Manik's POV:

I was in a deep sleep when someone was poking me on my shoulder trying to bring me out of me sleep.

"Manik utho " I hear a familiar voice . Why do people decide to disturb me when I decided to sleep as Nandini will never come out of the cabin and I need to just rot hear for some 100 years without food and water and photosynthesis. HUH? PHOTOSYNTHESIS ? Isn't that for green plants?

"Manik utho kitna sooge ??" I hear that voice again. I open my eyes to see a female figure standing in front of me. I open and close my eyes again and again so that I could adjust them to the light properly. I see Nandini standing in front of me. Wait did 100 years already pass ? Did I die due to lack of water and food? Did Nandini also die due to oldage and are we here meeting again after death also? Am I in hell or heaven ?

"Am I in hell or heaven?" I ask her I think I am in heaven because I definitely was not a bastard. Nandini just rolls her eyes and answers "You are on earth Manik" wait that means I didn't die . That means I will get food, water, photosynthesis. Oops sorry photosynthesis is for plants right!

Then I observe Nandini she was dressed in a sleeveless cotton kurti and her long hair was plaited in a French braid giving her a girl next door look. Her face looked tired with all the work but yet beautiful. Nandini didn't have those looks which would dazzle anyone as the bright sunlight of mornings her beauty was something like moon-light which added serenity to the dark night. The look on her face now is as gentle as the wind which blew during the evenings of spring. She entirely is not a great beauty but she has a charm of her own. Her chubby cheeks make her look much younger than her actual age. She has a mole on the right collar bone which gave her a sexy look. Wait !!What?? Sexy ??!! Here I am to apologise her but instead of apologising I am checking her out. I am really shameless!!

"Done checking me out?? " she asks with an irritated look on her face. I fluster as I am caught red- handed. "I was not staring at you" I answer knowing it is waste. "Whatever" she replies and then asks" What are you doing here?" I am here to say sorry for being an ass I wanted to say. But No not possible my mouth starts malfunctioning whenever I am in serious conversations.

"Couldn't you see I was sleeping on this not so comfortable couch?" I answer her. She inhales and curses inwardly. "Why are you here?" she questions me. "Now don't say that you are here to check the quality of couches here." she mocks. I was going to say that actually. " Well you see the temperatures outside are so high I felt that I will melt like candle wax if I don't find an air-conditioned room and the AC's here work very nicely so I decided to take a nap." I answer stupidly. I am not able to gather myself to apologise her at all. "Why do I even think that we both can have a civil conversation?" she mutters and leaves. I follow her running behind her.

Her back profile is not so bad I think to myself as I follow her. Suddenly she stops and turns around. "You move first" she tells me. I do as she says and then she walks behind me.

We both get into the lift together and the lift doors close. Unconsciously I whistle the tune of 'hum tum ek kamre mein band ho' and chipmunk glares at me. "Can't you behave properly at all?" she asks me. " I have the freedom to whistle any tune I like." I say smiling to myself. Irritating her is so entertaining. She takes a deep sigh and then asks "Don't you think that you have few words to say to me" . "And what are those words??" I ask her playing dumb. She looks so cute when she is irritated. She groans and then says " Words which began with S and end with Y" wait did I say out loud that she looks sexy?? .

The lifts stops at the ground floor and the doors open we both get out together. " Just because I was staring at you doesn't mean that I think that you look sexy. You actually look like a high school teenager. So I will never say that you look sexy." I said her. And then her face turns red. She shakes her head a little and says " You know what I never wanted to say these words but you are an asshole! I just hoped somewhere we can talk properly without fighting but you are making it impossible. I am done with you." Shit! I am a pervert here she was telling about a sorry and I messed it up.

"Nandini yaar wait I am sorry OK. I really am." I say running behind her.

"Kaka aap jaayiye mai ghar chali jaungi " she says to her car driver and starts walking on the road. I check my watch to see the time it was 10.00 at night and here she wants to walk alone . Is she mad??

