It was one of those day where you knew it was going to be a good one. A feeling which would enter, telling that the person was going to have an amazing day today.
Nandini was having that feeling today. She knew something good would probably happen. The past month or so had been full of drama and lots of stress. Finally, after days Nandini was getting the feeling she was going to have a beautiful day. Unknown to her, she was quite right and she'd probably never forget today.
• • • • •
Lying upside down on the sofa, she stared at the fan as it moved. Nandini was bored to death and didn't know what to do, everything seemed to bore her.
The doors of the room suddenly opened and walked in a tensed Armaan. His eyes wandered towards the girl who had made him tensed. Armaan's tensed state turned into a confused one when he saw his wife lying upside on the couch, her hair falling onto the ground. Confused, Armaan moved towards her.
Armaan came into Nandini's view as he did so. Nandini looked at the upside down Armaan and mentally grinned. If it was any other day, Nandini would've been shocked to see him home at seven-thirty, but today she wasn't at all. "Hi." Nandini gave him a goofy smile. Armaan ignored her goofy face and asked, "What is the emergency? I left work for this so it better be good."
Armaan had came home because of Nandini's call. She had called him half an hour back and told him there was an emergency at home, in a worried tone. Due to that call, Armaan came rushing home, worried about Nandini as the past few weeks hadn't been good either. Little did he know that this wife of his was a bit vicious.
Nandini got up and walked towards him while he stared at her, asking her why she had called. "Can we go out?" Nandini's question made Armaan pause for a minute. He thought he missed something. "What..? Why the hell did you call me?" he asked again. Nandini huffed and said, "Well you don't let me out of the house alone anymore, and being the respectful wife I am, I obeyed you." It was true. Since the kidnapping, Armaan had restricted letting her out, for a couple of days at least, alone.
"And what does that have to do with me?" Nandini shook her head. Her husband was quite slow. "I was getting bored at home, so I thought why not call you with a fake an emergency, knowing that's the only way you'd come home. And now that you're here, you can take me out somewhere and apparently supervise me." Nandini finished with a huge grin.
Armaan let that sink into him, and once it did, he looked at Nandini flabbergasted. "This was your emergency!?" Nandini nodded, showing her teeth. Armaan held his head, shaking his head. "God, what the hell have I gotten myself into." he muttered. Nandini rolled her eyes at his over dramaticness.
"So where are we going?" Nandini asked once Armaan was done being dramatic. Armaan looked at her and said, "No where. I'm going back to work and you can stay here and stay bored." Armaan turned his heels, about to walk out of the door. Nandini's eyes widened with realization. She had to be fast.
Quickly, Nandini blocked his way. "Come on. All you do is work. It won't harm you if you go out for one evening. And plus, you also need to enjoy sometimes." Nandini tried to change his mind. "I don't care." was his simple reply. Nandini groaned at his words. "Please na. For once can you stop thinking about work and actually go out? I'm getting bored here too. Pleaseeeee." Nandini whined.
Armaan looked at Nandini, arching his eyebrow while she pouted. She did her little puppy eyes which she used to do on her father to make him agree on something. Seeing her puppy eyes and little pout, Armaan sighed. "Fine." Nandini squealed when that word left his mouth and jumped up and done. "Thank you!!" Seeing the huge smile on her face, Armaan's heart fluttered thinking how his one 'yes' brought this much happiness to her.
"Now don't waste your time here and go get ready. You have ten minutes or else I'm leaving." Nandini paused between her dance, her eyes widening. She looked at Armaan and knew he was serious, so she quickly ran towards the closet, calling Armaan names for being so strict. "Devil." Nandini muttered, entering the closet.
• • • • •
Nandini grabbed the hair tie to tie her hair up. She had gotten ready and had changed into a gorgeous maroon anarkali. It was plain and simple with long sleeves and a net dupatta. It took her only five minutes to change as she knew Armaan was very punctual.
