Manan FF - Kaisi yeh Yaariyan season 3 - Chapter 123 & note - Page 5

"Manik..."

"Hmm" Manik was completely lost in her. In fact they both were so lost in each other that they hadn't noticed the afternoon turn into evening.

"Manik, will you fulfil one more wish for me though it is not part of the game?"

"You have more??" He teased her.

"Can you please take me back to the place where we fought. I threw away the shoes..."

"Don't tell me you want to pick them back. They are gone."

"Please Manik.."

"Are you crazy, they must be all dirty and wet. Forget them, I will buy you few more pairs" She knew they were as special to him as they were to her. It wasn't about the shoes, but the emotion attached to them. They had been his first gift to her, how could she just throw them away. He was hurt, a tiny part of his heart still held on to her words subconsciously & they would bother him, once he would be away from her. Who could understand it better than her.

"I don't need 5 more pairs, I just need that one, and I want to bring them back even though I may never be able to wear them again. I was mad, I said things that I didn't mean, just to hurt you, I hurt your hand and didn't ask even once. I wanted to pick the shoes right then, I wanted to kiss your hand but I was scared you would scold me...please take me there."

Did he have any choice after her monologue?

They drove through the dark winding roads to that spot. Perhaps it was a new moon day for it was pitch black outside and Manik had to switch on the torch in his mobile, even to take a single step ahead. He was still trying to figure out how would he bring the stars for her and mentally cursing all the fairy tale books that planted this idea in the mind of young girls. I mean you talk of equality and then again you wish you boyfriend to be a superman.

As Nandini was busy looking for the shoes and he was preoccupied with his thoughts, he sighted a stray firefly. Bingo!! He couldn't thank Nandini enough for having brought him here. He took out a transparent plastic bag, one of the two nandini had brought to carry the shoes back home. While Nandini was still busy with the shoes, he slowly slipped away to catch a few fireflies and held the plastic bag behind his back so that she couldn't see it. The only other thing he needed now was some water, even a tiny stream would do.

"Nandini, have you come here before?"

"Yes I have, its not so far from my place so I have come here on morning walks, but why do you ask?"

"Do you think we would have a stream or something nearby?"

"Yes there is, I think odd meters away on the left, but why do you need a stream now?"

"Uff, you ask way too many questions. Are you going to carry those dirty shoes back home?"

"You mean we should wash them first, but then they will get wet na Manik... chiii"

"What chiii... what are you carrying that plastic bag for?"

Manik had no clue why or from where this army of fireflies had come, but they were coming thick and fast, as if they were here just to meet them. The place was desolate, except for the lulling wind, rustling leaves, chirping crickets and the twinkling stars. Why was it Sunday night already? Why couldn't it be Friday again. When she was with him, time just flew away. He wanted to spend every waking hour with her. For that matter he wanted to have her close even when he was sleeping. She had given his aimless life a direction, she had brought a whole new meaning to his wayward existence, infused colours into his monochromatic days and filled up a void, he didn't know existed. Now that he would have to go back for 5 days, it was killing him. Why couldn't he just buy a house in Panchgani and stay here for good. May be that wasn't a bad idea after all. He could just work from here on most days and only go to Pune if and when required. But things like these took time and for now the only option he had was to leave her. He still had the night though.

Sometimes the physical barrier between them unsettled him, and it would become just so difficult to retain control over his desires. No, this wasn't to satiate his instinctive needs as a man. He was strong enough to not get swayed by them. It was something else, something that he himself couldn't properly understand.

No matter how close they got, he wanted to go closer. He knew she was his in heart and soul, but he wanted to have the exclusive & entire claim over her. If he had to translate it in her terms, he wanted to create 'A memory that no one would be able to erase', a mark on her that would remind them that she was his.

Perhaps all of it was coming from a deep seated insecurity, an undefined fear of losing her in one way or the other. But then of the two of them he was the stronger one. She trusted him more than she trusted herself. How could he let his fear win over her trust.

"Nandini, yahan bohot andhera hai, hold the torch properly and look straight on the ground, let me just hold the shoes till we reach the stream." Manik had to somehow prevent her from looking above at the fireflies. This had to be a surprise.