I follow her running behind her ."Nandini it's freaking late and you should not go alone!" I tell her . "Stop following me!" she shouts at me and starts walking again her pace much faster than before. "Nandini yaar ruko!" I say to her . Ahh!! Why is she so stubborn?? I run towards my bike and climb on it. I start it and drive towards the direction she went. I don't find her anywhere. Where is she ??

"Stay away from me you bastard or else I will hit you with my stiletto." I hear Nandini's voice . As I move forward I see a drunken man who was close to Nandini much to my liking. "Oh come on let us spend our night in a room together." he tries to hold her hand as she tries to push him away. I get down from my bike and run towards them. "How about you spending a night in the locker with mosquitoes? " I ask him standing between him and Nandini separating them. I pull Nandini towards to my body . The drunkard runs away seeing me. Then I turn towards Nandini and glare at her. "That's why I said not to go alone woh kuch karta toh ?" I scold her . "Stop scolding me I am not a baby. " she says. And then frees her hand from my hold and starts walking ahead on the pavement. I follow her maintaining some distance between us. And No I am not checking out her back profile. Honestly.

"I am sorry for yesterday. " I say her. She lowers her pace but continues walking. She is really a tough nut to crack.

The wind was blowing gently and the trees on the road were swaying to the tunes of the wind. The night sky was bright with stars and the crescent moon. The atmosphere was totally pleasant and it felt good walking behind chipmunk listening to the whispers of crickets.

I am so hungry that I want to eat the freshly baked muffins which are in the box. But I am just controlling myself so that I can give those to her. Chipmunk who was walking continuously stops suddenly which resulted in me getting collided with her leading her to lose her balance . Her face would kiss the ground if my hold on her wasn't tight.

I was holding her with my hands wrapped around her waist and our position almost similar to a back hug. She barely reached to my chin and her frame was so perfectly hidden by mine. And it felt nice to have her this close to me with her warmth seeping into my body. "Careful" I say her my tone gentle with concern. She tries to loosen my hold on her but I in turn tighten it much more. "I am really sorry and I mean it. I know that I behaved like an ass yesterday but it was all due to my temper. I can't control my anger at all when I see someone close to me in danger. When you warned me yesterday I somewhere knew that you will never do such things but seeing Alya there with you I just lost it. But I am really sorry. Alya said that she will even punch me if you will not forgive me. I even bought your favourite chocochip muffins. I was so hungry but I didn't even eat a bite from them. Yaar manlona I don't like the angry version of you ." I rambled all the thoughts in my head. She tried to loosen my hold on her. I gently released her from my hold. Who knows I might get a 7th punch instead of forgiveness if I cling onto her like this? I move away from her maintaining a comfortable space between us.

Chipmunk turns behind and looks at me shockingly. Her cheeks were painted with red tint. She shakes her head a little as if getting herself out of some another world and again starts walking turning behind.

I follow her now walking side wards to her. "Yaar ab toh manlo na and speak something. Should I get a tattoo on my forehead stating 'I am an asshole' to make you speak " I say air-quoting the asshole part. She just chuckles and smiles. At least she smiled.

"Even I am sorry from my part. I know whatever the case was it wasn't correct on my part to make us a couple without your knowledge or to bring your friends in the middle. Even I was at the fault here." she says looking at me the look on her face states that she is sincere.

"But whatever it was you didn't had the right to judge me and accuse me of something I didn't do even Abhi felt the same that's why as a punishment he made you wait. But I was not even informed about your arrival so I wasn't the one wrong there." she explains herself.

"It's okay I deserved it for slapping you yesterday but can we please stop our sorry session here and search for a place where we can find food? I am famished." I say her. I don't mind turning into a zombie and eating her if I wasn't given food for some more time. "Oh yes surely I know a small Café here which is open at this time it's a 5 minute walk away let us go there" she suggested .

As she said the place was only at a little distance so we reach there and enter the Café. The Café is not as big as Dhruv's Café but it is warm and cosy. I don't but I feel the entire atmosphere turning a little bit romantic?? I just shake those thoughts out of my brain.

We both settle in a corner near to the window. The waiter comes and takes our order since it is night time there are limited food items available. I order for a veg sandwich and some fruit juice while Nandini orders a coffee. Who drinks a coffee at night that too before sleeping?

