#Note : I'm continuing this story on Wattpad. I've already updated the first 6 parts there. Check it out and follow it there if interested.
Link : https://www.wattpad.com/story/103254171-endless-love-a-manan-ss
|| Prologue ||
In a top floor apartment of one the tallest New York city sky scrappers, a man stood in the balcony sipping beer and looking out at the cities hustle and bustle in deep thought. It was night time and the city couldn't have been lit any brighter. However, his apartment and his heart spoke a different story. There was only darkness and gloom in them. He heard his cell phone ring in his pocket; he didn't even bother to look at the person calling him. He took it out irritated and threw it on the table beside him. As far as he was concerned, there wasn't anything in his life that gave him any sense of excitement. The world as he knew it had lost its charm; nothing reached him anymore; nothing excited him; his threshold for bearing pain kept growing every day. There was a deep hollow inside him that was only deepening as days passed. He was getting buried inside it.
He tried every single thing to bring him out of this hollow- Beer, Women, Gambling. He threw these huge wild parties, slept around with some of the most beautiful women in the city, and submerged himself in alcohol and weed. Nothing gave him any pleasure or satisfaction. The more women he slept with, the more hungry he became; nobody could satisfy him. Nobody could make him feel like she did.
He was almost always high on something on the other, he couldn't function without alcohol. His friends, colleagues and business partners became used to these disgusting habits of his. Nobody said anything to his face. He was a necessary evil for them. His quality of work and his focus wasn't there anymore, but he was still the founding partner, CEO and the major shareholder of their multi-billion dollar empire. They tolerated his eccentricities while bad-mouthing and cursing him behind his back. He had huge anger issues. He fired people at the drop of a hat. People in his company were growing restless with his attitude and the heartless playboy image the magazines had created about him in the social circles. It was affecting the company's reputation.
He had pushed away all his friends away. There was no one he wanted to talk to. Not a single soul in the whole wide world. He was drowning in his own misery.
The phone kept ringing again and again. He answered it irritatingly, it was an international call. "What the hell do you want????" he barked.
"Manik!!!" he heard a familiar voice.
"Cabir ? yeh kaunse number se call kar raha hai tu? I am sorry, I am a little drunk.." he tried to pull all his energy and focus on the call. It was his best friend Cabir, probably the only person with whom he was in at least on speaking terms. At one point they were inseparable, they've been best of friends since childhood, but now, he avoided him. He didn't want to speak with anyone more than it was necessary.
"Manik...Listen to me carefully; me and Mukthi have come to India for a visit. You will never believe whom I ran into in Bangalore.
"Who?" Manik asked in the most indifferent tone.
"NANDINI"
"KYA???????"
"Haan mere bhai, woh yahi hain, main ne usko follow kiya and got the address for you. She is staying here with her chachu's family in an apartment complex in the business district. You should come down Manik."
Manik just got a 1000 volts charge pass into him. He couldn't believe that she was in India, hell, he didn't even think she was still alive.
"Bhai, don't lose sight of her, I am starting right now!" he hung up unable to believe that this was really happening. A jolt of energy passed through his brain creating a mad rush. A rush to meet the love of his life, his passion, his inspiration, his wife, Nandini. After hanging up his call with Cabir, he called his secretary Rachel.
"Rach, hon, get me a ticket to India for the earliest flight today?" he ordered.
"You taking a holiday right before the yearly board meeting. If I were you.." she was about to say but he cut her short.
"Do as you are told, meet me at the airport when you are done. I need to leave in the next couple of hours." He told her in the most authoritative tone and hung up.
He rushed into his room, pulled out his duffel bag and threw in a few pairs of clothes, his laptop, his phone charger and rolls of hundred dollar bills. He took a shower and grabbed a pale red shirt from his closet. It had a small N~M' embroidered on the pocket, hardly visible to anyone but that had meant a world to someone.
He looked at it and took a deep breath, it was a gift from her. He could feel the smell of her perfume in it even today, he passed his fingers through the button which she had sewn on it with her own hands. His mind wandered back to those memories, memories that he had miserably failed to erase from his head. They were the only things that kept him alive and they were also the only things that were killing him slowly. He closed his eyes and the entire scene came alive in front of his eyes.
