No, you're not dreaming.

Yes, I updated again.

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Nandini

The rest of the month passed with me doing about anything to avoid Manik, until the day I had been dreading rolled up.

It was our anniversary. Mine and Manik's. Which meant, it was six years since we got married, and exactly four years since we separated.

Every year when this day came, I treated it like any other day, keeping myself busy with work and Mia until after desert. I usually allowed myself one scoop of ice cream and sat by the window in quiet acknowledgment of the date and the memories it brought back.

This year, it was different. I hadn't heard from Manik after our conversation at the restaurant or seen him. He sent either Cabir or his assistant to pick and drop Mia both the weekends that followed, as if he was trying to actively avoid me.

I did understand why, but that also didn't stop me from feeling the hollowness of his absence. This was the longest I had gone about without seeing him.

That's what made this date different, and the fact that Mia was at a friend's place for a birthday sleepover, and Chacha-Chachi were spending the weekend away.

It was the first time in four years that I was, well, alone.

I would've dealt with the day just fine if not for the draining thought that Manik wanted me back, and I rejected him.

That's how I found myself in a club that evening, a shiny silver one sided bodycon dress on me that had Navya gushing.

"God damn!" She had whistled when she saw me, and I had twirled around, showing off my very new and very expensive Karl Lagerfeld bag. I looked twenty-five, my own age, something I hadn't looked in a very very long time. To be honest, I hadn't been much of a teenager even when I was a teenager, and before I could navigate adulthood, I was a mother.

I had basically never done this except with Manik sometimes, but there was something about today that made me want to drink and forget, be as young as I could be.

I tapped my manicured nails at the bar counter, ignoring the bartender's flirty smile. "How can I help you ladies today?"

Navya giggled as I linked my arm with her.

"Two shots from your finest bottle of tequila, please," I grinned, passing him a fifty dollar bill. "And keep them coming."

*

Manik

I was working late even though it was a Saturday. I usually left work early on weekends to make as much time as I could for my little ball of sunshine, but since she was at a friend's house, I was all to myself.

I never did anything except work when I was left to myself, but today, I found myself wondering more than ever what Nandini was doing.

I had picked up my phone four times since morning, writing nonchalant small messages but never sending them. Once, I almost called her, but chickened out at the last moment.

Giving her the space she needed was becoming harder and harder, especially when every thought in me was consumed by her.

It being much after midnight when I stepped into my always empty house, I was on the verge of pouring myself a drink when my phone buzzed in my pocket, displaying my best friend's name.

"I met you two hours ago," I tell him as soon as I pick up. "You seriously miss me already?"

Cabir laughed from the other end. "Otherwise, I would've called you because I miss you. But tonight, that's not why."

I gasp in a fake surprise. "Don't tell me you're working late?"

"Nah. You do that enough for both of us." He replied lazily. "I spent my Saturday evening at a sauna and spa, you know, like normal people do. Wedding prep can be exhausting."

"Okay, bridezilla," I joked, throwing myself on the couch. "If you've called me to join you at the sauna, that's not happening. Not today, and not in a hundred years."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he chirped. "I was wondering if you want to hit the club with me."

"The club?" My eyebrows furrow, eyes reflexively falling on the watch I was wearing. 1:01 A.M. "It's past midnight."

"Which is the normal time to go to a club." I could hear him roll his eyes. "You would know that if you give in to one of my hundreds of plans once in a while. But, that's not why I'm asking you to come to the club with me."

"You want to buy the club?" I ask.

"No," he ridiculed. "Why would I want to do that?"

"If not for business, why're you asking me to come?"

He sighs as if shaking his head. "You can party sometimes, like a normal twenty-six year old," he reminds me. "But, that's not why I'm asking you to come either."

"Cabir, you have ten seconds to get to your point and if you don't, I will disconnect and you will be greeted by my voicemail for the rest of the night."

"Ouch." There was the drama queen's fake gasp again. "Navya and Nandini are at the club."

My eyebrows furrow. "Nandini? She is at the club?"

"Yup." He pops the p. "And she is very wasted."

"My Nandini is at a club, and she's wasted?" Disbelief drips from my voice.

"Yes, Manik. I was going to pick the girls up and I wanted to ask if you want to come along. They're very wasted, and I think I'm going to have an issue dragging them both out of there."

My eyebrows furrow. "Are you sure you're not mistaking someone else for Nandini?" This just seemed so unlike her, my reaction was laughable.

He leaves an exasperated sigh. "Hold on, let me forward you the video of Nandini that Navya sent me fifteen minutes ago."

The phone was a muted for a short few seconds before a video made its way into my messages. It took me a nanosecond to play it, and there she was, unmistakably her.

Short dress, red lips, on the table. I repeat, she was on the table, a bottle of tequila in her hand, a carefree smile on her lips, dancing in a way I hadn't seen her dance in a long, long time.

My heart warmed looking at her for a second before realising she was on the table, dancing. Any and every man in the club had watched her, and probably continued to do so.

"How far is the club?" I ask, my voice short.

"It's at Hudson Park Street. So, fifteen minutes?" Cabir vaguely guessed.

"See you there in five." I disconnected before I could waste another second of my time talking to him, grabbing my keys from the table and almost running out.

*

The scene outside of the club was a brutal reminder why I never did the whole partying thing. Apparently, some celebrity had dropped by at the place with his supermodel girlfriend, and his fans had mobbed the place demanding an entry.

Two bouncers the size of a wall stood outside guarding the door blocking it.

"Is your name on the guest list?" One of the bouncers said, eyeing my office suit with weird eyes. "If not, can't let you in."

