N A N D I N I:

"Oh my God! I'm so so so sorry, Sir." I squeaked covering my eyes immediately having seen my boss shirtless in his vanity. He probably was changing clothes for his next shot and there I was to get a document signed. Surprisingly, I didn't get down the bus but I simply stood facing the other way.

"People enjoy this sight spending thousands on tickets and popcorns at the theatre, so thank me for saving your money." He spoke but I could hear his stylist giggle softly.

"Umm..Sir, I'm here to get this signed. I've called Abhimanyu and he asked you, remember?" I passed him the paper stretching my hand backwards at him; not planning anyhow to see him half naked and go crimson like a stupid.

The document in my hand got pulled lightly and I let it go out of my grip. I thought seeing him like that would be a crime, like seriously how could someone look so dashing and flawless all the bloody time? But to my good luck, I stood facing the mirror in his vanity in order to avoid gazing at him, but hell, I could clearly see his reflection and every damn detail on his flawless skin.

It was a strange kind of electricity running through me when every now and then his eyes while signing the document met mine through the mirror. Like, he was mixing his bit of sunshine and electricity all inside my bones.

"Thank you, Sir." I mouthed, soon as I got the document handed back moving quickly to get down that air conditioned luxurious vanity which had nothing left to be included to its grandeur.

"Hey wait." I closed my eyes shut feeling the palpitations.

I could feel him walking closer to my neck but his skin never brushed against mine whilst his stylist got busy with managing his outfits in the sliding closet.

"Yes Sir?" Trying my best to not be clumsy, I turned around asking him formally. The look, the stare felt so hot yet intimate when we stood facing each other with only the smoke as our wall. How could someone do that with a simple stare? His eyes always touched me more than anyone's hands in this planet could. My parents always warned me about the drugs on the streets but never that one single person could hold me hostage with a heartbeat and those hazel eyes.

The burning cigarette in his fingers kissed his lips as through the smoke he locked his eyes with mine.

"I remember you wanted to see the shooting once." Detaching the cigarette from his pink lips, he exhaled that grey cloud and my mind traveled back to the time when I gate crashed into his shooting. I was immature and stupid back then, not that I wouldn't love to see him shoot today but that was just layers of me that kept losing with the growing complexity of time. To hide my thoughts with nothing but a polite gesture, I smiled faintly.

"Do you want to see it today?" My heart dropped a meter and I doubted if I heard correctly.

"Sorry what?" Immediately, I did cut my tone. "I mean I-I'm not sure if I heard you the first time." He smirked as if he caught my theft.

"I said, if you want you can stay back and watch me shoot the next scene." Mukti passed him one lemon linen shirt and his body wrapped it pairing it with a white printed tailored coat.

"But I have to take this to office before 2pm." I showed him the document he signed. It was clear in the way I said that I wanted to stay back and I hoped he understood what my heart wanted.

Pulling the file out of my grip, he shoved it in Mukti's hands who mirrored my expression, only her's was a little more shocked.

"Give this to Abhimanyu when he arrives and... take her with you if you're going to the floor." Rubbing his stubble he turned to me. "And this time, stay away from wires." I wanted to feel ashamed getting reminded of that horrible past but the mischievous smirk on his face didn't get me uncomfortable.

"Yea and save your hands from shattered pieces of glasses." Mukti's snigger immediately ceased as Manik passed a deadly glare to her which creased my brows.

"Glass pieces?" I was puzzled to the moon and back.

Manik, sobering his glare turned to me and his eyes traveled down to my hands which kept loosely hanging by my sides. For a second, his conceited face turned pale as few marks of my past stitches on my hands caught his eyes. I didn't want to get reminded of that night and hence diverting the topic, I asked Mukti to take me to the floor voicing Manik a polite bye. His eyes didn't meet mine as they're glued to my hands which I fisted into balls while walking out.

It'd be an insult to a fangirl if I say that I didn't enjoy the shoot. I loved it. I loved every single bit of it. I loved how focused he was through out to give his best. I loved how minute were the details going wrong on the set that caught his attention and he corrected them with absolute patience. I loved how being a superstar he stayed obedient to his Director and I wished I could learn a little professionalism from him. I loved how nicely he behaved with the persons inferior to him on sets, starting from the lowest ranking technicians to his co-actors.

