Let Me Love You ✨|| Completed

26. Twenty Questions

~ I fell in love with the way you touched me- deeply and intimately, without using your hands~

And when you find someone to trust and to confide in, the world seems a beautiful place. Trust is always more craved than love among most of us. But Manik, he had finally found someone to trust his life with, and life had been nothing less than heaven for him, the moment onwards. But then, joy increases when shared and he wanted to share this wonderful joy of having someone to trust blindly, with her- his lady love, Nandini Manik Malhotra, by becoming the person she could trust blindly, though for him The journey had just began.

Saturday night, Kabir was out for a party with his friends, well, clubbing to be exact. Weekend for the 21st century people, usually means clubbing. Raj and Nyonika were out of the city. They had not given a proper reason though, a marriage somewhere and a business trip, a anastomosis of both maybe, that is what they had told Manik. Hence, at the end of the day, they had the house to themselves for the night. Though Manik had a fair idea of what his parents intended to do, he didn't complain about it. After all he would get some cozy moments with his dear wife.

" Nandini...", He cribbed sitting on the bed, seeing her engrossed in a fantasy novel, The Californian Summer, deeply.

" What...?", She aksed irritated with his constant disturbance.

" I am bored...", He complained.

"But I can't dance...", She answered bluntly, "to entertain you...".

Disturbing a reader when she is engrossed in reading could actually be dangerous to health.

" Offo! Let's do something intresting...", He exclaimed with apparent excitement.

" Okay. Suggest something that I would find more intresting than my dear book...", She agreed sarcastically. If you are an avid reader,you would understand how irritating it gets when someone disturb you during your reading time.

" Let's play twenty questions...", He suggested with a smile.

" Too mainstream. Boring", she discarded the idea.

" Nopes. There is a twist....", He said with a 'i-am-the-best' face.

She had no option but to agree to his game because he was clearly not giving up. Hence she found it better to entertain him for some time and then peacefully resume her reading.

" Okay...", She said closing the book and sat on the bed, getting up from the armchair. Manik too joined her with paper chits and a pen. The twist in the game was that there were two chits- white and blue. Both would write questions on five chits of each colour. But when the white chits would be picked, they have to answer for each other. For the blue chits, they would give their own respective answers. Nandini agreed with the rules, though it seemed a little confusing and both took ten minutes to write the questions. And then the game begin.
The first chit was white, picked by Nandini. The question on it was favourite movie.

Manik grinned at her and answered ye jawani hai deewani (a ranbir kapoor-deepika padukone film) since he had seen her watching that one movie seven times already in the three weeks of their married life. Nandini looked at him and denied, smiling mischievously.

"But you have watched it seven times..!", He complained with a grumpy face and she chuckled at the answer.

" Watching a movie numerous times may also mean that you like it as a stress buster or that the scenes are comic.", She replied and he made a 'rubbish-logic' face.

" Well your favorite is 'you before me' since you have seen it almost ten times in front of me, as per your logic", she laughed at him and he made a embarrassed face since she was right.

" And my favorite is kal ho na ho, for your info", she teased him and he made a pocker face.

The next chit was blue, picked by manik and it read, one song that is your favourite on-loop song.

Manik answered it to be bhaag milkha bhaag from the same movie while Nandini's was ' agar tum saath ho' from tamasha movie.

The next chit, a white one , was Nandini's pick and it read, something you do when feeling low.

Nandini answered first since it was easy for her to know.

" You smile more than normal, work more than normal and sleep more than normal...", She answered, hesitating though, for she was not sure while he was clean bowled seeing how well she had obesrevd him.

"Right, and you cut yourself from the world when you feel lonely, isn't it Mrs paradox?", He answered confidently and she nodded, not stunned with his observation because she now knew he had an eye for detail especially with her.

The next was a white chit again, picked by Manik, and it read one thing you can't stand.

"Double games and lies", Nandini answered it for him and he nodded.

But in her case he wasn't sure. He knew certain things she despised but what she could not stand, he was not certain of.

"Umm maybe lies only?", He aksed looking at her while she shook her head.

"Silent tears and formalities when a relation already is dead and you just act like its still there...", She answered, lost somewhere and he could see the hint of sadness that flickered in her eyes.

The next chit was blue and it read favourite holiday destination. It was london for Manik, since he was a true potterhead while panchgani for Nandini, who had never been out of india.

The next chit was again blue and it read one quality that you have always wished to see in your life partner.

Manik smiled at her while she looked at him with anticipation to know what did he see in a girl like her. That was one question she never got a clear answer to.

"I wanted someone who could listen to me and my stupid banter without getting irritated...", He looked in her eyes and she could see the love he had for her, reflecting in his deep eyes.

" I have always wanted only one quality that is I should be able to be comfortable enough to confide my heart in him, to tell him the things I have never told anyone..", she answered avoiding his gaze while he tried to hold her gaze.

In a way, both said the same thing, using different set of words. Similar emotions, similar feelings and similar cravings. And yet the personalities were so different. One knew to walk towards the sun while one had always walked away from the sun.

" In that case, I have found my soulmate but you still have not...", He spoke collecting the remaining chits dismissing the game but she kept looking at him, trying to say something but not a single word came out.

Nandini had always been that way. Multiple times she had wanted to scream, to tell people that it hurt her too, to tell people what she was feeling deep in that blood pumping organ of hers, but not a single time she could find her voice to say. She just couldn't. And over time, she accepted it that she just couldn't share and that het fate was to suffocate alone only. But today, seeing him, the desire to speak and scream took the best of her. As she saw him, turning back to hide those tears in his eyes, dismissing the game and making the bed for them to sleep, she felt the intense need to crash in his arms.

While Manik, in that one moment felt like he lost everything. He knew better than to lash at her or scream so he quietly tried sneaking out of the room and have some fresh air to breathe. But as he opened the door, he felt like he heard a sob. And few seconds later, his name echoed in the room.

" M-manik....", A stammering and hesitating voice hit his ear drums.