We settle in silence when the waiter comes with our food. "So what do you think about our love story? " I ask chipmunk taking a bite from my sandwich while she was sipping her coffee.

"Love story ?" she asked frowning a little indicating that she is confused.

"Well since you already said that we are deeply in love from 6 months so we should even have a love story behind it shouldn't we?"

"Wait that means you are ok with the plan"

"I am. I love Cabir bhai a lot and I can't be that selfish too."

"Well actually I thought about it and I felt that there is no need for us to get married also like we thought before."

"And why is that?"

"I think there will be a span of atleast six months between our wedding and engagement so, after getting engaged let us play that we broke up and are not ready to marry each other and the elders will just get Cavya married to each other since in 6 months they have chances of falling in love."

"Well this is perfect but do you think that the elders will listen to us?"

"They will. How can they force us to get married when we are busy nursing our broken hearts?"

"That means I need to tolerate you for just six months." I say jokingly

"Oh!! yes Malhotra that means I need to tolerate you for just six months."

"Eat this" I say passing to her my plate in which there was another sandwich.

She just looks at me confused "I saw that you didn't even come out during lunch time to have some food. So eat this. Sharing is Caring you see and I don't want my girl friend to faint" . I also pass her the box of muffins .

"Thank you." she says and takes a sandwich from my plate. Then she opens the lid of the muffin box and forwards it towards me. "Sharing is caring dear boy friend " she says.

After our meal of sandwiches and muffins we both get to leave the place after paying the bill.

"Aap Manik Malhotra hai naa the head of famous boy band?" the waiter who was a teenage guy asks us before leaving. I just nod my head. "Can I get a selfie ?" he asks again. I happily accept his request and we pose for a selfie. "Nandini don't be shy you know even you can get a selfie with me which you can save as your cell phoned wall paper and kiss it whenever you are stressed!!" I say her as she was staring at us intently. " No thanks I would love your presence in live instead of virtual one so that I can punch you whenever you know I am stressed" she answers rolling her eyes at me.

"Why do you flirt so much?" she asks me when we come out of the Café .

"It's good for my health." I answer her.

"It's gross. " she replies back.

We walk further when Nandini steps on a stone accidently and slips. I hold her again from slipping and my hands are again on her waist.

"Are you really this clumsy or you act clumsy to look cute?" I ask her.

"Are you really this stupid or you act stupid to look like a fool? " she retorts back. Loh bhai ho gayi beizzati and here I thought I could flirt with her. In the 206 bones she has a romantic bone that is absent.

"Sab baato ki insults or uspe interest se chukana tumhara kaam hai kya " I ask freeing her from my hold.

After walking for sometime we reach the place where I left my bike.

"Mai kisi ka ehsaan nahi rakti hu." she replies back. Then she starts looking around the road as if inspecting the road.

"You are searching for something??"

"No, I feel another presence here other than both of us".

"Now don't say me that there is a serial killer behind us trying to kill us by hiding here. There is no one here Nandini stop imagining things". I say to her to which she nods her head reluctantly.

I climb on my bike and start it. "Manik thanks for the day. I hope we could act little civil towards each other after today." she says.

"Let's hope for the best and now get on my bike."

"No it's okay. I will take a cab"

"Aur mai kya rangoli banau idhar baithke?"

"Huh?"

"Nandini your cab will obviously take some time to come and I don't have the patience to wait and don't say me that you will wait alone since I am not leaving you here alone after what happened some time back."

"But Manik!" and then she went into thoughts .

"It's okay take your time to think you know there are lot speed breakers ahead and who knows I might intentionally not drive properly so that I could take advantage of you."

"Manik!!??"

"If you are thinking like that then no Nandini I am not so perverted you know I will drop you near your house safely. I am a good boy."

She just chuckles and climbs on my bike.

And the day ended with me dropping Nandini in her house after our 'Not so Date wali Date'.

But little did we know that there will be another hurdle waiting for us at our doorsteps wrapped in a bright red coloured satin cloth.

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*Trust the magic of new beginnings*