I couldn't help but wonder the whole time what Manik's surprise was going to be.
"Hey navya is here" kiara nudges me as I jump out of my senses, we look towards the door as we see navya coming in with Cabir.
Oh my god, I've never seen Cabir like this. He looks so genuinely in to her, I can just tell and the smile on his face was not at all fake.
"Guys this is navya, and navya this is my family. You've already met Nandini, Dhruv" Cabir glares at us recalling the time we stalked him to his date.
"Yes I have, lovely seeing you two again" she smiles at us.
"This is Manik and Aarav, my other two brothers" he pauses "and this is Ahaan and his wife Kiara, they are family"
"Very nice to meet you all" navya smiles politely
After a few minutes of formal talking, me and kiara head over to the kitchen to set up the rest of the food on the dining table, it was already 7pm.
Everyone gathered around the dining table, navya already looked comfortable with everyone with was good. Cabir was not leaving her side for even a minute, which was quite surprising actually, I wonder if he actually likes her or is there a reason behind this?
"Manik" I tap him getting his attention, this was my chance to get the secret out of him because me I can't feel at peace knowing a surprise is coming my way I wish he just didn't tell he was going to give me a surprise now I can't stop thinking about it.
"Hey, the food looks great" he tells me
"Thank you" I give him a smile, as he walks towards me "did you need help with anything?"
"Uhm" I look at him "actually yes you could help me by telling me what the surprise is?"
He lets out a small laugh "I knew that was coming, you really can't handle suspense right?"
"Noo I really can't" I make a sad face "which is why you can tell me"
"I can't baby" he pulls me closer "it's a surprise for a reason"
I look at him then think for a moment, he must be so excited to give me that surprise maybe I should just wait no? It's just a day I can do that.
"Okay fine, only because you say so" I give up.
"Good"
"Anyways uhm tell me one thing, do you notice what I'm noticing? I think Cabir might genuinely like navya" I tell him.
"It would be believable if this wasn't Cabir we were talking about, I mean it's Cabir he's like the founder of anti love"
"But he loves you guys" I say
"That's different I'm talking about love as in how a man loves a woman" he tells me as he grabs a bite of the breadstick.
"I know he might because I've felt the same for—" I pause, not knowing if I should say anything after what happened at the cottage.
"If you both have stopped analysing me and my capability to love, should we arrange the dinner?" Cabir interrupts and thankfully he did or this would've been awkward.
"Nandini you should seriously become a detective I don't know why you're studying physiotherapy" Cabir walks closer to us.
"Does that mean I'm right?" My face lights up.
"No, therefore you would make an shit detective" he immediately says.
"You're defending this way too much, the Cabir I know would've said I don't care and moved on" I cross my arms looking at him.
Manik besides me let's out a laugh "Cabir I got to agree with this one"
"And I'm not fucking surprised" Cabir mocks.
I roll my eyes "it's okay Cabir we won't tell anyone"
"Nandini don't make me become the angry capo again" he looks at me with his angry eyes, the few months ago Nandini would've been scared but I'm not anymore—actually a little I am.
Manik's phone starts ringing as he takes it out of his pocket but before he leaves to pick it up he glances at cabir "stop scaring her" he says and leaves to attend the call.
Cabir looks at me after manik leaves "Detective Nandini, if you are so smart why haven't you figured out what's going on with manik"
I look at him confused what's going on with manik? What is he talking about?
"What do you mean?" I ask him
"Can you not see he's in love with you" I was taken back by cabirs words, a little smile crept up on my face but then something made me realise that maybe that couldn't be true.
"I-I don't think that's uhm true" I shake it off
"Really? And here I thought you were getting smarter"
"If that was the case he would've told me right?" I ask Cabir
"I know my brother too well, there's something that must be in his mind which is stopping him. If you can figure out what that is then you may find your answers" Cabir comes closer to me and grabs one of the plates.
"Cabir is right" we hear Dhruv's voice from a distance
"What are you doing here?" Cabir asks "and why are you listening to our conversation?"
