Nandini got a call from Jeff late in the evening saying there's some urgent emergency at the cafe. She was already grumpy, Manik hadn't shown up since morning, didn't make an effort to talk to her, she didn't receive any surprises from him either.

Did she love receiving such surprises from him?

Yes, she did. Especially the cards with small notes, a big 'sorry' and something or the other doodled around the 'sorry'. 'Such a kid he is and yaa, a pathetic artist too!', she chuckled to herself but again returned back to her grumpy self recalling how he ignored her today and stomped her feet, munching in the Dairy Milk Bubbly that Manik had gifted the previous day with a note, "Cause you're bubbly like a little doll ;)"

A/N: Samthaan saying, "Dairy Milk Bubbly ho tum!" Also, him calling her a 'Little girl'!! Ughhh how much I miss themmm *sobs hard*

A/N (new): Okay, f*ck my carelessness!!!
I literally wrote 'Little girl' instead of 'Little doll' in this chapter!! How could I????? *bursts out in tears*
Now I don't wanna change it, cause the inline comments of those paragraphs will get deleted then.
So please don't mind...
Ughh I'm such a dumbo😭😭

She pushed the glass door open to be welcomed by darkness. She went closer to the switchboard to switch on the lights, but nothing helped. "Power cut?", she said to herself, confused. Just when she was about to call the electrician, the lights turned on with the sound of guitar strumming by a guy, who was facing his back and a guitar in hand. It didn't take her long to recognize who that was before she could react, he started humming in his ecstatic voice and turned around looking right into her soul.

Once he ended, he kept the guitar back and strolled to reach closer to her and said, "Sorry for my trashy voice, literally was out of touch from music for decades lol but the lyrics were straight from my heart huh.", and chuckled softly. She didn't react, just kept staring at him, dazed.

Taking a step closer, he cupped her cheeks ever so gently and said looking straight into her eyes, "Nandini, I didn't prepare any speech, I haven't planned anything about what I'd say to you today, I can't write you an essay with stupid pick up lines either. What I can say is, I love you, Nandini. I love you more than anything in my life. I love you with everything in my life. I know, I have been really mean to you, broke your heart, pushed you away, and left when we were just coming a small step closer each day. Even today, I'm not going to promise you that I'll stay by your side forever. Cause if I do, it'd be nothing but a false promise." After a few moments, he continued, "My job isn't a stable one and you know that. I can get called for duty anytime, get posted anywhere, go on missions... Situations would come when I'd have to leave even when I don't want to. So instead, I can promise you that, you'll find me by your side maybe not always, but I'll be there as long as I can. Ours might not be a classical love story with a guaranteed happy ending, but I can guarantee that I'll keep loving you till my last breath and we can surely write our own story right? Together?!" She didn't say anything yet, but her eyes softened and appeared as if she was on the verge of crying. Manik resumed, "Nandini, you know since the day I left you, I started getting detached from the rest important things in my life too. Want is not the word for me, I need you, Nandini. I need you to maintain my sanity. I love you. I love you.", he chanted like a prayer, voice almost inaudible.

"Manik-", she couldn't manage to say anything further, cause she was bowled out by the truthfulness of his words, the sincerity of his voice, the longing in his eyes. She tiptoed, snaking her arms around his neck. Wrapping his arms around her frame, lifting her feet above the ground, pulling her further to himself. She snuggled deeper into the crook of his neck, he inhaled in her jasmine fragrant hair, eyes closed.

When it almost felt like a decade, Manik raised his head a bit to peek in to see her face, she still had her eyes closed. Smiling he said, "Umm Nandini, I'd love to stay like this forever, but I have a surprise for you." He said gleefully. Nandini couldn't help but raise her face to look at his smiling face with buckets of admiration, still holding him close.

He raised his left brow finding her staring at his face after a couple of minutes. She nodded in the negative and dipped her head again saying, "I don't want any more surprises, Manik. You've already given me the bestest present ever." He smiled.

But said almost immediately pulling her out of the hug, "Arre, but I want to. Pleaseee." She chuckled.

"Okay okay. So much of excitement? Now I'm even excited to see what the surprise actually is." He strode into the kitchen, muttering a 'Just a moment.' and came out with a small pastry box in his hand.

She took the box from him. It had a note stuck to it as usual, which read, 'For my love, with love! <3' She smiled looking up at him, as a slight red hue adorned her cheeks. She tiptoed for planting a quick peck on his right cheek, and it was his turn to blush now.

Opening the box, it revealed her favorite cheesecake, a mini blueberry cheesecake. She chirped, "Aww it's so cute, Manik. Where did you buy this from?" The smile that was playing on his lips until now faded.

He defended, "Ye maine banaya hai!"

"Wha- What???"

