Hello Fam :)

Warning: - Self-doubt. Questioning self-worth. Nandini's feelings and thoughts are all over the place inside her head. 

Mild Warning: You want to strangle Manik, hug him tight, or make him a coffee and talk some sense into him, decide for yourself. :P

Happy Reading...

Nandini was supposed to read a document but her mind was drifting to the time she was spending with Nyonika lately. The woman had promised she would be a daughter to her and she was doing everything to prove her point. While Manik and Cabir were busy with the office work, Nyonika took Nandini shopping. They occasionally went out on lunch dates and Nandini had visited the NGO that the older woman was managing. There were days when they used to sit together and work silently. In short, after a lifetime, Nandini was experiencing what an actual family feels like.

The only issue was the subtle way Nyonika was messing up her mind regarding Manik. The older woman would drop on hints about Manik, how much he cares for Nandini, or how important she was to him. She would have reached the point she was making if Nandini wasn't aware of Manik's feelings towards her but Manik had confessed it to her already. The only issue was that it was years back and she wasn't sure if Manik still felt that way. She would be happy to be a permanent part of this family but for her to open her heart completely, she needed to know what Manik thinks about her. The last thing she wanted right now was to break her walls and allow the people to hurt her again. After all these years, she didn't know if she had it in her to go through another phase where she has to live among the people who would hate her for her mere existence.

She heard Manik's shower going off and tried to concentrate on her document. She didn't realize the time but he was longer than usual in the shower.

"Hi", greeted Manik, as he searched for something in his laptop bag.

"Hey", she replied. He looked odd, almost restless but it was only the morning.

"Is your laptop working fine?", he asked, looking at the laptop on her lap.

"Yes, Manik."

"What about your mobile? Does Android need an update?"

Nandini shook her head. "No, it's already the updated one."

"I think I lost my book. It should be somewhere here. Have you seen it? Hey, it's here."

If she wasn't sure before, she was now. He was clearly nervous about something.

"I think I will have a shower", he announced and Nandini had enough.

"Manik, you just came from the shower", she pointed out and pulled him in front of her. "What are you nervous about? You are panicking. Breathe."

Manik blinked his eyes at her before realizing she was right and did as she told him. "I need to tell you something", he said after a long time. "Would you promise to listen to me completely before reacting?"

Nandini nodded. What was it about her that was making him this nervous?, she thought and all his nerves started rubbing on her too.

He handed her an envelope that was kept inside the book he was searching for initially, asking her to open it.

Her worst fears came true in the form of the divorce papers and it took all her strength not to throw them and run away. For all the questions she had for the past few days, Manik gave her an answer. Maybe it was the universe's way of telling her that she didn't belong anywhere, that there was no family for her and there never would be. She felt stupid about herself to even think about asking Manik about his feelings for her after all these years. Manik, the perfect Manik, the then heir of Malhotra, the CEO now, why would someone like him waste years thinking about a girl when he could have anything he desired just by a phone call.

Before she could swirl more into the black hole of her mind, Manik was patting her hand and pulling her wrist. The gentle way he was doing it, the care in his eyes, the worry lines on his head, was breaking her heart even more. It reminded her about everything she could have had if only she wasn't a coward and disappeared from everyone's lives.

"Nandini", he called her, "the circumstances under which we have got married aren't exactly the ideal ones. After everything that has happened, I don't want to force you into this relationship just because I couldn't control my emotions. Nandini, I am not trying to break this marriage. This is just your pass to get out of this relationship whenever you feel like you don't want to stay anymore. You don't have to think about this until you actually need it. I have already signed it. You just have to sign whenever you want to and either give it to me or the lawyer." He gave her an uneasy smile before standing up. "I will go see what Cabir's doing."

As he left the room, giving her a tired smile, Nandini actually concentrated on not crying over a guy. It was one of the principles she had promised herself to follow before she started her college life and she didn't intend to break it now but it felt as if she couldn't breathe anymore. Maybe it's what heartbreak felt like. Is that how Manik felt like all those years back when Nandini had rejected him?, a stray nerve suggested to her brain and she didn't know what hurt the most, experiencing a heartbreak or being the cause of one.

XXX

Nandini had holed up herself inside the room for the past three days. She was completely ignoring Manik's presence and concentrated on her company's work. Nyonika had to force her out of her room for the meals but thankfully, it was when Manik was away from the office. After three days, when she came out of the room on her own, she saw Nyonika welcoming her with a huge smile. Manik was beside her but she avoided meeting his eyes. "Mom, can I go meet Mukti? She needed some help with the wedding preparations", she asked. She got a message from Mukti early in the morning. Even though the initial idea was to have a simple engagement but because Nandini is back, her two idiots wanted to celebrate, and since the only reason that stopped them from getting married was her absence, they wanted to celebrate it now by having a grand wedding. Mukti was fine but the sudden wedding was making Abhimanyu nervous for some reason and it was affecting her.

"Of course", said Nyonika. "But before that, you have to have your breakfast first and no more excuses. You aren't going anywhere without finishing your food."

Nandini thought of something, any reason, that would put her away from Manik. She could feel his gaze on her since the time she had entered the room and it was making her uncomfortable. How does one go on ignoring the presence of one most important person in one's life?

A squeeze to her arm and a hand around her startled her so much and she heard a smack. It was only a moment later that she realized it was her who had slapped Cabir hard on the face as he stared at her, holding his cheek. Nandini felt her breath stuck inside her throat. How could she survive after slapping the prince of the Malhotra household?, she thought. He was Manik's baby brother. What was wrong with her? She felt sweat beads forming on her head and her feet were about to give up.

