Let Me Love You ✨|| Completed

11. The Choice

~Loving someone who doesn't love you back is like writing on a white chartsheet with white crayon! It is that invisible. But also all it takes is a little effort to replace the white sheet with the black one and love glistens!~

Looking at her intently, he tried to read her eyes while she stared at him, trying to comprehend why was he so hell bent on marrying a girl who didn't even love him. It was beyond her, the fact that he was claiming to love her.

" So....?", He asked, with a smile hiding the nervous flutters he was feeling. He didn't want to pressure her, but a heart wants what it wants.

Nandini didn't reply. For quite a long time, she stared at him, trying to understand the situation but she couldn't make herself say something, until she finally took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second before opening them again.

" No Manik...I can't marry you...", She finally spoke, freeing herself from his hold and taking two steps backwards. His heart cracked at her answer but he didn't let it show on his face.

" May I know why, other than the fact that you are not in love with me?", He asked softly. Nandini looked at him and sighed.

" Manik, you and me are from two different worlds. You are The Manik Malhotra  and I am nobody compared to that. Our family standards are different. Moreover, I have a family to look after. I cant leave my mother and my siblings alone. Marriage is out of question now. And also, Manik you deserve someone better. Please understand, I don't believe in love. Maybe I won't be able to be a good wife for you ever. Don't complicate your life tying it with me....", She tried to explain her logical points but when you are in love, all the logics fly out of the window.

" Nandini, all that I know already. And I am not asking you to not take care of your family or be a wife to me or anything. That we will see with time. But atleast give me a chance. Today or tomorrow you will have to marry, right? Then why not with me? Please? Atleast give Us a thought ", He agian counter cut all her points but Nandini still shook her head.

" No Manik. Not until my family agrees", she denied again, thinking this might make him back off.

"Then let me meet your family. And then we will decide...",he answered spontaneously and she looked abruptly up at him, finally realizing how serious he was regarding the whole issue. It made her shut up, but she still tried one last time.

"Manik, why? You are always lively as dawn and I am as quiet as dusk. Why are you so hell bent on marrying me?", She asked again, irritated and frustrated by then.

" So what nandini? Dawn and dusk can be a pretty couple too?", He winked at her, trying to make the situation light.

" Let me talk to my family first. I will answer you after that", she tried dismissing the matter. She could deal with her constant puppy face and his hope filled eyes.

Nandini and hope did not go together, in one sentence.

" Aye aye captain. I will wait for that", he replied softly with a wide smile. Nandini didn't reply for she could not fathom what to say and how to react to the proposal.

She wasnot at all ready for marriage. Not now, atleast. To be true, she was scared to marry.

Manik dropped her to the metro and she with slow steps reached her home. Having her dinner silently, she moved away to her room to have some lone time and think about the day events. She didn't love Manik, for sure. But then, she did admire him for his nature. But marrying him? Was she even ready for a big thing like marriage?

The kind of person Nandini was, she dreaded marriage, reasons best known to her. While she was busy contemplating her views she felt her mother's soft touch on her head and without a word she lied down in her lap.

" So what's bothering you?", Padmini asked ruffling nandini's hairs and she looked up at her mother with her big doe eyes.

" Why is marriage important amma? Cant a girl survive on her own? Is a man around her that important?", She aksed and her mother smiled.

" Never. Who said that a women needs a man to be survive?", She patted her head and Nandini blinked in surprise at her mother's answer.

"But beta, marriage is not about survival. Marriage is about companionship. Having coffee alone gets boring but having someone to share that coffee makes even the thought of having coffee more interesting. We women can handle everything beta, no doubt but we can't always be strong. Sometime or the other, having a hand to wipe off those hidden tears is soothing. To know you have someone to lean on is comforting. Spending life alone is difficult because this loneliness tears you apart. Having someone to nurse your wounds is pleasurable...", Padmini explained and nandini let the words sink in.

"So love isn't needed?", She asked again and Padmini burst out laughing.

" What do you think love is nandu? Can you share your coffee with everyone? Will you let anyone wipe your eyes or nurse your wounds? Love is an emotion beta that comes from within naturally. You can never force yourself to love. Even after everything I have loved your dad always. It just happens...", She again cajoled her and Nandini smiled. Finally she felt the weight lifting off her chest.

"Amma....?",. She whispered in a meek voice.

"Yes, so tell me fast who is that lucky guy who want to take away my daughter?", Padmini winked and Nandini though surprised at her mother's guess, laughed.

" Manik. Manik malhotra...", And she went on telling everything to her secret keeper, her amma. From their first meet till his proposal and Padmini smiled in assurance.

"Tell him to come home. I would like to meet him....", She spoke and Nandini nodded at her mother.

"Now sleep, you don't need dark circles tomorrow if he is coming to meet you...", Padmini teased her daughter and Nandini rolled her eyes at her. She sent a quick text to Manik and Finally smiling ear to ear she drifted off to sleep.

Manik on the other hand was also lying in Nyonika's lap. He had come home worn out and tired. One look at him and his mother knew something had gone wrong. So here was she, listening the entire story and ruffling his hairs to give him the strength he needed.

"Manik, you have done nothing wrong. But we had already anticipated this, right? We knew she isn't in love with you, not now atleast. Don't give up hope beta. I am positive that things will turn out right", Nyonika consoled her son who in return looked at her with hopeful yet sad eyes. Suddenly, his phone beeped with a text message.

Amma wants to meet you. Tomorrow 10 am.

Those eight words acted like buckets of water on a burning heart and his face broke into a wide grin. Shifting in his place, he showed the message to his mother who gave him a ' I told you earlier' look. Finally, excited for the next day, he drifted off to sleep.

Note: So many of you were worried Manik would be hurt, I guess this soothed your worries.

But who knows what will happen when families meet? 😜

Also, do you really think marrying someome who doesn't love you is a good decision?