MaNan- 5 Years Later...

64• |Chaotic folk-tales|

Saeesha's toast for her parents overwhelmed Arjun, Avni and Nandini all at once. Everyone smiled happily at the little girl's beautiful words as they raised their glasses to toast. "Thank you, baby!" Avni cooed with tears in her eyes. It was true that they never spoke about their situation because it was an unacceptable paradigm in the society which included their friends and families but they kept going ahead with a resolve to do what was best for themselves and their little girls. This moment and her speech gave Avni the much needed assurance that she and Arjun had indeed did their best for their family.

Rajveer Malhotra never understood Arjun and Avni's choice to not get married. He liked Nandini's personality and felt like she was a good match for Manik but he had his inhibitions about her family's situation. Ever since he found out about their situation he just kept wondering why wouldn't they take up the correct and easy choice which could put their daughters out of misery as well. He was not expressive about how he did not approve of their ways but he made sure to keep mum about it for Manik's sake. He was also elated when he received this invitation. He was happy that his son who was associated to a family that was far from normal would not have to bear the consequences for their actions as they were finally correcting their wrong choices. But this speech from Saeesha and the happiness radiating from them as a family was overwhelmingly alarming of how wrong his judgement was about Nandini's family. Their choices were far from what people usually do but at the end it had kept this family together and content in their own way so maybe they hadn't been as wrong as he thought of them to be.

"She is so... all grown-up!" Manik heard Nandini mumble to herself in a low voice. Her eyes had welled up and he understood that she was feeling vulnerable after hearing those words. He held her hand under the table and intertwined their hands together causing her to look up at him. He passed her a gentle smile as a gesture of comforting her. She reciprocated it and wiped the lone tear that had made it's way to her cheek.

"Don't you wanna say anything?" Manik asked Nandini in a low voice such that only she could hear him after a moment passed. "I don't think I can go on after that perfection for a toast." Nandini muttered to him in a doubtful tone.

"They will want to hear whatever you have in your heart for them to say. So, come on..." Manik prodded her to say whatever she could manage. Since she started attending the boarding school in Dehradun, he had watched her mutely yearn for this day. She had relocated in the hopes of bringing together her family, and now, at last, her efforts and sacrifices had brought them all to this day. He could wager on anything for evidence that she would have a plethora of things to say now, but she couldn't. Hence, he had no trouble urging her to speak because he knew how much she'd regret it if she didn't.

"Fine!" Before standing to speak, Nandini let out a sigh. Manik smirked, a little pleased with himself for persuading her to do it. He also couldn't help but wonder for a brief moment how their relationship would endure being apart for who knows how long if they relied on one another for even such smallest things.

"Gogo, that was as perfect as any toast could get and I did not want to be the one who has to go on after that but my persistent boyfriend here doesn't quiet agree with me. So, I am gonna say a few words anyway. For the longest time, Mumma kept fussing about why don't I get married. She and Appa have been worried for a long time that maybe their situation has made me lose faith in the institution of marriage. I had no answers for them because my love life was a mess at the time. They kept insisting that I should marry my boyfriend given we were with each other for five years and nothing can ever come in our life to top that. I almost believed them and that is only till the moment Manik came back into my life. Manik and I have known each other for over twelve years now in which we spent five years not talking to each other and with different people as our respective partners. Yet, when he came back, he brought all these feelings along with him which we took a long time to even admit to each other. We were too chicken to take the leap of faith because of our friendship of so many years. But... I was still extremely happy to have him in my life after everything that happened. I never told him this but I realized my feelings for him pretty much in the first month of us meeting again yet I dragged my feet. I'm gonna tell you the why of it right now. It was because what you and I shared resembled the kind of connection and friendship that I saw my parents have for each other. Even when everything was unspoken between us, it reminded me of home. Gogo was right about how you prioritized love along with the amazing life you gave us but you both also taught me how beautiful it is to have a friend in your partner. Manik and I eventually crossed the bridge when we had to but I could value him more because of you two. I saw you face everything together yet you weren't involved which was only possible because of your friendship." Nandini had to pause for a second to stop her tears from flowing. She glanced over at Manik for a second to find a bewildered expression on his face because he was not expecting her toast for her parents to be so much about them. Nonetheless, he rubbed her back slowly to give her the much needed reassurance of having him right there with her.