During the whole of the shoot, I heard whispers on the set that had Maddy and me in it but the moment Manik's eyes alerted them that he was taking notice of every detail on the set, they silenced moving in scattered directions.

"That was really good." I smiled walking up to Manik who sprayed H2O into his hair to remove all the hair products and the spot boy held the mirror before his tall frame.

"Just good?" He ran fingers through his silky maines focusing on his reflection in the mirror. No, it was magical, Malhotra, my favourite actor on this universe.

"No, that was more than really good." I shied away averting my eyes. "Okay then Sir, I'll take your leave now. See you tomorrow at office." Rubbing my palms together fighting the chilling air conditioner, I planned on leaving.

"Seen the weather outside?" I turned around hearing him and just then another bolt of lightning reached my ears strikingly. It'd been raining constantly since last day getting almost half of the city under water.

"I'll book a cab." I stated opening the application on my phone.

"This is the rarest location where you'll get a cab specially under this thunderstorm." I looked up at him reading my application say 'No cab nearby'. Most of the technicians and other people associated left quite early immediately after the wrap up leaving 10-12 people inside the massive studio including us.

"I think I'll wait then..till the end of this rain?" I stated it more as a question.

"And also lock the gates, switch the lights off and sweep the floor, maybe?" He was sarcastic enough to my helplessness. "Don't be stupid. You're coming with me." He ordered and I didn't deny. I nodded agreeably not wanting to stretch this any further which satisfied his inquisitive look.

"Wait up here, I'll change and come." He made way towards the green room for it was difficult for him to get out of the studio, step in the rain and climb up his vanity. Unlocking my phone, I decided to text Randhir that I was leaving with Manik considering they way he got worked up yesterday.

••

The vapour formed on the glasses reminded me of my old habit which was quite a favourite and sliding my index finger on the dense vapour, I wrote my name on the glass 'Nandini'.

"You know this car, it's the most special to me." I turned my face to Manik who was driving at ease under such rainstorm which even made hearing a word impossible. "Know why? This car was gifted to me by my acting guru when I won the my first national award. This car is my heart so basically you're writing your name on my heart."

Excusing his eyes from the windshield where wipers kept dancing speedily, he glanced over me. I pressed my lips because I never did know that this car was so important to him and tried using my thumb to wipe it away.

"Let it stay." My advancing finger found a halt and my eyes watched him in a way I myself didn't know. Did he stop me for it'd mess up the glass more or for what?

Like a rainstorm, my feelings started in small drops and before I knew it, I was drenched in love with Manik. The rain tapping on the glass reminded me of him, because it was falling hard just like I was. How do I describe the rainy night drive experience where everything felt so beautifully painful but for an unmeasurable molecule of time my heart felt at home, like the mess one had been meaning to take out.

A sudden hitch in the drive hitched my breath as the car unreasonably jerked uncomfortably. My eyes grew wider at the thought if the wheels skidded on the wet sloppy road but it soon came to an end helping me catch my breath shooing all my calm thoughts.

"What was that?" It was almost a reflex.

"What the hell...." Manik murmured struggling hard to re-start the car. He tried and tried but it seemed the car had already made up its mind. I'm sure Manik cursed himself under his breath for letting his driver leave early because of the rain but nothing at all could decrease the force of the water drops free falling from the sky.

"Sir, your heart collapsed." I didn't know if I said something funny or stupid because in full disbelief he shook his head. What, he himself called the car his heart right?

"Probably it collapsed after you wrote your name on it." Rolling his eyes, he swtiched down the glass and splashes of rain touched my face.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck." He mumbled looking out of the glass at the rain and accepting his defeat before the nature, he stepped down getting drenched in a moment.

"What's the trouble?" I questioned Manik getting out under the rain watching him gawk the engine. I remember, how once he said he always had his staffs do this petty thing for him and this intimated me that Manik knew nothing about car repairing. He allowed me to have a look, given my past record, but to our dismay, I too couldn't place my finger on the faulty side.

"So what now?" Manik quizzed running hand through his wet hair pushing it back. His hair look all the more glossy with the wetness and his skin glowed brighter in the middle of the night.

"Your penthouse is only ten minutes walk away from where we're standing." I uttered.

"No? I'm not living this car here." He spat and I understood it's gonna be a long process.

