The other updates will follow. You lazy writer is back!😆
"Of course Manik, you are invited to Nandini and my wedding. But please just let me take Manvi with me, she can't miss her mother's wedding today." He said as he was getting eager to take Manvi to Mangalore today, to witness the event which might as well be the end of Manik's life.
She was getting married today. Was he supposed to be happy or was he supposed to be running to Mangalore to stop this marriage, the marriage of the love of his life and ex-wife to Aryaman Khurrana, a man who he found out had the most sincerest of feelings for her since the time they had left college, about 15 years ago.
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They were 20 when they got married, so young and wildly in love. Everyone around them had said that they needed to wait and become something before they embark on this journey of a lifetime, or it would be destroyed. And right they were. Nandini was more invested in the relationship from the start, a whole lot more than Manik and she was never acknowledged in their 5 year drama of a marriage.
The start was all sunshine and rainbows, not being able to leave one another for a moment and Manik being super-loving and caring for the first year of their relationship. Then it was almost suddenly that everything vanished. In his journey to becoming famous and making himself known in the business sector, something which wasn't as easy as people had assumed, he forgot that the other half of his life existed.
It was as though money had foreshadowed everything else in his life. In the next 4 years, the fire of their love had already started to extinguish. He realised that Nandini wasn't important to his life, not nearly as important as the business deals and the fame, the reputation and the praises he received. He never acknowledged her presence, only thought of her when he was frustrated and needed to vent it out or when he was out of ideas and he needed inspiration, which was a lot to say the least. He didn't acknowledge her as the woman behind him, who supported him silently by his side, taking in all the ups and downs in her stride and dealing with his shit. He forgot all about the small gestures she needed once in a while for keeping her hope alive, her hope that he still loved her, even a fraction of what he used to, but she could live with it.
Nandini had loved him with every fiber in her body, and the day when she found out that she was pregnant and maybe, just maybe he would start loving her and caring about her again, but she was left shattered and broken as he came home with divorce papers instead of flowers.
He said he didn't need any child, he didn't need any support anymore and that they couldn't love each other like they used to. He said he loved her but he didn't have the time to show it to her and he couldn't keep her in a static relationship as he saw no future for them. He left her for someone else, not a woman or a man, but money and fame and that hurt more.
So they did the inevitable. They got separated and left each other's life.
Nandini had loved him through all of the years and her unfulfilled story broke her, but she couldn't give up the only gift Manik had ever given her, her child, their child even if he didn't want it.
As the years went by and Manik finally stopped seeing the world through his ambitious eyes, but as an experienced man, a person who understood the importance of immaterial things and relationships, it finally struck him what he had done. He had screwed up his life, left the only person who could stand him and love him for what and who he was, not for what he had, abandoned the child he had created, their child if he could call it; only because his head was so far up his ass.
The permanent void in his heart, which used to be filled only with her presence, started to bother him. It showed him that he was more of a failure now than he was, before he got rich. Success in life wasn't the temporary bliss of fame and reputation, but the key to happiness, and there was only one word synonymous to happiness in his life, Nandini.
(P.S Please do listen to the song, Let Her Go by Passenger)
Well you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
And you let her go
Staring at the bottom of your glass
Hoping one day you'll make a dream last
But dreams come slow and they go so fast
You see her when you close your eyes
Maybe one day you'll understand why
Everything you touch surely dies
But you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
Staring at the ceiling in the dark
Same old empty feeling in your heart
Cause love comes slow and it goes so fast
Well you see her when you fall asleep
But never to touch and never to keep
Cause you loved her too much and you dived too deep
Well you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
And you let her go
And you let her go
Well you let her go
Cause you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
Cause you only need the light when it's burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
Only hate the road when you're missing home
Only know you love her when you let her go
And you let her go
That moment of clarity in our lives, when you finally realise what you should have and what you shouldn't have done and life seems to make sense for you, showed Manik what he had done all of those years when his wife kept supporting him, helping him and slowly faded away, as he sucked the light out of her and their fireflies.
