MaNan~ Tangled Destinies- Hearts to Redeem [COMPLETED]

•6• •Assurances?•

||Assurances?||

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Nandini's room had the best view from the penthouse and the balcony was a cherry on top. She was fond of beaches since childhood and Manik knew that. Howsoever they had changed with the course of time, there were certain things and habits that couldn't change. Just like Nandini's fascination regarding beaches. Her Appa always brought her there to spend the weekends and that used to be her most awaited time of the week as well. Her brother studied in a boarding school in Dehradun and whenever he would come home during his vacations the both of them would spend hanging around the food stalls at the beach hunting down every kind of street food.

Also, when Manik and Nandini were together nine years ago, they hardly went on dates, rather both of them spent a lot of time on the marine lines, looking at the water kiss the shore for hours together, embraced by each other. In fact beach was the place were Manik had confessed his love to Nandini and so did she.

Nine years later, today, as she glanced at the beach through the room's balcony all the memories came rushing back to her. All that she wanted to do was go back in time and relive those moments where she was carefree and happy.

A lot had changed.

The Nandini Murthy in the present was burdened with a bunch of responsibilities. She feared commitments all her life after her relationship fell apart and today, here she was making the biggest commitment of her life- MARRIAGE.

Why did that word bring so much of bitterness? She had no idea.

It could be the fear of loosing a friend in Avidaan.
It could just be the premarital jitters.
It could be the anxiety of having an arranged marriage.
Or it could just be the possibility that she was shook up after meeting Manik.

Everything seemed fine until this morning when she bumped into Manik all over again after so many years.

Sigh.

She snapped out of the reverie as she heard somebody knock on her door. She made a face, too lazy to lift her ass off the floor and give away the ambiance she had slipped into for the moment. The person knocked again so she had to get up but not without hurling a number of abuses in her mind at the perturbation.

“Yes?” she asked loudly even before opening the door. She peeped out tilting her head to catch a glimpse of Avidaan standing at the entrance with two mugs of hot chocolate. Her frown eased out and she smiled at him and let him in.

She knew he would bring her out of the mess by just his presence and that's all that she wanted for now.

“Thank God, you're here.” Nandini exclaimed as they settled on the couch in the balcony. He looked at her with a questioning face that she shrugged off.

“I thought, you'll not be needing me for a few days. Afterall you've met your best of friends after so many years.” he mentioned. He was actually not going to come but he couldn't stop himself either. After the chat downstairs at the time they had dinner he had a feeling of giving Nandini her space which was not 'them' at all.

“Don't rub that on me. We're here to get married in the next four months. I know that we have a lot to work on us and that is why we took this break away from NYC.” she uttered with irritation and he rolled his tongue inside his mouth.

“Why are you in this mood? All grumpy and ready to pounce on anyone.” he asked her just to piss her more. She narrowed her eyes at him and getting the cue he dropped the teasing off.

“I don't know. I'm being irrational. Something is bothering me. Though I don't know what exactly it is.” Nandini told him.  She let out a sigh before sipping onto the hot chocolate. Avidaan pulled Nandini in a side hug and in reflex she just put her head on his shoulder.

“What is it, Nandini?” he asked her. Even he was disturbed about the sudden changes occurring in their lives but not to an extent up to which Nandini was bothered. He already had started to have second thoughts about this decision. He hated to see her this way and it made it worse when he was partially a reason for her state. He was definitely ready to do anything that would make Nandini better.

“I had told you right, when I left India, I had not informed any of my friends. I just disappeared one night. Today suddenly I get to know that two of my friends are my future in-laws. It's weird to catch up with them this way. On top of everything it's the decision of our marriage.” she put forth a little part of what was on her mind. Nandini always would have great difficulty in sharing but around Avidaan everything that she couldn't do became easy and she could just do it then and there.

“I cannot give you a solution but I can assure you that you're not going to be alone in all of this. I'm always there.” he could just say all that. Nothing more. Nothing less.

It worked. Nandini's fears subsided atleast for the time being. She smiled at him and then putting the mug on the teapoy, hugged him tight. He pulled her close and then kissed her head on response.

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