"After you reach home, you can send one of your staffs who ca.."

"No, Ms.Murthy? I'm staying here." Under the rain, he pulled his phone out of the pocket and cursed finding no registered network in it. My story was no different.

*

"...Sir, it's been fifteen minutes?" I squeaked clutching my elbows tighter. He still nodded a no making my heart cry.

"Sir, it's like inviting cholera?" I cried out and he sighed turning the other way, determined to the core.

Ten minutes later, I realised this man was nothing like Randhir who could be persuaded easily, ah Randhir! Manik was everything opposite to what Randhir was. Seeing me get drenched under the rain, Randhir surely would've become my umbrella himself and then there was Manik, the master of everyone's wishes.

Tactfully, I started sneezing trying to make it look as genuine as possible because it always was difficult to fool an actor with your doable acting skills. I sneezed and repeated but when Manik glanced at, I acted to shiver and press my forehead which absolutely was going to turn our realities on the next morning.

"Why on earth are you so weak?" He sounded pissed and I sneezed more.

"Gaaah! Fine. Start walking." He screeched and my heart tapped the back of my acting skills.

"If you" *sneeze* "say so.." *sneeze* "Sir"

Locking the car, he had a last look on it before starting to walk beside me. Strangely, unlike every other time whenever he walked, he walked ahead like a boss but tonight he silently walked beside me not spending a word.

As we walked through his gate, he ordered the lonely guard throwing the key at him to take care of the car immediately and I followed his lead to interior of his penthouse. I wanted to leave but considering the way nature was betraying me, I obeyed him to wait for a while.

It surprised him real well finding every house staff leaving before his arrival. They all thought Manik would return to his mansion like usual and escaped their duties at the penthouse thinking their boss wouldn't get to know.

Manik called out the names of few of his staffs but all he got as reply was silence. He sighed, probably contemplating how to slit their throats the next morning. He looked at me from tip to toe and I coiled pressing my toe over other discerning the clothes that clung closer to my wet curves; still dribbling messing his polished floor.

"Ah..you climb up the stairs and enter the second room on your right. I'll get you some change." He offered.

"Um it's okay, Sir. I'll manage."

"You have to change otherwise your 'realistic sneezing' will knock your nostrils soon." He quoted in the air and my jaw dropped realising how all along he understood that I was acting. What was he?

Like an obedient girl, I waited in the room as directed squeezing the wetness out of my long frizzy strands with a towel until the door creaked open. He himself was yet in his wet clothes when he handed me a white coloured outfit.

"Um.. Sorry sir, but..."

"But?"

"But.. I wouldn't like to get into other women's spare clothes." Swiftly, I closed my eyes predicting a huge shrilling scold coming my way. But the room was silent with only the sound of rains on mother earth.

"Take it." He shoved the cloth in my hand and my eyes were wide open. "It may surprise you know but I haven't got any woman to this penthouse till date, now the exception being you. Change fast,I'll be downstairs." He closed the door behind him exiting the room and with amazement as I unfolded the cloth, I found it to be a long white kurta of Manik.

What.

At first, after sliding the cloth which was smooth as butter upon my skin, I inhaled the fragrance and it felt as if Manik's skin was wrapping around mine. It flattered my heart thinking I was at least an exception in his life in a certain case.

Descending down the stairs while pulling the kurta lower, I watched the Greek God in a V-necked full sleeve black cotton t-shirt and casual light sky trouser peeking over the contents in his refrigerator by the open kitchen.

Hearing my footsteps, he twisted his neck and I found his eyes on me trying to learn every detail on my body. It felt it amazed him too the way his cloth was touching my skin and I tucked a wet long strand behind my ear.  His eyes were my weakness that always told different stories in volumes.

"Hi.." I mouthed sheepishly and his eyes were hooked to every corner of the dress that hugged my body. Pulling the hem of the kurta lower, I walked near to the couch and sat quietly and he breathed breaking the chain of his gaze.

"I..am trying to find food." He carried on with his search.

"We can order something online?" I mouthed. Nandini, we?

He looked disappointed having found nothing in the refrigerator except few bottles of beer and whipped cream. I took my mobile in my hand, searching through my application.

