30. Perspectives

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Quick rant : Hello people. I missed you all so much and I know I was missed too because my message box and the last chap comments are filled with all of you asking me for updates. I am flattered and on the ninth cloud, all together.

But a small request. Despite almost 4k reads per chap, only a small portion of you vote, and a smaller portion comments. Most of you who have asked me for updates, have never written a word else either. I am not complaining or fussing, but seriously, if you take two minutes to tell me if you liked the update, or any moment made you laugh, it will only make my day so good and motivate me to write more and faster. The wattapd stats work on votes and comments, I hope you know that. I am doing my share, can you please think about doing the needful too?

Happy reading!

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~Somethimes, all we need to grow in life, is a change in perspective. But we don't realise that because, well, to realise that also you need to see through a new perspective!
~Grey's Anatomy ~

When Nandini was younger she had wanted to be a lawyer, just like her Appa. The black robe was fascinating, and so was the arguments she would make up in her mind, to fight fake scenarios, trying her best to sound the confident and boastrous Mr. Murthy. But over the years, through high school and college she had realised the difference between fascination and passion, and her heart lay in literature. She loved reading various essays and poems, ranging from classic to modern ones, the Shakespearean plays every body dreaded were her favourite and she loved complex characters of the plots like that of Wuthering Heights. She knew the difference between a 'good character' and a 'protagonist' and she was one of the very few people who loved Severus Snape more then Harry Potter himself . This fact though, was also why she knew she had an eye for literature.

Maybe that was why she didn't falter when her peers and her teachers tried to talk her out of pursuing English Honours in college, and to her surprise, her Appa supported her at every step. Now, she was doing what she loved, she was teaching her favourite plays to students and at the same time worked as a Editor and Reviewer for Authors in need.

But despite all her love and fascination for her work, she absolutely hated the days when she had to take back to back lectures. It not only left her tired, but also very irritated because dealing with harmonal and over enthusiastic college students wasn't an easy deal.

To her bad luck, she had had exactly the day she hated, and to top it all, she was constantly worried about Manik the entire time. She didn't want him to take her words back any more negatively than they were intended to and neither did she want to force him into things, but at the same time she knew it was important for him to let go off things he had held on to for so long. He needed to see things differently than his vision and she wanted to make sure he do.

Hupfff! Complicated much!

Tired to her very bone, Nandini entered the house silent. She kept her bag aside and checked her WhatsApp to see if her husband dear had left any texts, but to her dismay he hadn't. She had texted him earlier about her busy day, cribbing and whining about it, which was also an attempt to decipher his mood and he had replied with a single laughing emoji. That wasn't a great response she had assumed and was disturbed with it.

Grumpy, she walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed, pouting to herself. In the back of her mind, the thought constantly nagged her, what if Manik read too much into her blunt words? What if he was hurt? Granted he was a lawyer and he was supposed to get things straight when delivered straight but then he was a lawyer only in the court room. Outside those four walls he was entirely someone else.

Puzzled with all the chaos in her mind ,Nandini decided it was better to have a shower than to run her mind in endless directions with no final results. She took a long, nice hot water bath and came out in her comfy payjamas and a sweet pink tank, rubbing mosturizor over her bare arms. Manik was yet not home, she noticed.

Distressed, she walked over to the kitchen to make something but was delightfully surprised on opening the fridge.

Her favourite oreo shake and a double cheese pizza was waiting for her there, ice cold, just like she loved. There was also a note over the pizza box.

"Best remedy for your hectic day. Enjoy :)".

She smiled at that and kissed the curvy handwriting she had grown to admire. It was a positive sign, wasn't it? Maybe, Manik wasn't mad, maybe he had not misunderstood any of it.

But then where was he?

She picked up a pizza slice and topped it with a lot of extra oregano and took a delicious bite , before picking up her phone from the other hand and calling her speed dial. The call connected instantly but with the dialler tone, she could also hear a vibration nearby. Munching on the pizza Nandini walked into Manik's study and rolled her eyes to find his phone kept on his study table, which otherwise was a mess.

This was also a telltale sign he had been working on some important case, because otherwise he was a neat person, who needed everything to be at its exact place, so much that sometimes Nandini considered getting him treated for OCD. She disconnected the call, worried for Manik usually didn't leave the house without his phone.

