M A N I K

Tell me, Dad, which should I ask forgiveness for? What I am or what I am not?

Tell me, my late mother, which should I regret? What I became or what I didn't?

The elevator door parted open exposing the posh hallway and on its elegant carpet as I took my first step, my mind was clear again of what I was and who I was. As I walked blotting out all of the inhibitions, I reminded myself that Manik Malhotra is exactly as dark as people think of him. And, not every story turns into one where one girl magically turns a beast into a prince. In some stories, he forever stays one forever. A beast.

"She is waiting for you in the poolside cafeteria." Abhimanyu locked the screen of his iPad trailing behind me.

Nodding, I put on my sunglasses adopting the darkness that defined me oh so well. Two bodyguards were on either of my sides not exactly hiding me from lustful sighs of the little number of women standing in the corners. A woman reached her hand, offering me a red rose but when she could hardly pass her tender hand through the watch of my bodyguard, I smirked, extending my own arm to receive the token of love. She blushed in her notoriously little dress when my thumb brushed her fingers and I believe, I gave her the most starstruck moment of her life.

"The boss is here." As the door to the cafeteria was opened, one of my bodyguards announced

The woman sitting in one of the tables, stood up, wiped her hand in the fine fabric of her clothing and extended for a shake. "Seems, it's no longer difficult to get hold of you."

Smirking, I brought her hand to my lips studying those scarlet cheeks through my dark glasses. "Only when I want to."

Coy, she withdrew her hand not exactly knowing what to do and smiled nervously. "Shall we start the interview? My guys are ready."

My conceited, hidden eyes scanned the empty cafeteria liking the idea that the place was emptied beforehand in my honour and I nodded a yes. Abhimanyu guided us to the table that was right by the glassed wall where from I could easily get the tantalising view of the irresistible women in their fetching little two pieces.

The interviewer moistened her lips. "So, Manik-"

"Would you like some breakfast? I interrupted.

Hesitant, she nodded yes and I shook my head at Abhimanyu. She was awfully nervous and trust me, I like that effect I had on women but not with the ones I am professionally involved with. I want them to be as natural to me as I am to my cameras. She scribbled something in her pad and crossing my legs, I rested my lips on my knuckles, reading her through my dense glasses.

"Is this your first time?" I asked not breaking my gaze which caused her to drop her pen.

"First-first time? What do you mean?" Something made her more awkward.

"Interviewing a celebrity?" I clarified with a devious smirk.

"Celebrity, no. Superstar, yes." She tucked a curl behind her ear and I liked how she did that.

"Am I making you nervous, Miss..." I raised an eyebrow.

"Shweta." She smiled.

"Am I making you nervous, Ms.Shweta? What can I do to make you feel comfortable?" There was sincerity in my question but slickness in my voice.

"Well, you can try to be, at least, 99% honest in this interview for the starters?" She bit her bottom lip as she kept scribbling whatever.

"It's too early in the day to make promises of honesty." Looking up at me, she smiled bashfully.

I drummed my fingers on the table as she parted her mouth to speak. "Let's start rolling then? I hope your assistant gave you all the questions that I-"

"I don't read questions before my interviews. What can I say, I'm little adventurous." My words helped her chuckle without a warning and my head turned to the pool where women were blessing my eyes. Damn, I loved these beautiful creatures.

Ms.Shweta on receiving a thumbs up from her camera guy, flashed a bright smile and did a little introduction to which I paid no mind because I was sick and tired of those boring introductions.

"Since we have the superstar himself, away from the motherland here in Melbourne, we are sure to take some good advantage of this mighty opportunity and know the actor in a way we never did before. So, Manik, thanks a lot for joining us this morning amidst your busy shooting schedule." Oh, this was the part where I had to pay some attention.

"My pleasure. You look really nice this morning." I smiled when she had to bite her lips extra hard not to blush.

"Thank you. Manik, please tell us how are you liking shooting in Melbourne? How is the experience and everything?" She shot her first question.

