"Nandiniii", calls Manik aloud from their bedroom. It's been almost 35 minutes that they returned home, but she not for once did come to him since she'd made him rest on the bed with the help of a headboard and two pillows, that's a first. Cause she's always the one to slump on the bed and left Manik to do the cooking and cleaning and other household chores. And today she seemed way too busy in the kitchen to even come up to him when he's calling her since then.

And also surprisingly, she let him use his pillow alone! Whereas, she'd always been the one not to let him use his pillow unless and until she'd been lying on the same. So the calculation was, she can use his pillow, but he can't use his own until she's there with him on it. Did she not have a pillow of her own? Well, surely she did. But who'd care using her own when she'd got free access to her boyfriend's/fiance's/soon-to-be hubby's pillow? Too childish, but he loved her throwing such weird tantrums at him. So yaa, that was another first which he didn't like.

"Nandini!!", Manik called again. No matter how he wanted to get his ass up from the bed and find her out and bring her back and bind her with him, if that's gonna make her stay back with him, he won't mind doing that anyway. But his ass of a leg was shot and he couldn't just move it around freely.

His phone rang showing the caller to be his CO. He straightened himself picking up the call. Whatever was said from the other end, it made him smile brightly and his eyes sparkled. Nandini who'd entered the room just before he picked up the call, clearly understood what might have been said on the other side and she was happy for him, but somehow today that smile couldn't make its way to her face.

After all, he was the hero of the mission. He'll surely be given a new badge for his bravery, she knew by his expression. He'd made his unit take a safer place at the time of the attack which resulted in the safety of the maximum of the Officers, even if it was a matter of him taking a bullet in his right leg. Everyone was very very proud of him.

And despite, she felt so much pride, she was guilty and sad too. Guilty to act as such during his departure, and sad cause of his injury.

"Nanduuu" Manik sang. He opened his mouth to sing a different tone out of her name again, but her eyes fell on the door. She stood there without a word, head hung low, fingers fidgeting with each other, and lips seemed pouted from the angle he watched her.

He was reminded of some old incidences staring at her. He smiled remembering that day,

Nandini was called to the principal's cabin for ditching the display practice for the Annual Day and was enjoying icecreams with her BFF Navya at the back of the Canteen. And Manik being the volunteer of the Annual Day was called by the principal for failing to do his duty of managing the students.

Involuntarily his eyes went on Nandini who'd been standing by the wall at the other end, head hung low, fingers fidgeting with one another and lips pouted.

Who'd even say looking at this little cuteness that she'd actually bunked her tasks and had been chilling with friends?, Manik thought.

"I'm sorry, Sir. But Nandini Murthy isn't at fault. She had informed me before going to the Canteen. She'd been practicing under the sun since morning and might've gotten tired... that's why I let her.", Manik lied. He could see her lips breaking into a smile from the corner of his eyes, and that made him happy too.

"You shouldn't let students roam around without the teacher's permission, Manik.", said the principal.

"Yes, Sir. It won't happen again. Sorry."

"And you, Navya. You're supposed to inform teachers or any of the volunteers before you move out. Got it?"

"Yes, Sir.", said Navya.

"You all may disperse."

Manik walked out first followed by Nandini and Navya. Just as they moved out of the cabin, Navya walked away willingly pushing Manik aside by her shoulder, and glared at him. Well, he knew why she did so. He just defended Nandini and not her, which resulted in her getting warned by the princi. Manik chuckled.

"Manik!", called Nandini from behind and ran up to him and he turned to her.

"Yes?", he asked raising his brows. But she didn't reply and tiptoed as her arms wrapped around his neck and she muttered "Thank you-thank you-thank youuu!" and stepped back before he could even realize anything.

'Did she just hug me?', he questioned himself.

'I think so.', said his heart in a daze.

Soon gathering himself up, he said, "This time I saved you, but I won't do that next time. You better abide by the rules okay?"

"Can't promise, Laddoo. Tum ho na?", she smirked walking away swaying her ponytail.

'Was she even real?', he muttered to himself staring at her retreating figure, dumbfounded.

________

She was behaving indifferently since he'd returned from the mission and he clearly noticed that. Starting from the hug which she didn't reciprocate when he stepped out of the ship and pulled her into his arms. To not speaking even a word other than a necessity since he returned home.

"Come here." She shook her head. He observed her keenly without a word. She didn't move from her place either. Well, she was standing 3-4 steps away from the bed, but he didn't move and waited for her to do something.