Armaan, who was sitting on the bed and squeezing in a file before leaving, got up. As he was placing back the file, he looked over and noticed his beautiful wife. From the mirror he saw how beautiful she looked even in the simplest clothing. But what caught his attention was Nandini tying her hair in a ponytail.
He couldn't help himself and said, "Leave it down, it looks better." Nandini's hands paused in midair as his statement sunk into her. Her cheeks started heating up at his remark. Looking through the mirror, she noticed Armaan staring directly at her, causing her cheeks to turn a darker shade of red. When they made eye-contact through the mirror, Armaan looked away and left the room, saying, "I'll be in the car."
He left Nandini to blush and inwardly smile. Nandini noticed herself in the mirror and couldn't recognize herself blushing. 'Nandini, stop thinking or else he'll leave and you'll stay here, blushing.' Nandini snapped out of her thoughts and started tying her hair up again. When she realized what she was doing, she stopped and thought about it. Finally, she decided to not tie them and looked at herself in the mirror one more time before leaving.
• • • • •
The breeze flew inside the car as the car-window opened. Feeling the cool breeze hit her face, Nandini stuck her hand out of the window. A grin appeared on her face as she felt the cool breeze against her skin. Her hair flew along with the breeze as she smiled looking out through the open window.
Armaan, who was driving, looked over and noticed this. When he saw her looking so happy and beautiful, his heart started doing what it had been doing since the day he had met her. What made him even happier was her hair. She had left it down on his insistence, which was quite shocking as she always had a habit to do the opposite of what others ask her to do.
'Snap out of it, what if she catches you.' Coming out of his thoughts, Armaan looked back at the road. "Where do you want to go?" he asked. Nandini, who was busy enjoying the weather, looked over at Armaan. She thought for a second and said, "Somewhere to eat?" It was almost late and they hadn't had anything to eat so that was an option.
"Okay, we can go to the restaurant by-" "Tsk, I don't want to eat at a restaurant." Armaan turned towards Nandini and looked at her, raising his eyebrow. "Then do you want to go back home to eat?" he asked, not understanding Nandini's thinking. "No, I want to eat..." Nandini paused in between her sentence, thinking. "Actually, I'll direct you towards it and then you'll find out."
Armaan gave her a 'are-you-serious' look, which she fully ignored. "From here turn right and then..." Armaan sighed and decided to do as she said. He guessed it was worth a shot and it's not like she was going to direct him towards a jungle or something. She was to scared of that herself. But he doubted that.
"Okay, stop right here!" Armaan stopped the car and looked around, his eyebrows furrowed while Nandini just grinned widely. He saw Nandini's directions had brought them to a random street and no where in site was a restaurant. "Are you sure you know where we are?" he asked, still looking around. Nandini just nodded her head, still smiling. "Where is the restaurant?" he asked this time. Nandini gave him a crooked smile and said, "Right there." pointing at what made Armaan's eyes widen.
Nandini was pointing at the road which was full of many different types of foods stalls. It was Nandini's love. She had always loved stall food and would bargain her brother to bring her here at nights when her father was asleep. Armaan though, he wasn't the biggest fan of stall food. Not even that, he hated such types of food and would never eat them.
"Are you serious?" Nandini nodded her head innocently. Armaan shook his head at her. "We are not going to eat at such unhygienic places. And it's all junk food. It won't fill our appetite." he reasoned, staring at the stalls disgusted. Nandini's jaw dropped as she heard him. "Why? Have you even tried it before? I swear you'll enjoy it. Please Armaan." she whined.
"No fucking way." Nandini pouted and thought to do her trick again. Putting on her puppy eyes, Nandini stared at him. "Please." she said like a child. Her puppy eyes managed to capture Armaan and make him groan. Her eyes were his weakness. "Fine. But only one stall. Afterwards we go out to a restaurant."
Nandini's smile made its way back to her face and she grinned ear to ear. "Thank you. Sometimes you aren't that bad." Armaan rolled his eyes at that. "Wow, thank you for such an amazing compliment." he sarcastically said. Nandini just gave him a sarcastic smile back saying, "Don't bother."