"Don't flaunt me your technology knowledge. Even I have an iPhone in my pocket but I think you know in order to order food online you need to have a steady internet connection which is impossible under this heavy shower." I bit my lip instantly realising what a fool I made out of myself.

"So... Are we going to starve?" I questioned pouting my lips.

"Never when Manik Malhotra is in the house." He reflected pride.

15 minutes later:

Could there be anything sexier than Manik Malhotra rolling up his sleeve and chopping vegetables like a pro on the open kitchen counter? His fingers worked with the ingredients like an absolute professional telling me that he was habituated with cooking. I tried hiding my ogling eyes behind the magazine I was holding but come what may, Manik was everything I ended up reading.

It appeared that he was doing justice to what they say, eating is a necessity but cooking is an art and Manik Malhotra made one absolutely magnificent, hot chef. It took him a little difficulty to figure out which container stayed in which shelf but with time, he managed. He seemed too busy to notice that I was walking up to the counter.

"Shall I help you with something?" I asked folding my arms.

"I don't make my guests do the cores." Mr.leftie tossed the frying ingredients on the wok.

"So am I not an employee now?" I stayed puzzled.

"None of my employees have got to see the inner walls of this penthouse even." He notified dashing a piece of salad in his mouth while chopping it.

Rubbing my palms, I ambled towards other end of the hall studying details of fine designing.

"This house is beautiful and big enough for me to get lost in it." I spoke taking an Italian showpiece in my hand and a proud satisfied smile played at the corner of his lips as he cooked.

"I like Indian food. Hope you don't have any tantrum like much girls of this generation." He mouthed adding water to whatever he was preparing.

"I don't have an American gene inside." I shrugged lightly. Catching a glimpse of me, he pivoted his attention back to the meal.

"Well.." he muttered.

"But I'd really like to help you with something. It's better than wandering here unreasonably." My brows arched.

Resting hand on his waste, he read me with deep cogitation and eyed me a shelf, but not a kitchen one.

"Do you think you can read for me?" My face beamed with overpowering joy.

••

"Let me build a new world between us.
Let me bury myself in your honesty.
I'll get drunk on your cologne and dance with your silhouette;
Your hands tangled with mine and the stars casting a dull glow on our endless nights.
These are the days I want to remember when I'm old,
When I can no longer move to the sound of my own music,
When the world turns gray and the only color left is the brown in your eyes.
Here are the days which will last my lifetime."

Inhaling deeply, I closed the poetry book having read the fifth one in a row. A loud striking sound of lightning broke through the thick walls and my eyes wandered to the glassed window realising the downpour continued without a break.

Manik felt too consumed to speak. It felt it made him contended for the way he kept looking at nowhere even though I stopped orating.

"Thank you." He spoke after a little. I smiled from ear to ear.

"I didn't know you like poetry. In none of interviews you said that." He sighed.

"There should remain a part of you exclusively to yourself." He looked up at the simple yet gorgeous chandelier above my head. "I think..it came to me genetically. My mother used to listen to poetry on one national channel while cooking. I was a little kid then but I still remember how happy she used to get whenever the show came on air and her lips perfectly synced with each line of it like she knew them since ages. " his eyes lit up as if he traveled back to that time. I fell silent for a moment before knifing it.

"You know on one of my school tests where they hold viva for reading test and all.. I hid inside the washroom. I was so terrible at reading and literally dreaded the subject english. Often, I used to make excuses, silly ones, of stomach ache, fever and tried escaping it." He rose his brows hearing me with a smile that never left him the entire time.

"Okay, I think I'm done." He sprinkled something for garnishing. "Do you think you can help me serve?"

"More than happily." I smiled.

••

"A little more paneer?" I asked gesturing him raising the big spoon to the container and he declined. Before sitting he just decreased the power of the chandelier above head and I absorbed because he liked darkness more. There was a dimmed dark yellow light, sounds of rain falling, perfectly adjusted temperature on the air conditioner and the two of us in the middle.

The term 'lucky' wouldn't even come closer to what I felt then. Manik Malhotra cooked for me, I mean, cooked for both of us, what more could I ask for?

Dashing the first spoonful of food inside my mouth, my eyes widened. Manik sipped on his beer observing my expression and then got busy with munching his own food.

"Oh my God."

"What happened?" He questioned.

"I mean, it's... it's delicious, succulent, mouthwatering, temptingly tasty." I exclaimed and he suppressed his smile with that sip on his beer.

