literally kidnapping and tussled in the safehouse against her will. Not wanting to harbour any doubts or ransack her mind further on any of the possibilities, she meekly requested an explanation, "Kya hua, tum aise kyoon bol rahe ho?"

Even though his initial plan was to come clean with her and tell her everything, that was a split-second decision he had taken when she was upset with him. He thought that by confessing his mistakes, he could shed some light onto her flawed perceptions; all that was before he heard her laugh. The whole evening, he was trying a variety of ways to get her to smile, but he had not expected his heartbeat to be snatched by one short, petite woman. He stumbled in his spot.

Nandini was literally standing a breath away from him, stubborn in her stance to not move until she got an answer from him. His own lungs hugged onto the air he breathed, afraid to let go. Being that close to her was fucking dangerous for him.

"Umm... Uh..."

She scrutinised at him, wondering what it was that was causing him, the most confident guy she knew, to fumble and stutter so much.

"Just – just forget what I said earlier, okay? Ignore," he added, stirring the mix.

She furiously rolled her eyes and stared at the ceiling. Aiyappa, yeh ladka chahta kya hai mujhse?!

𓆩𓆪

A reflective piece cast a beam of moonlight on the ceiling and walls as Mukti twirled it between her fingers. She sat on the bed cross-legged, examining it further. The way the engravings were made on it, it looked like a fingerprint, but she could not be too sure of that.

Her thoughts were broken when she heard a knock somewhere in the hallway. She ignored it for a few minutes, but as the sound did not stop, she tucked the piece she found under her pillow, irritably got up, and opened her door to the dark hallway, only to spot a tiny figure instantly hiding behind a wall.

It took her less than a second to know that it was her daughter.

A small smile appeared on her face.

For the last approximately three months, Seher had been relieved from bedtime shifts, and instead, Mukti had taken it upon herself to put her child to sleep. What began as an insecurity, in seeing her child bond with other members in the crew, had transformed into a uniquely personal relationship with a small change in bedtime routines alone. She knew her child better than anyone, that was a fact, but being present around the child taught her baby to slowly open up to her and explore her primitive opinions that were just taking shape.

Only a few minutes ago, she had tucked her baby into bed when Adira complained that none of the adults kissed her good night or said sweet dreams and that she was worried she wouldn't get to see any fairies in her dreams. Wanting to appease her daughter, who had obsessively requested for her Maama all evening, but had somehow made peace with his absence after a short walk with Cabir, she gave her baby seven kisses, one from each member of the crew and two extra from her Mumma for being such a wonderful child. She would surely be blessed with lots of beautiful dreams for the night if she tried sleeping; with that, Mukti had half-shut her baby's room as she usually did.

What Mukti had not expected was to see the toddler, roaming out and about past her bedtime like this, knocking on other people's doors.

"Adira, come here." She called politely, but when the toddler refused to budge from her spot, Mukti went down on her knees and opened her arms out wide. After careful consideration, the kid rushed into her arms with a fuzzy blanket bundled in one arm and a plushie in the other. Mukti carried her into her own room and turned on the nightlight beside her bed. "What's wrong? Why hasn't my baby slept yet?"

Cradling the child, she gently sat her in the centre of the bed. Comforted by the fact that her Mumma was not sending her back to her room, she innocently confessed, pointing at the door, "I was looking for Manik Maama, when I put him to sleep every night, he sleeps nicely, but he will not have a good sleep tonight."

Mukti sat beside her on the bed, while the child thought it to be the perfect scenario to stretch her legs, wrap herself in her blanket and lie in her Mumma's bed; then her Mumma would not send her away. The familiar scent of her mother's pillows brought the baby lots of happiness.

"You put him to sleep every night?" Mukti's curiosity was met with a flustered headshake, causing Mukti to marvel at her child's lies. "I want to know the truth, baby."

"Will you be angry at me?"

Leaning in, Mukti dropped a gentle pucker on her daughter's forehead. "I will never be angry at you for telling me the truth, will you remember that? Never."

Pleasantly convinced by the promise, Adira revealed, "Maama doesn't like sleeping alone in the dark."

Mukti chuckled, tapping one of Adira's chubby baby cheeks that wobbled at her flick. "He's just like you." Adira grinned.