"Now do you want to go or do you want me to drive to a restaurant?" Nandini quickly jumped out of the car, knowing Armaan was a man of his word. Armaan couldn't believe his wife was such a child as he exited the car.
• • • • •
Nandini's taste buds lit up as she devoured the gol gappe. Her love for gol gappe never died and forever they would be her go-to stall. She could eat a whole dozen of them in a minute. Armaan on the other hand disliked such food so he was just there to provide support.
"Are you done now?" Armaan groaned as he watched her stuff her mouth with another one. Nandini shook her head, her mouth to full to talk. "Couple more please." Armaan sighed as Nandini asked for another one and continued to stuff her mouth with it. He already knew Nandini loved gol gappe from the past and hadn't expected her to eat less then last time.
Armaan just stood there, watching her as he had rejected Nandini' s offer to eat one. He had tried last time, even though he did like it, it wasn't something he'd eat again. When he noticed Nandini asking for another one, his eyes widened. It was like her fifteenth one.
Armaan pulled the bowl out of Nandini's hand as she was about to eat it again, making her confused. "That's enough." Nandini scrunched up her nose. "Hey! I'm not full yet." Nandini could eat a whole batch more and she'd still not be full. "Save some room for the restaurant then." Armaan said, trying to take his wallet out with one hand.
Nandini just stared at the bowl in his hand as if he had taken away the love of her life. "Armaan! Look!" Nandini pointed towards something behind him with huge eyes. Armaan looked behind him, confused. Catching him off guard, Nandini quickly took the bowl out of his hand with a grin.
Armaan looked back at her and gave her a bored look, shaking his head while she stuck her tongue out at him and wiggled her fingers, putting them up to her head. He couldn't believe when he saw his wife's childish antics that she was a twenty-four year old adult women who was married. Yet she was the only women who had made him feel these different emotions which he didn't know how to express.
"Okay, done." Armaan sighed in relief, muttering, "Finally." Nandini rolled her eyes at his words as she watched him pay. "Now do you have enough room for actual food or shall we go home?" he said, putting his wallet back in his pocket. "I'm always ready for food." Nandini said, giving him a toothy smile, following him towards the car.
• • • • •
"I want ice cream." Armaan looked over at Nandini, flabbergasted. They had just finished dinner and were driving back home but Nandini had seen an ice cream stand which had caught her attention. She loved ice cream and whenever she saw it, she had to get it. Armaan was confused because he was full with just dinner and Nandini already had gol gappe and dinner, yet she still had room for more.
"How are you not full?" he asked. "I always have room for ice cream. It's one of the best things on this planet." Nandini childishly said. "Please." Nandini asked a bit nicer. Armaan just sighed but nevertheless, he pulled up on the other side of the street of where the ice cream stand was.
They crossed the street, which was empty and walked towards the stand. "What flavor?" Armaan asked Nandini. Nandini didn't even have to think and replied back with, "Butterscotch." Armaan nodded, asking the vendor for some. Nandini's eyes glinted with happiness as the man put her ice cream in a cone and handed it to her.
Happily, she took it from him and licked it. "Mmm, this is so good." Armaan shook his head at her childishness. Seeing Armaan just standing there, looking around, Nandini asked, "Let me guess, you don't eat ice cream either." Armaan nodded at her words, making Nandini roll her eyes as she knew Armaan only ate healthy food. Armaan caught Nandini rolling her eyes, making him raise his eyebrow. Nandini just gave him a cheeky smile, shrugging her shoulders.
"You can eat in the car while I drive." Armaan said as he watched Nandini enjoy her ice cream. "I'm almost done. The weather is nice out, let's stay here." Armaan just exhaled loudly as he knew there was no point in arguing with Nandini or else she'll just put on her puppy eyes and make him agree.
"You should try this flavor." Nandini said, not letting the silence last. "I don't understand how you don't eat ice cream. You dislike the best foods in the world. Eating it once won't ruin your health or this beast like body you've made. Sometimes you just confuse me. I-" "Do you ever stop talking?" Nandini was ranting on and on and even though Armaan was used to it, he just had to ask. "Nope. Deal with it." came her reply.