"Oh yes! I made it myself. And see how perfect it turned out just on the first trial.", he flaunted himself, she looked suspicious. "Now stop asking questions and tell me how it tastes?"

"Now I seriously think you didn't make it. It's so yum!!", She said taking a bite of it. He raised his collars in response, she giggled wholeheartedly and he found himself silently praying to keep her like that forever.

Almost an hour later, both were sitting on the white porch swing on the open side of her cafe, her head resting on his shoulder and him staring at the beautiful twinkling stars which looked brighter cause of the calm weather. Both getting updated about each others' life, how they had been when they weren't in touch in the past 20 days. Nandini got emotional hearing how he managed when he had none to talk to, and promised entwining their hands that from now onwards, he'll always find her in first place for him to talk whenever he wanted and share whatever he wanted to. Manik was quite angered hearing that Aryaman had tried coming close to her when he was at the sea, but she calmed him down saying, "What's gone is gone, Manik. We can't change that and we won't look back at that either. What we have is the present and the future, and we won't let anyone come in between us. We'd make the best out of whatever we are destined in the near future, together." He was admiring her all the while, and kissed on their entwined hands, sealing the promise.

Peaceful silence between them broke as Manik said, "Waise... Nandini, don't you think you might've forgotten to say something?"

She acted innocent as if she wasn't understanding what he was indicating to, "I've forgotten something? Nah, I don't think so.", she said confidently with an evident smirk on her lips.

"Oh really, Miss Murthy?"

"Of course, Mister Malhotra."

"So you've decided it?", he asked as if challenging her, she nodded frantically. "Okay then, I'm going." and got up to leave. Seeing her not making any efforts to stop him, he turned back after taking 5-6 steps he turned back again and said, "I am going!!" She shrugged. He again started walking and took a U-turn and returned back to her after taking a couple of steps. "So you're seriously not gonna say anything?", he asked with a last ray of hope. She nodded in a 'no'. "Fine then, let's go back home now.", he said with a bored face.

They returned back home together and were bombarded with questions. Nandini was going to say something, but Manik said that he was returning from the Sports Complex when he met her on the way. Anant & Tara nodded, but how could Cabir let go of the matter so easily.

Once their parents left, Cabir blocked their way coming in the middle of stairs, "Ab sach sach bata, where have you two been?", said Cabir raising his right brow.

"Aur tujhe kyu lagta hai that I lied?", Manik said with a bored face.

"I was at the cafe of Sports Complex since evening and didn't spot you there. Mr. India hai kya tu?" Nandini giggled and Manik glared at her and then at Cabir. "Arre why do you have to hide? In fact, I'm happy that you're spending some time with your..."

"With my?"

"Behen.", he said pointing at Nandini.

"BEHEN???", both shouted in unison. "What the heck?", asked Manik. "What do you mean, bhai?", asked Nandini.

"Yaa. See, Nandu is my sister, and you're my brother. So bane na tum dono 'Brother & Sister'?", said Cabir raising his collars as if he had invented some new theory.

"Bullsh*t.", Manik slanged. "F*ck all.", Nandini did too.

"Arre arre hyper kyu ho rahe ho, I was just stating facts.", Cabir shrugged.

"Manik meri bhai nhi hain!!", retorted Nandini. Cabir smirked.

"Achha then what is he?"

"I'm too exhausted, I wanna take rest now, move aside." Without waiting for a reply, she left.

Manik was going to leave too, but Cabir came in front. "Tu kaha chala?" Manik didn't reply but pushed him aside and left rolling his eyes. And Cabir burst out laughing, "Oh it's so much fun to tease them."

The next day, Manik accompanied her to her cafe, just for the sake of spending some time with her, since it was his last day at the harbor. And moreover, Cabir was accompanying them to the ship as well. An officer had gotten sick, and Cabir was ordered to replace him. Anant informed that on the dinner table last night. Cabir smirked giving an I-am-not-going-to-leave-you look, making Manik roll his eyes.

Nandini was busy registering in the counter after reaching when her phone pinged inside her bag. It was a message from Jeff, it said, 'I'm so sorry for the newly installed warzone in our cafe. And all the credit goes to Navya and Manik to destroy your favorite place. It's my off today, but if you want, I can come to help you clean the mess. And please don't get a heart attack, that's why I'm warning you earlier.' She looked up at him to find hin smiling way too awkwardly now. Without a moment's delay, she rushed to the kitchen, just to come to a halt on her steps looking at the view in front. She then turned to Manik demanding some clarifications.

She was spitting fire through her eyes. Manik started with a nervous smile, "You know what? I can explain it." After few moments he continued, "I had tried making a cheesecake earlier previous day, but I didn't know it's that hard to make one. I had asked Jeff for the recipe that you liked, but she was already annoyed with me for barging into the kitchen without her permission, so she denied for any kind of help. So after multiple failures, I called Navya. And she's such a sweetheart. She helped me with everything and thus an 'eatable' cheesecake came out." and ended with an oh-I'm-so-proud-of-myself look and Nandini stared at him with an are-you-even-serious look.

