The Big Uneasy |COMPLETE| MaNan Fiction

Chapter 2: Getting To Know The Malhotras'

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Manik's POV

I wouldn't have remembered that I was married had I not seen the neat pile of presents still wrapped and lying on the settee. But where was she? I peeped into the closet and it was empty, I checked the balcony, another no show. I realized she must have gone down to meet the family – to say the least, even I was relieved – we wouldn't need to interact one on one until night again, and hopefully by then the ice will break.

As I descended the stairs, I heard sounds of laughter and merriment. I looked towards the main hall and saw my cousins and my niece and nephew surrounding her, they were talking animatedly with her as she laughingly replied to them, she looked comfortable finally. I Turned around and saw my daadi looking at me with a mischievous smile, I knew she had caught me looking at Nandini and had taken it otherwise, but I didn't bother to change her opinion – I had married her to keep daadi happy, and if she was happy, I was good.

I joined the family in the hall and soon we all were chatting and having a good time, but both of us made sure to keep our mutual interaction to bare minimum. Soon Robin got our wedding presents down for us, and we all got together opening them, it was a happy morning, when each one opened gifts reading out who they were from, the youngsters were most excited in unwrapping the presents, and from the corner of my eye I saw Nandini was only too happy to let them open her gifts, our interaction was limited to me passing her a gift, that I had opened and it turned out to be a saree for her.

The morning went on smoothly, until after lunch when everyone slowly retired to their rooms and I realized we were going to be on our own way earlier than we expected. I quickly thought of an excuse that I needed to go out, but it backfired, as daadi wouldn't let me go out, owing to the fact that it was Nandini's 'pag phere' and we had to go to her's. Fortunately, she saved us the awkwardness again, by spending the afternoon with my cousins in their room, going through wedding photographs and listening to their gossip. As much as I was relieved, now I had another tension in my head – an evening with the Murthy's, none of whom I knew too well. I knew her sister was my fan, and her mom was a kind lady who ran their small family business for their living – was that information enough to survive one evening? For the first time, I realized how lost Nandini must have felt yesterday, but she did a commendable job of not showing it.

In the evening, when we were to leave for the Murthy's I glanced at Nandini, she looked very happy and way more relaxed – I guess I understand, she was really looking forward to seeing her folks. I smiled slightly seeing her excitement, and she turned to look back at me with a smile, that is when I noticed it, but before I could tell her, daadi entered the room.

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Nandini's POV

The morning was going good so far. I had settled in with his cousins and the kids in the hall; they were excitedly chatting about the wedding, the news coverage, their friends etc. I found myself in similar company to that of Aliya – nostalgia was getting the better of me when one by one many of the family members joined in – bhabi, tayiji, daadi, tayaji; with their added company, I got busy in the moment. Soon everyone joined, including his sister Mukti and her friend Soha – I had noticed that they were around out of politeness; they weren't taking part in unwrapping the presents or talking, they were just sitting in the corner. I once tried to pull them in, by passing a gift for Mukti to unwrap, she seemed surprised at my gesture, but she took it with a tight smile, and when she thought that I wasn't looking, passed it on to Soha, who then tossed it back to the pile of presents. I felt strange, but I ignored it in light of other things.

Later in the afternoon, when I saw everyone dispersing to their respective rooms, I realized that Manik and I would be stranded together again – but then I saw even he was trying to escape by saying he had to leave, relief shot through me, but I was discouraged at the same time, seeing him show reluctance in being with me. It was a strange mixed feeling, but when daadi didn't allow him to go, a tiny part of me actually felt good – but that also brought me back to the situation of spending awkward moments with him – not being able to bear that either, this time I put in effort and told his cousins I would come to their room and chat some more – the cousins were only too happy and a glance at Manik told me, he was relieved too. Again with mixed feelings I went off to the cousins room.