They stood there, under the tiny roof of the stall as Nandini finished her ice cream. As they were, water droplets started falling. "Great. It's about to rain now. Let's go before it worsens." Armaan said, looking over at Nandini, who was almost done eating the cone. "You're acting as if the rain will burn your skin." "Easy enough for you to say, you like rain. I don't." he answered. "Your problem."
The rain slowly started picking up its pace and fell harsher. Nandini was enjoying watching this while Armaan did not want even an drop to land on him. "See, the vendor is leaving and now we're getting wet because of you." The vendor's stall was getting wet so he decided to move to a safer place, causing the rain to start falling on them.
Nandini, who had just finished eating ice cream, grinned. "I guess now that we're already wet, we can get more wet." Armaan was confused for a second but when he saw Nandini run to the road and start jumping in the little puddles, he was left astonished. The rain drops became heavier and it started raining even more, causing Nandini to fully get wet. Armaan was underneath a tree, which was preventing him from fully getting drenched, only droplets fell on him.
Nandini didn't have a care in the world after seeing the rain and was dancing away her problems. Her smile didn't leave her face while her eyes shined with happiness. It was as if Nandini was most the carefree person to ever live. Rain always did this to her. Armaan watched Nandini from a distance with amusement. Seeing her so happy like this always made him happy. It was as if he had achieved something big. Nandini would make Armaan feel many things normally, and seeing her wet made his feelings uncontrollable.
All of a sudden, Armaan was being pulled into the rain. He was so lost in staring at Nandini that he didn't realize she had pulled him into the rain. "See, it feels so good." Nandini smiled widely. Nandini then grabbed his hand and said, "Come on dance." Armaan stood there, rooted to his place. "You just ate ice cream Nandini, you'll get sick. Let's go." "First papa and now you. I never get sick Armaan. Never." she said and went back to jumping around.
Armaan knew Nandini was tough to crack but he didn't want her getting sick. He walked towards the car, unlocked it, and opened the passenger door. "Nandini. Car. Now." Nandini huffed as she saw him with his strict face. "Of course he knows how to ruin the fun." she thought. Armaan gestured through his eyes, telling her to get in. Knowing he was serious now, Nandini picked up her feet and walked to him. "I hate you." she muttered like a kid, before sitting in the car. Armaan just ignored her words and went to his side. 'No you don't.' And her subconscious was right.
• • • • •
They both entered their room quietly. Everyone else at home was asleep already as the traffic was big and the rain made it even worse to drive in.
Nandini moved towards the dresser as Armaan closed the door. Nandini started taking off her earring, her clothes and wet hair bothering her. Both their clothes were still wet, due to the rain and they were itching to change out of them.
Hearing the door close, Nandini thought Armaan went into the closet to change first. She decided to go to the bathroom until then. Before she did, she tried to unzip her suit as the wet zip was irritating her skin. Pushing her hair to the side, her hand went to the back to unzip it but the back was too deep, causing the zip to be lower.
She kept trying and slowly was getting annoyed. "Come on." she muttered. The long wet sleeves of the dress were bothering her even more. She couldn't reach the damn zip.
Nandini groaned as she kept trying. All of a sudden, Nandini felt a cold touch on her back for a quick second. The zip slowly started going down, causing Nandini's hands to fall to her side and freeze. She knew it was Armaan because of the strong cologne, which made her stomach churn.
Slowly, Armaan unzipped her anarkali and her milky white back came into view. His fingers accidentally touched Nandini's skin, causing shivers to run down her spine. Armaan noticed how she froze and goosebumps appeared on her back. He liked seeing how his touch affected her.
Armaan finished unzipping her dress but he didn't move away. Nandini was still frozen and just waited for him to leave. But he didn't. He wanted to do things with her. Things he knew Nandini would probably kill him for doing. But it was hard controlling himself, especially when she was wet and was looking ethereal.
