We walk together hand in hand. A part of me is waiting patiently for my heels to just slip resulting in the grand revelation of Mrs. Malhorta. But I know Manik won't let that happen. As long as he is near me anyway.

I smile looking at his face again and I hear the clicks of cameras everywhere. Flashes and clicks. My eyes widen as I realize that we were indeed surrounded by hundreds of people with cameras. They were all busy taking photos while yelling whatever question they had.

It was chaos. A total chaos.

I felt my anxiety creeping in and the smile was long gone from my face. My hands became a little shaky which made Manik realize what was happening. One glance from him to John and we were being taken away from the madness into a quiet area.

"Are you okay?" His arms wrapped around me and his face full of concern. He places a gentle kiss on my forehead.

"Yeah. It was just a little too chaotic for me." I inhale his cologne which calms me down. The scent is too familiar and comforting now. I hug him close to me and stay still for a little bit.

"Well don't mind us here, please have your moment of paradise lovebirds." I break apart from Manik to look at Navya who is standing next to Cabir. I raise my eyebrow at their closeness.

"Please! I found him here while I was looking for you." She comes forward and gives me a hug and slowly asks me if I'm okay. I give her a small smile and move to greet Cabir.

"I saw Anjali when I walked in.  All I'm going to say to you is good luck." Navya whispers to me and my eyes widen.

I totally forgot about that. Damn.

Manik grabs my hand and leads us towards the big backyard that is fully decorated with lights and flowers.

The pleasant and sweet fragrance of gardenia suddenly hits my nostril. I look around me to see their elegant white blossoms beautifully placed on each table.

"We have to give a small speech." Manik whispers to me as we walk towards the center of the backyard where they had a little stage set up and a mic in front of it.

I try to keep my face composed and not show that I was freaking out inside. The smile on my face had suddenly turned fake.

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand? I have nothing prepared." My voice kept as low as possible.

"Nandini, stop worrying. I'll come up with something. I didn't know either but apparently, it's something that you are supposed to do."

"God damn." We stand in front of everyone. Familiar faces of celebrities, politicians, and millionaires have filled the room.

The music that was softly playing in the back is suddenly stopped as Manik takes the mic in his free hand that wasn't holding mine.

I guess I'll just stand here and look pretty.

This is so awkward. Where do I even look? At Manik? The crowd? My Louboutins?

I finally decide to stare at Manik's handsome face.

"Thank you so much everyone for coming today to celebrate this day with us. I feel extremely lucky to have found this beautiful woman that I can call my wife now. I hope this is the start of many happy years together and I look forward to our life together." His eyes focused on mine and I hear a lot of awws and a loud happy squeal that made us laugh and break our little eye contact.

We step down and Manik takes two glasses of wine from the server that was walking by.

"To our long night." We take a sip before we're surrounded by people.

I find myself sliding into an autopilot mode. I was being introduced to popular faces that I didn't remember the names of. I spoke whenever necessary and smiled here and there but I wasn't really paying attention.

Too many faces. Too much information.

Manik is discussing the investment in cryptocurrency with a group of millionaires when I tried slipping away.

His grip on my hand tightens as I attempt to remove mine. His face turns to look at mine and he raises his eyebrow.

"I'm bored." I lean closer to his ear and whisper slowly.

He breathes out a small chuckle before releasing my hand. Placing a kiss on my temple, he lets me go.

Gulping down the glass of wine in my hand, I walk around trying to find Navya or my parents.

Before I can look further, Anjali and Vishali stand in front of me.

I smile at them nervously and grab two glasses of champagne from a server. Finishing one glass in a second, I place it back on the tray he was holding.

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?!" Anjali's loud voice got us few stares but they quickly looked away thinking it's girls excitement.

"Everything happened fast. I didn't have time to say anything."

"How does it feel to have sex with Manik Malhotra? Damn I'm so jealous."

I wouldn't know.

"I'm happy for you Nandini. He keeps glancing over to make sure you're okay. It's so cute." Vishali gives me a tight hug before letting go.

I look over towards Manik and sure enough his eyes were already on me.

"Damn, remember that day when we all agreed that whoever gets Manik is going to be so lucky? Who knew it was going to be Nandini, lord, you're so lucky. You might as well become a housewife and stare at him all day. That's what i would do."

I shake my head and finish the champagne I was holding.

"Why are you standing with an empty glass? Here take this." Navya makes her appearance with two glasses of red wine.

I put the empty glass on a nearby table and take the wine glass from Navya's hand.

"That girl in the blue dress on your right has not stopped staring at Manik." My gaze follows where Vishali had pointed.

The beautiful brunette who definitely worked out everyday had her eyes focused on Manik. Her sleeveless blue dress showed off her toned arms. She stood there sipping her glass of champagne with a group of men who were definitely interested in her but her attention was captured by Manik.

"What's new? All the ladies have not taken their eyes off of him from the moment he walked in."

True. Manik Malhotra is looking extra hot today so I can't really blame them.

I fix the curl that managed to come in front of my face when an arm sneaked around my waist.

"Are you planning on getting drunk Mrs. Malhotra?" He whispers in my ear and I hear a gasp escape from Anjali's mouth.

Clearing my throat, I introduce him to Vishali and Anjali. Both of them played it cool but I know Anjali was dying to scream.

Manik stayed close behind me with his arm circled around me as he made small talk with the girls. After one point I couldn't keep up with what was being said as Manik's finger started making circles on my stomach.

His finger moved slowly and sensuously. He knew this little gesture was making a huge impact as my breathing started to become irregular.

"Right Nandini?" Vishali's voice brings my attention from Manik's finger back to the discussion.

I look at her clueless but I nod my head anyway. I have no idea what I agreed to but I did hear Manik's chuckle and saw a teasing look on Navya's face.

Great.