A lot of time had passed by then. It had taken Manik 5 years to figure out the medicine to all of his ailments, the reason of his life and the reason he wanted to prove himself, Nandini.
The next 5 years he spent in redemption, finally entering the life of his little and beautiful daughter, who seemed to have no idea about his betrayal and didn't hate him as she should have. It took him a greater time to finally look into the eyes of the girl he was always in love with as his guilt always got the better of him, forcing him to stop himself from entering her life again and spoiling it as he saw the look of disgust on the faces of the people who were once his family too, but they were lost somewhere in his lone quest to fulfill his greed.
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And today she was getting married. After ten years of stalling herself from feeling pleasure and happiness, Nandini was finally committing to another man who had proved to her numerous times that she was more important to him than anything in the world. Everything was second for him as she had entered his life. Could Manik ever compete with a selfless love like that?
Manik still cursed and would probably curse himself for the rest of his life for hurting her, for breaking her and throwing away their love. But after ten years of grieving and beating himself up again and again for his mistakes, he had finally forgiven himself enough to try and win her back and sweep her off her feet again, but just then he saw her move on in life, trying to start fresh again and he didn't have the heart to stop her. He wasn't even remotely thinking of the idea of them getting married. She was his, and she would remain his for the rest of his life, no matter how many hearts he had to stab while he made sure of it by breaking this marriage which wasn't supposed to be happening at all.
As he reached the venue which was the place where she was starting a new chapter in her life, letting go of the feelings and the emotions that she couldn't trust as they always led her back to him, Manik moved around like a maniac to find his bride and make a run, away from both their misery and their hurt and towards the happiness that awaited them.
Finally spotting Nandini sitting alone in a room, looking every bit as the most beautiful girl in the universe, his universe, he couldn't swallow the hurtful sobs that came out of him on seeing her ready to leave him, and she had every right to do so just as he had done years ago. But the hope that he would be forgiven outshone all. She was always the most forgiving person, and today he had bet his life on this quality of hers. He had been spotted by her, leaning on the door as painful sobs kept on emerging from within his soul, and he could see the inner turmoil in the mind of his lady, forcing her to think about her decision, her true happiness which whatever he did, would unfortunately for her, lie with him.
Her dignity and pride were healed a little by the sight of the disintegrating man before her, but she still couldn't push herself to go and soothe him as very cell in her body was dying to do.
He turned around and quickly shut the door, jamming it from every side so that the girl before him couldn't run even if she wanted to.
"Why?" Was the emotionless question coming out of her mouth, as she tried her best to conceal her emotions behind the stiff and stoic mask.
He didn't need anything more to understand what she wanted to hear. Wiping the tears that were glistening on his cheek, he attempted his best to speak without sobbing anymore.
He hadn't ever cried in his life, but right now was not one of the moments to think about his spoilt macho image in front of his girl, she had the right to see behind the mask he had put on for so long for all the others to see. With the most vulnerable looking expressions, he said the words that were stuck on his tongue for so long.
" I can't let you get married." He whispered in the most hoarse voice, barely understandable but as it settled in, he continued," I have no right, no right whatsoever to come here and tell you not to marry, but I can't help it. I can't. I am the most messed up and selfish person in the universe who was always under the impression of getting anything and everything for himself. It didn't matter to me how I got it, and how much damaged I caused while pursuing it because at the end, for me, I was all that mattered, but when I married you and fell in love with you, I had promised myself to keep you at a higher level than myself, to see that nothing I did ever hurt you, but didn't I fail." He chuckled darkly, continuing, "The business and the money were what I desired after I got you. I forgot about the promises, about our love and most of all, stabbed you in the process of achieving something which was so insignificant compared to you, I felt I was crazy, an idiot, when I realised the consequences of my actions."
