Manan : Jeene Laga Hoon Pehle Se Zyaada by Crystal : Chapter 32
Link to Chapter 31: Here
The comments in Chapter 31 have been answered.. thanks for your support keep supporting..i am going to continue this ff just for my fans who are actually reading……. But a request to all my silent readers…. Please comment just to boost up the writers
As the story is ending i am getting the least response………… Sorry if i have not been able to live to all u ppl’s expectation..
Recap : Tournament Day
Let’s continue
(Kavya) “Hi Nandu, I am home!”
(Nandini) “Kavya! It’s you! What a surprise! Here I was thinking who was calling me Nandu.”
(Kavya) “Well, sorry I am not your love.”
(Nandini) “Hey, come on, momsis, you know I didn’t mean it.”
(Kavya) “I am glad you still call me that.” She hugged me.
(Nandini) “I still regard you as mom, though you are too young to be my mom. I just don’t want to call you that in front of all. So, momsis, what brings you here?”
(Kavya) “I would like to stay here for some days. Ravi has gone on a trip leaving me and children are at their grandfather’s”
(Nandini) “Huh? Aren’t you staying with Veer Dadaji and Cabir?” What! After all the buzzing and meetings, I thought I can rest for a few days.
(Kavya) “Yeah, but all of them are going for some work or the other. I want to be free from handling kids for some time. It’s boring to stay alone. Let me stay till your cousin comes
back. When will she be back?” Once she decides, there is no turning back for her. I have to let her stay here.
(Nandini) “After a week, I think.”
(kavya) “Really? It is good that I am staying with you. You have me for company. So where is your cute little niece?”
(Nandini) “She is sleeping, upstairs.” “It’s already nine.”
(Kavya) “Cut some slack. She is just five. Also, she was totally exhausted from yesterday. So, I am letting her sleep. She will come down after some time. Manik promised to take her to the zoo.”
(Nandini) “Ooh my, I came and interrupted your date.” Trying to tease me again! Did I ever tease her when she got married?
(Nandini) “I said Manik and Ruhi are going. I am not. I was planning to relax the whole day or more like sleep. It has been days since I had proper sleep.”
(Kavya) “Oh. He is playing the good guy who takes care of his fiancée’s relatives.”
(Nandini) She never listened to my plans. She listens to only what she wants. “Come on, Momsis. Will is not like that. He really likes kids. He plays with Rishabh also. Sometimes,
I don’t know who the kid is and who the adult is.” I kept making breakfast.
(Kavya) She was sipping her cup of coffee. She took out a cigarette to smoke. I glared at her and she put it back in. “Well, I wonder if he really loves you.”
(Nandini) “Oh! If he didn’t, then he wouldn’t have waited for me after I refused him about three times.” Oops! It slipped. I really don’t want to tell how I came to love him.
(kavya) “You never told me these things.”
(Nandini)”It is kind of embarrassing.” Especially, the part I was jealous.
(kavya)”So, did you start liking him after you rejected him all these times?”
(Nandini) “Momsis, I honestly wish you wouldn’t put it like that; it is not like that. I liked him, unconsciously. Somehow, my mind kept wracking itself to reason out that he is not the
man for me but I couldn’t fight it out.” She looked irritated for some reason. She never was an advocate for love marriage. I don’t think she would ever understand no matter what I tell her or how I felt.
(Kavya) “Fine. We will talk about this later. I will go and wake Ruhi up.”
She went up. I didn’t hear any sound from Ruhi. Guess, Kavya is used to children now. If I am correct, her eldest would be around six years. As Ruhi finished her breakfast, Manik burst in.
(Manik) “Nandu! I am here. Where is the little princess?”
(Kavya) “Oh! The king is here. There you go, Ruhi.” Kavya’s sarcasm has not toned down at over all these years. Ruhi ran over to him.
Then both of them had gone to visit the zoo. Kavya and I had gone for shopping.
When we reached back, we saw Manik and Ruhi had already reached. Then Ruhi was telling how much fun she had with Manik uncle. Nandini had given the keys to Ruhi to open
the door.
Then came the part that no one had expected.
She started instigating Manik saying that Nandini just fell in love because she sympathised with you because she had rejected you so many times. Manik kept quiet and didn’t say a word. She kept accusing saying that you are just acting of loving her relatives and nonsense. But he still kept quiet.
Then he just said one line and “I will always love her, I respect you and I don’t intend to hurt you Mrs.Kavya, so I think it’s better I leave”
On leaving, Nandini ran behind Manik “ I am sorry for what all Kavya has said. Please don’t get angry. I agree, I fell in love with your persistence but….”