"Yes, but my Mumma tells me big kids should sleep in their own beds. He doesn't have a Mumma to tell him that. So he won't be able to sleep today." Taken aback by the casual statement made by the child, Mukti recalled a couple of instances over the last few months when Manik had profusely thanked her for bringing Adira into his life. Once he had said, she reminded him of his mother, and on another occasion, he had said having her around made him forget the complexities of being an adult.

And she had snatched such a person away from Manik's life.

How could she not even be half as compassionate as her child was?

Shrugging those thoughts, she affirmed the beauty behind her child's actions. "You are worried for him even when he's not here. That's such a kind thing to do, baby. Come here..." She patted her lap, and the toddler eagerly crawled her way towards a thick thigh, placing her head gently on it. Mukti affectionately wrapped the baby blanket on her and patted the child. "Why did you go knocking on Cabir's door?"

"I was looking for Manik Maama."

"Is that the truth? Were you looking for your Maama, or for someone else who could put you to sleep?" Adira put a finger in her mouth sheepishly. "The second one?" She nodded.

Mukti's heart clenched. "Why didn't you come directly to me?"

With a trembling lip that shook from the onset of a cry, the baby uttered, "Because I always trouble you, I don't want to trouble you."

"It's not troubling, my bacchha, it's the most beautiful part of being a parent... and I love being your parent, your Mumma. If not her Mumma, who else will my baby trouble, hmm? Tell me..." She probed gently and playfully, as the baby squirmed and giggled in her lap. Mukti made sure to shower a couple of extra kisses on her forehead to reassure the child.

"Really?"

"Of course, baby. Do you know why I tell you to sleep on your own bed?" Adira shook her head. "You didn't do anything wrong. I am not punishing you. I don't love you any less, no, not at all. I say it because I believe you can now do it. It is scary, sleeping alone can be incredibly difficult, being alone for hours is hard but I trust you to know your own limits, and I am still so proud of you for trying." She took her baby's hand in hers and kissed it, placing it back on her child's tummy, feeling teary from the amount of praise and love she felt for her child.

Those feelings she suppressed for so many years out of fear of abandoning her kid – accidentally, due to destiny – outpoured in various ways at that juncture. And she suddenly felt the need to voice her side, worried that a day would come where her child would not have the slightest clue how loved she was.

Mukti sniffed. "I think I know you best, but sometimes Mummas also make mistakes. Just like it is your first time being a baby, it's my first time being a Mumma. Babies are born to trouble their Mummas only and Mummas sometimes get irritated at their babies, but no matter what, I love you the most... more than anyone in this entire world. Nothing will change that. Ever."

"I love you too, Mumma."

"If for any reason you're afraid about anything, you will not think about anything or anybody else; you will come to me, okay?" Adira nodded.

"Do you believe me when I say that I trust you?" One more nod. "Did you believe that before I just told you?" The baby shook her head. "What can I do to change that?"

Definitely candy.

"More candy."

Stifling a laugh, Mukti spoke, "Now see, I think you can make a healthier decision than that. You can think about it and tell me. Mumma is sorry about making you sleep alone. Would you like to sleep in my bed with me today?"

Adira sat up, her eyes glowing at the suggestion. Mukti patted the space beside her on the bed as she scooted down and reclined on a pillow. Her child shuffled beside Mukti until her cheek came into contact with Mukti's breasts, and the rest of her body curled into a ball near Mukti's stomach.

She snuggled her child closer, gently patting her to sleep against the pillowy flesh that soothed her as a newborn. It seemed like yesterday when her baby was that small; time practically flew by, and presently all Mukti had were the memories.

Memories she wanted to dearly cherish because it would not be long before her daughter would be off to school, staying away from her for hours willingly in the company of new friends.

And she knew without a doubt that when that day came, there would be one other person in this mansion who would cry more buckets than Mukti would.

𓆩𓆪

My response to Nandini's "Aiyappa, yeh ladka chahta kya hai mujhse" is 'jo usse bhi nahi pata' :")

And Mukti and Adira is such a joy to read, just seeing her go from this distant mother to a moderately involved parent itself is like <3 makes me so happy! I hope you guys are liking how the arcs are shaping up.

Can you guys keep up the support? I'll get you the next part soon!