"Look," I said firmly, my business voice on, "I don't intend to stay. I just need to pick someone, and she needs my help. Her name is on the guest list." I point at the scribbling on his iPad. Nandini.

He eyes me suspiciously. "If she needs help, ask her to come out."

I grit, bringing out a pile of a few hundred dollars that I thankfully got because I had a feeling they would come in handy. "Let me in," I demand.

While one of the bouncers eyes shine looking at the rough sum of thousand dollars, the other stands unfazed. "Sorry, Sir, we're packed for the night."

"I need to see Nandini. Now." I was done requesting.

"The most I can do is send someone to fetch her for you," He bargains.

My eyes twitch. She was wasted. She wasn't going to hold a stranger's hand and walk out the door, especially not if he said I was there.

And to have this bouncer pick her to get her to me? The idea wasn't even considerable.

"No," I shake my head, cross my hands. "She is my wife. And if you think you can stop me from seeing my wife? Get me arrested."

I move in, leaving the thousand dollars on their table to do with as they please. The one whose eyes shone earlier looks at the staunch one, who tries following me inside.

"Sir, I have tried to be polite, but if you don't stop now, I will use force." He calls after me.

I grit, turning to him. "Add me to the guest list."

"No spots available. Just a table."

"Then let me buy a table," I offer in a sarcastic saccharine voice.

"That would be five thousand dollars."

Is this a table or a down payment on a house? Nonetheless, I remove my wallet and draw out my black Amex. He takes it with a glint in his eyes, tapping it on the card machine.

I groan internally when my phone buzzes in my pocket, letting me know of the finished transaction.

I grab my card back as quickly as I can, done paying attention to the bouncer, walking inside.

I swiftly moved through the crowd of wasted young adults, the party music blasting around me, the stench of raw vodka heavy in the air in a nauseating manner.

I loved my alcohol, but tastefully.

This? It was a fuckfest.

Thankfully, before I had to shut the music down to look for the girl I came here for, I spotted Navya.

She was making her way through the crowd to me, a grin on her lips. "Manik!" She snaked her hands around my arms immediately, trying to reach to my height to boop my nose. I straightened myself, and she pouted when she realised I was too much taller. "Where's my boyfriend? Oops, fiancé!"

"Coming in a few behind me." I tell her, "Navya, where's Nandini?"

"Nandini who?" Her pout deepens.

"My Nandini, goddamn it." I try my level best to keep the annoyance out of my voice and fail miserably. "Where is she?"

"Oh, that Nandini." She laughs like she knew a million of them. "She's at the table behind with her tequila. Cabir? CABIR!"

Having spotted her fiancé in the crowd behind me, she leaves me to head towards him, and I don't waste another second. I jog to the direction she pointed at, and sure enough, Nandini was there, on the table, nursing the bottle of cheap alcohol in her hand.

She looked... hot. She looked happy.

And I would've liked that show, if not for one of the men around enjoying her dance a little too much.

"Nandini? Nandini!" I call for her, my voice buried under the music.

I didn't have the time or the patience for this.

I grab one of her wrists, pulling her to me. Wasted and unable to stabilise herself, she falls onto me, the bottle of tequila crashing into a hundred pieces at my feet but the woman I was here for in my arms.

She tries fighting me thinking a stranger had grabbed her.

"Nandini? It's me!" I shout at her to get her to stop, and she sure does.

I pick her up bridal style, and her eyes daze before she wraps her hand around my neck, using the index finger of the other hand to poke into my cheek. "What're you doing here, you monster?"

"I'm taking you home."

"No, you're not," she protests, "We're getting divorced. I can go home with anyone I like."

My jaw clenches as I try to not pay heed to her wasted talks. "Try as you like, you're never going home with any man except me."

"Monster." She shows me her tongue but rests her head on my shoulder any way.

Her otherwise vanilla and strawberry scent was covered by the pure smell of alcohol on her, and I just knew the hangover would kill her tomorrow.

I would've taken her straight out and into my car if not for a man that stood in front of us, his eyes flickering from Nandini to me.

"You can't take the life of the party away," He slurred drunkenly. "And if you are taking her away, I want in too."

My teeth grit. "What did you just say?"

"The lady. I want in too. She seems like she would be open to that."

"That lady is. My. Wife." I hiss, "And if you don't apologise right now, I will bash your head into that counter and make sure you never have an incorrigible thought again."

He shudders as I take a step closer to him. "And guess what? I would even get away with that."

"You.. you can't..." he stammers.

"I can't?" I raise my eyebrows. "Try me."

He gulps. "Sorry."

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you."

"Sorry." He yelled.

I took a step back, letting Cabir step into the view, who punched that man hard enough to send him to the ground.

"That's for thinking smack about my sister," Cabir said and I just shrugged, walking out wit Nandini held tightly in my arms, who kept protesting about how we punched a man, not understanding what he had implied any way.

I strapped her into the backseat of the car, turning on childlock from both sides so she's entrapped inside while I exchanged a quick word with Cabir and saying bye to him and Navya.

When I got into the driver seat, Nandini was asleep which had me breathe in relief all the way back home.

I carried her in my arms into my house, and put her in my new room, covering her with a blanket as I watched her sleep peacefully, not a care in the world, relaxed as she could be.

Even though my better senses knew I shouldn't sleep on the same bed as her, I laid down next to her any way. I was only so much of a gentleman to leave a comfortable distance between us.

I knew that she would wake up tomorrow and even in her distorted state want to flee this house right that moment, but right now she was here, in my house, our home, and that was all that mattered.

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I had so much fun writing this chapter, and hope you had just as much reading it.

Don't we all love a rich, protective man who only has eyes for you? ;)

50 comments and I'll see you in the next one.

Love, H.