After dinner , manik was no where to be seen, probably busy with his bunch of brother-in-laws. I entered my room to change for sleep, but i jumped in fright when i was caught from behind and turned around , only to find it was manik. I hugged him tight and sighed in relief "shit!! Manik, you scared me!!" he laughed "but i liked it"

"you like scaring me?"

"no, the hug, tight and cosy one"

He spoke dramatically, showing how cosy it was! I slapped his shoulder.
"where were you since dinner?"

"you know i have got a bunch ful of brother-in-laws, so..." he deliberately trailed off and traced his finger on my face "leave all that...not important, lets do what is important" he spoke stroking my lips with his thumb. My brain ticked me "don't serve him everything on the platter nandini, let him make efforts, you shouldn't be easy" and with this evil idea, i pushed him just as our lips brushed against each other ,and i ran away from him. I saw , his expression, it took him a moment to comprehend what-just-happened? Then he saw me smiling mischievously when i spoke "not so easily manik" a smirk adored his face " oh really wifey?? You wanna play with me? Ok..." and he ran after me. We were running like tom and jerry in the room, but i saw , i would get caught in the room , so i ran outside after showing him my tongue. He followed me outside, complaining "this is not fair nandini, you should have stayed in the room" I shouted back "everything is fair in love and war , manik...and this is definitely not war" he smiled while running , we were now running down the stairs. My family sitting in the living room, tried to understand what was happening, but we didn't stop to explain them, although manik slowed down his pace, clearly embarrassed in front of his in-laws, and gave me a once-i-catch-you-you-will-regret look" but i didn't stop.

"nandini stop, its ok, i accept defeat" he raised his both hands . and finally our chase ended. I was shot with questions now

Amma: kyu daur rahe the tum dono?

Amms: kanna , you are a married woman now, behave like one.

Chachi: arey par btao toh chuhe-billi ki tarah kyu bhag rahe the.

I was embarrassed now . what should i tell them? Manik spoke on my behalf " kuch ni amma, chachi...nandini ne mujhe challenge kiya tha ki wo mujhse jyada fast daur sakti hai, toh bas wahi test kar raha tha main" when he finished , he gave me you-owe-me-one-for-this look. I smiled to myself realising how easily we could talk even in gestures, without a word being spoken.

We sat with the elders and younger clan hovered over manik. He had really become their favourite. Amms informed that she , chachi ,chacha and rishabh , will leave for mangalore tomorrow and asked us to visit too, whenever possible.

Manik agreed happily, assuring them. After a while everyone left for their room , so did we.

As we entered our room, manik tried to get what he was looking for, from me, but was interrupted by a conference call from cabir-dhruv-alia. I cashed the opportunity and moved out of his hold and went in the washroom to change.
I came out of the washroom wearing pajama and spaghetti strap top. Manik was still on the phone. I took off my accessories and placed on the dresser, killing time till manik got free. I was combing my hair when suddenly , i was swept off the floor, startled , i caught hold of him, firmly.

"manik, is it necessary to always scare me?"

"i gave you the reason before, moreover enough of this hide-and-seek, i will take what i want" he spoke while placing me on the bed. I blushed as there was no escape this time which he made sure , wasn't , by caging me on all sides and hovering over me. I tried a trick again. I tickled him moving my fingers over his abdomen area , but to my utter surprise, he didn't feel ticklish. I gaped at him while he smirked "done with all your tricks sweetheart?"

"you don't feel ticklish??"

"nope"

"ok then let me test again" i spoke naughtily and tickled him near his armpit, this time he rolled off me, trying to move my hands away and when he failed to stop me, he started tickling me in return and i started laughing hysterically barely able to say "aah manik...stop..stop..ok...fine..i wont do again" my laughter echoed in the room. Soon, i got breathless and he stopped.
"you will try this trick again , wifey??"
I rolled my eyes. "i will think"

He was on his elbows in a quick move while i lay on my back flat on the bed and he spoke in a husky voice cupping my cheek with one hand "i love you"
"i love you too" was my instant reply and he slowly closed the gap between our lips for a passionate kiss, in between the kiss i came on top of him taking charge of the kiss and he didn't protest. It turned out to be a long kiss and once breathless, i broke the kiss, but buried my face in the crook of his neck, whole of my body weight on him, while he weaved his arm securely around my back. After catching up my breath, i rolled off to his side asking "am i too heavy?" he chuckled before speaking "i feel you are so fragile, i have to be careful, otherwise if by mistake i treat you roughly, i might break your wrist or arm, you are so thin" i rolled my eyes at his breaking my wrist comment "manik i look fragile, but i m not weak"

"yeah, yeah i will buy that" he mocked me.

