Looking outside the window, Nandini grinned. The little droplets that hit the window made her happy. Even though it wasn't a very rainy weather to actually go dance in, it was very soothing. Nandini was feeling relaxed and peaceful.
The warm cup of tea in her hand and the water droplets made peace travel through her body. She was enjoying the calmness around her and liked the silence. Like a little child, Nandini watched two of the water droplets race down the window and she mentally cheered them on. She was still a kid by heart.
While Nandini was doing so, Nandini's phone dinged and she picked it up. Nandini saw there was a message from an unknown number and due to her curiosity, she opened it up. The text message left Nandini both confused and a bit disturbed. It read, "I know you missed me, but don't worry darling, I'm back."
Nandini was confused. Who could text her something like that? The word 'darling' was the only word that made her confused as no one ever called her that. She was never in a relationship before, so it couldn't be some sort of ex who is trying to get back into her life. She had everyone's number who she was close to her in her life already and never lost anyone, so who could she be missing? Maybe it was just a wrong number and the text was meant for someone else.
Nandini texted back, "Sorry, but I think you have the wrong number." Nandini sighed and put the phone back down but it immediately dinged again. Nandini looked at it and saw it was from the same number. She checked and this text it shook her completely. "No, I think I am talking to the right person, Nandini."
Nandini knew she should've blocked the number after that but something didn't allow her to and made her answer the person back. Yup! Wrong move. "If you are so sure, then what is my last name?" Nandini's heartbeat increased when she saw the three dots, indicating the person is typing, after a few seconds.
"Nandini Grover. Not only that, but I know that Aarush Grover, the great businessman, is your father and Jai Grover, the new CEO of Grover Inc., is your beloved brother. You went to school at Delhi's International School and you were a topper. And, you run an orphanage which used be your mother's." Nandini eyes widened and her grip on the phone tightened.
Some unknown person wouldn't know this much about her. It was either someone was pranking her or someone was stalking her. This scared Nandini a lot. Especially because the person, whoever it was, knew about the orphanage and the kids life could be at risk at this moment. She needed to think about who this person was and how to find out.
Nandini made a stupid decision and decided to call the person. Maybe she'd get a hint by listening to the voice. She called the person and not even one ring later, the person immediately declined the call. Nandini stared at her phone and muttered incoherent words under her breath, at the person.
Her phone afterwards dinged and she knew who it was. "Have patience baby, we'll meet soon. Very soon." She looked at the text and huffed. She was very curious now and needed to know at this instance who this person was. She didn't know if this person was just pranking her or was actual danger for her. Guess she'll have to find out somehow.
• • • • •
It was midnight and Nandini was currently waiting for Armaan and was thinking of ways to find about who the unknown text messenger was. Ever since this afternoon, Nandini hadn't received a text from whoever the person was but she still wasn't able to get rid of those thoughts.
Just as she was thinking, the door opened, startling her a bit. She looked up and was relieved that it was Armaan, as if it could've been someone else. Armaan, like always, walked straight towards the bathroom to freshen up.
As the door closed, Nandini's phone also dinged at the same time. Nandini quickly picked it up and her guess on who might've texted her was right. It was the same unknown number. She opened the text up and it read, "Still must be wondering who I am, right? Well, don't worry anymore. Tomorrow all your questions will be answered." Nandini furrowed her eyebrows at the text as it wasn't fully explaining anything to her.
Just then, another text popped up. "Tomorrow at 1 p.m. sharp, meet me at the hill area by the main beach. Excited to meet you again darling!" Nandini was shocked. This person wanted to meet her!? But it wasn't like she didn't want to. She had been curious all day to know who this person was and finally when she had the chance, she wasn't going to lose it.
So she made the stupidest decision ever. She decided to meet whoever this person was, let it be some murderer or some guy from the mafia, she was going to meet this person.
Just as she was about to type something, a door closed and Nandini's eyes darted up towards the direction. She saw Armaan walking out of the bathroom all freshened up. Nandini hoped he didn't notice her and by his expressions, she knew he didn't. She didn't want to tell anyone about this as she knew they'll stop her. And she didn't want anyones life in danger either, in case it was some murderer.
"Why does your face look like as if you have seen some ghost?" Nandini's face was all pale due to the shock she had received, but she quickly shook her head. "I...I'm not. It's just..I'm tired. Yea, I'm very tired. Now if you will shut up, let me go to sleep." Nandini quickly got up and made the pillow wall, lying down on her side, after putting her phone on her bedside table.
