A Thousand Encounters

Chapter-58

Colonel's face did softened for a moment before he remembered what all Madhav had put Nandini under.

"She is better off them if you ask me as a friend, Amisha. And admit it, you don't give two hoots if Nandini goes back to her family or not. You just wanted to show to Madhav that you tried. I am sure that fool must have bought your drama," He uttered calmly yet ferociously. He knew Amisha for years now. She used to be a friend before she decided to play a plotter.

"How dare you?" She said getting up.

"Radhe Shyam, close the office. I have a house warming party to attend," Colonel didn't bother to hear her wincing and walked out. He wasn't invited to Nandini's new house but he is as going to gatecrash the party. He needed to tell her that she had him as a father figure always and he would never disown her again.

As he walked in corridor, he saw Madhav approaching his office. Colonel's face stiffened as his eyes met Madhav's. He was furious on him not for what he did to him or Manik but for what he did to Nandini.

He changed his course and walked towards his bungalow leaving an embarrassed Madhav behind.
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Shrilling sound of drilling machine deafened everyone in new cottage as glazier worked on windows. Harshad made sure he was seeing into this task as he hated nothing more than those glass-less frames.

Nandini jumped into the fluffy bed which had just arrived and pulled Manik along. He jumped in terror of an open door while she snuggled into her brand new bed. It was a cozy comfy bed, nothing like her queen-sized bed at Murthy mansion but it was the best bed she could ever get. 

Manik went to the door to check if someone was around and sighed seeing everyone out of cottage busy in one or another thing.

"Stop squealing," He commanded that little hellion.

She quietened for a moment but again started jumping on her bed.

"I can't believe this is happening," She said as she laid on her bed gazing wooden ceiling.

Her smile had this content that he walked towards her just to see her happy face more closely.

"I always wanted to have a house on hilltop. Wooden ceiling , crazy winds and closed walls," She added folding her knee.

Turning onto her stomach as next thing and catching him off-guard as he gawked her, she said, "But you came as surprise package, Cadet."

Pulling him next to him, she put her head in his lap while he still tried to comprehend how life was taking such a huge shift and it was so hauntingly beautiful.

"You weren't in my plan, Malhotra. But now only you are here and I don't have a plan. I wasn't this happy ever," She said and snuggled into his stomach. His palms kneaded her silky hair while his tummy started to do flips as her hot breaths sank in.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold it all?" She asked looking into his eyes.

"I am scared, it's that beautiful," She murmured before she pulled him with his collar. His face felt heat of her breaths as she kept looking into his eyes.

"And it's all because of you," She said before pulling him that close where her lips could touch hers. Her confessions weren't wordy or clear but they did tell the story well.

Manik seemed to enter the zone when someone yelled his name. He almost tossed Nandini over bed and got up not knowing how to survive the calamity. Nandini looked at him baffled while he picked up a piece of cloth trying to figure out what to clean in almost empty room.