"Relax I just came to get water and heard you guys talk, but I totally agree with Cabir you have to figure out what the problem is"
"How do I find that out?" I ask them both
"Ask him or make him say it to you, it's so simple" Cabir tells me, he's saying as if this is all easy I'm just waiting for the day he falls in love then he will understand how easy this is.
"It's not as simple as it seems"
"I got an idea, I'll fake kidnap you and make manik realise how much he loves and misses you" Dhruv suggests, me and Cabir both glare at him.
"Shut the fuck up dhruv, I swear to god if you ever pull anything like that I'll kick your ass. That's stupid okay, manik will kill you if he finds out that you tried to fake kidnap Nandini" Cabir tells him off "Nandini you're smarter than Dhruv, I'm sure you can figure this out and don't think of anything stupid"
I didn't know what to say and Cabir understood that so he diverted the topic.
"Anyways let's go, navya must be wait—" he pauses and then looks at me and Dhruv as we purse our lips together from laughing.
"Do not fucking say anything, I'm just a nice host" he says as I roll my eyes.
"Yeah yeah, maybe next we will have to get a confession out of you" Dhruv says
"Or maybe next you'll be getting a punch out of me" Cabir glares at him.
We three head outside and now I cannot stop thinking about what Cabir had just said to me. Is it true? Does manik love me back too? There was so much going on in my head that I didn't realise manik came and stood beside me calling my name like 3 times.
He tapped my shoulders making me jump out of my thoughts "are you okay? I've called you like 3 times"
"Yeah I'm sorry I didn't—I zoned out" I tell him.
"Okay" he nods.
We sit around the table for dinner, and my mind can't stop thinking about what Cabir had said. As much as I wanted it to be true I don't know whether manik actually felt that way.
Manik sat next to me and dhruv sat on the other side of me with ahaan joining him on his other side. Kiara was so far away from me too, otherwise I would've talked to her about this, she was my go to person for all this. Cabir sat across from with navya.
"The food is amazing Nandini and kiara" Navya compliment us.
"Thank you, glad you liked it" kiara and I thank her, she was really sweet honestly I don't know how Cabir hasn't married her.
"Stop overthinking Nandini" Dhruv whispers to me from beside. "If you want to know so bad just ask him"
"No I can't ask him that"
"I'll do it for you" Dhruv says and before I could stop him he almost shouts across me to manik "manik...Nandini wants to ask you something"
This grabbed everyone's attention, what?! Why did he do that? What the hell is wrong with Dhruv, actually why am I even asking that? It's Dhruv after all. Cabir eyes also landed on me, he smirked knowing what Dhruv meant.
Manik looks at me "yes?"
I didn't know what to say, what should I even say I can't even ask him what I wanted to ask. I'm so mad at dhruv for putting me through this.
"Uhm, how's the food?" I didn't know what else to ask, I saw Cabir smiling from across the table.
Manik looked confused but smiled "it's amazing"
"Aww she wanted a seperate compliment from you" aarav teases us, I felt so awkward.
I bent over to Dhruv a little "Dhruv why did you do that?"
"I'm trying to help you both idiots, especially manik because I know he's a little stupid in these matters"
"Dhruv please never play a Cupid for anyone" I smile at him.
"What do you mean? I'm the best at it, you could've asked him right now but you didn't" Dhruv says, I roll my eyes. He is so full of himself.
"In front of everyone?" I raise my eyebrows
"So what? It's harder to lie in front of everyone, so even if he tries he'd get caught and then he would have to tell you that he loves you. It was a smart plan"
"You make no sense" I shake my head. "Eat your food" I tell him.
Dhruv smiles getting back to eating his food.
After the dinner was over, navya had to head home as she had an urgent work pending but she promised to come back soon and for a longer time because we didn't get to talk much.
Cabir offered to walk her to her car which was nice, I wonder if he really does like her.
