Next morning:

Nandini's pov.

I woke up to the sound of people talking. I smile and have a look at my phone notifications. My smile immediately grew wider seeing a message from manik.

Manik: good morning sweetheart❤;).

I smiled happily and replied.

Nandini: good morning to you too Mr. Malhotra.❤❤

Sent.

I got an instant reply.
Manik: your up.

Nandini: no. You woke me up.

Manik: oh really but seriously I can't get last night out of my head.

Nandini: me too. But I really have to go so bye I need to get ready. See you later.

Manik: see you soon Ms. Murthy..

I kept my phone aside and left to take a bath.

Nandini's pov end.
............
A few days before the engagement.

"Nandini I was hoping to take you out this evening just the two of us. How does that sound to you?" Manik asked smiling to himself on the call.

"Sounds good actually"

"so I'll pick you up at 6 tonight?"

"Yeah I'm fine with that. See you later Manik"

"Bye Love see you later" He hung up after that.

Nandini got dressed in a purple and white flannel shirt and denim black jeans along with her vans. A very casual outfit as mentioned by Manik in his text since he forgot to on the call.
Later at six in the evening on dot Manik picked her up and they left to their dinner location. He wore a purple button up shirt and black jeans. As they reached the forest reserves Manik stopped the vehicle. They got off and he took her towards the trail path that was present.

As they walked for five minutes Nandini started complaining.

"Manik how much further will you make me walk"

"I know love we'll be there in a few minutes"

When the path ended there was a beautiful house that had glass windows and was made up of pure wood. Manik took out a key and said "this is our little getaway from everyone space. How do you like it love? Change anything you don't like"

"Manik this is amazing but how do we have a house here?"

"This part of the location is bought by us. About ten miles from here and the forest for wild animals start. There is a heavy boundary wall though so to protect the private properties. My beautiful wife please do the honors" he said the last part before handing her the key.

Nandini opened the door and before she could step inside Manik bent down and took her in his arms inside and then dropped her back down only as they reached the living room. He showed her around and then stopped in front of a door.

"This is our bedroom" he said opening the door and Nandini gasped seeing it. It was beautiful. The room was in a mixed combination of brown and white and the vibe it gave was relaxing. Manik made her sit on the bed as they started talking.

They ate dinner after that and spent the night there. The next morning Manik dropped her home with a promise to take her back every time she wished to visit.

Eɴɢᴀɢᴇᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴅᴀʏ:-

The location for engagement was the Malhotra's farmhouse. The day after Malhotras' and Murthys' will shift to their mansions temporarily depending on future situations. The main couple were ready and Manik was standing in the garden along with Kabir and Dhruv. Soon he was called on the stage and then Nandini joined him soon after. They were asked to exchange rings.
Alia brought Manik's ring and Dhruv brought Nandini's ring. First Dhruv passed the ring to Manik.

Nandini's ring.

Manik slid the ring in Nandini's ring finger and kissed her knuckles and she just blushed while everyone hooted. Nandini slid the ring in his finger and all clapped for the engaged couple while Manik side hugged Nandini and pecked her head.

Soon Manik and Nandini were sitting talking to family and friends. The function ended soon after a photo shoot. All moved towards the backyard where food arrangements were made. After having food guests left.

At 3 am:

The friends were sitting in the lawn on a mattress playing the game never have I ever. It was Manik's turn to say a statement.

Manik: never have I ever kissed..

All took a sip from their choice of drink while Nandini didn't.

Manik shyly whispered in her ear "you haven't kissed anyone as well?"

"No I just never dated anyone"

"That makes me happy for some unknown reason but I'd really like to change that later with your permission"

Nandini blushed and kissed his cheek nodding her head silently.

Manik then realized that all drank so he turned towards his dear little sister.

"My doll who is the lucky man and why am I unaware of his existence"

"You know it's Abhimanyu the only boyfriend I've ever had and I ever will" she said giving him a small smile.

Nandini saved her from answering more asking a question. "Who is Abhimanyu?"

" bhabhi Abhimanyu Murthy my boyfriend from three years. He is in the US currently for some business" she said smiling at her bhabhi shyly giving her this news about her private life.

Nandini pauses for a second before standing up looking at Mukti with a big smile on her face "Mukti can you show me a picture of his. I want to check something"

Multi takes out her phone and shows her one of the recent pictures she took with Abhimanyu.