"I know I cook well." Darn! It felt I was eating at some high end restaurant. When he said he'd cook I didn't expect him to turn out one masterchef.

"No. It's.. it's just." I dashed another spoon back in my mouth soon. Damn, it was so very delicious.

"Do you cook?" Did he try making a conversation with me? Wiping my mouth with the napkin, I answered.

"Only spam and eggs and yeah..Maggi." Spam and eggs that I fed Randhir and c'mon, cooking Maggi is a national hobby.

"How do you survive then?" I giggled at his question.

"In the morning, cornflakes and some oats are at the rescue with some juice. Till the night, office canteen is at rescue and then for dinner, I buy something from the nearby continental store." I shoved another bite.

"You eat outside three times a day? Wow." It surprised him as if it was an alien thing to do. To an actor who lived on diet, of course it was.

"But where had u learn cooking so well?" He swallowed harder.

"I always had to do my things. Unlike your friend, Aryaman Malhotra, I didn't get things served on plates." He was soft.

"I'm sorry if this goes against my audacity but on that night of your birthday, I have seen..seen the tension between your father and you. Did..you talk to him after that night?" I gaped him not foreseeing his upcoming reaction. He sighed.

"Yea he called the day after to ask about my..." he looked at his knuckles "wound.."

"Aryaman and you are twins and it's quite.."

"Weird and confusing?" He quizzed placing his spoon down on the plate. I nodded a yes hazily.

"I was around 3 or 4 years old when Aryaman got lost...."

"Lost? Where?" I dropped my spoon.

"Somewhere. I don't know? We're out on Dad's outdoor and from the location he went missing. It was a mess. A real bad one. I was too little to understand anything but all I saw was my father freaking out, my mother crying and me not seeing a familiar face anymore." His finger circled the rim of the bottle.

"How did he come back then?"

"My father's a powerful man, Murthy but it took us 7 years to have found him. In the span of these years, my family fell apart. Father blamed mother for being irresponsible and mother was slowly slipping into depression. My family ruined absolutely when my parents decided to stay separated. Mom didn't want her ten years old kid to go through so much specially then when she needed time to sort things in her own life. She sent me off to her sister's place in America. My aunt was a socialite who didn't get a single second to stay back at home and ask me if I needed anything, though she loved me. On the days and nights when the cook won't come, I had to starve till I fell asleep and then a 11 year old kid tried his hands on cooking. I knew that I have to do my things myself because nobody around took notice moreover.. I didn't want to burden my aunt because I already felt that I was an additional burden on her shoulders. Initially, I ended up making burnt foods burning my own hands but as they say, eventually it comes to you. I don't like depending upon people." My heart sank and he sipped on his beer.

"And..a-after that?" I dreaded asking, merciful to my own heart.

"Our family became one when my parents found out their missing son. They called me back from America and we started staying under the same roof. So.. Basically, I got my parents' love at the mercy of my missing brother. My father pushed me away when Aryaman went missing and called me back when they found him. Funny. Entire attention and love of my parents showered upon him and I took a seat somewhere in the background. I lost their love when he went missing but in reality I truly lost them when he came back. Mom loved me no matter what but that got..little overshadowed by her elder son. He shared my house, my toys, my things, my parents, my life." His eyes were fixed at the table. "He started wanting whatever I had and I didn't know how to take it back. I didn't have many friends because I was an asshole. I am still now, clearly. I picked on kids in my year, every day basically. The teasing and being a dick continued for a long time until now so I can't name all the times..just know it was a lot. Around 13 me and my shitty friends broke into a drug store and stole a lot of random stuffs. I didn't know why did we do that but when one of my friends got caught, I threatened him to take the blame on him. I told you, I still am a dick. I smoked my first cigarette when I was 13, it tasted awful and I remember coughing for 10 whole minutes, I never smoked since a long time until I caught up on smoking pots. I was 14 when I lost my first virginity and it was to a friend's sister. She was a whore who later slept with my other friends too but I didn't bother. I didn't enjoy thus stopped having sex for a certain time and then I did it regularly. I'd bust car windows with my knuckles, beat the shit out of people unnecessarily with my temper staying at the topmost level, insulted people, made fun of their weaknesses. People saw me becoming worst from my worse but practically nobody was there to guide me to do the right thing. Nobody told me not to drink. Nobody told me not to be mean. Nobody told me not to use girls only to take out my physical frustration. Nobody said anything yet everybody wanted me to be my best. I realised.. If I don't demand for the things I need, then maybe those things will never come to me, people will pretend that they didn't hear me screaming for those things.. So I started grabbing all that I needed. And whoever didn't give in to me,  I knew what I have to do with them because at the end of the day, my father was a fucking powerful man who'd do anything to save my name because my name was attached to his. With time, my father fell out of love with my mother but I was too busy as a jerk to help her deal with things. I wanted power. More and more of it. Aryaman got extremely busy oiling father to get the wheels of his career jumpstarted and Mom suffered loneliness. Every step that I took was another mistake to my father. So.. this is how I ended up becoming The Jerk Manik Malhotra, The Womaniser Manik Malhotra." My eyes brimmed with moisture not offering me any courage to speak up.

