Part-16.
Who likes Tangled??
Or Rapunzel and Flynn Rider??

Just answer these questions before proceeding to read the story.

How do you find the story until now?? Is it boring or interesting, funny??

And I went through the previous chapters and found that they are really long. Each chapter has an average of 2000-3000 words. Are you guys okay with that or should I decrease the length??

And last question, How is the vocabulary in the story?? Should I improve my English writing skills a bit more??

Do vote and comment a lot people.
I promise that if you give the nicest comments and lots of votes the next update will be by 20th September.
Long Chapter ahead.
#3785# words.

Manik's POV:
"You both got to be crazy!!" these are the only words which came out of Alya's mouth as soon as she came to know about Mine and Chipmunk's reason behind getting married.

Well Alya being shocked is something right on her part too. Marriage is really a big thing and here we are lying about it and cheating our parents. But we have no other way also.

Alya stared intently at me and Chipmunk to absorb what we actually said. And then she closed her eyes and took few deep breaths. She was angry. Really really angry.

"Manik bhaag ja tujhe aapne aap ko ek chalti phirti volcano se bachaana hain to" my inner monkey said to me. Well Alya is not exactly the best when she is angry. And I so want to vanish from here and hide in my closet.

"As if you will fit in the closet" my inner monkey comments. Is it really necessary for him to open his mouth at this moment too??

Writerji please kahi door bech do iss donkey ko.

I was so busy in my inner conversation that I didn't notice Alya speaking again.

"So are you guys really serious about doing this??" she asked.

I and Chipmunk had no words to say so we just nodded our heads so excessively that even Noddy of POGO channel must be ashamed of himself.

Not finding the right answers from us Alya spoke to Chipmunk now her voice much more stern then before.
"Nandini I know that Manik can be immature almost all the times. But couldn't you think about the problem with a different view. Atleast you could have said No for the idea of fake marriage when he proposed it".

Well it was not me who proposed the idea though. It was Chipmunk's idea.

"It was not his idea, it was my idea" Chipmunk said honestly.

To which Alya laughed a bit sarcastically and said "Now I really want to question your sanity Nandini, which girl just proposes for a fake marriage just for a Store??"

Alya really looses all her control while she is mad. But she doesn't has the right to speak to Chipmunk in such a rude manner.

"Alya stop speaking to he-" I raise my voice to control Alya but I am stopped in the middle since Chipmunk holds my hand as to stop me and then starts speaking.

"An average of 6000 employees and their million dollar smiles. I have to protect those smiles. My sanity teaches me to do so. A legacy of 25 years which is all due to the hard work of my ancestors. I have to continue it, my sanity reminds me that. Marriage should be done only between the individuals who love each other. My sanity tells me so. My sanity always taught me to keep my responsibilities before my choices as a girl. It taught me to trust truth more than rules of society. And the truth is Cabir and Navya love each other. And my responsibility is protecting my store from crumpling. My sanity always made me move in the right path. So I don't think you have to question it." By the end of her mini speech, I and Alya were dumbfounded. Chipmunk  does things only when she is definitely sure about her judgement.

Alya blinked her eyes twice to thrice to let the words soak into her brain. And after 4-5 minutes she spoke.
"I am sorry Nandini. I really am sorry. I shouldn't have blabbered something unnecessary with out knowing the entire scenario"

"Well being with someone like Manik from your childhood will definitely have the side effects too. I don't blame you for your impulsiveness. And Manik's dumb company effected you which made the wiring in your brain a little loose" Chipmunk said winking at Alya and both the ladies started laughing loudly. They embraced each other in a hug.

Even though I am happy that Alya understood our point , I was offended when Chipmunk said that I am dumb.

"It's not necessary that she points out my dumbness" I said to the inner monkey in me pouting. "Well she just pointed out the obvious. You eat stupid pills everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner." It said smirking at me and adjusting the Gucci brand goggles on the bridge of it's nose.

Who wears goggles at such time of night??
Huh, Showoff!!!

I pull those goggles away from his face and throw it somewhere. "Now search for them " I say to him and show my tongue to him. He makes a crying face at me and runs to search his 'branded goggles'.

The ladies have a small talk and then we retire to the rooms given to us.