"Good. Really good. Outdoors are always a good thing. We have been shooting in some great locations and having lots of fun doing this movie. This is not my first time in Melbourne but the city still is as beautiful as it always has been." I answered.

"Will you then share with us your first time experience in this city? I'm sure your fans would like to have some information which they never had before." Her voice was kind of sweet.

"Ah.." I began to think. "My first time in Australia has been with my family. I was a kid. So, I don't remember much but I do remember that in our day-out at some zoo, I was lost and got really frantic looking for my mother everywhere. It was a horrible experience in a sea of unknowns."

"That's scary for a little boy. Where did you find her in the end?" Ms.Shweta asked professionally.

"Oh I searched everywhere and ultimately-" The charm from my face vanished.

'You can't do this to us. We have sons. We have a family!' My mother's back was pressed against a wall as the little me hid itself behind something, watching his father get cruel with the woman he claimed to love before the world.

'Keep it down, you little bitch!' My father hissed squeezing her delicate upper arms and I narrowed my eyes feeling the pain caused by such hold.

'I'm not going to keep this down, you understand? How dare you bring that skank here on our family vacation?' Mother cried out, seething.

'So, what if I did and what exactly are you going to do, huh? Shout it to the world that your husband is cheating on you with a woman half his age? Say it before my sons so that they hate their father? No, darling wife, I won't let you do that.' For the first time, I could see the monster in my father's eyes, my very first encounter with a beast.

'Our sons.' Mother stressed.

'My sons.' Father gritted and I could feel my little heart sinking with fear for witnessing the first sight of cruelty in my life especially by the man who I considered to be my hero.

'Don't pretend like you give a damn about the boys. If you did, you would have tried becoming an ideal father for them long back! Instead, you choose to fuck around as if your sons are never going to find out.' My breathing increased as I failed to understand why on earth were my perfect parents fighting one another? Did I do something?

'Trust me, they never are going to find out and if you..' I hissed at the way father clutched the tender jawline of mother but she didn't even let out a cry of pain. 'Bitch, if you ever dare to poison my boys' minds, I will finish you. Hear that? I will fucking end you.' I didn't know what was effecting me the most? My mother being in pain or my father turning into a beast?

'What are you doing to Mamma, Daddy?' My head snapped to my side where Aryaman stood with a horrified look on his face.

Our parents' heads snapped our way and before anyone could spot me, I ran off the scene letting Aryaman to deal with it like the perfect little son he always had been.

"I guess, it was so long ago that you may have lost the memory." Ms.Shweta uttered lightly knocking her knuckles on the table.

No, I lost the little boy.

Breathing, I cleared my thoughts and smiled palely. "Um yeah I don't remember, I guess." Lie no. 1.

The questions paused as the servers placed the plates before us and Abhimanyu leaned over my shoulder forbidding me from mentioning my mother again as it could dig up old controversies and we didn't want that. Funny, a man couldn't mention his mother openly.

Nodding to him, I knifed the french omelette and the lady too got busy taking tiny bites of her pancake.

"I'm living the dream of every MM fan, eh?" She smiled to the camera and I picked the glass of orange juice. Through my sunglasses, I glanced over Abhimanyu at the irony of the drink in my hand. Orange juice? Seriously?

"What can I say, I like to treat the ladies around me well, especially my fans." Lie no. 2. I didn't treat that Murthy right.

I sipped on the drink trying not to make a face at its stupid taste.

"That brings us to the question. Would you ever date a fan?" The expression which the juice didn't manage to bring on my face was sure brought by this utterly ridiculous question. Why would I ever date a fan?

"Date? I don't know because I'm already a married guy, you see?" Her spoon dropped on her plate and her face turned colourless. Stifling a chuckle, I cleared my throat. "Married to my fans."

Lie no. 3. But whatever.

"That's such an adorable thing to say." She crooned. "But anyway, give us those juicy deets, please? Why are you still single? When are you going to find love?"