After almost 5 minutes or so, he heard her sob, as if she'd been trying to hold herself back from breaking down. He couldn't take it anymore and pulled her towards himself. She didn't put any strength to pull back and let him do whatever he intended to. But for once she didn't look up at his eyes as she landed on him and rested her head on his heart.

"What happened?", he asked as he pulled her closer.

"Nothing.", she said inaudible. Only if they weren't that close, he might've missed the word that just escaped her mouth.

"And now the truth. What happened?", he waited patiently until she felt she was supposed to answer something he asked.

"I'm not your lucky charm."

"Okay... and?"

"I acted selfishly that morning."

"Alright... and?"

"I became your weakness when I was supposed to be your strength."

"Fine... and?", with each passing question, his grip around her tightened and she whispered each line which was barely audible to his ears, yet he could clearly hear what she spoke.

"You should hate me."

"Hmm... anything more?"

"You deserve a girl way better than me.", she said looking up at him this time. Her voice cracked, eyes were blood red, but she wasn't crying yet but definitely on the verge of it.

It didn't take him a while to roll themselves over the bed caring about his injured leg and pinned her down. He didn't care holding his weight on his elbows and pressed her fully under his frame. Each part of their bodies connected with the other. The next thing she remembered was his lips working so passionately over hers that she couldn't match his level and surrendered herself to him.

Soon his lips trailed down her collarbone marking a spot right behind her ear as she hissed, which felt more like a moan as she gripped his hair in fists pulling him more to herself. Taking his own sweet time, he rested his forehead on hers, not before planting a long peck on her lips. Breathes mingled as they panted to catch some air to make their lungs functional and hearts beated rhythmically.

He didn't care moving away from her and whispered right over her face, "You've no idea what the words escaping from your mouth a while back did to me." He paused. She didn't say anything either and waited for him to continue.

"I don't care a damn even if you're the worst for me from your point of view. Cause, from every angle, every direction I look, you turn out to be the bestest of the best anyone can ever be for me. And I know I should hate you or slap you for speaking what you spoke a few minutes back, but I'm so hopelessly in love with you to not love you, let alone hate." Until now, both had their eyes locked, but his eyes held a lot more intensity for her to even look at them.

"And you might be my weakness. But it's that kind of a weakness that builds up all the strength in me and makes me unbreakably strong. You're the source of all the strength it takes for me to live life like a life. If I'm a world full of chaos, you're my calm, my axis. And you were, are, and will forever be my lucky charm, my shining star." She still had her eyes lowered down. He moved up from her forehead and kissed her on the mouth, making her look up at him again.

"I'm sorry. Sorry for being rude to you.", she said quietly, eyes pooled.

"Shh... you don't have to be. I shouldn't have tried to hide the matter of my mission being dangerous. And your reaction was justified, Sweatheart." 

"You know, this was my first mission with this ring and this MaNan bracelet and it's soon gonna get me a badge in front of the whole Naval Staff. Each time my eyes fell on each of these, I remembered you were there. With me. Holding my hand, whispering, 'I'm with you, Manik.' And that gave me all the strength it required out there in Ladakh. You ARE my lucky charm!", his voice was full of sincerity.

He continued, "And I love you more than any words could ever explain. And I love the way you show all your rights on me and throw tantrums at me without thinking twice. And I want you to throw the Nandini avoiding me ever since I came back, far far away so that she can never come back to my little doll ever again. And no matter how much I like this sundress on you, I still love you a lot more in my shabby, old, worn-out t-shirts. And I want you to change in them as soon as possible before I myself do the honors. And with these red eyes with 2-3 drops rolling down your chubby, pink cheeks, running red clown-like nose, you look like a hot mess, and you look so sexy that it's turning me on." He said tracing each part of her face with his fingertips.

It didn't take her much strength to push him away and stand up on the floor. She walked up to the cupboard, shuffled through the piles of clothes, fished out a tee and not to mention his, stood in front of the dresser, unzipped the yellow sundress and threw it to some corner which she didn't even care to look at and pulled over his red t-shirt. He silently stared at her transforming from a silent girl who felt distant, to his carefree girl who felt his ever known.

She walked back and landed directly over him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and sighed audibly. Manik smiled holding her closer by her waist.

"Mani.", she whispered over his neck.

"Jee meri jaan.", he responded placing his palm on the back of her head. She shook her head from his neck tightening her grip around him. He didn't bug her too and let her stay.