———
The evening ended well, I headed up to my room where Manik was sitting on the bed working on something on his laptop. He looked up at me and smiled as soon as he saw me, he knows I was going to head to the bathroom first to have a shower.
I couldn't stop thinking about what Cabir was saying and if that was true why can't manik just tell me how he feels? Why isn't he saying anything? Even I've noticed it in his eyes then why can't he just say he loves me.
I grab my phone from the table beside to check any messages I received as I didn't check my phone the whole day. There were messages from Nyra, and rishi as well and to my surprise rishi had spammed me so much, all his messages were regarding where have I been this whole time and all. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking causing me to hit the edge of the bed with my foot. I yelp in pain as my twisted ankle wasn't still recovered.
"Ahh ouch" I drop my phone and my clothes as I hold my foot.
"Nandini what are you doing!" Manik quickly rushes over to me.
"I'm okay, I was just looking at my phone and didn't pay attention" I say closing my eyes tightly but the truth is I hit the my foot on the edge so hard.
"Shut up seriously what the hell is wrong with you these days? Wherever whenever you are just getting hurt, you're so damn clumsy! And what is so good on your phone that you can't even see where you are going?" Manik seemed pissed, he was telling me off as if he was my mother which was kind of cute to see.
I don't even need him to tell me he loves me, his concern and care for me says everything.
"It's okay I'm not that hurt" I tell him and he looks at my foot to see if I'm hurt badly.
"Really? Look at your face, it says that you're almost dying in pain" manik shakes his head "your twisted ankle hasn't even recovered yet and you are planning to get hurt somewhere else!"
"But—"
"No! Do you want me to baby proof this whole freaking house for you?" He just kept going, and by that time even my foot stopped hurting now. "Is that what you want me to do? I mean seriously not even a little kid gets hurt this much, it's like this is your new hobby that you've picked up"
"Why are you getting so angry manik? It's just a small accident" I tell him.
"I don't like seeing you get hurt, and what was so interesting on your phone anyways?" He picked up my phone to look at it and saw the messages I was reading from rishi.
"What's with him messaging you all the freaking time? Does he not know you have a husband or does he not know who I am?" Manik seems irritated
"Manik he knows you and I don't think so he's scared" I tease him.
"As if" Manik rolls his eyes "Everyone fears me and if they don't I'll make them"
"Really?" I raise my eyebrows "everyone is far fetched, I don't fear you at all"
"That's because you haven't seen that side or me and never will" manik pulls me closer by wrapping his arms around my waist.
God what did I do to deserve this man? He has been nothing but so patient and gentle with me, how can someone not love him? And how can I believe that he doesn't love me after all this he does for me?
"Don't worry manik, he's just a friend—he won't ever cross that line" I tell him as my hands go on his chest.
"Well he better not, otherwise he will unleash a manik Malhotra that no one wants to ever see"
"You're so cute" I pinch his cheeks
"Nandini stop it! Don't ruin my image by calling me cute" he frowns.
"No" I shake my head "you are cute"
"Fine don't take it out of this room then" he rolls his eyes as I laugh.
"Okay let me go have a shower now" I say as he lets me go.
"Don't get hurt in the shower though" he tells me off.
I nod and head to the bathroom to have a quick shower, I loved getting in the bed fresh. After 15 minutes I came out of the bathroom wearing comfortable clothes as manik was doing something on his laptop, as soon as I go sit next to him he closes the window.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn't mean to " I quickly look away feeling embarrassed and covering my eyes.
"What happened? Why are you apologising? And why are you covering your eyes?" He asks me as he makes me look at him again, he seemed confused.
"I thought you were watchi—" I stopped midway
"Watching wha—oh wait no no" he closes his laptop "no what the hell I wasn't watching that or whatever you're thinking"
I took a deep breath but that was so embarrassing.
"Then Why did you close your windows as soon as I came though?" I ask
"I was working on something for tomorrow which is supposed to be a surprise for you, I didn't want you to see" he tells me. Shit this is so embarrassing what must manik think.
"Oh" is all I could say.