Juicy deets? This was where she started getting on my nerves.

Squinting, I looked at the ceiling and then at her. "First of all, you don't find love. Love finds you. You see, I'm a bit of a romantic kind of guy. I cry at the silly movie endings, I bring the woman I love her favourite flowers and ice creams at four in the morning, I am the kind of guy who can fight his family for the girl he loves. I am a very emotional person. So, you see, in the process, most of the times, I give away my heart way too quickly but I also get it back in pieces. So, love to me is something totally else. It's the most divine thing. It's honesty, patience and respect. Therefore, I don't rush. I let love find me."

"....Wow." Her nod was extremely slow and past her shoulder, Abhimanyu gave me a thumbs up. I smirked.

Lie no. infinity.

"That's breathtaking but you don't come across as that kind of a guy." My eyes shot up to her from my plate.

"That kind of a guy?" I repeated.

"Yeah, the-the soft-hearted. I mean," She gulped. "in the recent past months, Manik, you-"

Breathing heavily, I leaned back on my chair and that was enough for her to start worrying about her job. My eyes flickered behind my sunglasses and they finally stilled at the camera.

"I know..." I looked down softening my voice. "I know what all happened in the last few months, Shweta. There's no need for you to hesitate to mention it. It's out there on the prints and I know people have seen and downloaded that. I cannot erase any of those things but all I can say is that...a broken heart sometimes makes you go crazy and I was no different."

Lifting my eyes slowly, I noticed the change of emotions in her eyes and that's when I knew if I could fool the lady on this side of the camera, I sure could fool all those on the other side.

"You mean, someone broke The Manik Malhotra's heart and all of that was because of simple heartbreak?" She felt sorry, I knew.

Shaking my head a little, I tried to play the role my best. "A heartbreak can never be simple, Shweta. I'm a human. Just because I was taking drugs; just because I was found with a bunch of women everywhere; just because I was turning violent to innocent people don't mean that I wasn't crying myself to sleep. Different people try to hide it in their own stupid ways. You know, you never really know your strength until your heart breaks and when mine did, I guess I realised how weak I am whenever I fall in love."

She placed her palm on my hand over the table before quickly withdrawing since everything was getting recorded. "There are heartbroken girls out there, Manik, who would kill to be loved the way you love."

Only if you knew.

"I want to tell all of them that you may are passing through hell right now but trust me, you will come out as angels. Just like I am figuring things out with the help of my family and all the well wishers in my circle. I'm actually doing quite all right." I smiled poorly which could enhance their sympathies. Fools.

"So, would you ever dare to fall in love again?" Oh, fuck me. Here, I thought I was done with this stupid topic.

Looking past her, I raised my eyebrows asking Abhimanyu how long was this torture going to continue who nodded very assuringly which clearly gave me no satisfaction.

"Like I said, when love finds you-" A shrill scream born out of surprise forced me to look towards the pool, seeing which I figured out, some lady was shoved into the water by few mischievous children who were bouncing up and down, clapping.

For some reason, I was staring and I couldn't help. Attraction was not the word I would use but my attention was surely in the same trance like in a way a butterfly is drawn to the nectar. No matter the distance but my attention still remained the same when she swung her wet bunch of dark black hair creating a pattern of water droplets we only find in an artist's expression. My lips brushed one another when that magnetic face with autumnal eyes, a perfect small nose and the softest petal cheeks emerged from the water gravitating me towards its extraordinary aura. Something crackled inside my head when I processed the face and a name I knew, but things just didn't make sense. I was never attracted to that kind of women. I fancied eyes with lighter shades whereas hers were darker than the shadows. I liked tall and slim women but for some unknown reason, I was worshiping her curves from my chair. She was everything I didn't want in a woman but she was made up with little bit of everything that made her a woman.