"I-is that why y-you hate him so much?" I asked wiping my cheeks. His eyes became colder at the mention and he exhaled without seeing into my eyes.

"Some other time. Eat your food." He turned cold yet calm.

It was the day for me I felt half dead. He was so tired and hurt that he could never even cry. He was a lost soul wandering constantly in this world full of temporary things. Everything that he'd hold would eventually be gone. If there's one thing he knew, it's that no one can promise anything. The people he loved became the people he lost.

"I am not heartless. I do have a heart. A cold heart, frozen, numb to the core. And guess what? No amount of love and affection can ever be enough to thaw it" His words sent shivers down my spine but nothing compared to the aching in my heart that broke apart seeing the strong man before me.

It felt like everything was caving in. Things got blurry, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't stand. I just wanted to go numb. I didn't want to feel anymore.

I sighed touching his resting hand on the table with my quivering fingers and he looked away. Parting my trembling, I tried inhaling deeper to prevent those tears from falling.

"Sir.... I..." I squeezed his hand harder hearing another lightning roar unnerving my strength. I licked my dried lips not loosening my hold on him.

"Manik Sir..if I say that..." My words didn't reach any destination as the doorbell rang quietening me. I blinked leaving Manik's side after gaining his permission to see who that was disturbing at that moment.

Unlocking the weird bolt, the moment I pulled the door open my hands fell cold. I froze there right at that moment.

Randhir?

"Randhir, you're here?" I asked letting him say nothing before.

"Thank God Nandini you..." he froze seeing me in Manik's kurta. I tugged the hem of the kurta below lowering my eyes.

"It was ra-raining and my clothes..." I felt embarrassment.

"Who is that?" Manik stood behind me wiping his wet hands with napkin and when I turned to face him, he seemed disturbed.

My eyes were like that table tennis ball which traveled to and fro between the men I stood feeling the significant tension in the air solidifying. Randhir and Manik kept exchanging cold glares as if they had a battle of their own.

M A N I K:

It felt strangely light having shared this with someone after ages. She kept holding my hand so long as the lightning bolted closely shutting her eyes and I noticed how beautiful she looked in my clothe. That was definitely the first time in history of my existence that I gave my clothe to some lady but then there's no alternative for she was drenched like a crow. She tried saying something, maybe things to comfort me. But thing is, I wasn't hurt remembering my past. My past was something I couldn't bury, it was a part of me..only that I stopped feeling things. It made life easier.

Hearing the bell ring, she excused to see it herself and I moved to wash my hands.

"Who is that?" Mouthing the same, just as I reached by the door behind her frame, I saw someone I didn't feel facing at that moment. Randhir unexpectedly stood there reminding me of what prick of a man I am. He was the last person I wanted to be there at my doorstep.

"I am here to take you back with me, Nandini. Go inside, grab your things, change this outfit and get into the car." Must he hadn't liked her wearing my outfit.

"But..Randhir now I ca.." she looked back at me. She wanted to stay.

"Nandini" he pulled her by her elbow closer to his heart and she stared at him without a blink. "If I'm saying something that means..there is something. Please go hurry, please?" He basically thought she'd be unsafe with me. Maybe he thought, I'd rape her or worse, murder her.