Unable to control himself, Armaan kissed Nandini's collarbone, sending sensations to run down her body and leaving that part of her body to burn. Her breath hitched as his lips made contact with her skin and lingered there. Nandini hadn't expected something like that to happen. He was completely sober today yet he still did that. But Nandini hated to admit that she liked that. It made her crave for more of his touch.
He immediately moved away afterwards and Nandini took that as a cue and ran towards the closet, her heartbeat running a marathon. She couldn't believe what had just happened.
• • • • •
Peaking out of the door, Nandini checked to see if there were any signs of Armaan. What had just happened had made it awkward for Nandini to be in his presence so she made sure Armaan was asleep or looking away. When she noticed he wasn't even in the room, Nandini exited the closet.
Not paying attention, Nandini accidentally bumped into Armaan, who was on the other corner of the room, checking a file. The bump caused the phone in Armaan's hand to slip and fall right onto the ground. Seeing this, Nandini's eyes widened. She had done it again. Flashbacks from the past came rushing back to Nandini as she remembered how their first encounter had went.
Slowly, Nandini lifted her head to meet with Armaan's raging eyes but instead she saw nothing in them. Silence overtook the room as they stared at each other. Suddenly, Nandini and Armaan burst into laughter. It was quite shocking for Nandini to see Armaan laughing but she made sure not to act as if it was, knowing he'd cover his expressions.
Their first encounter had turned into a funny memory instead of a bad one. It reminded both of them of the day they had met each other. For Armaan, he had met a hoor, while Nandini was still stuck on the arrogant part.
"I'm sorry." Nandini said, laughing. All the awkwardness between them flew away as they enjoyed their time laughing. "I can't. You're still as blind as that day." Armaan said, chuckling in between. Their laughter slowly came to an end as they lowly smiled. Armaan picked up his phone from the ground and said, "Still clumsy." Nandini stuck her tongue out at him. "Still arrogant."
They both looked away, smiling as they relived the past. Seeing her smile, Armaan was glad it wasn't awkward anymore. He was confused on if he should apologize or not but now he decided not to as he didn't want it to get awkward again as it stayed awkward between them for days.
"Still going out?" Nandini just smiled as she went towards the balcony. Armaan followed behind her and stood by her, leaning onto the railing. He watched Nandini's eyes glisten as she watched the rain. Those were the same eyes which had caught his attention to the first time he had met her.
As he was watching her, suddenly Nandini jumped back with horror filling her eyes as it thundered. Armaan furrowed his eyebrows and stood up straight. It thundered again, this time making Nandini flinch even more and start shaking. Armaan now understood what it was.
"Nandini." He held Nandini's shoulders, holding her from shaking. "It's just thunder." Nandini shook her sideways, trying to get out of his hold to run inside. "Look at me Nandini." Armaan squeezed her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. As she looked into his eyes, all of a sudden she forgot about the thunder. But of course, it decided to thunder again but Armaan made sure to hold her tighter and keep the eye contact between them.
"It's just thunder, okay?" Slowly, Nandini nodded her head, looking into his eyes. His hold loosened on her as she looked away, a bit embarrassed. "You say nothing can make you weak but over here, harmless thunder scared you in a snap." Nandini bit her lip, feeling embarrassed, remembering that. Armaan noticed her biting her lips, causing his hormones to mess him up.
He looked away from her and talked. "Thunder won't do anything to you." Nandini looked straight at the rain and said, "Nor will stop being arrogant." Armaan looked over at Nandini with disbelief. Nandini looked at him, a playful smile forming on her face, which caused Armaan to sigh, making her giggle. "You're so childish." he said. "You're so boring." she replied as she grinned looking at him.
They both were finally getting along. A lot had happened but they had enjoyed themselves that night. It was as if there were no worries in this world when they looked into each other's eyes. They knew they had became an important part in each other's life's, which made them slowly start giving this relationship a chance. Something was changing.
________________________________________________________________________
Namaste guys!
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They finally spent a beautiful evening together!
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Thank you for reading!
- Gurleen