The taste of the first kiss
There was a conference call from the FAB 5 soon after the couple settled down for the night. After updating them on their whereabouts, Manik readied himself for all the teasing that would come his way and he was not mistaken. Cabir could not suppress his laughter.
"Bro... Like seriously. How did you manage to land up with her? and a treehouse? Like seriously? "
Before Cabir could say further, Dhruv interrupted him, knowing that the subject would not be palatable for Alya, "Hey Manik, Are you guys ok? Take care. Mom is worried. I will tell her you are fine. Ok. Then, you had better hang up. Take care not to exhaust your mobile battery charge. Ok. Buddy..."
Thus saying, they hung up. Manik looked at Nandini. She was biting into the ripe mangoes, which she was relishing with immense pleasure and juices were oozing out of her mouth. On seeing, he look at her, she offered him another mango from the pile, her hands covered with mango juice.
Manik took hold of her hands and licked each finger off the juices, still maintaining eye contact. Nandini blushed and forcefully took back her hands.
"Ok. I will have this then," said Manik, taking the mango from her hands and biting into it.
"I will call Chacha -chachi and inform them" said Nandini dialing chacha's number.
" Raghav Sir must have already informed them. Anyway, Go ahead and tell them that we are fine."
Chachi was relieved that Nandini was with Manik. She was a bit upset on hearing that both of them were alone in a treehouse. So, before hanging up, Chachi moved away from Chacha's earshot and whispered " Nandu, Umm...I know you well. And I know Manik is a good guy. But, beta, Don't do anything that you will regret later. haan?"
Nandini understood what chachi was implying.
She looked at Manik and whispered back " haan chachi. Don't worry. "
Manik also talked to chachi and assured her of Nandini's safety.
"What were you whispering to Chachi?" Manik asked after they had disconnected the call.
" Nothing. Woh.. chachi was asking me if I had anything to eat. I told her mangoes"
" Did you also tell her that you fed me mango juice?"
" Manik... "
"umm"
"shut up"
" Acchha Nandini.. What do you want to do the whole night?" Manik asked in a suggestive voice, stressing on the word 'whole' and 'night'.
They were sitting leaning on the wall, adjacent to each other. Nandini's heart started racing.
Manik started singing ' hum tum ek kamare mein bandh ho', clearly enjoying Nandini's flustered form.
Nandini started feeling nervous and worried on hearing Manik singing and enacting the famous romantic number. Manik continued singing leaning into Nandini and blowing lightly on her throat below her ear.
" Manik... shut up..." Nandini said pushing him away.
"You know Nandini, Raat ka time, Akele ek ladka aur ladki... in the jungle... you know... anything can happen..." He added seductively.
" Manik...stop it"
Manik's mischievous avatar surfaced" wait...a minute.. What did you think? Oh my god.. Chee ... Did you think that?? Chee chee chee...Nandu...U thought I was talking about that...u have such a perverted mind...chee.. I was telling that since it is night time and we are alone.. in a jungle, there is danger of wild animals or even ghosts... yaah ghosts... U know I was talking about ghosts and you were thinking about that... I should stay away from you. Your intentions are clearly not right."
Nandini was highly embarrassed. She turned away from him.
" achha baba, since you want it... " Manik said, removing his blazer, and giving Nandini naughty looks. Now, Nandini's eyes grew large with apprehension. Manik leaned towards her and Nandini closed her eyes on instinct. His face was too close to hers for comfort. Seconds passed by without any movement and Nandini slowly opened her eyes to see him smirking at her. "Why were you expecting me to kiss you?"
"k.k.Kiss.??"
" Yeah. Just now. You were thinking that I was going to kiss you when I was just wiping this"
saying he rubbed an imaginary speck from her cheeks. Her cheeks turned tomato red." Really, Nandini, You do have some naughty thoughts running through your sweet little head. And since you were asking for it..."Manik said while pecking her softly on her nose. Nandini continued staring at him. Manik looked at her, questioning her with his eyes and asked " Hellow... Where are you lost?"
Nandini understood that Manik had been teasing her all along and hit him on his arms yelling " Manik..." Manik tried to catch hold of both her hands, trying to make her relax, when she continued to hit him. After a session of hitting and yelling, Manik was successful in subduing her. He took both her hand in his hands and said " I love the way you blush when I tease you."
" Really...So you love to tease me... Have you seen me when I am angry? Will you love that too?"
"No. You cannot be angry with me. You are too soft...inside and out..like a potato..."
" Potato??Really?? And you are like a coconut... Very hard to crack..."
"Are you planning to crack me?"
"Will I be successful?"
" You already are"
They looked at each other for a long time, not requiring words to express what flowed between them. Finally, Manik pulled her to him, into his arms, and wrapped his hands around her body, his chin resting on her head.