Nandini

She raised her head when Manik walked up to her. He looked livid. It was the most serious she had ever seen him and it scared her to be standing in the same room as him. Yet, they were sharing the same floor tile.

"Nandini", he said again, his face was stoic and didn't give away anything.

Nandini held her breath. Would he want her to leave the house? Or complaint against her? Or even worse, would think her parents were right all along and send her to him?

"I don't know what you have understood during all these days of your stay in this house. Let me get it clear for you", he said. "Family is the most important thing for us, for me. I can give my entire for them instead of letting them get hurt."

"Bhai, I am fine. It's okay, really", interrupted Cabir.

Manik held his hand, silently gesturing to him to stay quiet. "No one hurts my family, however influential they might be. I will do everything in my power to protect them. That's how mom has protected us all these years. That's how I want to do for the rest of my years. More importantly, there's no going back from after being a family in this house, no matter what the circumstances might be", he said and waited for a moment, letting his words sink in her head. "Nandini Manik Malhotra, welcome to our family."

With a final glance at her and a stiff nod to Nyonika, Manik left, taking his laptop bag and the car keys. Nandini looked at his retreating back and wondered if that was an underlying promise that she would be a part of this family whatever her decision regarding their divorce would be?

Beside her, Nyonika chuckled, gently wrapping her hand around Nandini. "My nerd son had a strange way to confess his feelings. Welcome to the family, Nandini."

She stared at Nyonika before shaking her head and turned towards Cabir. "Cabir, I am really sorry. I didn't mean to slap you. I don't know what happened to me."

"Arey, bhabhi Ji", he said, smirking, before a genuine smile overtook his face. "I said already, it's okay. Your darling of a husband isn't angry, just weird. I guess I had startled you. I didn't see you for three days and got a tad bit excited. You didn't mean it and it was an accident. We are fine now, right?"

When Nandini nodded, biting her lip, he patted her head, affectionately, and left the house for work.

"I guess now you shouldn't have any doubt that you are loved and accepted in this house, yeah?", teased Nyonika. "It's breakfast time now."

XXX

Cabir couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he walked towards his car. His idiotic brother was declaring Nandini a permanent part of their family in front of Nyonika, without waiting for the confirmation from their mother, was so huge. Maybe love really gave people the strength to take over the world.

He found Manik leaning on the car's door, crossing his arms, as he worried himself over something. He straightened up as soon as he saw Cabir. "Baby, are you okay?", he asked, cupping the cheek, where Nandini had slapped him and brushed his thumb over it. "Is it hurting much?"

Cabir shook his head. "Bhai, I am fine. Not made of glass doll, remember?", he said. They had this conversation a few months after Manik had started working out during their college and even if Cabir had stopped treating his brother as if he were made of a glass doll, Manik was yet to come around. Fortunately, he basked in the attention of his brother, his only family along with his mother, and his most important in the world, and hence, he never tried too hard to stop Manik.

"Kid, I apologize on her behalf-", started Manik but Cabir had cut him midspeech with a roll of his eyes.

"Manik, stop apologizing. She's our Nandini and it's just an accident. Maybe I shouldn't have startled her like that", said Cabir.

Manik shook his head. "She needs to understand the meaning of a family", he muttered, more to himself than Cabir.

The younger twin bumped their shoulders, grinning. "Your little speech inside might have cleared her doubts, you know", he teased. "Whatever it might be, but your wife hits hard, bro."

Manik smirked at that. His brother literally smirked, putting his glasses on, as he walked to open the door of their car. "What to say, baby brother? My wife has a world record at punching boys. I must say, you are just lucky today."

Cabir's grin only got wider. His newly-wedded couple was becoming his favorites sooner than he had imagined. 

Author's Note:-

1. So, that's what Manik meant when he wanted her to give divorce. As some of you have thought, no, Manik hadn't told this to Meera by himself. It was his personal work and if she was snooping around into his files, it's not Manik's fault. That's an entirely different plot that you are brewing and I am not going there. This story isn't about betrayal and backstabbing. It's about Nandini reclaiming her life and falling in love with being scared and we are sticking to that plan. 

2. Nandini might have felt fine but years of questioning self-worthiness wouldn't go just because you are having better days at someone else's place. She might be having fun with Cabir or enjoying time with Nyonika but how much would you enjoy when you are living as a guest at someplace? At the end of the day, we need to go home and that's what Manik's trying to do here. Give her a family, a home that she could call her own without forcing her. Glad thing, Manik's always there to pull Nandini out of the darkest corners of her mind.

3. You won't desperately want something until you actually witness it going away from you. Nandini has nothing to do with love or getting into a relationship with Manik initially but now when 'he's trying to go away from her life for the second time' according to her, it was breaking her heart to go through that all over again. The first time around, she had to leave because of her parents but now, they aren't weighing her down. Her life is her own. 

4. Is Manik in love with Nandini? He has always been. He had declared it so many times during so many occasions. He wouldn't stop loving her ever if it's up to him. Is Nandini in love with Manik? Not yet but she's getting there. She had started accepting Manik as her husband after her epic accidental marriage, it's just the falling in love part now.

5. What's going to happen with Meera now that Nandini knew she was right all along? Let's find out in further chapters. (Sab yehi thodi batana hai. :P)