I glance at her as I focus on driving. We are going to her parents home because she needs to grab some of her stuff and get Smurfy.

She was looking out of the window while humming a song softly.

"Manik, what time do you think we'll be done with the reception?"

"I honestly hope before 1:00 am. After that we'll just sneak out of there. I don't want to spend my night with drunk people just because it's our reception."

"Mom wouldn't be too pleased with that."

I probably would have to hear a whole lecture in the morning about how disrespectful our disappearance was. She won't say anything to Nandini since she is new to the family but she wouldn't spare me.

"It's okay. She'll be fine after awhile." I pause to look at her and I see her already staring at me.

"Are you ready for the whole world to know you Mrs. Malhotra?"

"It's going to change a lot of things. Why do you have to be so rich?" She groans.

"Sorry?" I chuckle at her when I see her rolling her eyes. I don't know if I'll ever get used to her rolling her eyes at me.

"SMURFY" she screams his name as soon as we stepped inside her parents home.

I hear his little paws running to see her. He moves in circles around her and wiggles his tail in excitement.

She picks him up and I hear her giggling as he licks her face, showering her with love.

"Nandini. Manik." Her mother comes down the stairs along with her father.

"He was missing you. My poor Smurfy, he slept in your room after looking for you everywhere."

"Aww my little baby. I'll take you home with me today."

"What do you mean you're taking him home? Smurfy is staying with us. He is my baby."

"Mom!" I turn to look at her teary eyes. Her smiling face long gone, her skin suddenly pale. She knew her mother won't let her take Smurfy.

Her eyes glanced at me, almost making me want to grab Smurfy and her and run out of here.

I looked at her mom, ready to convince her to let us take Smurfy when she stopped me.

"Manik, don't even try. You have my daughter, I'm not going to let you take Smurfy too. He's the only one that is filling this empty house and keeping us busy."

We drive back in silence. Nandini is still a little sad about leaving Smurfy. She cried in my arms, holding me tightly when we had stepped out of her parents home.

Her tears make me uneasy. They make me want to just give her the whole world so that I can never see her cry again.

"Are you okay?" She gives me a small smile and nods her head.

"It's better if he stays there. My mom loves him more than me." She laughs as she says the last part.

"She was so mad at me when I got Smurfy, of course later on that changed. Smurfy won her heart and she ended up spending more time with him than us. He is her younger child and I understand why she isn't ready to give him up especially after losing her daughter to her he's-so-perfect Manik."

I chuckle at the last part. Her mother truly liked me a lot. Maybe it's because I'm her best friend's son.

"Manik, can you zip this please?" She comes out of the closet, holding her dress from the front so that it doesn't slip.

It took me a moment to look away from her. There she was standing with her back exposed to me in that weird color that I couldn't put my firgers on and she had laughed and said it's dusty pink and borderline purple. I will never understand girls and their colors.

"Manik?" She calls out again as I get stuck to my spot again.

"Yeah coming." I clear my throat and move to zip her dress before looking at her bare back on last time.

Is she not wearing a bra? I shake my head from the thoughts that were going to follow up next.

She is blabbering on about her unsuccessful attempts of zipping up her dress while I'm trying to stop any thought about her from entering my mind.

"Thanks babe." She moves away quickly before I could register anything.

Did she call me babe? I felt a smile forming on my face.

"I'm so confused. Do you think this lipstick matches better with my dress?" She is holding out shades of red in her hand while staring at me.

Suddenly she drops them on the bed and walks towards me. She takes the bow tie from my hand and starts tying it around my neck.

"You smell so nice." She says as she drops a kiss on my neck after she is done with the bow tie.

She takes a step back and looks at me from head to toe.

"Malhotra why do you always have to look so handsome?"

"I can't help it babe." We both chuckle and she holds the lipsticks again.

"I don't know. They slightly look the same to me."

"Manik!! They are completely different shades. Anyway I think this one would look good." I nod my head agreeing to whatever she said without looking at the lipstick. They still looked the same to me.

"Okay ready to go?" She nods her head and fixes her hair one more time.

She wanted to curl them and half way in, she got tired and yelled out my name while I was in the middle of a phone call.

The phone had almost slipped from my hand as I heard her. Running inside, I was worried something happened to her but no, she was sitting while holding a curling iron in her hand with a pout on her face.

It took me a few attemps before mastering the art of curling. Looking at her hair now, I can proudly say I did a good job.

I kissed her on the lips and whispered about how beautiful she looked before taking her hand and walking outside.