My eyes slid upon the rolling drops of water that travelled from her forehead till the valleys of her bosom and I was suddenly thirsty. Her energy vibrated in a unique way and for sure, she was not as beautiful as those girls in the magazines but I don't remember performing the art of blinking my eyes. The more I looked, the more of something was setting my soul on fire and I was turning afraid of how intimate I was becoming with a woman unaware of my presence. Every part of my body felt guilty for staring; staring the way I did but not looking felt even more sinful. The curve of her hips, the shape of her breasts and everything divine attached to the name drew jagged lines in my thought process leaving behind one and only line of thinking, I needed to glide my hands all over her body. Her little body which seemed like a fireplace and I wanted to ignite every inch of that with my unholy hands.

My starving lips wanted to lay on her skin slowly, taking all the time in the world as my hands would tangle up the straps of her bright pink bra that was exposed through her wet white shirt. Inhaling her sighs, I would surely like to pull her closer by her waist and kiss her madly. Not in a way done at the movie climaxes but in a way like the world was going to end the next moment. But I would also love to watch her undress herself and very much make her sit on the the throne of my lap as I would pull the bunch of her wet strands in the clasp of my palm and make her cry waves of ecstasy in my mouth. My lips twitched because I knew they wanted that body bad. Really bad. They wanted to leave marks on her body and memory because my desire was a connection between the wrong and the right.

"Manik, my question was will you dare to love again?" Faint voice of the interviewer reached my ears as I gulped at the wet goddess before my eyes.

Her hands splashed some water at those kids pretending to complain about her fall and the simple action made all the chemicals in my body jump. She threw her head behind, laughing as those kids who tossed a couple of water toys her way and the simple sight made me want to sin. The woman, right there, looked like God's best creation but here I was, Devil's best friend and everything about this combination was deadly.

The first time she tried to climb up the cake steps of the pool, her leg slipped and she plunged back into the water like that of some mermaid from a stupid fairytale. With my mind running a mile a moment, silly of me, but I pushed my chair back, leaving everything of my world behind, slowly walking out of the cafeteria towards the swimming pool.

I was this bad man in the most cliched way and she was this angel, just missing her halo and wings. She wouldn't go bad for me and I, could never turn good for her. Yet, like a stupid man, my body and my thoughts ached for her porcelain beauty. Why was I sinking when she was the one swimming in the water? What was going wrong? What was slipping away?

My eyes were glued to the little mermaid climbing those steps up and I was only halfway, opening my palm in order to offer her my help when already someone else's hand reached out to her and I chose to get still.

Aryaman was charmingly offering her his help and it felt, she too didn't think twice before taking support of my brother. Something sank in me and I didn't know what.

"Too much in the name of honesty." Abhimanyu stood beside me and I welcomed that cold smirk on my face.

"Juicy deets." I repeated tight-lipped. "How dare she put me on a spot before a camera?"

"She'll be taken care of." Abhimanyu assured and suddenly his eyes met what I was staring at. "I feel so sorry for what I did to Nandini and Aryaman Sir last night."

"What do you mean?" Quiet, I watched how my hell of a brother was wrapping a dry towel around Murthy's wet body, that body and she was giggling at something he uttered.

"I pulled a prank on Nandini and didn't quite believe that she would actually fall for it. I couldn't comprehend that a little joke would create such a huge chaos." Finding me look at him, Abhimanyu continued to give me more clarity. "Aryaman Sir took Nandini out last night and apparently, asked her to wait for him somewhere. God knows what came over her that she took a rash decision and visited the-the..anyway, when Aryaman Sir returned alone, he looked like hell and people immediately started talking. Who knew someone could be this foolish to believe a childlike story!"

Clearing my throat, I flickered my eyes. "Looks like..things got sorted between them after all."

He nodded at my rhetorical statement. "They hugged all their misunderstandings out and I immediately apologised to Nandini, well, in private, of course."

"I see." I said vaguely.

"But people since then are talking." He mentioned and I shifted my face to Abhimanyu still staring at them.

"About what this time?" Blankly, I questioned.

