* Posted a new story HUMSAFAR, hope to see y'all there also :)

5 years later…
         
  
A thunderous applause echos throughout the room as a happy couple celebrates their 5th wedding anniversary. A tall handsome man wearing a navy blue suit and white shirt stands proudly looking just as young as the day he had gotten married five years ago.

The only difference in his appearance now is his gotee, which only enhances his masculine jaw line. He stands next to a ravishing woman, who is wearing a red saree with heavy golden embroidery and she also looks just as beautiful as she had five years ago. The only difference in her appearance happens to be her radiant smile rather than her depressed frown on the day of her wedding.

(Their attire)

The man leans in to feed his beautiful wife a piece of their anniversary cake. Her cheeks begin to redden as she feels his hand brush against her cheek. He accidently gets some white frosting on the flawless skin of her upper lip. The guests start tapping their wine glasses with their utensils in order to get her husband to kiss this imperfection away. Their friends and family gather around them as they continuously chant, "Manik Nandini! Manik Nandini!" Manik shrugs his shoulders and looks devilishly at his lovely wife, Nandini. She frantically waves her hands in front of her dear husband in hopes that he will comprehend.

Manik pulls her into his arms and grins, "Sorry sweetheart, but we have to give the people what they want…" Before she can protest further, he brushes his lips lightly against hers in a tender kiss, leaving her to feel a bit disoriented. She starts responding to the gentle kiss as soon as she gathers control of her body, but Manik pulls away before he can lose the little self-control he has.

         
Just when Manik and Nandini break away from their innocent kiss, their best friends, Cabir and Navya, come over to congratulate them on their wedding anniversary. Nandini grins widely and shoves a big piece of cake into Navya's mouth, which causes her to shriek. Navya smiles as she sees the look of joy on Nandini's face as she looks onto her husband with so much love and affection. Nandini truly does deserve happiness after suffering through years worth of agony for losing her first love. Navya feels happy for her friend, who was able to forgive and forget her past in order to move forward in her life. Today, she had everything she could hope for and more. It's true what they say that time heals all.

Cabir walks over to congratulate Manik with his son, Ved, who is around four years old and resembles his father. Cabir hugs him rather tightly. It is remarkable Manik has lasted this long as loyal married man. Of course, the changes in Manik were visible when he first started falling for Nandini Murthy, but one could only wonder back then if he too would fall prey to the famous saying "Old habits die hard."  It is definitely quite an achievement for Manik given his past history with women and surprisingly he has come a long way from his youthful Casanova days. Cabir feels proud that his best friend, who would run away from commitment, is now a happily married man.

        
Abhimanyu and Mukti come forward to congratulate Manik and Nandini with their son, Aryan.  Two little children stand next to Aryan looking rather grumpy. These two children gesture for Manik and Nandini to pick them up in their arms. Manik smiles and picks up the little girl, who is wearing a cute little pink dress and seems around the age of three.

Her features resemble that of her mother, but her brown eyes are identical to her father, Manik. He kisses his daughter's nose and smiles brightly, "Hi princess… wait Pari are you crying?" Her eyes fill with tears as she points to her naughty older brother. He looks towards his wife for answers and frowns seeing his son holding his little girl's teddy bear. Manik asks, "Nandini, look Ridhaan took Pari's teddy bear." Nandini turns her attention to the little devil in her hands.

This little four year old boy turns away to hide behind the pallu of his mother's sari. Manik scolds, "Ridhaan, give your little sister her teddy bear back." Ridhaan sweetly obeys and hands his little sister her teddy bear saying, "Sorry Pari." She excitedly takes her teddy bear in her arms and then leans out of Manik's arms to kiss her older brother's cheek. Ridhaan smiles cutely and then pretends to be disgusted by his sister's behavior by shouting, "Eww!" Manik and Nandini start laughing at their two children.

Everyone soon starts requesting for Manik and Nandini to dance. Manik looks towards Nandini curiously and she nods in acceptance. Nandini hands Ridhaan over to her parents, while Manik hands Pari to his parents and they both make their way onto the middle of the dance floor. The lights dim as music plays Tum Se Hi from Jab We Met in the background.

Manik and Nandini look into each other's eyes.

Aa aa..aa aa…aa aa..aa aa.. aa..
Nandini places her arms arund Manik's neck
and his rest on the small of her back.

They both start swaying to the rhythm of the music.

Na hai yeh pana
Na khona he hai
Tera na hona, jaane
Kyun hona he hai
Manik twirls Nandini three times and then pulls her back
making her crash against his chizled chest. She blushes as she notices the look of passion wash over Manik's face.

Tum Se Hi din hota hai
Surmayi shaam aati hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Har ghadi saans aati hai
Zindagi kehlati hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Nandini can't seem to handle Manik's captivating gaze anylonger so she rests her head against his chest. She sighs in bliss as she smells his masculine scent
mixed with perfume and aftershave.

Na hai yeh pana
Na khona hi hai
Tera na hona, jaane
Kyun hona hi hai
Manik protectively wraps his arms tightly around her waist and places his head gently over hers.

