Manan FF - Kaisi yeh Yaariyan season 3 - Chapter 123 & note - Page 76

"Agar tumse tumko mangoon to? Will you marry me...Manik?"

'Did she actually ask that? How could she?' He thought and then realized 'Only she could...only she could love him so deeply, to set herself ablaze to light up his life.'

"No" he said, clearing his throat. "I can't."

"Kyun Manik? Tumne wo ring mere liye lee thi na, mujhe propose karne ke liye?...fir why can't you say yes now?"

Well no-one would ever know that the ring wasn't the only thing he had got for her and Neel wasn't his only reason for going to Panchgani. 24 hours ago, just before leaving for Mumbai, he had finalized a deal with a property dealer. He had bought a house overlooking the hills, just two blocks ahead from Nandini's quarter. It was supposed to remain a surprise... till their wedding.

He could never forget Panchgani...those hot flushes of love, that tinge of jealousy, the rumblings of his heart, the desperation to meet her, their cute squabbles over nothing...her irritating him with custom made stupid one liners , and then just as suddenly, retreating into his arms, with those innocent eyes seeking unspoken promises from him. How could he ever forget those scattered moments of magic, created out of nothing but sheer love, that feeling of floating like a cloud over the valleys...But then life took a sharp bend and put his dizzying happiness to an abrupt end.

He wanted to pick up those colourful threads from where he had to abandon them and weave a life full of colours for them. He hadn't just purchased a house, he had been trying to buy her a fairy tale amidst her favourite hills and beloved children. And now, he wouldn't be able to give her that house, or any house for that matter. How could he buy her dreams when he barely had anything to buy reality.

Only he knew what was going on inside him. "That was yesterday..jab main Manik Malhotra tha, today I am just Manik, and there is a bloody world of difference between the two. At this moment, I have nothing to give you except the burden of my frustrations and failures. I can't give you the kind of happy life jo tum deserve karti ho..and till the time that I can't afford it, I can't marry you Nandini."

"Kuch nai badla Manik, tum mere liye kal bhi jo the, aaj bhi wahi ho and hamesha wo hi rahoge. Ghar paise se nahi banta Manik, paise se sirf makaan khareed sakte hain. If money could buy everything, wouldn't you have bought your share of happiness...your lost childhood. I have a job, I know the pay is meagre, but we will manage and then you can figure out what to do."

"Have you lost it? Like seriously? You will go out and earn for us and I will just figure things out??? No f**king way...ok..don't you even think.."

"Yeh hamare beech mein mera tumhara, gender rules, when did all this come in Manik? Isse pehle to nahi tha.. Jab mera pain heal karne ke liye tum, you were taking hits on your wounded body. ..Tab to mera..tumhara alag nahi tha.. Jab night after night you held me in your arms just so that I could sleep tab to nahi tha yeh mera tumhara , Jab mere liye tum injured hokar bhi Delhi- dehradun- panchgani mein bhatak rahe the, tabbhi mera tumhara nahi tha.. Jab mere sare problems tumhare hain, jab meri har smile tumhari hai, when my bloody heart is yours fir only salary meri kaise ho sakti hai. Tum to love ke sath sath friendship ke bhi rules break kar rahe ho Manik and its not done." Nandini asked clutching his shirt.

It was becoming increasing difficult for him to defend his point. On one hand, he wanted nothing more than to surrender to her, he was so tired. But on the other hand, he couldn't bring himself to agree to her. He loved her way too much to push her into this darkness that was just waiting to suck him in.

"Why are you being stubborn Nandini?" He grabbed her at the waist "Why don't you understand ki sab kuch itna simple nahi hai? I left music half way three years ago..no one in the industry recognizes me now... I didn't even get to finish college...because of that goddamn accident and the brain damage. Its one thing to walk into your own company and learn things by sheer grit, but when you have to justify yourself to the world, talent is not enough, you need to show something...and I have no freaking idea right now, how to build that up. How can I drag you in the middle of all this? I love you Nandini, I can't just gamble with your life. I need time to sort things, to sort life..to sort us..."