Which could also mean Manik was home!

Slapping her forehead, Nandini's eyes roamed all over the study, before stopping on the other side of his library, the part where he usually kept his painting materials. She tiptoed there, making sure her pizza munching doesn't make sounds and she met the most adorable site she could meet.

Manik Malhotra was sleeping, with his arms crossed, his back supported on the chair, and few crayons clasped in his fingers, and his ear pods plucked in, as he slept peacefully, his face the epitome of innocence he carried in his heart. He was the guy who even made Pink look classy on guys and Nandini immediately leaned to click a selfie, pointing at their matching coloured clothes, before clicking his solo picture too.

For some reason she couldn't woke him up. Instead, she took one of the ear cords to know what he was listening to. To her surprise, it wasn't song, just a tune, a guitar tune that didn't even sound professionally recorded. But that didn't make her deny it was addictive, the tune struck some place in her heart that she couldn't point, but the fuzzy feeling she got was amazing. She quickly transferred the tune from his I-pod to her phone, in the process accidentally pulling out the other cord from his ear and that made him jerk up.

Manik jerked open his eyes to find Nandini leaning into him, for she was trying to put back the ear cord. Their eyes met and he pulled her inattentive slef making her land up in his lap. Before Nandini could react, or even speak one word, Manik had wrapped his arms around her waist, and put his head on her shoulder, sleeping again.

Nandini couldn't help but smile at him, because she noticed the way he leaned side ways on the small couch so that her body was half lying on him too, and she was comfortable.

This man was too caring for a human.

She stroked her hair and kissed his temple, before her eyes fell on the A4 paper kept on the table. It was a charcoal sketch, a simple landscape at one glance but Nandini knew nothing was simple with Manik. His paintings were his feelings, and the simple landscape for sure meant something else, something deeper.

She absolutely loved how he hadn't used any traditional colours for the sunset. The dark colours at the bay made way for the light colours to mix up, and the dark sky complimented the background perfectly. Nandini knew he painted, she didn't knew he could sketch so good too.

Despite the beautifully sketched sunset's calmness, Nandini grew restless. What did a sunset meant to him? Was he thinking about the day ending, or was she missing something? Was she reading too much into the lines?

She didn't remember how long she stared at the landscape before she fell asleep in his lap, lying over him. His smell was luring her into him, and his warmth was the comfort she had been seeking all day. This was good, and everything else could wait.

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Nandini woke up groggy, rubbing her eyes as she tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness around. What time was it? She turned to find her mobile only to realise it was almost midnight and she was in her bedroom. Half sleepy she walked out, and heard her husband humming in the kitchen.

Without opening her eyes completely, she walked dazed to the kitchen, and hugged him from behind, resting her cheek against his back, the skin to skin contact making her aware he was probably bare chest, but who cares?

It was her legally wedded husband anyway.

Manik smiled as he felt the baby sneak her petite arms around his waist. He was almost certain she had fallen asleep again when the knots forming in his stomach told him another story, because his wife was busy caressing his chest and randomly kissing his back.

He pulled her to his front, watching her irritated expression.

"You need actual food first", he chuckled at her face, while she pouted with sleep filled eyes. She watched him dish out some rice and Daal, and mix it with some Mayonnaise.

Nandini had weird food habits and she knew it, but she never thought her husband would pamper her with them instead of bickering over it with her. She watched Manik make her eat and he ate the same without complaining. Her eyes teared out at that.

"Why do you love me so much that you are eating rice With Mayo without fussing?", she asked with a clogged throat and misty eyes.

Manik looked at her likes she was some alien.

"Umm maybe because I love Mayo too?".

Manik didn't remember was it the spoon first or the pillow, or was it the entire jug of water over his head. All he remembered at the end was the laughing mess they were, rolling on the floor first and later in the shower.
It didn't help either that he leaned to kiss her in the shower and she slipped at the exact same moment.

It was close to two when both lay in bed, side by side, staring at the ceiling plenty of thoughts running in their mind. But they knew they were up for some chaos when they both turned and blurt out simultaneously.

"Explain me the sunset".

"Come with me to Delhi".

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