She gulped hard turning to me and I blinked not trying to make things furthermore difficult on her part. Clutching her elbows, she slowly walked inside and Randhir took no moment to waste to threaten me like a B-grade movie hero. Horrible man.

"Don't play games with her, Manik. Don't. If you ever even think of hurting her just know I'm standing ahead of her.." he glared.

"Like the Great Wall of China?" I chuckled inserting hands inside my trouser pockets.

"Manik, just know one thing. She'll hate you one day. She'll hate you more than you can think if she gets to see your real face. Aren't you a little ashamed even of your deeds? You brought her here? Seriously? What did you plan to do to her?" He hissed.

I chucked crossing my arms shaking my head at his stupidity.

"Lover boy, you'll shatter like a glass if you come to know what I planned to do to her." I walked in circle keeping him in the middle. "I mixed sleeping drugs in her drink, got her in my clothe only to remove it myself."

"Manik!" He screamed balling his fist at me which only made me snicker harder. "Don't you dare say that about her."

"You know what Randhir, what your problem is? You only and only think of me and in this process you're missing out on a larger part of your life." I smirked. My anger was beautiful and it wasn't humorous, it wasn't to be taken lightly but I felt tired that time to fight the moron verbally. I loved playing with his brain like it was my favourite game.

"Yes, I think of you. Because you and your past.."

"My past is my past of which I'm not afraid Mr.Randhir Shekhawat." No one talks about my past. "I am too many ghosts. There are so many "me's that don't exist anymore. And when I look back at my past, I feel proud because I, alone have kept myself alive." This anger had healed me in more ways than forgiving a person ever could.

"Say this dialogues to her one day, when everything will be clear under the daylight to her." I wondered how could someone stay so much in naivety. Daylight? But I sustained darkness, I won darkness, how could light frighten me?

"You don't know her at all, do you?" I questioned with sarcasm in my tone. "I am her boss and you're her..whatever. But I can say one thing about her surer than my own name that it maybe in pieces but she gave me the best of her. Don't try to forcibly keep her, Randhir because she doesn't belong in a zoo. Let her go and choose her destiny."

"And let her get hurt by jerks like you?" His hatred for me needed no evidence and I had no botheration.

"She'll know to protect herself only if she gets hurt. She'll see through the jerks like me once she faces them herself and not under your shed." I lowered my frame trying to fit this inside his thick skull.

"I am taking her with me. Away from you, like I always will." And that was something he shouldn't have said. No one takes away anything from Manik Malhotra because he knows how to take them back.

"Fine then. Fine by me." I lifted hands in air. "Now listen up Mr.Randhir Shekhawat and listen me clear and loud." My face was wrathful as I held both his shoulders firmly. "I, Manik Malhotra, promise to you one thing that the way you're taking her away tonight, will become a Deja vu. I, personally, myself, will take Nandini Murthy away from you, your life and your world. I'll be at your doorstep standing right where you are and she'll be inside packing things to leave you alone at my single nod. Yes, so just wait." I smiled as if lots of poisons ran through me.

"Wait for what?" I dropped my hands from his shoulders hearing the scared voice. She stood behind with perplexity painting her face and I sighed.

"Wait for the next date of the case?" I lied and Randhir glared.

"Oh." She exhaled. "I just want that to get over soon."

"Nandini, let's leave." He grabbed her hand and she gawked sheepishly.

"Bye Sir. Goodnight. I'll see you soon?" She asked while Randhir slowly started tugging her.

"Very soon, Ms.Murthy." I assured and she beamed.

The door swung open and they exited although she kept turning back making sure I was doing fine. The automated system in the door shut that close with a bang on my face and the house suddenly started feeling lonelier.

Arranging the poetry book back on the shelf that she read an hour before, I climbed up the stairs turning the entire house dark. It felt comfortable like I recognised myself. Getting into my room, I opened the window letting the sounds of the rainfall echo inside my void dark room but the white folded kurta of mine on my bed stole my attention. Something white in my dark world. There was a long hair stuck around the collar and I picked it out remembering the way she looked managing her long strands while tugging the ends of the kurta lower.

It's strange but in a weird way because that night I missed my darkness a little less with the only comforting things being the lonesome sky and that white kurta on my bed.

My life felt like a badly written fan fiction with a good plot, it's so awful and full of mistakes that I just didn't wanna go on, but I did want to know what happens next and how it ends.