Just as they were standing inches apart from each other, the doorknob clicked and in stepped Ranbir and Alya.

"Oops..sorry..sorry...wrong timing...carry on guys" Ranbir fumbled covering his eyes.

Embarrassed, Manik dropped his hands off Nandini at once and stepped back. "Nahi yaar wo..hum... wo..nothing bas aise hi.."

After leaving Ranbir's house the previous night, the four of them had somehow come to an agreement regarding their next step. They had decided to return the next morning, one each from Mukti-Ranbir and Dhruv-Alya, pretending as if they had been out partying all night. They wouldn't let Manik get a whiff, they had vacated the flat to give him some privacy with Nandini.

Since it was Ranbir's house so he was the first choice, and because he and Dhruv couldn't see eye to eye with each other, it had to be Alya with him...

Yes, it had come to this... to divided friendships. But at least they were trying to put a united front for Manik.

"Nothing kyun? Why don't you tell them ki hum kya discuss kar rahe the." Much to Manik's awkwardness, she showed no sign of backing out.

Manik winked at her, making faces to get her to shut up, but when it comes to being stubborn, no competition is ever good enough for Nandini Murthy.

"Anything serious Nandini?" Ranbir was a little nervous. Knowing Manik's temper, he was hoping Manik hadn't done anything stupid or fought with her. Though from the way they were standing when he and Alya had walked in, it looked like they were making 'love' not 'fight'.

"I just asked him to marry me and he refused."

"Whaaat?" Ranbir blurted out. Manik rolled his eyes at Nandini and Alya stood there frozen. Manik had never ever seen this Nandini. So open and forthright, about her personal life infront of his friends?!?!?

Alya and Ranbir were in bigger shock, and each for their own respective reasons. Before walking in they had drawn quite a few probabilistic scenarios in their head and braced themselves up to face it... A drunk Manik shouting down at Nandini, A broken Manik being consoled by Nandini, or Manik acting in-denial..scenarios like that, but nothing had prepared them to witness a FIGHT OVER A PRPOSAL!

"Nandini Please.." Finally Manik reacted.

"Please what?"

"You know you are being unreasonable..."he replied, looking first at Nandini and then turning his gaze to Ranbir and Alya "Yes I wanted to marry you and if all this had not happened, I would have...forget it...but I can't do it right now, not in this wretched condition"

"Fine" she gave in "fine, let's be practical..ok? So let me ask you a few questions and if you still think I am being unreasonable, I swear I wouldn't bug you any more."

"Its not about bugging me Nandini..its just"

"Its ok Manik, can I get to my question please?"

She was upset and hurt. Manik felt so small, so useless for putting her through this humiliation. Why life puts us in situations and makes us do things, we never thought we would. How swiftly things change and dreams turn into nightmares. Instead of planning a grand proposal for her, here he was rejecting her infront of his friends, rejecting the girl who was willing to fight for him and put everything at stake. He meekly said "Ok", while the other two kept on watching.

"Maan lo ki jo kuch bhi hua, wo sab nahi hota. Everything is just normal, tum baraat leke mere ghar aaye and darvaze pe you get to know I had an accident.. Chachi tells you that I tripped on my lehenga, fell down the stairs and injured my spine. Kya tum fir bhi mujhse shaadi karte?"

"Of course? I don't get it.. What do you wanna ask?"

"Aur agar spinal cord mein itni grave injury hoti ki I would have gone paralyzed neck down? Tab to tum shaadi nahi karte na?"

Where was this leading to? Both the boys were baffled. Only Alya was beginning to understand. She looked on in absolute awe..so many emotions wreaking havoc in her system.

"What do you mean wapas chala jata?"

"I mean you would have waited for the injury to get better. Who marries a girl paralyzed neck down. You know what that means? That I would have been incapable to of doing anything...incapable of giving you pleasure or support...incapable of doing the things that a normal person takes for granted...and you can't marry such a person..no one can marry such a person. That's so impractical Manik... I can't ever push you into that kind of a life which I know has no hope of ever seeing a day.. A life of unending nights."