Armaan, who had noticed Nandini's expressions when she was looking at her phone, knew something was up. He had came out of the bathroom and saw Nandini's pale face and her eyes looked like they were going to fall out, thankfully Nandini hadn't noticed. At first he thought he was overthinking, but the way Nandini later stuttered to answer his question, made him sure that something was up. He knew it had to do something with the phone.
Armaan knew he had to know what was going on so he decided to wait until Nandini was actually asleep and then he would check her phone. He turned off the lights and lied down on his side, to make it not obvious.
About fifteen minutes later, Armaan noticed Nandini had stopped shifting around a lot and could hear her light breathing. Knowing she was asleep, he quietly took the duvet off of him and got off the bed, without making any noises. He tip-toed towards Nandini's side of the bed and when he reached her, he first looked at her face and let out the breath he was unknowingly holding. She was truly asleep and she looked very peaceful, unlike how she was moments back.
Armaan was getting lost, just staring at her beautiful face. 'Snap out of it and do what you're here for!' He listened to his subconscious and mentally scolded himself. He picked up Nandini's phone and a smirk formed on his face when he looked at the wallpaper. It was a picture of Nandini when she was a little child and she was in a cute little dress, sitting on Jai's back, who was giving her a piggy-back ride. She was grinning at the camera and she only had a few teeth at that time.
Armaan had to admit. His wife was very cute as a child, but now she was not just cute but also very hot and sexy. But back to the point, Armaan slid open the phone, and to his surprise, Nandini didn't have a passcode. It was not like she had anything to hide, other then her crazy pictures which her friends would take of her. But these days everyone had a passcode on their phone, but she didn't. It kind of confused him. But he wasn't the one to complain as it made his job easier.
And to make his job even easier, the first thing that popped up was Nandini's texts. Nandini had forgotten to swipe out of them and Armaan knew this was the last thing she was on, so whatever it was, had to be on this. He looked at the contact names and the one that caught his attention was the latest one that had texted. It was an unknown number. He had a feeling it had something to do with this and he was right.
He read all the text messages and they left him shocked. Some unknown person was texting Nandini random things and had tons of information about her. Not only that, the person had also invited her to meet him/her tomorrow. The words that the person was using to call Nandini were also infuriating Armaan.
He knew one thing. Nandini was definitely going to go meet this person. As much as he had figured out about Nandini in the past few months, one thing was that she was very curious and liked putting herself into trouble. He was a hundred percent sure that she'd most likely go meet whoever this person was, and that to, without telling anyone. But he was not going to allow that to happen. Not even in a million years.
Armaan took out his phone and took a picture of the location and quietly set Nandini's phone back down. Well he tried. He accidental dropped it, making his eyes widen, causing Nandini to shift around in her sleep. But thankfully Nandini was a heavy sleeper and only moved her side. Cursing himself, he put the phone back on the table and quietly slipped back into bed, planning for tomorrow.
• • • • •
It was a bright new day and Nandini was currently in the car, going towards the location that was given to her by this anonymous person. To everyone at home she had lied, saying she was going out to meet a friend. It hurt her a lot as she never lied to people she loved but she didn't have a choice today.
Soon, the car stopped a bit away from the hill, like she had instructed the driver. She got out of the car and told the driver to wait there, in case the person tries to run after her and murder her. A girl gotta do what a girl gotta do.
Nandini walked up the hill and to her luck, it was fully empty. Maybe because it was a weekday and it was early in the afternoon. But there was no sign of anyone there. This made Nandini a bit uncomfortable. Was the person going to kill her? Was that why they had brought her to a quiet and uncrowded place? Was she going to die today? Was this it? All these thoughts terrified Nandini.
Nandini looked at the time and saw there was two minutes until it was exactly one. She still had a bit of hope in her for the person to show up.
Impatiently, Nandini waited for those two minutes to end, and finally they did. She looked around everywhere but still there wasn't sight of anyone. No car was parked close by either. Maybe it was a prank after all. Sighing, Nandini turned around to leave but was stopped by a voice.
"Oye, Nandu!" Confused and also curious, Nandini turned around, only to be shocked to the core. There he stood. After all those years, he was finally back. He had a huge grin plastered on his face and he looked even more handsome then before. He wasn't the young boy she had said 'bye' to years ago. He was a full grown man now.
