Hamaraa birthday celebration khatham ho Gaya and that's what The Happy Page had to say :) Coincidence !!
Everyone except the gang left directly from the venue, while they drove back home.
"It was an amazing day" Arya said sitting on the minion bed.
"Indeed! Manik yaar..I must say! Your planning was commendable" Cabir said.
Nandini went to her room directly without talking to anyone, Manik noticed this and followed her. The door was not completely closed. She took out her parents' photo from the cupboard and sat on the bed holding it.
"Pappa, mummy.... You must have known by now, how happy I am! It was like a dream day. Ithna sab kuch for my birthday.. I never imagined. Mein bohoth khush hoon aaj. I wish you could see how happy Manik keeps me, how he cares for me. he's just like you pappa. Chupchap mere saare tantrums bear kartha hain, aur mummy patha hain, he makes sure that I never skip a meal in my day.. bilkul tumhaari tarah.. Hoon na mein lucky?" she said looking at the photo.
"Nai aunty.. Is se zyaadha toh mein lucky hoon" Manik said slowly walking inside and sat next to her. He took the photo from her hand, and now he started talking, "Aap bhi agree karoge na, ki mein zyaadha lucky hoon, to have your daughter? Aur aunty meine kuch nai kiya, I just did what I was supposed to do. It's my responsibility to make her every day special, aur birthday toh even more special. Toh meine bas wahee kiya, aap iskee baathein math suniye". He looked at her after speaking.
She was smiling but trying hard to control her tears.
"Let it out" he said putting the frame on the bed, and that's it for her. She started crying badly. He immediately took her in a hug.
"Waise Birhday ke dhin ronaa allowed hain... its normal for just born babies to cry... toh aaj mein tumhe nai rokunga. In fact if you stop crying, I'll make you cry more... tumhe patha hain kyun?" he asked. She nodded her head in negative.
"Kyun ki.. when babies are born, they are supposed to crry aur agar who roye nai, toh they get spat so that they cry, ya phir 3 idiots movie ki tarah, I will say aal izz well aal izz well.. Better idea na" he said, and she smiled.
"Manik tum paagal ho" she said.
"Aur tum kya ho?" he asked.
"mein achi bachi" she replied.
"Achha ji..." he mocked.
"Haan ji" she replied.
"Mummy pappa ki yaadh aa rahi thi?"' he asked. She nodded her head in positive.
"Nandini I already told you, unhe yaadh karke if you cry, they'll feel bad ki unhone tumhe rulaaya aur wohhh bhi birthday ke dhin" he said.
"par abhi tum bol rahe the ki it's fine to cry on birthdays" she questioned him.
"wohh..wohh toh meine aese hi bola, to make you smile and by the way you smiled too" he said.
"If you are with me, then I will never lose this smile" she replied and kissed his cheek.
"Wow! Nice reward for making you smile. What will I get if I make you laugh?" he asked and leaned closer to her lips.
"This" she said and palmed his lips.
"Nandini you are back to this business, yaar this is cheating.. abhi ithna sab kuch kiya choti si reward toh banthi hain na" he asked with a pout.
She immediately pecked his pout.
"Jithna meri pout tumhe attract karthee hain na Manik, uthna hi tumhaari bhi karthi hain" she said and again pecked his lips.
"Wow! double dhamaka!" he said with his eyes wide open.
"Acha ab tum baahar jaao, I need to change" she said.
"Kyun? You look pretty in this dress" he said.
"Toh you want me to sleep in this dress?" she asked.
"I wouldn't mind" he replied and hugged her from back and
Hmm...Kaise bathaaoon tujhe...ke.. dil mera kya keh rahaa
He started singing abruptly, looking for words, while his hands were around her waist.
"Acha? Kya keh raha hain tumhaara dil?" she asked as he stopped after that line. He continued.
Kaise bathaaoon tujhe...ke.. dil mera kya keh rahaa
Rahein na faasle yeh.. jo.. hain apne dharmiyaan..
He was constructing the song, word by word, and she was waiting for the next lines.
"Manik" she said after listening to the second line
He sang the next line, turning her to face him.
Tere kareeb mein ho sakoon...
Their faces were dangerously close, he was looking into her eyes, while singing the next line,
De de tu apnee razaa..
He was questioning her with his eyes. He pulled her closer, now she was almost in his lap.
Paas bithaaoo....
He snuggled in the crook of her neck, sang the next line, rubbing his face against her neck, that was bearing the pretty little curls bunched up
Yeh zulf sawaarooon...
His arms were completely around her now,
Aur baahon mein le loon tujhe.. mein..
She arched her neck, giving him more access. The dress was kind of an off-shoulder, it was barely covering her shoulders, and he touched all over her neck lightly with his lips, giving light pecks. He reached her right ear and bit it gently,
Hain dil ki yeh khwaaish.. ke sun le guzaarish
He now moved all her hair to the left and kissed her shoulder deeply, by moving his fingers all along her hand,
Aur de de tu.. khudh ko mujhe...
He stopped singing, breathing heavily.
"Nandini" he almost whispered.
"hmmm" was all she could say.