"You know how this industry works. Same old gossips remains but their subjects change. This time, it's Aryaman Sir and Nandini. People are calling her gold digger and stuff but how well do they know her? She is simply sweet, honest and kind and all these schemings are not really her thing. I feel bad." His voice dropped.

Her eyes met my brother's and mine, hardened. So many emotions bundled up inside of me that it was difficult to pinpoint which one was more intense. I mulled it over in my head, more times than I could care to count and this reality wound me up confused about what exactly did I want. Those nasty children came running and circled around me, playing and giggling but one glance down at them, and they coiled like they had seen a ghost.

"Anyway, why are you standing here looking at them when you have an interview to finish inside?" My face turned to Abhimanyu.

"I..." Words were suddenly strangers. "I came to get some fresh air from her atrocious questions. Let's go back."

"Sir" Edgy, I turned around to a very calm Abhimanyu. "I know, you were not honest when you answered her questions but as your constant company, I would like to know one thing. What is love to you, Sir?"

Abhimanyu's sudden query caught me off-guard and I found myself looking back at the two people at distance, smiling to one another. Her sparkling eyes were not scared of anything, in fact, intoxicating anyone's senses who stood nearby, especially the man I hated almost all my life. Tight knots formed in the pit of my stomach and a vile taste dominated my tongue.

"Love means stability." Needless to say, Abhimanyu was a touch taken aback. "But, can you really pronounce stability without mentioning stab?"

Rendering him thoughtful, I tapped on his shoulder and walked myself inside the cafeteria where I had a different role to play.

**

The first time I hurt someone physically, I was fourteen. It was not his bruises that made me happy, it was his cry for help that made me high. The person had hatred in his eyes; hatred for me and for the first time, I realised how much more intense was this feeling when compared to a stupid thing called love. Probably, this was what Dad felt, the power, when he hurt mother and that was the beginning of me exploring the forest in my mind.

The next thing, I remembered was me eating out the lips of a girl way older than me in some party. Our lips fought for dominance even when I pushed her against the wall. The dark tunnel in my head was unending and my demons were just about to break free when I felt my body jostled away from her as she slapped my cheek red and hard. Her swollen lips were bleeding when she passed me a disgusted look and left. But, years later, I still remember what she told me before she left.

'Manik Malhotra, you taste like Halloween.'

My dark brown eyes stared for long at my reflection on the mirror of my vanity as I swirled the whiskey in my favourite glass. Halloween. That night disappeared, that girl did too, the boy grew bigger and lost his resemblance to the man in late twenties looking sharp in the mirror but I believed, deep down, he still resided somewhere in me.

"Sir, Farah wants to have a word with you." Hearing Abhimanyu, I placed the glass of whiskey underneath a shelf because to everyone, I was undergoing massive cleansing. Nodding, I directed my assistant to let her in.

"Hi" She answered timidly studying my grand vanity from this close for the first time.

"What's up?" I stared at her reflection as she chose to sit on the couch behind.

"I...really don't know how to say this without embarrassing myself but.." She fidgeted her razor sharp nails on her lap.

"Is this about the bed scene?" Clueless, I asked still talking to her reflection.

"No. Ah..we-we have this scene now which will be on one of the hot air balloons and um-shit.." I raised my eyebrows softly encouraging her to speak up. "I'm terrified of heights." She stood up walking up to me and sat on her knees, gently resting her palm on mine. "I tried to fight this phobia, trust me, I did. I-I even spoke to Aryaman Sir to arrange for a mock shoot, if that's possible but he straightaway refused to listen."

I continued staring at her not removing my hand from underneath hers. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I don't want to disappoint you. You will be giving your best in one take but it won't be possible because I know I will suck. I-I don't want this project to collapse but I also don't know how to overcome my fear." She sounded bad.

"You overcome your fear only by facing it. Besides, it's all safe. Maximum precautions are taken to shoot scenes like this, don't worry." I assured gently removing my hand when she caught it back almost immediately.

