5

Third Person’s POV

Nandini looked at the jewelry sets she had taken out of her suitcase a while back and spread them over the small space on the bed.

Those jewelry were given to her by her parents on her wedding.

It was not much, but it was all she had.

'I will take them to the jeweler tomorrow and ask how much money I can get after selling them.'

Initially, she was a slightly hesitant about selling them because her parents had given those jewelry to her.

But later, she remembered how they handed them to her.

It was done just out of the formality. To show their status to her in-laws and others. It was not done out of love.

'That is why it won't hurt when I part from these. After all, a gift without love or thought as no emotional value or attachment at all.'

Sighing heavily, Nandini clears the bed, keeping all the jewelry boxes back inside her suitcase.

She hopes she will get enough money to at least cover her fee for her music classes.

She has been wanting to learn music for a long time now, but she never got the courage to ask her parents about it. She always hesitated because she thought they would not allow her.

But now, she does not have such hesitation. May be because she now knows she is competely alone in this world.

Her husband does not care about her.

Her in-laws are nice, but they might also abandon her once they find out about their son's thought regarding this marriage.

She does not know why Manik married her. She only knows there is a reason, and he will divorce her once as soon as he gets what he wants from this marriage.

'What after that? Where will I go?' Nandini wonders.

She has no one in this world and she has nowhere to go too. She will be homeless once she gets out of this house.

'That is why I need to make something of myself soon.'

Nandini nods at that thought. She does not have any other choice too. She needs to get a job and save some money so she will at least be able to rent a place to live after she leaves this house.

A wry smile curves her lips as she thinks about her situation. She has her parents and her husband. On the basis of that, she should have two homes to call her own.

But she does not have even one. Neither her parents' house nor her husband's house is her own.

Shaking her head at her condition, Nandini walks to the window and looks outside, leaning on the window frame.

It had been raining a few hours back, so the earthy smell somewhat soothed her aching heart.

As it was already dark, she looked at the clock and found it was already 11 pm.

Still, her husband is not home.

While eating the dinner earlier with Manik's parents, they told her to call him and ask when he would return from office.

She had hesitated then because she knew she did not have any right to do that.

After all, Manik has made it clear to her that she is his unwanted wife to whom he will never give any rights.

So, keeping her phone on silent mode, she had pretended to call Manik in front of them. Then, after some time, she told them Manik's line was busy and she would call him later.

She had felt bad for lying to them but what choice did she have?

Looking at the clock again, Nandini sees the time to be 11:10 pm now.

She chews her bottom lip and twirls the edge of her shawl over her finger--a habit she has formed since her childhood whenever she is in a dilemma over something.

Now too, she is in a dilemma whether or not to call Manik. It is late, after all.

'No, Nandini. Don't overthink and complicate things for yourself. Manik has made it clear he wants nothing to do with you. So, you should also do the same. Don't think about him. Since he has refused to accept you as his wife, it is better you also stop considering him as your husband.'

With that thought in her mind, Nandini walks to the bed and lays down, hoping to get some sleep.

***********

Manik balances himself, breaking his fall as he stumbles over the threshold of his room.

Reaching to the center of his room, he blinks his eyes rapidly, trying to focus his vision, but all he can see is all things in his bedroom floating in the air.

At the back of his mind, there is a realization that he is drunk.

And why not?

After all, after meeting with Myra today, all the hurt he had buried somewhere in his heart had burst forth.

And with that hurt, his anger had surfaced too. The anger that increased with each passing second whenever Myra talked about Raghav fondly and whenever she smiled and laughed.

Seeing Myra happy had flared his need for revenge.

Also, along with this all, he also had a guilt in his heart. The guilt of hurting an innocent girl and also burning her in the fire of his revenge.

He knows Nandini does not deserve what she got and that guilt is also weighing him down.

So, due to all emotions he felt, both his mind and heart had been in chaos, and that is why he had decided to drink his chaos away.

But the only things getting drunk did to him were blurring his vision, slurring his speech, and breaking his balance.

Other than that, his hurt, anger, and guilt are still intact.

He cannot do anything about his hurt and anger because they are due to Myra and Raghav's betrayal.

But his guilt....

"Nan..Nandii...niii.." Manik slurs, looking around the room.

"Nandiii...niiii," he calls out a little louder this time, hoping she will answer back.

Nandini frowns in her sleep as she hears a voice calling her name.

Still with the sleep clouding her mind, she tries to open her eyes to find the source of the voice.

But after a few seconds, she completely wakes up as she hears something shatter.

Immediately opening her eyes, she sits up on the bed to see what shattered and who shattered it.

And the scene in front of her makes her eyes widen.

Because in the middle of the room, she sees Manik swaying, trying hard to balance himself.

There were blue glass pieces scattered on the floor around him. Looking at those pieces, she figures out that Manik had knocked over the blue vase that was on the center table of the room.

Seeing his condition, Nandini realizes Manik is drunk. So much so that he is having difficulty even standing straight.

She climbs down from the bed and walks to where Manik is stading, taking care not to step on the broken glass pieces.

Once there, she is relieved to see Manik wearing the shoes.

Carefully, she holds his arm and pulls him toward the bed.

Making him sit on the edge of the bed, she stands in front of him.

"Manik, would you be able to take off your shoes?"

Hearing her question, Manik nods his head. "Yes, I can."

Saying that, Manik shakes his legs violently, causing his shoes to fly to the opposite corners of the room.

Nandini shakes her head in disappointment, making Manik lie on the bed.

"You sleep on the bed. I will sleep on the sofa after clearing the glass pieces from the floor," she says, and turning around, she starts walking away.

But she stops when Manik suddenly holds her wrist.

Still not turning back to face him, Nandini tries to free her hand from his grip.

"Leave my hand, Manik," she tells him firmly.

"Sssorrryyy," Manik says, and Nandini turns around, frowning at Manik.

"Sorry for what?" She asks, wanting to know.

"For getting you tied to this....unwanted marriage. You do...do not deserve this," Manik says as clearly as he can in his inebriated state, and passes out on the bed, leaving a stunned Nandini rooted to her spot.