LOVE+

Chapter 20- The First Kiss

"You know Nandini, Manik and Alya always used to fight in front of us but in the next moment they will go gaga over each other, are they still same?" Vibha asked Nandini. She kept quiet and Manik came there.

''Vibha, you should take rest" he said to her earning a frown. "Where is Alya?" Vibha asked him. "She is my junior doctor here, she might be on duty" Vibha had no choice other than being silent. Manik tried to talk to Nandini but she acted as if she ignored him. He came out and called Nandini.

"Listen Nandini, it's not like how you think! I mean it was all in the past" he explained her. "I have nothing to do with it anyway, but why are you explaining me?" Nandini asked raising her brows. "You will think that Manik loves Alya and in spite of that he came to see you and his mom is desperate to get you married to him, so I thought you might" he stammered as he said. He knew that he need not explain anything to her but he felt a strong urge to tell her everything.

"But Nandini Murthy ne keh diya ki she will not marry" she added as he stopped. "FYI, Nandini Murthy rejected to marry Dr. Manik Malhotra" she chuckled hearing him. "It's not like I rejected you but I didn't wanted to marry someone whom I don't even know, as doctors we should dedicate all the time in hospital, I don't think I can spend any time with someone. I wanted to marry when I know that person well, who will understand me" she said being in her lalaland.

''Now that you know me and I'm a doctor too, I know how time flies when we're in hospital" he said without a second thought and instantly regretted. "So, Dr. Malhotra!" he interrupted her. "No, I don't want to be rejected again" he ran from there embarrassed. Cabir heard it and came to Nandini.

"Kya ho raha tha? Nandini Murthy and Manik Malhotra ke beech mein? Hmm!" he said rolling his eyes. "Kuch bhi nahi" she said smiling. "But I heard something about wedding, so kiski wedding bells bhajne wale hai, tum dono ka?" he teased her. "No, obviously not, we're not even alike, zameen aasmaan ka farak hai" Nandini moved away. "But they say, opposites attract Nandini wait!" he ran behind her. They reached common room to see Navya.

They greeted her but Navya kept mum. Alya came to Manik. "Hey Alya, what's up?" he asked her. "You look so cheered up, what's up with you?" she asked him and he thought of his illogical convo with Nandini. He didn't knew why he said all those things to her. "Manik" he came out of the trance when Alya called him.

"Huh! It's nothing, Abhi has woken up I just came here after seeing him" she informed him. "Oh yeah even I should see him" he said arranging the files. "Alya" he called her. "What happened? Why are you looking dull?" he asked her. "It's nothing the usual stress, I have to do night shift" she said casually. "You can ask someone to share it too" he advised. "But who Manik? None of them talk to me properly, they even make fun of me, they're so mean" she complained.

"Where is that Alya, who is a friend of everyone in the college? Diva in the college, what happened now? Where is that sweet girl?" he asked her. "But" she opened her mouth only to be interrupted by him. "Apologize, yes, it's okay to say sorry, let it go" he said and she thought for a minute.

"Don't think so much" he said and she nodded yes. "Good let's go". "Cabir, Navya aaj mounavrat kar rahi hai kya?" Nandini asked him looking at Navya. "Shayad" he said. Alya came there. "Guys, I think I should apologize for whatever I did" she said in a low voice. "Oh you think! Cabir be careful she might slap again if we don't accept her apologies" Nandini said to Cabir.

''Stop it yaar, thappad khaane ka itna shauk!" Cabir said. "I'm really sorry Cabir, I was carried away, I was in depression, my anger really went overboard, I should have thought once before doing all those" she said sincerely.

"Ye karne se pehle bhi sochna chahiye tha, before apologizing! Do you think we will believe you after all those things!" Aryaman came there. "I'm really sorry Aryaman" she said with tears in verge of breaking. "I'm sorry Nandini, I thought you will take Manik away from me, I was insecure about him. But now I know he will never be mine and I'm happy that he is my friend atleast" Nandini is surprised to know that Alya is friends with Manik.

Nandini walked out from there without a word. Aryaman followed her. "Nandini, I'm sorry too" he said making a puppy face. "Don't act cute with me Aryaman because you don't look like one" she said. "Oh so who called me cute then?" he asked her. She is about to go but he stopped her pulling her apron.

"What?" she said irritated. "I'm really sorry I never thought she would slap you for that, I swear" he apologized. "Are you serious? I was not angry because Alya slapped me, it's because you stooped so low just to take revenge from Alya" she said unbelievingly.

"What! I thought you are angry because she slapped you because of me, is that why you stopped talking to me?" he asked seriously. "It's a matter of someone's respect Aryaman how can you take it easy?" she almost shouted on him. "OK I'm sorry because I was stupid to pull that prank on Alya, I'm sorry for she slapped you because of me, I'm sorry for not knowing reason why you didn't talk to me, I'm sorry because I was born a boy! If I were a girl, some boy would apologize for my mistakes even" he chuckled and she hit him playfully.

"Imagine a girl proposing you Aryaman" she said taking a chocolate from her pocket. He took it. "Yeah I can just imagine because reality mein wo hoga hi nahi" he said. They walked in the corridor and he wanted to ask her about her parents' death. But kept himself away from asking her as he didn't think it was time to ask.

''Hey Abhi" Manik wished him. "Ah you finally got some time for this poor soul" he pouted. "Pehle tum ye batao, how did you manage to do all this?" he asked straight. "What?" Abhi asked confused. Manik said pointing at the trophy placed beside the bed post, "this".

"Kitne paise diya?" Manik asked. "Kuch tho diya but I got the double of what I wanted" he smirked. "Abhi wait, don't tell me that you have planned all this accident too" Manik asked seeing Abhimanyu smirk.

"How could you do this? For a bet! Tumhare jaan pe khatra tha, you could have even died" Manik said in a warning tone. "Yeah, even I never thought that it would be this serious" he said, "But wo Mukti hai, Mukti ko paane ke liye swarg tak jaana hoga" he joked.

"I can't believe you Abhi, actually I was a fool to have that bet with you" Manik said. He went from there thinking about him. He didn't see Nandini in his cabin and was about to close the door of his cabin.

"Ouch" her voice startled him. He quickly looked at her if she was hurt. "I'm sorry I didn't see you here" he caressed her hair where she was hurt. "It's okay sir" she didn't even complete her sentence and someone barged into his cabin. They stood behind the door and the nurse couldn't see them. She pushed the door and Manik fell on Nandini.

He thought of closing her mouth to avoid any kind of sound but he never saw something coming on their way. His lips touched hers. Her eyes widened in shock while he registered what had actually happened.

He deepened the kiss leaning more towards her. She finally gave in and struggled to breathe