"I couldn't reason with Aryaman Sir because he kind of dislikes me and it shows but I'm comfortable with you and that's why I'm beseeching you to allow me a mock shoot. Once I see how things happen, I will be mentally prepared. Please? Please? It's my phobia, I can't help it? Please?" I looked down at the helplessness on her face and the honesty in her grip.

"All right, all right. First, you get up. Women don't look nice on their knees unless they are giving men heads." I tapped her upper arm signalling her to stand up which she did. Studying her from head to toe, I nodded. "Mock shoot you wanted. Mock shoot is what you will get."

"Thank you!" Her pretty eyes widened and instantly, she threw her arms around me getting a laughter in return.

**

"It's too sunny, ugh!" I hated shooting under the sun.

The moment I stepped out of my vanity, spot boys came rushing with umbrellas and other necessities. Wherever I laid my eyes on, the greenery was a beautiful contrast to the number of colourful balloons flying in the blue sky. As if, someone bunched a handful of every bright colour and threw it at the sky that could instantly lighten up anyone's mood.

My search was for Aryaman but it was not difficult to spot him as my senses followed the direction of the crackling giggles. Just like that, in an unplanned manner and for many many seconds, my vision was again still like that in the morning. Flashes of her playing in the water, with the water; drops of water roaming freely on her skin and crossing boundaries that were forbidden to bastards like me, refused to leave. My eyes wandered freely all over Murthy's body and delicate, ambitious, loyal were all that my tongue could taste out of her. Much to my displeasure, I didn't want to shake off the look of hunger from my face and my thumb twiddled against my index finger at my incapacity.

What the hell was I doing? Feeling lust for Murthy? What was even wrong with you, Manik?

My greed came to a halt when Farah's timorous voice crossed it over. "You will manage it, right?"

Scoffing, I shook my head at her. "Watch and learn."

Sauntering towards them, I paused for a moment in my track when Murthy's slipper came off her feet and she was limping. Just then, like a true gentleman, Aryaman who was most probably, not giving two flying fucks to how everyone around him was murmuring, knelt down to fix it for her. How original! Murthy dithered for sure but she also didn't back off.

"Oh how I would hate to break this Cinderella moment but I'm afraid we have more pressing issues to focus on right now." Their heads snapped my way and Aryaman who stood up after finishing his job, eyed Farah as if he fathomed what I came here to do.

Embarrassed, Murthy tried to leave but my brother earned a sharp look from me when he uttered. "Nandini, you stay."

"Yeah, you stay." Was the first thing I said to Murthy overdoing my theatrics. "Else, how will he be functioning that brain?"

Murthy, sensing my taunt, rolled her eyes and I bit the inner wall of my cheek tasting victory. However, Aryaman passed me his usual cold stare.

Sternly gazing at Farah, Aryaman caused her to turn more pale. "I guess I know what you both came here for. If this is about mock shoot-"

"It is about me." I intervened rendering Aryaman a touch confused. "She spoke for herself and neither I'm her guardian nor any helpful human being who has come here to convince a man I have zero confidence in. I have come here for myself, as always." I pointed my finger at Farah. "This lady is not confident about the scene but I am. I'm taking my big fat remuneration based on the number of hours I work and her being this apprehensive, is only going to drain the movie's budget. Retake after retake and who knows, it might drain all my energy before even she is mentally ready? And, who knows, I might also lose my interest by then?"

"What...." Oh how I hated a confused, stupid Aryaman. Who made us brothers?

A cold, evil smile played on my lips. "In short, mock shoot."

"No way." He replied with conviction throwing a direct challenge my way.

"Ms.Cinderella, will you please make this Prince Charles understand the gravity of my statement?" Looking away, she made clear how my calling her a name annoyed her.

"I would really appreciate if you would keep my assistant out of it." Glaring, he made sure I heard him well.

"Why, because you found her magic rubber slipper?" My vision narrowed.