"And, don't you worry. I'll get it cleaned."

"Really, Manik?" He nodded. "Fine then, please do the honors."

After almost 2 hours, Manik finished his task and proudly looked at his work. His eyes fell on the watch, it was almost 11:30 am, he had to go to the administration building to collect a few documents. Nandini was busy attending customers, so he left the thing in his hand with a note and left.

Nandini came to the kitchen searching for Manik, but he was nowhere to be seen. So, she thought of calling him, when her eyes fell on a box kept in the middle of the counter. It had a note with it too. It said, "So sorry to leave without informing you, but you were busy, so I thought it'd be better not to disturb you. And also I'm very sorry for the mess in the kitchen as well. I literally forgot to clean it up yesterday, all thanks to my beautiful distraction (you know what I mean *winks*). Anyways, I hope this box makes it up for both the sorries. I love you, my little girl.

Yours always,
The guy who's still waiting to hear 'something' from you"

She blushed reading the words written on a torn piece of paper. Opening the box, it revealed yet another mini blueberry cheesecake. She took a bite of it and it was perfect! Yesterday's one was a bit too sweet, actually very sweet, but in the end he made it with so much of love, that she couldn't help but compliment him.

The day too passed in a jiffy, Manik had come to pick her up as promised and both went out jogging together as well, after ages. Nandini had demanded that he needs to make it up for the times they had been away from each other, and Manik was more than ready to give her that.

It felt like she had just realized that he'd leave tomorrow and she was getting kind of some bad feelings. She got up from her bed, burged into Manik's room, he seemed to be sleeping. She sat beside him and brushed his hair staring at his face as tears streamed down her eyes, She leaned ahead planting a soft peck on his forehead. That broke Manik's sleep.

"Nandini? What happened why are you crying?", said Manik sitting up, wiping her tears.

She said nothing, just wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered in between her sobs, "You're going away tomorrow. You'll leave me again."

Manik pulled her apart and cupped her face and softly said, "Nandu, I'm just going for 15 days right? And I'll be back to you after that. Please stop crying, sweetheart."

Sweetheart? Did he really call her a sweetheart? Yes, he did. And he meant it too. That made her cry again.

"Oh you're such a baby. I call you right, 'A little girl'. Look at this red nose, you're looking like a joker.", he laughed at his own joke to make her lighter. She didn't laugh, but wiped her face and glared at him. Well that was accepted by him too. It's better than seeing her crying at least.

She hugged him again and said, "I'll miss you."

"Arre we'll remain in contact over the phone na? I promise, I'll call you at least once a day. And in case, just in case, if the network remains poor, you can still drop me an email na? I'll check it whenever I get time? And moreover, I don't think I'll miss you. You know why? Cause you'll always remain here, in my heart. So how can you miss someone who's actually there with you? Haina?"

Next morning she woke up as the sunrays burged into her room. She smiled remembering how she fell asleep in his room last night. She had actually woke up when he was carrying her to her room, slowly laid her down, covered her with the blanket and kissed her forehead whispering an 'I love you. And I'll miss you too, love' She had blushed and prayed that he doesn't notice that.

The smile soon went away as she realized Manik, Anant and Cabir were going to leave in an hour. She hurried to the washroom, changed in a knee length simple white frock and left for downstairs. There he was sitting on the breakfast table with others. Without thinking twice, she sat beside Manik. None questioned her either.

All left for the port, Nandini hugged her dad and bhai, trying her best to hold her tears back and said, "I'll miss you both." She side hugged Manik too, trying not to make anything obvious and broke the hug soon, half heartedly.

Manik was keeping his bag in his room, when he heard a knock. He went to the door and found none. Momentarily, his eyes fell on the round window and eyes almost popped out of the sockets. He rushed to the window to open it, just to see that face, which now looked nothing less than a beautiful mess with tears streaming down. How could she look so damn gorgeous always? He questioned himself.

She looked desirable. Before his mind could process anything, he found his face leaning forward until his lips landed on hers. She didn't make any move to move away. After sometime, he broke the kiss and joined his forehead with hers.

"Can't you just pull me in through this window and I stay hidden in your room?"

He laughed sadly, "I wish."

She sighed praying that the bad feelings were just a false alarm and everything remains good. It was almost time to leave, but he suddenly didn't feel like to let her go. He heard her whisper, "Come back soon. I will be waiting."

A/N: 3000+ words!! The longest chapter till date!! A chapter with overflowing MaNan romance lol.
Hope it compensates the long time I made you all wait for. Did it?