Manan FF - Kaisi yeh Yaariyan season 3 - Chapter 123 & note - Page 78

He stopped abruptly, just a few meters away from the entrance of her house, still holding her hand. "Nandini...I can't...go in there" he said, almost pushing the words out of his mouth.

She looked at his dead handsome face, the creased brows over those beautiful eyes and read his hesitation as clearly as reading out from her own diary. She could have insisted that he come along, after all she was going to declare their decision to get married to her family.

But she didn't. She didn't argue or demand or drag him. She didn't even ask the second time. Instead, she reached for his forehead, but could only measure up to his nose, even after standing on her toes. She kissed his nose and said "It's ok Manik. But tum yahi par rukna ok? I will be right back. Jana mat.."

Some battles she knew, she would have to fight alone for both of them.

Inside, everyone was busy disarranging things from her wedding that never happened and the mere sight gave her creeps. For some strange reason, it felt like people were dismantling her real mandap, as if one by one, they were pulling aside her dreams, stuffing them into cartons and dispatching them out to an unidentified address from where she would never be able to recover them. Yes, she had put up a brave front infront of Manik, she had coaxed him into believing her words, yet a tiny part of her had been crushed. The part where she used to stack her dreams. It was never about the grandeur which she wouldn't have now, but in her dreams they both were dizzy with happiness on their wedding day, smiling and blushing and smiling again. In reality, she knew it was a chain of compromises and the one thing she was going to miss the most was Manik's heartfelt smile.

Nandini went straight to Chachi. Navya was also there, so were chacha and Rishab. Amms was sulking in a corner. They were all busy getting the house back in order. Nandini knew, a heap of questions were waiting for her.

"Tu kal se kahan thi Nandu..Navya ne bataya tumlog saath mein the par yeh to koi baat nahi hui. Tu ek call nahi kar sakti thi. Ekbar phone karke bata nahi sakti thi, ki kahan hai kiske sath hai? Bari ho gayi hai to iska matlab yeh to nahi ki ghar aur ghar walon ki thori bhi fikar nahi karegi?" Bad timing, Nandini thought. chachi had all the right in the world to be so angry. After all, she had been literally absconding, and to add salt to injury, she was carrying that wound on her forehead.

Nandini apologized, she said sorry thrice and then went on to explain the circumstances which had firced her to be so disappointingly irresponsible. Though she was speaking to chachi, she kept her voice loud enough for others to hear, especially Amms. She told chachi the mess that had happened owing to Manik's dad and how despite everything Manik had chosen her.

She took a pause, swallowed the knot in her throat and finally uttered the line she had been practicing in her head all this while. "Chachi..main..I want to marry Manik". Her voice was all shaky, as an unknown fear lurched in her heart.

Not that it was a surprise, her entire family knew this was coming, even Amms, despite her self-created denial. But it was her wanting to marry him right now, in the given circumstances that she feared her family might oppose. And if they did oppose, if they thought she was unnecessarily hurrying up & that they both needed time, that would be so unfair to her yet not unjust on her family's part. She couldn't expect her family to understand Manik the way she could read his every pulse. But what if they said 'No'? She wasn't backing off at any cost, not after she had promised him she was going to shine for him. 'Aiyappa..please help me' Nandini started chanting in her head.

"Manik kahan hai? Wo kyun nahi aya tere sath" chachi looked for any cues on her husband and mom-in-law's faces and then asked sternly.

"kal jo kuch bhi hua..between him and Amms... he was hesitant.. Bahar khada hai wo." Nandini replied, looking at the floor.

"ye shaadi aise nahi ho sakti"

It was as if Chachi had picked her heart and smacked it on the ground. Blood began to drain away from her stunned face leaving her pale and frozen. Chachi of all people? Her only hope in her family too was against her?? Now what.. she wracked her brains , which wasn't quite in the mood to coordinate. "Chachi please Na mat bolo na...infact Manik ne to bohot samjhane ki koshish ki , ki this isn't the right time...but main use akela chorna nahi chahti chachi, abhi jab use meri sabse zyada zaroorat hai.Mana ki future thora uncertain hai par hum sath rahenge to we will manage it chachi."

"Nandini mujhe Manik se baat karni hai. Use bulao yahan. Aise kaise tumlog itne bare bare faisle khud le lete ho, ghar walon se puchne tak ki zaroorat nahi samajhte.. Bohot bare ho gaye ho?" From the corner of her eyes Nandini glanced at chacha & Amms. Both were calm on the surface, their reactions did nothing for her to guess what was going on inside there heads. She thought Amms would be grinning ear to ear, now that even chachi had said 'No' , But she wasn't. Nandini turned her gaze back to Chachi, pleading her with her innocent eyes.

"Please chachi haan kar dona please" Nandini urged with a grumpy face.

"Nandini maine bola Manik ko bulao"

Dejected, Nandini was just about to ring him when she saw Manik walk in on his own. They exchanged a couple of glances and he understood where this was heading.

Outside, waiting for Nandini to return, Manik had begun to feel guilty. He shouldn't have stayed back, he shouldn't have let her fight it out alone. He was supposed to protect her, and the least he could do now was to be with her. That's when he finally prepped himself up to walk in, consciously ignoring Amms's words. Between self respect and love, one should perhaps choose the first. But when the love is like what they had, it cuts through every other emotion. If she could face his father's wrath, if she could live in perpetual hell because of him and still not give up on him, why should he let few rude words to take control of his being.

