Unwanted [COMPLETED]

Chapter 32

Sensitive content ahead. Reader's discretion is advised.

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Manik

I take in a sharp breath when Nandini turns toward me.

'So beautiful,' is the only thought in my mind as I see her looking breathtaking in the body-hugging blue gown she is wearing.

The blue color of the gown complimenting her fair skin perfectly and her makeup enhancing her already beautiful features.

I thought she looked gorgeous with her hair down, but today, with the messy bun like hairdo she has done, with a few strands framing her face, she looks simply mesmerizing.

I slowly walk toward her, unable to take my eyes off her as I go near her.

"You look...," I pause, trying to find out the correct word to describe how she looked. "...umm, I mean....you...and the dress.... perfection.... enchanting...perfect."

I wanted to punch myself due to my utter inability to thread the words and properly compliment her.

She smiles slightly, tucking the hair behind her ear, and my already fluttering heart skips a beat, looking at that smile making her face glow.

"I take you like the dress then? It's beautiful, isn't it, Manik?"

I shake my head. "You are beautiful, Nandini, and the dress looks gorgeous because you are wearing it," I say, noticing her cheeks get slightly redder.

"Thank you," she says. "You too look good in this black suit."

Many girls have told me I look handsome in anything I wear, but this is the first time a compliment has made me go warm.

"Umm, before I forget," I start speaking, trying to get a grip on my erratically beating heart. "This is for you."

I notice Nandini's surprised look as she sees the rose in my hand.

"Yellow rose?" She asks.

"I wanted to bring the red one, but I thought you would not accept it because you are not there yet," I tell her.

"Not where yet, Manik?" She questions, and I immediately backtrack.

Tonight is not the night for that conversation and we are so not ready for that yet. That will have to wait for some time.

"Nothing. I mean, we are married, but have not had any relationship yet. So, I thought it would be better if we started from the friendship. Hence, the yellow rose," I reply.

Nandini narrows her eyes at me, hesitating to take the flower.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask.

"Nothing. It's just that I never thought you would bring yellow rose for me one day, extending a hand of friendship," she says.

I take a step closer to her, noticing her suck in a breath when I get closer. But she does not step back.

"That's the thing, Nandini. Sometimes when we least expect it, life gives us the thing which we have wanted all along. You just need to have some courage to blindly trust and take a leap," I tell her, indirectly answering the question she had been asking earlier to her brother while looking at the sky.

"Manik," she says, her voice low, and I feel her breath fanning my face.

We are so close that if I tilt my face even slightly, our lips would touch.

As that thought enters my mind, I look at her lips, those full enticing lips, wondering how would the feel of them be.

"We should go now. Otherwise, we will get late," she says, taking the rose from my hand and taking a step back.