Nandini gave her a bright smile and said "we really are connected Mukti that is my cousin brother you're dating"

Mukti was overjoyed and screamed in happiness and everyone made Nandini continue the game to avoid her hyper excited voice.

Nandini tells a fact that everyone was already aware of but didn't say anything to her "never have I ever been in a relationship"

And just like before with a change it was only Manik now who didn't drink anything. But then Manik Malhotra could have had flings. One never knows. Soon at five they left to their bedrooms.
Nandini was in her room when there was a knock. She opened the door to find Manik leaning against the wall.

"Manik..."

He moved inside and closed the door bolting it shut.

"Can I kiss you Nandini will you allow me if I were to kiss you?"

She just gave him a small and shy nod. He then placed his lips directly on hers. He kissed her slowly and softly. She replied to his kiss.He cornered her to the wall without breaking the kiss. They both broke it breathless. He started kissing all over her neck and continued till her earlobe.
He bit her earlobe and she moaned his name. He then kissed her forehead and carried her to bed. They lied down as he kissed her one last time and then they drifted to sleep in each other's arms.

................................
Manik's pov.

I opened my eyes and saw Nandini sleeping peacefully keeping her head on my chest. She looked so innocent while sleeping just like a baby without any worry. I slowly untangled myself from her got up and left. But not before leaving her a note.
*************
It's been two weeks now and everyday we learn a little more about each other. She was a doctor and I promised her that she would continue her medical carrier after marriage. I had no say in it. What wife wants is what wife gets. She is independent and if she wants to keep it that way she can. It's all about her choice. Whatever she wants. Off course I'll just buy the hospital if someone messes with her.

We used to meet daily and some days night outs. It was amazing to sneak into her room late at night. Our marriage would be slightly different. We'll hold all the ceremonies performed in a typical Punjabi wedding but we'll also follow their side meaning Nandini's family side who have a Tamilian background. Nandini never told me about her dream of having a catholic wedding so since I'm a well nice husband I decided to talk to our families about it and set a date for it. 14th February will be for our catholic wedding and the same day at 4 am is our Tamil wedding on top of the hill in a very famous temple, called Neemach Mata Mandir. Quite a bit of work with setting up both but for Nandini anything.

So our schedule goes like this.
9th is haldi ceremony.
10th is mehendi ceremony again for both of us. And yes I'll have mehendi on my hands and teased about for it.
We kept one day free to sort of relax.
12th of February is the sangeet.
13th of February is a Cocktail party with both sides as I said a straight NO for bachelor's party.
14th of February is our wedding ceremony. Okay call me anything you want I've done this on purpose. I wanted to be a hopeless romantic kinda guy and get married to the love of my life on the day of celebration of love.

****************************

Today is 7th of February.
We are leaving for Udaipur today, everything is set with all the heavy packing we'd have to do. Nandini has five suitcases because of how heavy her dresses were. We decided to meet at my place and had a different wedding planner Sonia so that Navya can enjoy all functions without working herself out to do our wedding functions best. She recommended and promised to handle any doubts our planner might have in the future regarding our choices with Mukti's help.

Sonia: sir, today we'll leave at 12. My team is already at the location and the arrangements are done for now.

I was sitting next to Nandini with my arm around her shoulder. Soon we all left to Udaipur and the journey was on.

._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
At 5 PM, Udaipur

Nandini and I are at the hotels restaurant area to talk to their pastry chef who'll be making our wedding cake.

Tiffany: hello I'm Tiffany the head pastry chef here.

Manik: hi, I'm Manik Malhotra and she is my fiancée Nandini.

Tiffany: So tell me what do you want in your cake.

"well, we want a simple yet elegant cake maybe with some pictures of us"

I gave her some pictures.

Tiffany: looks good. Tell me more about your likes and dislikes.

"A fairytale cake basically" Nandini burst out joyfully and that made me laugh.

Tiffany wanted to explain it to us but then Nandini stopped her.

" I think I want this cake to be a surprise. So we'll trust your vision for our wedding cake" she said leaning her head against her.

After tasting some samples for flavors we finalized- red velvet cake with strawberry filling, chocolate cake with ganash filling.

Manik's pov ends here

Word count: 1820 words.

Snow♥️