"Manik, your shirt's button is missing. Tum aaise jaoge meeting ko??" It was her habit to fuss over him, she treated him like a small kid when it came to his food and clothes. She would hover like a bee over him until he finished everything that was put in the plate for him. She ran to the cupboard and got a thread and needle and started sewing it back, then and there.
"Nandini, baby I am getting late. I will just wear another shirt. OK?" He stood there irritated trying to stop her but she wouldn't take no for an answer. That was the time he and Aryamann had just started the business. He was this crazy workaholic husband. But Nandini was something else, she liked enjoying these small moments of life. She was at ease with the world, no rush, no tension. Whatever she did, she brought magic and love to it.
"Manik, you know, I remember my mom sewing onto my dad's shirt just like this when I was a little girl. It won't kill you to spend two minutes with you wife." She said in a complaining tone stealing a glance at her husband's face. He tense muscles were relaxing slowly.
He looked at her beautiful face forgetting all his frustrations and irritations, she was wearing a pink saree and her pallu was wrapped around and tugged in the front keeping it from interfering with all her running around. Her long hair was tied back, exposing her swan like neck which only had the mangalsutra around it. The front layers of her hair partially covered her forehead. She held one end of the thread in between her teeth and was putting back the button carefully, least it might prick him. He pushed her hair back gently and ran her thumb tracing her cheek. "Nandini, why don't you hire someone to help you at home?? Don't you have to work on your writing anymore?"
She closed her eyes feeling his touch and smiled. "Its only you and me Manik, I feel so happy when I do things for you. And I only write when I am happy, which is a lot these days, so doing all these small things for you actually makes me a good writer." She quipped cheerfully. She could do that. Bring positivity to any situation; make the saddest of the people feel good about themselves.
" ummm'bathein banana koi tum se seeke.." he put her hands around her waist pulling her a little close. He had told her this one time that he loved it when she wore a saree and ever since, she only wore sarees in the house. She was that crazy about him. She would go to any extent to make him smile, make him happy. Ever since their marriage, she added her and Manik's initials to all their clothes, a small trademark which was more or less invisible unless pointed out. Manik found it really silly. That wasn't her only habit. Even though their apartment was in New York, it was an exotic Indian feel to it. She had instilled character into each and every nook and corner of their house. Her paintings, her indoor garden, her music, her wind chimes, sweet smell of incense and candles. It was their own little heaven.
"Chalo hogaya..see how long did it take, not more than two minutes." She smiled looking up at him. Her husband was distracted looking at her beautiful face instead. She knew that look. "Maaanik????"
"accha? par mere paas aur paanch minute hain, don't you want your reward??" Manik lifted her in his arms and walked towards the bed.
"Kis liye reward?? Manik..choodu, you are getting late, Arya must be waiting for you." She protested.
"shhh.." he starting kissing her face gently and then moved to her neck. Pulling her hair open, he smelt her intoxicating fragrance that shot up a gushy warm feeling in his whole body. His hands moved quickly unwrapping her saree and kissing every inch of her soft silky skin. He muffled her moans of sweet pleasure by kissing her mouth fiercely. Time froze for the next few minutes as he drenched her body in his wild and passionate love before collapsing beside her exhausted after getting enough of her to last for the whole day.
He turned on his side looking at her covering herself with the sheets with a flushed face. "You are god's most beautiful creation , I love you so much." He bent down over her lips again as his phone rang with 'who let the dogs out' tone. Both of them laughed at the same time, that was the tone Manik had kept for his crazy business partner Aryamann. He let a deep breath out and answered "Haan Arya.."
Nandini sat up to get out of the bed but he held her hand and signaled her to stay. She looked at him smiling as he was making up excuses "...I am on my way, struck in the traffic dude...will be there in five min..bye"
He pulled her on his lap and nuzzled her ear "..I am sorry baby, I have to go."
"I know" she smiled touching his face with her hands and kissing his forehead. "I will wait for you in the evening.
"What time is it????" a naked blonde girl asked from his bed, breaking his flashback. She was holding her head due to splitting pain from her hangover.
"Time for you to leave." Manik threw her clothes at her and asked her to leave throwing a bunch of hundred dollar bills by her side.
~~~
P.S Hit like if you guys are interested. I shall continue it here. 😳
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