"And here people think only guys have a dirty mind" manik shakes his head.
My cheeks go red "no it's just I-I uhm I thought-" I started fumbling hard
Manik laughs "it's okay baby, don't be embarrassed—I'm your husband you can talk to me about anything"
I look away not knowing what to say after I've just made a fool out of myself, who even gets scared like that? Who cares if he watching whatever I think he was watching why did I have to react like that.
"Nandini" he pulls me closer "I said it's okay"
"It's just a little embarrassing" I say shrugging my shoulders.
He smiles "it's not, trust me"
I rest my head on his shoulders as he puts his finger on my pulse again, he has a habit of doing that and my heart was beating so fast at that moment.
"By the way what did you want to ask me that Dhruv was talking about?" Manik asks all of the sudden.
Of course he didn't forget about that, I knew he would ask me that.
"Uhm I don't even know, you know Dhruv na he always says the most random things" I lie
"Are you sure that was it?" He asks me again.
"Yeah" I say
"Your heart rate hasn't slowed down yet, are you lying to me Nandini?" He questions again.
I look up at him "N-no I'm not, uhm my heart rate is probably high because I just came from a shower"
"Okay" he didn't seem convinced but he let it go.
"Actually manik, can I ask you something?"
"Yes"
"Have you had any girlfriends in the past?" I asked him.
"Yes I have, only one and she was at my university"
I don't know why I felt so sad after that, and jealous too of course but I didn't want to show it. So I tried to take it casually.
"Oh how come you never told me?" Okay that did not causal at all, I sound like those typical wives.
"I didn't know you would be comfortable knowing this, of course I wasn't going to hide it forever" he tells me "but now that you've asked it wasn't that serious we only dated for 5 months before I had to come back to Cabir, after that she tried contacting me multiple times but I didn't plus she was so clingy"
Was I also too clingy to manik? Ugh why am I such an over-thinker, it's actually because I love him but still why did I even ask him this?
I kind of move away from him I don't know why I just did that but that didn't go too well with manik as he pulled me closer again.
"Stop with the overthinking in your head, and don't you dare ever move away from me like this, you're not like her at all, you're not clingy if that's what is going in your head." He understood me so well.
He pulled me so close to him that we were almost about to kiss "I want you to stay close to me like this forever, in fact I want you to be clingy"
"Do you miss her?" I ask him
"Yes I do, that's why I've never contacted her or thought about her in the past 5 years" he rolls his eyes "Nandini what kind of questions are you asking? Are you okay? Are you jealous?"
"I'm not jealous I'm just asking you know getting to know you more" again a lie but of course i was not going to admit.
"Yeah yeah, I know you too well Nandini" he holds my hand again. "Let me make it clear, that was all in the past I have nothing to with her now. You are my present and future so you don't need to be jealous of something that doesn't exist for me anymore"
"Manik I wasn't jealous" I tell him
"Really?" He raises his eyebrows "then do you want to know about our dates so basically once I took her to the beach—"
"I don't care where you took her" I cut him off but he keeps going.
"But listen so at the beach, we decided to share one ice—"
"I don't want to know but" I say showing irritation
"But you aren't jealous and you want to know more about me so listen it's interesting so when we were sharing the ice cream we were clo—"
"Manikkk" I put my hands on my ears moving away from him.
Manik laughs taking my hands off my ears "I'm just teasing you baby, I barely even went out with her we mostly never met outside the University"
"Good" I say sounding like an angry jealous wife.
Manik kisses the back of my hand "your nose gets red when you are jealous did you know that?"
"What?" I say as I grab my phone checking my nose and manik was just smiling in the corner of my eyes.
I realised he was joking with me "you're so mean manik" I push him away a little.
"I was kidding" he laughs
"Don't you have work tomorrow?" I ask him casually
"Why? Do you want to get rid of me?" He raises his eyebrows, he was in a different kind of mood today. I was happy seeing him happy.
