Previously known as 'THERE FOR EACH OTHER'
"And when my eyes fell on you,
I realised that all I ever needed in life,
To flourish and to bloom,
Was you".
Nandini Murthy isn't someone too keen about love because well, responsibilities, or maybe she us...
Nandini frowned. Manik didn't like holding anything to sleep, she herself being the exception, of course, she blushed as the thought crossed her mind. She slowly and gently removed the pillow from his hold to have a look on his face. And it took her five minutes to tore off her gaze from that face.
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He was sleeping on his stomach, his mouth slightly open and he looked like the most desirable man ever! What? Nandini slapped her head as the thought crossed by and giggled. He looked so serene sleeping like that but still there was a lingering feeling of discomfort in her abdomen as she saw him. Something was wrong. She ran her fingers through his hair and he shivered at the touch. That was the moment he realized he was running high on fever. Nandini's eyes widened on the realization and she shook him up.
"Manik? Manik? Get up...", She shook him and he fluttered open his eyelids but smiled on the sight in front of him.
"Nandini...", He whispered, though lowly but something in his voice quivered.
"Get up...", She stood up and forwarded him her hand which he gladly took and she dragged him to their room. Once inside the room, she locked the door, switched off the AC and the fans and then asked him to lie down as she searched the cupboard for a wollen comforter. It was in that moment he realized, it wasn't his dream sequence. She was actually there, in front of him. He rubbed his eyes to confirm and as the realization dawned on him, a small smile appeared on his face.
"Nandini...", He called her and she turned to look at him but before she could understand anything, she was being crushed in his arms. He embraced her tightly and she could feel his erratic breaths and wild heart. He bent down to hide his face in her neck, his warm cheeks hiding in the crook of her neck gave her tingling sensations.
"Manik", she whispered his name as she crossed her hands around him, rubbing his back at he same time but his grip didn't loosen. Instead, he tightened it more. Though she would have loved to be there in her safe heaven she knew he needed rest and hence she forcefully broke the hug before dragging him to the bed and covering him with the comforter.
He gaped at her, without even blinking.
No cheesy lines.
No 'i-missed-you-so-much'.
No cribbing.
Just silent staring.
Even when Nandini returned five minutes later with a bowl of hot soup, she found him staring at the door when she returned which shifted to her face later. She fed him the soup which he ate without a single tantrum followed by a tablet of paracetamol. He didn't speak a word and kept gazing at her face.
"Manik?", She called out to him softly. He didn't respond.
"Manik?", She shook his hand this time.
"Nandini...", He took her name in response and held her wrist.
"Sit beside me, here...", He said pointing to the bed beside him and for the first time in the last half hour, his gaze moved from her face to the bed. She obliged and sat beside him. He held her hand in his, as she made him lie down properly and with her free hand she tried to press his forehead in case it was paining. He again kept looking at her but by now her patience was running thin.
"Manik, what's wrong?", She asked him and he immediately adjusted himself on her lap, hiding his face in her tummy.
"Don't ever leave me nandini. Not even for a few hours. I can't survive. It takes me so much to even breath without you...", He spoke slowly and her breaths hitched. The lines might seem overrated or cheesy but she knew, he meant everything he spoke. But what she was more concerned about was what had pushed him to this extent? It wasn't only the fever or him missing her. It had something more to it, she was sure.
"Manik, I won't go ever. Okay. Calm down...", She rubbed his arm to relax him but he tightened his grip around her, hiding himself away from everything. She let him be for sometime, his health was more important at that point and few minutes later she realized he had drifted off to sleep. The only difference that she realized was the calmness on his face this time, which was absent when she came in the morning!