"Nandini I am not enjoying this discussion ok? I just lose it when you are down..even when its just a hypothetical situation... but anyways to answer you, I would have still married you and may be sooner than I had originally planned. I love you, I love everything about you but above all I love your soul...and I would have been right there sharing your smiles and tears with you.. I would have done anything.. Any damn thing to be by your side always." Somehow somewhere he lost track of all things around him, of the place and time, of his friends watching them. For a while everything faded out...everything except her innocent face.

She didn't say a word, she just looked into his eyes as her lips curled into a mischievous smile. And he immediately knew he had lost to her.

"Kuch nahi badla Manik... you are still the same guy.. Still the same person who can love me to death and I still can't breathe without you. Maine kabhi tumhare kapdon se, tumhare ghar se, tumhare wallet se pyaar nahi kiya.. I loved you... and I will continue to love you.. I know its not going to be easy.. Its going to be very challenging on so many different levels, I know because I have lived through those struggles all my life. I know at times we will lose it and snap at each other, I know we will fail before we succeed, but that doesn't change us..that doesn't change what I feel for you. It doesn't matter if you buy me a palace or we have to manage in a rented 1 bhk. It doesn't, just like it doesn't matter to you whether I am paralyzed or not. Good or bad is not always in our hands, kabhi kabhi lakh koshish karlo life screwed up ho hi jati hai..but ek dusre ke sath rehna to hamari choice hai na.. I just want to be with you in every phase of your life Manik. Three years ago I wanted to do the same...I couldn't. Please don't let that happen again..please trust me this time"

No one had anything to say because she had left no scope for any further discussion. Manik had to nod without any idea of how he was going to marry her without a dime in his pocket.

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"And would you care to tell me where exactly you are dragging me to?"

"We have lots to do, don't ask too many questions ok?"

Manik rolled his eyes at her.

"Waise Manik, yeh ring kitne ki hai and kahan se li tumne?"

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Batao na.."

"Its not that expensive, wo I got it with my first paycheck while working in Pune.. Around 2 lakhs..got it from Tanishq."

"wo na mujhe ring pasand nahi aayi.. Can we return it please?"

"You are telling me you didn't like my choice?? Cmmon Nandini, you gotta be kidding me."

"I mean I actually didn't like it.. Tum insist karte ho to I can keep it but I wanted thora different sa.."

"May be you can exchange it"

"yeah" and Nandini called for an auto.

"Why auto, I have my car na" He bit his lips as soon as he realized he didn't.

Nandini sensed his discomfort at once "Koi nahi Manik, you have taken me around enough in your car, its my turn to take you out in an auto and I swear, khuli hawa ka maza hi kuch aur hai.. Chalo". She dragged him with a smile as if she hadn't noticed the change of expression on his face. But inside, she knew there will be many such unwarranted moments strewn across their path and she woould have to make sure he didn't step on any of those broken shards. She would shine for him every single moment from now on.. She would show him, the weight of his trust.

Much to Manik's frustration she didn't like a single ring and that after two hours of checking every single piece within 2 lakhs. Finally she just returned it and walked out of the shop.

"Nandini that was so embarrassing man.. Don tell me ki tumhe ek bhi pasand nahi aya.. Matlab ring hi chahiye tha ya kuch aur."

"Ab what can I do if I don't like anything? Wedding ring hai.. Zabardasti thori hai." She dug her hands into her purse and fetched out the cash, parted it into half and stuffed it into Manik's hand. Lo, now this is your budget, isme se you make your arrangements and I will keep the rest. Ok? We will need it."

"So it wasn't about the ring Nandini? It was about the money.." he sighed. "That's why you didn't like any of them.."

She smiled. "Pata hai why women get jewelry when they marry? For security so that jab time acha na ho to they can sell it and use the money. Ring ka kya hai, wo to tum mujhe baad mein bhi de sakte ho and waise bhi u only say na ki I to look pretty everyday. we needed the money now and you have earned it so.."

"I don't know if I should curse my fate or thank it.. But even as a friend you make me proud Nandini. There's a lot I need to learn from you...wish I had met you earlier."

Song link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHSbYxwS1oI