As I enter my room I find the bathroom door closed and hear the horrible voice of Cabir Bhai singing. I chuckle at him and go near the bed and lie down on it. Closing my eyes I give a quick recap to whatever happened today. Today was like a roller coaster ride. Our parents got to know about our love story, the Pooja, challenge with Chipmunk, and a surprise party. It was entirely memorable. But suddenly Pari's words bring back a bitter memory into my brain.

That day was really the most scary and unluckiest day for me until now.

Locked in the darkness and my mom being unconscious leaving me all alone was really worse.

Dad wasn't there for me at that time. I was hungry and thirsty. Crying and shouting for help but none came.

My entire body turns cold and I start sweating a lot. I get from the bed and sit on it.

Forget those bad memories Manik. Let them go. You are strong. You are brave.

I find the bathroom door open and Cabir Bhai comes out of it wiping his hair with a towel indicating that he took a shower and he was dressed in a T-SHIRT and track which was borrowed from Dhruv.

He walks towards the bed and sits on it still wiping his wet hair. I move closer to him and lay my head on his shoulder and wrap my arms around his torso hugging him tightly. I am really scared of that day. It haunts me until now.

Cabir bhai groans a little as my entire weight was on his body. And then speaks " You weigh more than an elephant!! Get up from me Manik. Abe  ut  nahi toh  dekhne waale sochenge ki we both are a couple and we are celebrating the  amendment of section 377" . I ignore his words and just continue to hug him.

He understands that something is wrong with me and then asks" Manik tujhe phir uss day ke baare mein soch kar dar lag raha hein??". Cabir Bhai is really fast in identifying these kinds of things. Not really wanting to tell him that I am indeed scared, I just release him from the hug and speak "Woh bahut din hogaye aur maine aapko hug Nahi kiya issi liye...." and a goofy grin plays on my lips.

He just looks at me from top to bottom and then raises his eyebrow and asks "So you are really ok and not scared at all??"

I just bob my head side to side to tell him that I am not scared as I was unable to speak. He nods his head in an understanding manner and then says "Get out of the room then."

"What ?? Mein kyu room se bahar jau aur jau toh kaha jau??" I ask him shocked.

"Nandini ke pass jaa. Mujhe Navya ke saath time spend karna hain. So tu Nandini ke pass ja aur Navya idher aayegi. " He says as if that's the simplest task.

I would rather sleep in my closet than sharing a room with Chipmunk.

"I am saying again you don't fit in your closet Manik" my inner monkey says adjusting his half- broken goggles.

Ohhh.
He came back after searching for his goggles. I could have thrown those goggles much more farther so that he could never return. Anyways atleast they are damaged that's ok for me.

"Bhai but Nandini ke saath room share karna....." I say

"We are adults Manik and we are going to get married soon. So there's nothing wrong in sharing a room as long as we don't cross our limits." Bhai said with a pleading face. He really wants to spend some time with Navya.

I just move out of the room and walk towards Chipmunk's room unable to say a no to Bhai.

Nandini's POV:

Wiping my face with the towel, I come out of the bathroom and look around the room finding Navya. Where did this girl go?

Upon not finding her anywhere in the room I decide to let go of the thought of seeing for her. I already changed into the night dress Pari gave me. Our measurements were almost same so I didn't had any problem wearing it.

I lie down down on the bed thinking about the time I spent with Ostrich's friends. Unlike him, his friends are really sweet and witty. I liked the bonding between them. The funny dares they gave each other were really cute.

I find a message notification in my phone and it was from Eenie Meanie. Don't get confused people I saved Navya's contact with that name.😜😁
   
           10th August, Friday.

Eenie Meanie:
Sorry for this di but  today I am going to spend some time with my Cabirji. So I will be in his room. And I promise to not do any naughty things. 😜😜😘😘😁😁

I facepalm myself. Navya can really be pain in the ass sometimes. But it's ok since I trust her and I know that she knows her limits.

But where will Ostrich sleep than???

My thoughts are interuppted with a knock on the door.

And I open the door to only find Ostrich standing there with a strained expression on his handsome face.

What the heck is he doing here ???
Don't say me he will be sharing the room tonight with me.

"What are you doing here ??" I ask him.

"Cabir bhai and Navya are in that room so I am here". He replied.

I shut the door closed on his face and lean to the other side of door. My face turning red bit by bit.

"Beti mann mein laddoo phoota?? Naya Cadbury dairy milk shots. Chocolate aur doodh ke laddoo."
My inner dj says to me with a teasing grin on her face. Is she that jobless that she always finds tracks to embarrass me??