Nandini was puzzled and it looked like she had frozen. She was just standing there, staring at him with wide eyes. He walked up to her and stood right in front of her, with the never leaving grin on his face. "Close your mouth at least." Nandini didn't pay heed to his words and kept staring at him with her wide eyes. "You're real?" He chuckled at her question and said, "I am! I'm not some ghost. It's actually me." Nandini poked him with her finger and when she felt him, she knew it wasn't a ghost.
Her shocked face turned into a huge smile. Not waiting another second, Nandini threw her arms around him. He was startled a bit but hugged her back, chuckling. "Ayaan! I missed you so much!" Chuckling at her words, he said, "I did too, my sweet Nandu." Nandini didn't want to let go of him, but after a few minutes she did.
She looked at his face and was shocked. He had changed so much since the past few years. He had grown up now and was a man now. "You look..different." they both said in unison. They chuckled at each other as this was the first thing they really said to each other. "You came back! I can't-" Nandini was cut short off of her words when in a sudden, Ayaan was lying on the ground.
Shocked, Nandini shrieked his name loudly when she saw him in pain. "Ayaan!" Nandini was about to run to him but was stopped by a strong hold on her arm. She looked back and her eyes widened even more when she saw a furious Armaan staring at Ayaan. Armaan was holding Nandini back by her elbow, stopping her from moving.
"Armaan! Leave me." Armaan looked over at Nandini and saw her squirming in his hold. "No Nandini. He'll try to harm you. Just stay back." Nandini was even more confused with Armaan's words. First he shows up here out of no where. Then he decides to punch Ayaan. And then he holds her back from helping him, claiming he'll hurt her.
"He's my friend! He won't hurt me! Leave me!" Nandini's words this time made Armaan confused. His hold on Nandini loosened and Nandini took this as a chance to slip out of his hold, over to Ayaan.
Nandini ran towards Ayaan, who was now getting up from the ground. She also helped him a bit and said, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Ayaan just shook his head and smiled at Nandini. "I'm fine. It didn't hurt. But, who is this bull?" Armaan, who was watching Nandini be so caring towards this unknown man, irked him. And the man calling him a 'bull' irked him even more.
Just as Nandini was about to answer, Rishab and Sameer also came running towards them. "Is he the guy!?" "Is Nandini okay?" Nandini was even more muddled. From where did these two show up now!? "What is happening!?" Nandini said, staring at them, mainly at Armaan. "Yea, I think I also need to know too. I just got punched in the stomach by this angry bull for absolute no reason." Ayaan said.
"Armaan, what are you doing here?" Nandini asked him the main question. Armaan, who was confused, said, "I read your fucking texts last night because you looked disturbed. I saw that this dude sent you this location so I also decided to show up, knowing you'd come here because of your curiosity." "That's why we two also came along." Rishab said, answering Nandini's next question.
Nandini let that sink into herself and what shocked her the most was that Armaan had read her texts. How!? "Maybe because you don't have a password and your phone is technically available to everyone." Oh yea! Right! But he shouldn't have looked at her phone in the first place.
"Why did you go through my phone?" Armaan ignored the question and said, "You shouldn't be worried about that right now. First tell me, who the fuck is he?" "Nandu, who are these three man that look like they're ready to kill me?" Nandini sighed and said, "Ayaan, meet Armaan...my husband. And Armaan, meet Ayaan, my best friend."
Ayaan Advani, Nandini's best friend since high school. Nandini had met Ayaan through Darsh, who is Ayaan's best friend just like Nandini is Jhanvi's best friend. The same best friend that sent Darsh condoms as his wedding gift. Nandini met Ayaan first when she had asked him to tell his friend, Darsh, to stop ogling at Jhanvi. The rest is history, Darsh and Jhanvi had a crush on each other, making all four of them start hanging out together.
Ayaan and Nandini became even closer friends when they used to leave Darsh and Jhanvi alone and go hang out together to give them privacy. They would go spend time together and soon they became best friends, just like Darsh and Jhanvi. All four of them would hang out together and would enjoy their life. Even though the boys were two years older then the girls, they all still spent time with each other and became inseparable.
When it was Nandini's first year in college, it was Ayaan's third. He decided to pursue his dreams and get the rest of his degree in London. Due to all of that, Nandini became "mad" at Ayaan and stopped talking to him, saying she'll only talk to him when he comes back. And after so many years, he is finally back and now is a successful neurosurgeon in London.
"Wait, hold up! You married the Armaan Oberio? Jhanvi and Darsh had told me you're married when I went to go meet them. They didn't show me any pictures because they like to taunt me to for not coming to both of your guys marriage. But I didn't know you would actually marry someone, and that to, one of the biggest businessman in history. I thought you hated businessman." Ayaan seemed really fazed while Nandini just had a 'let's-talk-about-something-else' look on her face.