Before I could complete Manik said “ So I pushed you into it, I am sorry, let me clear my head off. I will contact you once I clear off my head”
He just left and Nandini felt bad
Nandini continued to stay angry with Kavya. On the other side Manik was not talking to Nandini. Two days passed by and nothing good had hAppened on both sides.
Then on one fine day Kavya saw Manik.
(kavya) I picked up Lana from school and came back. Strangely, I saw Manik go inside next door.
Didn’t Nandu say he was out of town? I gave Ruhi some snacks and after she went out to play, I went next door. I tried the knob. The door opened.
(kavya spoke loudly) “What a careless man! The door is not locked.” I went in.
(Manik) “I don’t have to lock the door; especially when I am inside.”
(kavya) “Oh, Manik!” It startled me. He was standing right in front of me with crossed hands, staring at me. I must accept he is a handsome man. But handsome men are always a problem for normal looking girls like Nandu. His confident aura around him has changed somewhat, more like he was stupidly arrogant but now there is calm atmosphere around him. What did he do the past three days? Went and did penance in the mountains?
(Manik) “What pleasure do I have for your visit?” Strangely, unlike Nandu’s, his stare was not out of hatred. That day too, he didn’t show his anger in his face. Maybe, he isn’t what
Veer Dadaji said he would be. It is rare of him to make a mistake judging a person.
(Kavya) “Nandu said you were out of town.”
(Manik) “I returned yesterday evening.”
(Kavya asked him arrogantly) “Yet, you still haven’t met her.
(Manik) He sighed. He went in. “Why don’t you have a cup of coffee with me?” He motioned me to the living room. “I prefer Tea.”
He brought a cup of tea with some strawberry short cake. He served them and sat down to take his.
(Kavya) “It tastes good.”
(Manik) “Thanks.”
(kavya) Really, they taste good. I must buy them for Ruhi, Nandu and my children.”Where did you get them?”
(Manik) “I made them.” He made them!
(Kavya looked shocked) “Really? You are blessed with ability to cook. Nandu can cook better but if only she would widen her taste buds. It is really horrifying to see her mix all the tastes together and make it so bland considering I thought her how to cook. I really can’t change that child.”
(Manik) “True. Rishabh comes here to eat most of the time. So, we split the cooking job between us.”
(Kavya) Split up the cooking job? What and all were hAppening here without others’ knowledge? “Oh! What else do you know about her?”
(Manik shocked with her question) “Cough… Cough… What?” He seemed taken aback by the question.
(Kavya) “I meant what else have you been able to figure out about her?”
(Manik) “Why do you want me to tell you?”
(Kavya) I thought he would ask this. He still doesn’t wish to talk about her. Is he embarrassed or is he playing with her? “You can tell if you want. I might help you, if I think you are sincere.”
(Manik) “Setting aside the fact that you are the source for the argument we had lastly, I mean why bring this up between Nandu and I?”
(Kavya) I can’t tell him that I am here to test if he is a guy like what Dadaji told me he was; a selfish, arrogant, thinking about self, heading straight into things without thinking,
distrusts people and finally very bad at deciding people’s character. He doesn’t seem to be that sort of a fellow. Maybe, he has changed. “I just want to make sure that Nandu doesn’t take wrong decisions in life. She doesn’t have any close relatives. Her aunt and Uncle may seem close but she isn’t close to them. She never felt at ease with them. After her Dadaji died, she was depressed. It was then that Dadaji brought her home. At that time, I was there at home after fight with Ravi. I just couldn’t leave her alone. I decided that until she finds someone who can take care of her, understand her and support her, I will look after her. So if you care, you can tell me what you have been able to know about her.”
He looked relieved.
(Manik) “If you had told me about this earlier, none of this would have hAppened. I respect you as much as she respects you. That is why I never did speak rudely to you.”
(Kavya) “I could guess that much.” Yes, he didn’t speak rudely or frankly like Dadaji suggested. Well, he is easier to convince than Nandu. He places importance to what others intend to say. I wish he would not place too much of value to it.