Making a normal face I open the door and ask him "So?? Why are you here??"

"Well I will be sleeping here tonight" he says with a confused expression.

I close the door again on his face and lean on to the door.

"Beti mann mein doosra laddoo phooto?? Naya Cadbury dairy milk shots. 2 Rupay mein 2 laddoo. Kuch meeta hojaye" she says again and starts laughing uncontrollably on my situation.

Well I am very good at multitasking you see. So that's why I listen, understand and ignore it's petty jokes at the same time.

Now I open the door and tell him to come inside.

"I thought I will be standing outside the whole night" he comments  at which I roll my eyes.

"Be happy that I allowed you inside the room" I say to him and move towards the the bed. He keeps his pillow on the floor and lies down on it, covering himself with a duvet. I thought he will make a fuss over sharing the bed but how come he is so silent now??

I atleast expected some shameless flirting from his side. Something is definitely wrong with him.

Ignoring all my thoughts, I put on my ear plugs and start listening to music. But my attention diverts to Ostrich who is very silently sleeping with his knees pulled closer to his body and duvet over his face.

Did his mouth found way to silent mode and is it using that feature after these many days???

Bothered by his silence, I get down from the bed and walk towards him. I pull duvet a little bit harshly from his hold and stare at him who glares back at me because I disturbed his 'Mounvrath'.

I place my hands on the either side of my hips and try to act a bit intimidating. "Entertain me, I am not feeling sleepy at all" I say to him. He continues glaring at me and says "Do I look like a Clown to you ??"

To which I grin and say "Well your image is saved on the name 'Clown' in Google. So entertain me".

He takes a deep breath and says "I get the fact that you are high right now Nandini Murthy but please stop disturbing me and let me sleep" and gets back to sleep.

Wait!!!
He didn't even call me with the name "Chipmunk". It's not like I love it when he calls me so but I am habituated to him calling me that name. And now he is not calling me that tells that he definitely lost his brain. But don't worry people I will help him finding it.

How??
Wait and Watch.
Ever heard of "Tit for Tat"??
I am going do the same now.

I pull the duvet again and smile at him.

"I am asking you for the last time nicely. Entertain me or else I will tell Neyonika Saasuma that his son didn't even bother to take care of me when I am bored to heck."I say pouting.

"Arhh" he groans.
"Fine. I played with you before and now you are repeating the same"

He gets up,walks towards the bed and settles himself there. Grinning to myself I also do the same.

"So you want me to entertain you??" he asks patiently.

I bob my head up and down excitedly.

"Well then just listen to me without asking any questions."he says.

"Okay" I say hesitantly.

"Follow me"  he says moving outside the room.

"Are we going out some where ??" I ask him.
"Terrace" he replied back.

I grab the bed sheets since we both may feel cold  and follow him.

He walks into the kitchen of the restaurant and moves towards the fridge. It's only  possible for Manik Malhotra to think about food at this time of night also. He grabs two cans of beer and passes one to me. I nod in a no and then he asks me to pick some other drinks. My eyes pause at the bottles of chocolate milkshake and I greedily pick 4 bottles of them. Ostrich looks at me and laughs.

"Well these are the payment for the brownies you ate" I say to him and smile. He smiles back and moves towards the staircase outside the kitchen.

"Don't say to bhai that I am drinking beer" he says to me.

"Well deal then. You don't say to Navya that I drank chocolate milkshake and I will not say Cabir that you drank beer" I say smirking to him.

He raises his eyebrow and asks "Why shouldn't I say Navya that you drank these?" he asks eyeing at the bottles.

For which I make a sad face and say "Mom and Navya are fitness freaks so they are almost away from these kinds of sugary drinks and they even force me to maintain a diet, join a gym blah blah. Which I am to lazy to do so if Navya knows that I am drinking these kinds of sugary drinks she will definitely freak out and will start shouting at me." I explained my sad story to him.

Laughing at me loudly he climbs up the stairs. Well I never noticed but he really has a contagious laugh which even makes me laugh.

And after sometime I find myself sitting along with Ostrich under dark blue blanket of midnight sky filled with billions of stars. The terrace had a really pleasant atmosphere since it was something similar to roof garden.

(Imagine the terrace to be something similar to this with the seating space)

"So, what should we do now??" I ask Ostrich as I was really eager to know his further plans.