"Change karlo, I will see you outside" he said and got up from the bed.
"Thank you for wearing the dress, and thanks for this, I loved it" he said pointing towards his tux and walked out of the room.
After he went away, she immediately locked the door and leaned her back taking the support of the door. She slowly slid down, her cheeks in the deepest shade of red and her eyes glowing like fireflies.
"Yeh kya ho raha tujhe Nandu..." she was talking to herself. She touched her shoulder where he kissed and smiled reminiscing it, "I don't even know if we are going too fast, should I be okay with him coming closer to me? Aiyyoo... ithna confusion" she thought and hit her head.
"Nandini, he is Manik! Your Manik.. toh ithnaa confuse kyu ho rahi ho tum?" she heard a voice. She looked at her side, to see another Nandini standing in the same dress.
"Oye tum kaun ho?" Nandini asked.
"I am your conscience, you know like your inner soul, jab bhi tum confusion mein pad jaathi ho, I will come to your rescue" she said.
(Confuse math ho, "she" is her reflection/soul/aathma/inner voice whatever you wanna say 👼🏻)
"Oh aisaa... Then why have I never seen you before? And why are you wearing my dress?" she asked.
"You have never seen me before because I have never seen you so confused before, aur rahee baath dress ki, toh I am not a third person paagal, I am you. So I look exactly like you. Samjhi" she asked.
"Oh ya! I have seen this in some movies.. Now I get it" Nandini said.
"Okay hang on! Let me change my dress, I am hungry, mujhe jaake kuch khaana parega.. are you hungry?" Nandini asked her soul... lol..
"I feel the same way you feel, tu hungry toh mein bhi hungry, achha why do you have to change this dress, see we look so pretty" she said to Nandini.
"Tum bhi Manik ki tarah hi bol rahi ho huh.. but I can't sleep in this, I need my pj's.. they are so comfortable" she said and went into the restroom.
"Accha! Manik calls me Potato, toh I will call you tomato, See potato fries 🍟 and tomato ketchup make a good pair" she said from inside the restroom.
"Tomato? Yeh kaisa naam hain?" she asked, standing next to her.
"Arey! Tum toh mere peeche hi padee ho" nandini said to Tomato.
"And tomato is a very good name, it's tasty also, so aaj se you are tomato. Whenever I need help, I will call you" nandini said.
"And Tomato will be there for the rescue" tomato replied.
"Acha ab tum jao, I need to go out" she said and opened the door.
Alya, Nia and Manik were sitting in the balcony while all the others were already sleeping.
She went into the kitchen to get something to eat, when she saw a plate, covered with a lid. She opened the lid and started laughing.
"Last gift for the day" was written on that with ketchup.
She took the plate and walked out to the balcony and joined them.
"manik! yeh kya hain? Like seriously? Yeh bhi koi gift hotha hain kya" she said laughing.
The plate had, heart shaped potato fries and two "potatoes" decorated in a funny way.
"Taste karo, they are yummy, we just had" Manik said and she put on in her mouth.
"mmmmm... I love potato fries aur upar se I was damn hungry.. Thanks for this" she said and started having one after the other.
"Acha tum log yahaa kya kar rahe the?" nandini asked.
"Kuch nai.. We were just talking, in fact I was telling them about you" Manik replied.
"About me?" she asked.
"Haan! I was telling them what we did a few minutes back in your room" he said with a smirk.
Aur bachhi jo khaa rahi thi, wohh gale mein hi atak gaya and she started coughing.
"Nandini careful" Alya said and went in to get some water.
"Kya hua nandini" Manik asked naughtily knowing the reason already.
"Kya..kya bathaa rahe the tum" she stammered.
"wahee jo hum ne kiya saath mein.. tumhaare room mein, something which you like doing all the time" he said, beating round the bush.
"kya?" she asked again.
"Arey bhai was telling that you were crying holding your parents photograph aur phir kaise tum dhono ne photo se baath kiya" Nia said.
"Achaa! Wohh" she said, with a relieved expression.
"Kyun? Tumhe kuch aur lagaa nandini?" Manik asked, leaning towards her.
"Nai nai.. bilkul nai.. Mujhe bhi wahee same laga... "She said. She was almost horrified thinking what he must have told them.
"Don't worry! Mein uske baare mein kisi ko nai bathaaoonga, I know it's private" he whispered in her ear and potato again became a tomato.
"Aren't you guys feeling cold? Ruko mein blankets laathi hoon" Nandini said and was about to get up, when Manik pulled her down and pulled her close to him.
"Are you still feeling cold?" he asked and she nodded her head in a no.
"Ahem ahem... hum bhi hain yahaa" Alya said.
"I think Alya we should give them some privacy" Nia said.
"Nai nai.. Sit... let's talk" Nandini said.
"What do you want to talk?" Nia asked.
"Kuch bhi" she replied.
"Okay! Waise I always wanted to ask you something... Bhai aap ke band kaa naam Fab5 hain na, so who was the fifth person? I always wanted to search over the internet par hamesha I keep forgetting about it... Was that a guy or a girl?" Nia asked.
Screen Freeze.....
Hope you enjoyed reading... :):)