Aa aa..aa aa…aa aa..aa aa.. aa..
They both close their eyes and think about how terrible
their lives would be if they had never became one and let
their past get in the way of their love for each other.

Aankho mein aankhe teri
Bahoo mein Bahe teri
Mera na mujh mein kuch raha
Hua kya
Nandini lifts her head to look at Manik. He stares at her so lovingly that it makes her shiver with delight.

Bathon mein bathein teri
Rathe saogathe meri
Kuyn tera sab yeh ho gaya
Hua kya
Nandini mouths, "I love you" to Manik, which causes him to smile and return the gesture by brushing his lips on hers for a moment.

Mein kahin bhi jaata hun
Tum Se Hi mil jatha hun
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Manik pulls his body slightly away from Nandini, and this causes her to pull his body even closer. Manik grins seeing Nandini's restlessness.

Shor mein khamoshi hai
Thodi si behoshi hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
The rest of the couples make their way onto the dance floor, which all goes unnoticed by Manik and Nandini. They are too busy staring into the depths of each other's eyes.

Aa aa aa aa aa aa…
Manik twirls Nandini continuously and then finally dips her low.

Aadha sa vaada kabhi
Aadhe se zyada kabhi
Jee chahe karlu is tarah
Wafa ka
Nandini looks to the side of her and notices her proximity to the ground. Manik grins and Nandini prays he won't let her fall as a silly prank.

Chode na chute kabhi
Tode na toote kabhi
Jo daaga tum se jud gaya
Wafa ka
Manik pulls her up and presses her body against his. Nandini breathes a sigh of relief, which causes Manik to smile like a fool.

Mein tera sarmaya hun
Jo bhi mein ban paya hun
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Raaste mil jate hai
Manzile mil jati hai
Tum Se Hi Tum Se Hi
Manik's hand slowly runs down Nandini's back causing her body to shiver violently against his. Manik feels her body tremble and he looks away smiling.

Na hai yeh pana
Na khona he hai
Tera na hona, jaane
Kuyn hona he hai
Manik stares passionately into Nandini's eyes causing her to not only melt, but weaken.

Aa aa aa aa aa aa …
He leans down and kisses her lips gently.

           
The moment is soon interrupted by two children screaming, "EWWW!" Manik and Nandini break away embarrassed and look at their children covering their eyes in front of them. Manik and Nandini shake their heads and pick up their naughty children. Soon the party comes to an end and all the guests leave. Pari and Ridhaan have already fallen asleep on the couch so Manik and Nandini carefully take them upstairs. They lay their little brats down on their beds, kiss their foreheads, wish them sweet dreams, and then tip toe out the room.
            
Nandini turns to go back downstairs to clean up the mess, but instead Manik scoops her up in his arms and carries her to bed. He throws her mischieviously on the bed and then goes back to lock the door. Manik pounces on the bed at the same time Nandini rolls away. He defeatedly look up from the mattress to see Nandini laughing on the other side of the bed.

He sighs and rests his head against his palm as he stares at Nandini. She soon stops laughing as she becomes uncomfortable with his passionate stare as if he is mentally undressing her. She says, "Manik stop looking at me like that."

He says in a husky voice, "Sorry Nandini, but I'm just appreciating one of God's finer works." She laughs while shaking her head as she gets up from the bed.

She walks toward the dresser and starts removing her earrings. From the mirror, she notices Manik approaching from behind. Her heartbeats quicken as she feels his hot breath lingering on her neck. He plants kisses alongside her collar bone while his hands remove the necklace he gave her today for their anniversary. He whispers in her ear, "Nandini, I'm really happy you decided to get your sweet revenge!"

She looks at him curiously and he explains, "If it weren't for your master plan we would have never dated because you hated me back then so without an ulterior motive we wouldn't have went out. That also means I wouldn't have forced you to marry me and we wouldn't have our two beautiful children. Without your sweet revenge, we wouldn't be where we are now, madly in love with each other."

She laughs and leans back against his chest replying, "You're so optimistic Manik and I love that about you!" 

Manik smirks, "That's good to know… now I want my present. You've made me wait long enough." Manik picks up a giggling Nandini in his arms and carries her over towards the bed to love her senseless.
            

Taking revenge on Manik wasn't exactly the greatest of all plans, but it is lucky for Nandini that fate was always on her side. Through her sweet revenge, she gained the one thing she thought she lost years ago, her first and only love, Manik Malhotra .

--------

• And their soul were committed to Love like a Sun is committed to shine •

××××××××××××

And here I officially end the journey of Revenge of Love.
I hope you enjoyed the journey, I would really appreciate if you could take a few minutes and share your opinion about the story, even if its negative!

Thank you my lovely freinds, for hanging in there. I hope it captivated your interest
and it was worth your time.

This one is special to me as I started writing it on IF in 2013 and after 8 chapters, I had lost the interest to continue it. But I'm glad, I was able to complete it now!

I'm really grateful to each one of you for loving it dearly!

Special mentions to myra_1 for the beautiful cover. Thank you Di, it couldn't be anymore perfect ♥

Signing off..
Love,
Shreya❤