"you will believe me one day"

He didn't reply because he didn't want to take the discussion any further.

"ok lets sleep now"he suggested. I nodded and picked my phone to set alarm. Manik looked inquisitively at me "i m going back to my normal routine, manik, ...i need to exercise, i have eaten a lot during marriage, it has to be burnt away" i answered. He was thoughtful for a minute , then asked "at what time you are going to get up?" i replied "at 4" . "can you wake me up at 5? " he asked i nodded in affirmation but asked "what will you do by getting up so early?" he replied "i need to burn my fat too, otherwise you won't like , the paunchy' me" and smiled while i rolled my eyes "its nothing like that manik"
"i know, but its my normal routine too, i workout in the gym at home, but here i will go for a run" he had to because we don't have a gym here. "ok i will wake you up then, good night"
"good night princess"

I read the text from navya, she has asked me to not go back without meeting her and that she will come tomorrow morning. I texted back that i will be waiting and went to sleep in the waiting arms of my loving husband.

The alarm went off , i tried to move but felt caged. Somehow i got hold of the phone and turned the alarm off and then finally looked over myself to see that manik was sleeping back hugging me, he had hidden his face by putting my hair on it. Suddenly i started feeling hot, i touched my cheek , it was burning and heart was racing on its own. I slowly turned around, so that he doesn't get disturbed, as i did this his face came out of my hair, and he was looking so cute. I went like "awww my baby" . i traced my finger lightly brushing his skin, over his face from forehead and down to nose, as i reached his lips, he suddenly opened his mouth to bite it, i startled immediately pulled back my finger!! He was grinning, although his eyes were sleepy. "Manik, you were awake??" i asked startled, he teased me "of course not, your seductive touch woke me up" and he turned around to sleep on his stomach. "should i wake you up at 5, or you are planning to ditch the idea of running?" i asked , in response he just hummed. So i got up, got fresh quickly, and made my way to terrace, where amms would be doing riyaz. It had been a long time, since i had practiced with her. She was happy to see me and we started riyaz. After one hour, i took her leave and came back to my room, to wake up my husband.

I called out "manik" while going near him. He didn't move. I sat beside him and shook him by his shoulders while speaking lovingly "manik, wake up" he groaned but got up rubbing his eyes. He looked at me and pecked my lips out of nowhere and pulled back saying "good morning baby" i was too startled to react in normal time but managed to say "good morning" amidst my blushing session. "now i got my morning dose of energy, see i am all fresh now" he said getting out of bed and moved to the washroom. "he is too much" i said to myself and smiled.

I was putting down matt in the balcony to do yoga when manik appeared

"nandini" . i looked up "yes"

"come lets go for a run together to the beach?"

"why"

"what why? We will have good time together"

"but i was planning to do yoga"

"you can do that from tomorrow , come now , no more arguments, plzzz"
"ok"

We headed out. Manik's guards were exercising outside in the lawn, as soon as they saw us, they came running "sir , are you going somewhere?"

"yes , ramesh, we are going out for a jog" manik replied crisply.

"ok, sir we will follow you"

Manik nodded and four of the guards , followed us at a distance. After a jog of 20 minutes, we reached the beach. Since , Mumbai is late-riser, so the roads and the beach were deserted and we did not have much problem. I took off my shoes, manik did the same , and we walked on the shore, hand in hand, enjoying the cool breeze and the sea water lashing our feet. Soon it was time for sunrise. Suddenly an idea popped up in my mind "manik, ask one of your guards to click a pic of ours against the sun, plzzz na" i spoke cutely. Manik was always ready to do anything i asked, so he called out for ramesh and he clicked a pic of ours .

The pic was so good that i asked manik to get it framed in extra large size, so that i could put it up in our bedroom.

"your wish , my command princess" and he bowed down. I laughed.

I had already asked our marriage photographer to enlarge one of the reception pics , in which manik is kissing me on the cheek , back hugging me and i am smiling.

I have decided to put that pic on the wall, just above our bed. I had to change the bachelor look of his (correction, our) bedroom.

BEAUTIFUL START TO A BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY...
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Credits to the writer- Manini Mehra