She gave out a long breath, and relaxed further into his arms, a tranquil feeling engulfing her. Remaining in this position, Manik slowly lowered her to the floor and untangled himself from her, kissing her on her forehead while Nandini's eyes remained closed.
Manik covered Nandini with his coat and said, "Its getting cold. You better go to sleep"
"s..s..sleep?? I am not sleepy."
"What do you want to do then?"
"Nothing" saying Nandini quickly closed her eyes, reprimanding herself for making the situation complicated.
Manik could not relax. He diligently went back to leaning against the wall, staring at the sleeping form of Nandini. Her breaths were not steady indicating that she was not exactly sleeping.
" Manik??" Nandini called out after a while.
"I am here only Nandini"
"Aren't you lying down?"
"It will not be advisable, Nandini." He continued when he saw her looking at him curiously. "choddo. You will not understand. It's a man thing"
"What man thing?"
"Leave it. "
"Manik, can you switch on the mobile flashlight. It's too dark here."
"The battery will die. We need to survive until we reach home tomorrow. "
" Then, can you keep talking to me..."
" Why? What happened ?"
" Manik..Either you lie down with me... or you keep talking to me. Else, you will have to switch on the flashlight. I am getting suffocated like this, lying in the dark.."
" Nandini. Are you afraid of the dark?" Manik moved closed to Nandini and held her hands, assuring her of his presence.
"You know Manik, My parents passed away when I was nine years old. We were in the US...my grandma... Amms was also with us. My parents were returning from their workplace, a little late at night, when they met with an accident. We, I and Rishabh were sleeping ...when Amms got the call informing of their death. Since then, I get nauseous in dark...I sleep with my bed lights on. "
" Nandini...You don't have to get scared of the dark anymore. I am here."
" Will you be there with me always?"
" Always." He assured her. He lay down with her and wrapped her in his arms, turning her so that they lay in spoon style. His hands lay on her stomach and she used his other hand as a pillow. Both of them drifted into deep slumber almost at the same time.
The next morning, Manik's first thought was that he had grown beard overnight when his hands touched a lock of hair near his chin. On opening his eyes, he saw the most soothing sight ever -of Nandini sleeping peacefully in his arms. He enjoyed the sight for a few more minutes and went back to sleep.
When he next opened his eyes, Nandini was not near him. He panicked for a moment and relaxed only when he saw her sitting by the entrance of the tree house enjoying the view outside.
Nandini had woken up to sound of birds chirping and the exotic smell of forest. Manik still had his arms around her, but his hand that she had used as pillow was now replaced by his chest and she had her hands around his stomach. She moved away shyly to the entrance of the house and stayed that way, enjoying the beautiful forest view from the tree.
" Good morning Nandini. I can't believe we just had our first night together..."
" Good Morning Manik. It's so beautiful outside. Come, have a look" said Nandini ignoring his teasing.
"Let's head home now." Manik was irritated that she was not responding to his teasing. So added to unnerve her "I promise we will come back here for our honeymoon."
Nandini decided to give him back for all his taunts. So she said cheekily. " No. I don't think so.. Not if you are just going to repeat last night .." Nandini could not understand what gave her the courage to be so brazen with him.
" repeat last night?" Manik asked , clearly not getting the point.
" Yeah... only talks and no action" Nandini blurted out before she could stop herself.
She understood the exact minute realization dawned on him and his eyes darkened with a mixed emotion of surprise and amusement.
Nandini understood the folly of her words, when minutes later he had her pinned to the wall and looking intently at her.
" So you need action.." He burst out laughing and continued, "My dear Nandu, DO you even realize what you are inviting here? You are indirectly challenging me. And did you think I would let you get away with it?" His eyes went to her mouth and stayed there tempting her to look at his mouth too.
She realized that she wanted him to kiss her..She moved a fraction towards him and he completed the rest of the distance. Their lips met and fused. He was just testing the waters at first, gentle and hesitant, but soon he increased pressure slightly, which parted her lips faintly. Manik first took her upper lips within his lips and sucked gently. He took her face in his hands and tilted to get better access. Then he took her lower lips into his mouth and sucked harder. She responded by lifting herself to reach him. She placed her hands on his neck and pulled him to her deepening the kiss all the while running her hands through his hair.
Manik ended the kiss, but stayed close placing his forehead on her forehead. She was still lost, eyes closed, trying to calm her racing heartbeat.
Nandini got the answer to a mystery that had been haunting her for long...what it means to be kissed by Manik Malhotra? Forget Manik, she had never been kissed before and she had been curious and she got the answer to what it means to be kissed. It felt great and she understood, finally, why there was so much fuss about this.
She chided herself on realizing where her thoughts were taking her. They had not even shared their feelings to each other and here she was fantasizing about him.
Nandini did not want the day to end. Nevertheless, end it did, and Manik delivered her safely to her doorstep without further ado.
Debate Mansion