"No of course not, just that it's 10:30 and you aren't sleeping yet" Manik likes to sleep early and wake up early it was a habit of his that I've noticed ever since we got married.
"I'm not working tomorrow, I took a day off" he simply says
"What? You took a day off? You never do that" I was quite surprised, manik wasn't the one to take days off never unless there's like an emergency which cannot be solved without him.
"Did you forget? I have a surprise planned for you tomorrow, I want to spend the entire day with you—Cabir said he'll take care of my work for a day" manik tells me, I was honestly shocked he took a day off for me?
"You—you took a day off for me?" I asked looking at him. Cabirs words hit my ears again, does that mean manik actually loves me but is hesitant to speak about it? Maybe considering his past and I don't blame him.
"Yes" he gave me a small smile.
"Can you tell me one of the things you have planned if we are spending the entire day?" I ask hoping he would tell me one of the things.
He thought for a bit but then proceeded to answer me "okay, so one of the plans is going to the beach and sharing an ice cream"
A frown replaced my smile on my face "Very funny manik, I'm going"
"Wait Where? To have ice cream?" He holds my hand and His presses his lips together.
"Yes and you are not welcome" I slap the back of his hand playfully so he lets go of my hand.
I hear him chuckling as I walk out of the room but he catches up to me but I didn't stop for him, not going to lie I actually craved ice cream and I know manik is just teasing me I've never seen him like this before so playful and so happy.
"Wait baby I was joking" he says, I had already reached downstairs by now.
"Manik go have your ice cream dreams with your ex girlfriend" I shrug him off, I wasn't mad at all I was just having some fun with him as well.
"See then you say you aren't jealous" he says I stopped and turned to look at him with a glare, and he seemed like those typical husbands who were scared of their wives anger.
I turned back and kept walking to the kitchen, I opened the fridge to grab ice cream, ugh It was chocolate chip my favourite. Manik brought it for me the other day because he knew I loved it.
Manik came behind me and wrapped his arms around my stomach from giving me a back hug, he rested his chin on my shoulders.
"I'm sorry, you know I was just teasing you I have not took her anywhere except for a fancy restaurant not even my bed" his last words made me look at him turning my face around. "I don't even remember what she looks like, you don't need to be upset. It's always going to be only you"
My heart felt strong palpations as he said those words, and here I was expecting him to say that he loves me but every words he says, every action of his, the way he takes care of me, the way he brought me chocolate chip ice cream when I only mentioned about it once, the way he ran after me thinking I was mad, the way he helped me through everything. Do I even need him to say anything? Every thing he does for me gives it away. I wanted to cry, I never in my life imagined I would find someone that I love so much and someone who loves me back so much as well.
"Nandini?" He breaks the hug upon not hearing my response but I was so deep in to my thoughts. "Are you mad?"
I snap out of my thoughts "No of course not, I knew you were teasing me so I was doing the same"
He sighs "my wife is two steps ahead of me huh?"
"Yes, we automatically know what our husbands are up to" I smile.
"You're so going to become a strict wife soon I sense it" Manik says
"Depends, do I need to be strict with you?" I raise my eyebrows
"Yes you do, I love it when you are sassy and ordering me around" he says as I let out a laugh
"That's a first, usually husbands don't like that"
"Well we are different" he says "which is why let's go grab ice cream right now, and go to the beach."
"Manik are you serious? again?" I tell him off thinking he started that thing again.
"No i mean it let's go Nandini, let's go grab ice cream together"
"But manik we have ice cream at home, why do we need to go out to eat it?" I ask him
"In our room I just made up the whole ice cream date thing on the beach I've never done that before but I want to do it with you. Let's go now, plus I don't have work tomorrow, we will be back in an hour" he insists, he was so happy I didn't want to say no and truthfully I wasn't even going to say no.
——————————————————————
Author: wasn't expecting me yeah? Well I'm back with another update hopefully you guys like this one. So many twists and turns coming up in the upcoming chapters, I've just been busy and I guess you guys can say I didn't really go on to write much but now I'm back.
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