The moment her eyes fell on him, something shifted in the air as it did in her heart. Nothing had changed in her physical surroundings yet it made a world ofdifference to her dampening spirits. She could inhale it, feel it in her skin but not put a finger on it. As if he had taken her sinking heart in his hands, as if he had pushed the clouds off her sky and let the sunshine pour in again. Did everyone feel the way she felt in his presence? This connection they shared was way beyond the realms of logic. If she were to put it in words, may be she would have said, his heart could speak to her's telepathically. At times it felt like this was even beyond love..may be they were soulmates since time immemorial and would remain so till eternity.

Nandini pushed her thoughts aside and tried to focus on the problem at hand but this time when she looked at chachi, her heart skipped a few consecutive beats.

"Itni kya baat kar lete ho ankhon ankhon mein... abhi to puri zindagi pari hai baat karne ke liye" She was mischievously smiling, staring at them. "Ab to Manik permanently tumhara ban jayega Nandini, hai main itni khush hun ki bata nahi sakti?" Chachi pinched Manik's cheeks as he stood rather embarrassed and those words and that shy smile on his face almost sent Nandini's heart into a tripple somersault.

"Chachi!!!!! aap mazaak kar rahi thi... U have no idea.. Aapne kitna dara diya mujhe." Tears of relief start forming in her eyes.

"To tujhe kya laga ki main ise aise hi jane dungi? After all yeh mera sona munda hai, ise to main tab se pasand karti hun jab tum dono mein dosti bhi nahi hothi..hai...main aaj bohot khush hun." Then she turned to her husband "Mr. Murthy, yeh sab chor do..meri Nandu ki shaadi ke liye tayaari suru karo ji"

Yes they were happy, and finally had the guts to accept it infront of Amms. Rishab was literally jumping up and down. Finally his beloved sis was going to marry the guy he had been idolizing for the longest time, the guy who was much less her sis's boyfriend and more like his own elder bro, warm, protective and ever encouraging, who never judged him for his inability to speak or his frequent bouts of epilepsy, never considered them his handicap.

Mr. Murthy blessed them too. The only one left out was Amms.

"Ab to aapko koi problem nahi hogi na Amms, aapko aia hi larka chahiye tha na Nandini ke liye jo khud apne pairon pe khara ho, to chalo bhagwan ne aapki baat sun li." Chachi taunted her and Amms got up and silently left the place. Her unusually calm demeanour struck Nandini, why hadn't she shouted today? Was she changing or was she planning something else in her head? In aeither case, she couldn't care less. She was just too happy to let this moment pass away in worries.

Chachi dragged both of them towards her bedroom. Then she took out a few pieces of jewelry and some money from her Almirah and handed over to Nandini. This upset Manik. "Chachi..please..aap.."

"Manik, main Nandini ki chachi zaroor hun par wo meri beti se kam nahi hai. Aur har ma apni beti ko shaadi ke waqt duwayein deti hai. Hum middle class log hai aur mere paas zyada kuch dene ke liye hai bhi nahi, par main bata nahi sakti ki main kitni kitni khush hun ki Nandini to tum mile ho. Lagta hai jaise meri saari duwayein kam kar gayin."

Manik was touched to the core. Yes she had always been the mother to both Nandini and him, sending him food and prayers, trusting him blindly, loving him from the core of her heart. Except for Nandini and sometimes his friends, Manik was mostly a guarded person, but today he was going to break the rule for this amazingly graceful woman.

"Chachi aapko dar nahi lagta? For Nandini? I mean...there is so much difference between yesterday and today.. Doesn't it bother you, doesn't it bother you that this wedding will be so plain. I am sure you had much bigger plans for Nandini..and main.."

Shanno smiled. "haan tum sahi keh raho Manik. Bohot kuch badal gaya hai. Par pata hai kya badla hai? Ek aadmi ke pyaar ko aap do time pe parakh sakte ho.. Ek jab uske paas sab kuch ho aur ek jab uske paas kuch bhi na ho. Tum kal bhi nandini se pyaar karte the, jab tumhare paas sab kuch tha, aur aaj jab kuch waqt ke liye tumhare paas kuch bhi nahi hai, tabhi tum uske saath khare ho. Aur yeh larki, yeh larki to puri pagal hi hai, shayad yeh khud bhi nahi janti tum iske liye kya ho. Maine ise pal pal marte dekha hai..." She cleared her throat and wiped a lone drop of drop of tear from the corner of her eyes. "Aise rishte sabko naseeb nahi hota, paisa to aata jata hai, par pyaar sabko nahi milta. Aur agar pyaar ho to baki kuch matter nahi karta. Main Nandini ko janti hun, wo kabhi tumhe kisi baat ke liye tang nahi karegi, kabhi complain nahi karegi..bohot achi beti hai meri.. Jaisa mera Manik, waisi uski Nandini." She took some kajal and put it on both of them. "kisi ki nazar na lage tum dono ko".

She couldn't hold back her emotions any more and started crying. Nandini immediately hugged him and even Manik joined. After staying like that for a while, she said with a tear stained smile "Par Nandu, main to Manik ke side se aungi.. Tu apne chacha aur bhai ke sath manage karle"

Manik was choking up. He had never known up until now, what it felt to be in a mother's arms, hy it was the safest place in the world. He had never known what a mother's blind faith meant..this is where Nandini got all her goodness from. He kept quiet, because he didn't want to show he was crying and also because he didn't want to make blank promises. But in the silence of his mind, he made a promise to himself. He promised to love Nandini more with each passing day, he promised to never ever give up and protect her till his last breath.. And he also swore to love her family as his own. Bad times show you who your real friends and family are... and time had shown him whom he should call his own..