What Manik Wants!

16. Our Night!

"Manik why are you leaving me? Don't do this to me again. I can't live without you! Please! Forgive me for being a stubborn head! I accept I was hard on the outside but no! Manik please! Don't go! Manikk!" I saw him disappear in the dark street as he loosened his hold on my hand bit by bit finally walking away from me. "Manik! Noo!" I kept screaming for him but he was no where. "Nandini! Listen! Wake up! I am right here beside you!" Manik patted my cheek to wake me up and after his uncountable attempts I woke up registering the surroundings but nothing mattered till the time I saw him close to me. The thought of him distancing from me was still scaring me, my nightmare was! I banged in his chest clutching his shirt tight asking him to stay! He caressed my hair assuring me that he won't go away. "Manik! Don't.... Don't leave me okay? I...I need you! I can't live without you please" I begged him wailing like a kid while my face was digged in his neck. "Hey Hey Hey! Don't cry please. I won't go anywhere baby! I am right here with you, holding you in my arms! Relax!" He kissed my hair and forehead innumerable times. I was still clinged to him, he was sitting on the bed rest with his legs crossed and I was in his lap with my legs placed on his either side. He did not for once close his eyes after my nightmare! He was awake all the while stroking my hair sometime, or kissing it hiding it from me. It was true that since the day I came here, he had always been there for me be it anything and today he is here with me at this hour. Midnight! Why? My heart spoke "Because he loves you unconditionally" I smiled accepting the fact that somewhere down the line I also felt that he loves me now but my mind yelled "But he played with you! He is a player. Don't trust him" Heart replied "Then why are you in his arms? Why do you feel safe with him? If it's not trust then what is it" I was messed up! Shooing them away I tilted my head up to look at him and to my surprise he was already staring at me. He smiled widely as if he could hear what was going on in my head and heart! "Fighting with your heart for me?" He spoke tucking my hair strand behind my ear as I cocooned more in his arms. I always longed for his protective feels and now that I had it I wanted to speak out everything and anything that happened with me when he wasn't there! When he left I had probably turned into an introvert person and since then all of my emotions and feelings were dumped in a room in my heart whose doors were shut forever! "No! I am missing Mom" I replied. He sighed which showed that he knew I was thinking of him but he did not change the topic, my mom was always on my mind. He entwined our fingers asking me to speak while he played with my knuckles. "Manik tumhe pata hai! I was too small when I lost her! Appa and Amma's love was something beyond infinity, and I am sure they must be still together! When I lost them, it broke me, my trust on my loved ones, the trust that I had of having someone beside me but Chachi taught me that true love is not something which you show off or you lose but it's something which makes you the happiest when you have it and it hurts the most when you don't. She explained me that I surely lost my trust on love and it's affecting me because I wish to regain it! If it wouldn't have mattered then I wouldn't cry for it. You know what scared me the most! The thoughtof never seeing her again, the thought of never feeling her again and the thought of losing her forever did!" I was now in a pool of tears and as always he knew how much my parents affect me! He did not reply back nor did he leave me instead he circled my legs around his waist and gripped my waist in his hands. When I looked at him for answers he had already carried me up. I opened my mouth to speak up "Ma" He shushed me with his long fingers touching my lips and I curled my hands around his neck.