(Manik) “Well, from the first I was attracted to her defiant and stubborn attitude. Though she seems harsh, she never says anything to hurt anyone. She is really sharp about business and merciless about it, but she is fragile and wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. I had a tough time bringing her out of her shell. She is cute when she gets jealous. She doesn’t hide her real feelings if she trusts the person. As much as she seems competent in work, she is clumsy with personal work. I arrange things back at her house as and when I go there. She is really inept when coming to maintaining the house. But when she starts to clean, somehow all the things that seem necessary when I clean are thrown out in an instant. She loves kids and plays with them but she gets sick of playing with them after sometime………………” He kept going on and on about her; it feels like he reads her like a book. He cleans the house for her! Here I was wondering who did it! It was like his emotions have crossed the point of adoration and love to obsession. Obsession is not necessarily a good sign! He is also talking about her negative points like a beautiful aspect to be adored.
(Kavya) “Ok ok, stop. I understand. I accept you love her.” He stopped.
(Manik) “Oh, sorry, I kept blabbering.” He looked disAppointed. It was like when a person is stopped in between when they are talking about their favourite topic.
(Kavya) “I can see you are very fond of her but Mr.Malhotra,”
(Manik) “Call me Manik”
(Kavya) “Ok, Manik, sometimes these small things about her that cAptivate you now, might become a nuisance later. Ravi and I were not in love when we married. We fought a lot.
At one point, we even thought of divorce but after that, we understood that someone has to compromise for the other and started understanding each other better as the time went.
Unlike Ravi or me, Nandu is very stubborn in many aspects and won’t amend her principles. You need to adjust. Now, you might feel like doing so but as time goes, you will start
feeling sick of it. Do you understand, Manik?”
(Manik) “Yes. So what do you want me to do?”
(kavya) “Nothing.”
(Manik) “Nothing?”
(Kavya) He looked stupefied. He was expecting me to answer him! Sorry brother, but you need to figure it out on your own. Otherwise, the whole thought process has no meaning to
it. “Yes, nothing. You need to think reconsider your feelings and actions. Leaving that aside, why did you lie to her that you were going out of town?”
(Manik) “Hey, I did go. It was just a minor problem.”
(Kavya) “Ah, yes, I wanted to ask you before, do you really love her? You weren’t jealous of any of the guys in our gang?” But even if he was jealous, restricting her not to see them would be sign of obsession. If that is the case, all the more, Nandu shouldn’t marry him.
(Manik) “I was, at first. Especially of Sagar, being very close to her but I realised all of you are important to her. I should respect her freedom and her choice. I just cannot close her off the world, can I? Sometimes, I do wish to lock her off and not show her to people but I feel it would make me hAppier to show her off as my wife and that she is best in the world.”
He smiled brightly like a fool who is hAppy he got what he wanted. He places her first before his own wishes. Maybe, he isn’t all that bad. As long as he can accommodate for Nandu, there is no necessity for him to do the same for others. I never took into account of that.
(Manik continued) “But sometimes I do get very jealous and if I have a problem, I simply tell her. Isn’t that the best solution?”
(Kavya) I looked at him with absolute shock. I couldn’t believe this guy is so perceptive. “Ha ha ha ha ha. Oh my god!” I couldn’t stop laughing. I cannot believe a guy will be so frank with his girl. I hope he doesn’t change for worse from what he is now.
(Manik) “What? What is wrong?”
(Kavya) “You win, Manik. I Approve you. Dadaji had a doubt what kind of a guy you were from when he last spoke to you but I think you have changed from then.
(Manik) “Yes. I realised that he was right about some things. I didn’t notice till I saw it with my own eyes. Instead of disAppointment, I felt the urge to protect her.”
(Kavya) “But, urge to protect her also occurs for a guy who sees the girl as his sister,” He motioned me to stop.
(Manik) “Stop there. I understand what you are getting at. Nandu had that issue whether to accept me as a brother or lover but for me clearly from the start I wanted her as my lover;
I desire her and only her. I cannot say it more explicitly than this to you.” The way he said it, made me blush. He is open or more carnal about his love than refined. It took some time for me compose myself.
(Kavya) “I see. If you are interested in knowing what Nandu thinks about this mess, why don’t you come tonight?”
(Manik) “I don’t get you.”
(Kavya) “You will, when you see today. You can go into her house, unnoticed, right?”
(Manik)“Yes, if no one enters the art room.”
(Kavya)“Very well, thank you for the Tea and cake. If you are free, come tonight and wait. Have a nice evening, Manik.”
(Manik)“Have a nice evening and please don’t tell Nandu that I am at home yet.”
(Kavya) I waved to him as I went back. I guess, like Cabir said, he isn’t all that bad of a guy.
Precap: Nandu’s feeling for Manik and Last episode along with a small epilogue