Armaan eyed this Ayaan guy, who was a bit to close to his wife, intently. "And you are?" Nandini glared at Armaan for talking to Ayaan in a rude tone but Armaan didn't even look at her. "I'm Ayaan, like she said, her friend. Also Jhanvi and Darsh's, who you most likely know." "Didn't see you at the wedding." Armaan was glad he didn't but he needed a reason because it seemed as if Nandini was close to him. "I'm actually a neurosurgeon and live in London. I couldn't make it to the wedding. But I came back to India after years to finally meet everyone again." Ayaan explained. "Should've stayed in London forever." Armaan thought, eyeing Ayaan.
"Then what about those text messages? Who the fuck sends that type of shit to their friends?" Nandini also looked over at Ayaan as she was going to ask him the same thing, but just in a more nicer way. "Well, about that. I actually got Nandini's number from Jhanvi and then I decided to prank her as she hates these sort of pranks. So I decided to surprise her like this." Ayaan said, laughing in the end. Nandini just punched his arm and said, "Haha. It was a very funny prank." Nandini sarcastically said, making Ayaan laugh even more.
"Anyways, we're here too. Let us greet ourselves too." Nandini, who had forgotten about Rishab and Sameer, gave them a 'sorry' smile. "Well, I'm Rishab and he's Sameer. We're this guy's friends. Don't ask why though." Ayaan just nodded, liking Rishab's nature. He shook their hands and they shook his without any care. Armaan just glared at his two friends who were already getting comfortable with this Ayaan guy.
"Forget about everything, why are you back now!? You left everyone and now you come back? And you didn't tell me!? You know what, just leave. I don't want to talk to you." Ayaan gave an amused smile to Nandini, thinking about how Nandini hadn't changed. "Only your appearance changed. Nothing else. You used to be a blabber mouth then and still are." Armaan had to agree with that one. Nandini just rolled her eyes at him.
"But, I was trying to settle in London so I couldn't come here. And now I have a very good job in one of the most famous hospitals in London. And you were the one who said, and I quote, "Don't call me, text me, or face time me ever. I will only talk to you when you come back and are standing in front of me." Do you remember that?" Nandini sheepishly looked away and bit her lip, unknown to the gaze that was on her, which was burning even more after seeing his wife unknowingly seduce him.
"Well now I'm in front of you. Happy?" Nandini looked at him and said, "Could've been happier if you would've came back earlier. But I still am!" Nandini grinned, making Ayaan chuckle.
Armaan looked at the way they looked at each other and couldn't help but blow up in jealousy. Never had Nandini ever even talked nicely to him, let alone look at him like that. And this guy, who just came out of no where, was getting all the beautiful smiles from his wife. Now this was unfair.
"Shit. I forgot to tell you. Mom and dad also want to meet you and have made lunch for you. So you're coming with me." Hearing about his parents, Nandini became excited because she hadn't met them in a while. They hadn't came to her marriage either as it was sudden and they were in London, meeting Ayaan at that time.
"Gladly! Aunty makes the best food!" Nandini grinned in excitement while Armaan just glared at her. "She is not going anywhere with him!" Ayaan gestured Nandini to ask Armaan and Nandini realized he was still here. "Oh yea, can I go with him? I really want to meet uncle and aunty. And I'll be home on time for dinner." Ayaan was looking at Armaan, and so were Rishab and Sameer. Having no choice, Armaan nodded his head. "Guess she is going with him."
With a huge grin, Nandini bid adieu to all of them and ran down the hill with Ayaan, going in his car, to his house. The whole time, Armaan just watched both of them until their car was out of sight. It was quite clear, he was ready to beat Ayaan up.
"Someone is jealous!" He looked over and saw Rishab and Sameer smirking at him. He quickly changed his expressions and said, "I don't know who this 'someone' is that you're talking about." Rishab just gave a tantalizing smile to him, saying, "Don't worry. At the end of the day, she is your wife." This gave him something to be less jealous of.
Today, one thing Armaan knew was, he couldn't see Nandini with another man other then him. She is his. Only his. He only has a right on her. She is Armaan's Nandini.
________________________________________________________________________
Namaste guys!
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A new entry; Ayaan. Nandini's best friend is here to create some spice!
Armaan is jealous!? That's something new!
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Thank you for reading!
- Gurleen