"Well, if I was with Arya or Dhruv the only thing we would do right now for entertainment is prank calling people. But since it's you let's not do that. Hmm let's just talk and get to know each other" he proposes with a genuine interest.

I nod in agreement and start the conversation.  "Thanks for today I really liked meeting all of your friends they are really cool  unlike you" I say teasing him a bit.

"Not exactly I guess. Alya was not exactly at her best behaviour with you though." He says.

"It's ok. She is your friend and she cares for you so she has the rights to atleast know what's going on in your life." I tell him.

He observes me carefully and asks "I noticed one thing from the start you don't exactly have lots of friends do you??"

I chuckle and say "Hmm. I don't have many friends. The only proper friends I had until now are Abhi, my PA and Cabir other than these guys every one where just formal friends"

He nods his head and then squeals "Wait a second you were glasses??"

I nod at him. He realised it very soon.
"Your eyes are really sharp, I didn't knew you would notice them this quickly" I say sarcastically adjusting my glasses.

"Well I didn't notice you that much. Why do you were them for fashion sense??" he asks

"No way I would never wear them only for fashion. You know during my childhood and until now visiting the doctor for a sight checkup is my greatest fear" I say wincing.

He laughs again and asks" Why so??"

"Why so?? you will never understand the problem I faced Mister. You know everytime I went for a sight checkup the doctor would complain to Mom how I am not taking veggies in my diet. And Chachi would make Carrot soup, Carrot icecream and all the other yucky things filled with Carrots to eat" I say to him.

"Hmm. Someone had a tough childhood then" he comments. I just nodded in return.

"What about you?" I ask him.

He laughs and says "Well there's nothing much about me. I am the happy go lucky guy with no problems at all atleast according to my friends who loves dancing and singing."

Listening to his description I actually understood that he is not really what he portrays himself as. He also has his own share of problems.

"Dancing and Singing not really my cup of tea" I say.

He just looks at me without blinking eyes.

"Well don't give those looks. You know I can't even dance or sing properly even if someone promises to give a million dollars in return." I explain myself.

"So what are your hobbies other than signing deals?" He asks me.

"Well, I like writing a lot. I do write few one line poems whenever I find leisure time." I say.

"I am huge fan of Marvel comics and Avengers" he blurts out randomly staring at the night sky.

I look at him all excited and say "Well then we have a common point then. Even I am huge fan of Avengers."

"Groot is the cutest in all of them" we both end up saying the same at the same time.

"I hate shopping to the core" I say to him.

"Well but you love punching random guys in trial room" he says pointing out our first meet.

"And you love pulling the hands of random girls into the trial room" I argue back.

And then we both look at eachother and start laughing until our stomach starts paining remembering my punch and all.

"The craziest thing I have ever done was asking my teacher out for a date" he says grinning.

"You and your Cabir bhai are really perverts." I exclaimed.

Not understanding my point he makes a confused face.

"When we were in college Cabir was such adamant on finding a girlfriend that he even asked a minor girl out for a date." I explain.

"Cabir bhai did that?" He asked astonished and starts laughing again.

I nod and then say " The weirdest thing I ever did was watching 50 shades of grey fast forwarding all the R-rated scenes".

"You are definitely one of a kind then" he says. 

"I only watched that movie for those scenes " he continues.

This guy is really shameless. To stop him from further speaking I hit him on his shoulder. And that was the first time my soft palm came in contact with  taut muscles on his shoulders. And I will be definitely lying if I say that I didn't feel anything tingling. Bonus point is he is wearing a sleeveless T-shirt.

"And 'The Pervert of the Year ' award goes to Nandini Murthy. Ladies and gentlemen Nandini Murthy is the perfect example for a perverted decent looking girl." My inner DJ says giving me an accusing glance.

I just wink back at it. I am girl so it's natural for me to have these kinds of feelings while dealing with guys!!!!

I just give a foolish smile to Ostrich and then say "I get irritated by the people who eat Samosa with tomato ketchup spoiling it's entire taste and we definitely are very much different from eachother" , I end up yawning  and I find myself drifting into sleep slowly when I listen to Ostrich saying "We are not entirely different  Chipmunk. Even I get irritated by the people who eat Samosa with ketchup".

                 ********************

~2 AM is really the best time. It brings out the real us~