"You're still crying?", he asked already knowing the answer. She nodded.

"Show me your face?" She nodded again. Manik exhaled deeply rolling them over, but she still stayed clung to him.

"Babe!" His tone seemed to be a warning. She finally gave in and he pulled her face away just so he could look at her.

"Why these tears?", he asked brushing her hair away from her face and wiped away her tears.

She pulled him in a hug again saying, "I was scared... so so scared."

"Of?", he wasn't sure if he knew the answer, but he was quite sure he knew exactly the answer.

"Of losing you. You're my everything. And I was scared of losing my everything." Though her words made his heart flutter, it made his heart heavy too.

He pulled her face from the crook of his neck again and briefly planted a soft butterfly kiss on her lips and let his lips linger on hers for a while before saying, "I was scared of not being able to hold you, kiss you, feel you, talk to you, hear your giggles ever again too, darling. You were the only one that flashed in front of me, when I was so close to death. I realized all over again, what you meant to me." He kissed her forehead and she felt his lips move right over there as he said, "You're my everything. Everything."

Rising his face slightly above, just as far it took to look at her properly, he said, "Let's not let this incident make us weaker. Instead, let's keep in mind how this event made us realize how much we mean to each other. How much we love each other. Okay?" She nodded staring at him intently.

"Now... tell me that you're dying to get kissed by me. And also that, you love me.", he demanded making her giggle.

"I'm so badly waiting to get kissed by you now and also the time I said I wasn't.", she shrugged. "And I love, love, love you, baby boy.", she said pulling his cheeks. He slapped her hands away, she laughed.

"And also say that you'll be waiting no matter where I ever go."

"I will be waiting. No matter how long or dangerous mission or course you ever go on."

"I will be waiting too. And I love you too. And I'm dying to taste your lips too. And I hope you know that.", it sounded more like a promise. She smiled, slowly moved her thumb through his jaw with a whole lot of admiration in her eyes. He decreased the gap between their lips, she slowly closed her eyes waiting for him as he slowly grazed his lips over hers.

But he moved back saying, "No. Not now. I'm not finished yet." Initially, she cringed her brows, but then nodded as if she was very much gonna concentrate on his words and not on his lips.

"And you're the cutest baby girl I'd ever seen as a kid, the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen as a teenager, and the most attractive lady I'd ever seen as a man to ever imagine you in my clothes and shout out to the world 'Move back, she's my girl.' I feel like the luckiest person alive. Gosh! It still feels like a dream that I can sleep and wake up to you every fucking day of my existence. By God, I'm so whipped." He shook his head hopelessly, she laughed.

"You seriously have a way with words, Manik! Indeed you speak less, but when you do, you make sure to use the exact words at exact places and make every vocabulary escaping these lips, one of the most beautiful, deep, and unique ones. And whatever shit I speak 24/7, literally makes no sense in front of yours.", she said grazing his lower lip with his thumb.

"But I just love the way your lips move when you speak as if they're asking my lips to create a mesh with them. You know what I mean right? It's-" He was cut in between by the spank that just landed on his chest as she giggled. Without a moment's delay, his lips captured hers, and drank in the sound of her giggles. Hands traced all the not so unknown spots under her T-shirt.

Both were hopelessly, irremediably, remedilessly, incurably in love with each other.

They loved each other with a promise to be waiting for the other... without a specific timespan, without a specific location.

Even if that meant to wait for each other to meet in a parallel world, where forever would actually mean forever, hamesha would have a true meaning... which probably didn't exist in this worldly life.

~Wherever you go
Whatever you do

I will be right here waiting for you
Whatever it takes
Or how my heart breaks
I will be right here waiting for you~

~THE END~

A/N: The story of Commander Manik Malhotra & Baker Nandini Murthy ends here.

I'm getting so emotional rn... The first ever story I wrote, got me so much of love, so much of support, enthusiasm, and appreciation from your end, that it still feels so unreal... so unbelievable.

Never expected that a girl like me who had no experience in writing would be loved so much by all of you. You all are sweethearts. Thank you so much for the beautiful, kind, and heartfelt comments and your precious time for reading my story and all the likes on "I Will Be Waiting". It truly means the world to me.

Will be back with something new soon Insha Allah. I do have some ideas, but let's see if I wanna write on those or not. You guys can comment on what you want me to write next time.

Loads of love from,

Ramisa