"I wanted to move on, keep myself engrossed in the business that I exchanged for you and keep on with the facade that my heart wasn't broken into a million little pieces as you went away, with my kid, our kid. A child that I had desired for so long, going away as I said the worse things I could have told you. I remember the day as clear as it was yesterday, the happiness on your face fading away into defeat, sadness as you realised that I had lost myself to the fame and all of those flashy things that never matter in life, but I being the jackass that I am, let you go, let you leave in your most vulnerable time, carrying my daughter, my Manavi and when I came back from my hell, you let me talk to her, make up a bond with her that I shouldn't have deserved . I do have to tell you, that in my life, I have never loved anyone more than you, nobody, not even Manavi, and there was no one in my life after you left, nobody ever caught my attention like only you do, and I was never unfaithful to you, even when our marriage was shattered because of me."
"When they said that we should have waited to marry, we should have listened to them, Nandini. I can't stop thinking about the way we would have been then. My love for you would outshine everything in my life and I would value you more, understand your significance to which I was blind for so long. I waited ten years to tell you this, too long I see now, but I couldn't have afforded to become selfish again, I had to earn you and your love and show you how much I loved you, when I did those little things all throughout these 10 years just to show you that I'm not lost and I will do what it takes to win you back. I should have yelled and shouted and fallen on your feet for your forgiveness and demanded you to come back but I couldn't Nandu, I couldn't."
"You are the mother of my daughter, the reason of my breath and the sole owner of my life. You are my God, the only Goddess I pray to and worship and life without you, as I have lived only on the memories of you, is a worse place than hell. No happiness, no sadness, no emotion, only a feeling of nothingness."
"I cannot promise that I will not fight with you or not shout at you anymore, but Nandini what I can promise is that even if you marry Aryaman today, you are and will always be my reason to live and I remain faithful to you, no matter what comes because I can never move on from you. I can't. I will forever wait for you, if I have lost you in this life, I will wait for you in the next and learn from my mistakes, never let you go. I will fight for us, no matter what, and if I am lucky enough, you will one day return to me, touch my face and that would be the fulfillment of my life. What took me 10 years to understand and tell you today is that my life is there just for the sole reason to ensure your happiness, which I couldn't do and I failed, but I will spend the rest of my days doing anything that will even bring a hint of a smile on your face, and I will be blessed."
"I wanted to tell you to runaway with me, but if Aryaman is the person who you see your future with, and rightfully so as he has proved it to you so many times, I won't and can't stop you. My needs are nothing before yours, and the only need I have is of you."
She stood there emotionless, staring at him blankly, for what seemed a lifetime for Manik, and when her face transformed into the most beautiful and ecstatic smile, Manik could feel himself breathing again.
She slowly approached him, seeing the face of the only man she could only love and saw the sincerity and the change in him, the need to fulfill all those promises and most of all, the broken man who couldn't live without her. Her mind was filled with contentment and her heart with new found hope and believe as she saw him falling on his knees before her, looking up at her, to make a choice, a choice which would make him or break him forever and did the only thing that she could do to show him what she had decided, kissed him.
As Manik felt her lips embrace his own, he couldn't stop the fire that ignited his body, mind and soul which was deprived from love for a long, long time. The embrace which had started just to convey the message of acceptance evolved into one of togetherness, as they bared their souls to each other.
As they regained their senses and found the time they had left to runaway, to find their happiness and bliss together, they left everyone behind and embarked on a new journey, the one which would end with death and happiness of being together, just as they had belonged from the start.
P.S: Love is so illogical, that I don't know how some people understand it?Anyway Nandini may seem illogical but she is love-stricken case and would anyday favour Manik over Aryaman, damn! Even I would favour Manik, but in different circumstances.
Also remember, Aryaman would be in a loveless or one sided love marriage, I believe that it was better for her to leave him or she would have ruined his, her own as well as Manik's life, which shouldn't be taken into consideration as he was such a jerk😡
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