What was he upto, he surely was upto something, otherwise he would never ask her to wash those dirty shoes. But she knew better to just trust him in whatever he was trying to do.

As they reached the gentle stream, both of them sat down across the water. Nandini took away the shoes and handed him the torch. But Manik suddenly turned it off to leave them in absolute darkness.

"Manik torch ki kya hua? Kuch dikh nahi raha... battery to khatam nahi ho gayi na.. Hum fas jayenge.." She had to panic about every small thing.

"Shhh..." He took the shoes away from her hand "look into the water and tell me what you see"

"Andhere mein kya dikhega manik?"

"Close your eyes from sometime and then open them again..let them get adjusted to the darkness first."

Nandini did accordingly. She closed her eyes for a while and opened them to peep into the water. Her heart skipped two beats.

"What do you see now?"

"I see my reflection, I see fireflies over my head and I see stars."

"Awesome... you asked me to bring you the stars...which is practically impossible so this is the best I could do and here's my theory.. When look at the sky, you see the stars, but when you come closer, the stars get converted into fireflies, who glow on their own... and if you come even closer, like within an arms distance from me, the fireflies turn into you because you are my SHINING STAR! So in the water there you see stars in three different forms" Just when Nandini thought this couldn't be real, he handed her the transparent bag with a bunch of glowing fireflies inside. She just couldn't hold herself anymore, she started crying, pulling him close.

"Are, why are you crying..itna bakwas theory tha kya?"

Someone should tell this guy that he shouldn't be this cute because it hurts. Probably she would tell him herself if and when she got her voice back. They had started with stars and fireflies and today both had merged into one. This was way beyond her imagination. She had formally lost the game and even though she was sad because she needed the blank promise to tell him the truth, the way Manik had played for both of them, he had hands down won it.

She tugged at his shirt to make him look into the water as well and then she did the I HEART U sign. He smiled as he saw the rippled reflection.

"Ok baba you win, I lose." She had given up.

"Wait a second, you can't back off like this, not when you have a wish to complete."

"Ok let's go home"

********************

He was waiting and waiting while she was doing something behind closed doors. His patience was wearing out now. All she had to do was to google 'How to say I LOVE YOU in three languages' and that's it. Was she by any chance inventing her own language?

"Nandini aur kitna waqt lagega? Its almost 12 yaar"

"Ho gaya na... Aa jao" She opened the door and peeped out.

"Finaaallly!!! Mujhe laga tum wish ke bahane so gayi and I would just have to wait the whole night here."

The first thing he noticed as he entered was that she had changed into one of his shirts, which by the virtue of being oversized, ended a little over her knees. Didn't she understand that she shouldn't be doing things like these. Why was she enticing him? At the end of the day he too was human.

She made him sit on the bed facing her as she read out from a handwritten note:

"I didn't think, I would go quiet

This one time, I was supposed to speak

I didn't know I would fumble for words

To express something I breathe, feel and live.

But haven't my eyes already told you

That you are the one, THE ONLY ONE EVER..

How could it be any other way,

When only you can solve the puzzle of my heart?

When you rock me in the dead of the night,

Or pick me up in your arms

There is no other place I would rather be

Bcz no place is sweeter than home

Only you can bring me back,

Even from the precipice of death

Only your smiles can melt my sorrows

Only your words can stir my soul

And when you sing to me,

I feel life flowing back in my dry veins

I trouble you a lot, I shout, I scream, I utter nonsense

I fall sick and then I keep u awake

My needs are childish and I easily get upset

I am clumsy, even at my absolute best.

But u have loved me with all my flaws

And every time I slip, I know you will be watching my back

These little-big things you do for me,

Sometimes giving away, sometimes holding back

Do u think I don't know

What goes behind it all?

Do you think your pain is just yours,

That your tears don't count as mine

There's nothing more that I could ask for,

For you have given it all

You have created the rain

And even brought the stars

But if I still had to, I would ask for a promise

Keep me safe honey, don't ever let me go.

Wait, are you still waiting to listen

To those three words..

I sang them in a song and I showed you in signs

"I love you very very much', this time I say in words

U were and always will be the one,

My lover , my soulmate & My bestest friend forever."