"Listen, Manik," Aryaman raised his hand trying his best to contain his anger. "When I already told Farah a no, she shouldn't have gone behind my back and brought you here. My decision stands the same."

"You have this obnoxious habit of hearing the same old thing again and again and again, you know? But I hate to repeat myself and I believe my ex-employee knows it all too well." With a quick glimpse at Murthy, I shifted my focus to Arya-douche-man. "Give her a mock shoot, Aryaman, otherwise I'm in some great mood to cause some epic scene."

"Whatever." He looked away giving me my second victory. "Someone please volunteer as the lead girl there on the balloon!" He gave out a embittered call at people nearby.

The deceitful look on my face was again back when I pointed my finger at a particular someone knowing how it would disturb the hell out of my brother. "I want her."

Murthy's mouth fell open as she fully processed the fact that I was pointing at her. Narrowing her eyes, she gave me I-don't-believe-you look and went to mutter something to Aryaman.

Before she could say a word, Aryaman opened his mouth. "No. Not her."

That clearly did press some of my wrong buttons and inhaling a deep breath, I slid my threatening eyes from Murthy to Aryaman to back at Murthy. "I am Manik Malhotra, Aryaman. If I want something, I get it. Nobody says me no."

"Well, I'm not a thing." Murthy stressed, not waiting for Aryaman to protest. "And, my job here is to assist the Director and not satisfy any superstar's whimsical demands."

Scoffing, I took a step back to study her attitude well. "You all cannot afford to say me a no?"

"Manik-no one second, Nandini." Aryaman lifted his hand when she tried to speak. "You don't go around ordering my assistant. My people. She is off-limits. So, choose anyone but Nandini."

Off-limits? How I loved challenges.

Crossing arms across my chest, I took step ahead, shaking my head. "Aryaman, because I hate repeating myself, I will say this for one last time. If this woman," I moved my finger to Murthy who glared instantly. "doesn't accompany me in the mock shoot, it's a pack up for me here in Melbourne. Whatever will happen to me, I will deal with it but think hard, what are you going to reply to Dad when he interrogates you? What will happen to all these people who have worked their asses off till this day only to witness this project crumbling in a trash can, just because their precious Director didn't want to ask a little favour from his assistant? Sad. Kind of breaks my heart."

In reality, Aryaman wasn't my target because I knew on whom this sentiment could work. The very virtuous Cinderella. And, it seemed that it did.

"I dare you to do whatever you just said. Go ahead?" Aryaman blurted and my eyes moved to a very pensive Murthy.

Come on, Murthy, it had always been a piece of cake for me to manipulate you. Don't go breaking my record. Show that benevolent side of yours.

"I will be in my vanity for the next.." I tapped on my smart-watch. "fifteen minutes. In case you all agree, let me know."

Come on, Murthy, bring back that goody nature of yours.

"We don't need fifteen minutes." Murthy spoke right when I turned around to leave. She inhaled deeply before her announcement. "I will do it."

I smirked gazing up at the sky.

"What? No, Nandini." Sounding disturbed, Aryaman raised a protest. "You don't need to do a thing he says. I will deal with it."

"I can't let so many people suffer because of a stupid compromise that doesn't even matter to me." She replied whilst I still had my back turned to them.

My darling brother exhaled in frustration. "He is my brother, Nandini. I know him. He won't do-"

"You and I both know, Aryaman, that he will actually do what he said." Taking her little judgemental eyes, she walked around to stand before me. "All he cares about are his pride and his selfishness and he doesn't care if he hurts someone innocent in the process. So let's not all become like him. One Manik Malhotra is enough."

An interesting layer of evil took over me and I knew it was nowhere near charming because behind this mask, was this whole different person. Me. Behind my covers, was an insanity that was now focusing on the deep plunge of her chest and traveled up to her plump, bright pink lips marginally stretched on each side causing huge unease in my bones.

"I trust you, Nandini." My focus quickly flicked to the hand that rested itself on the soft, exposed shoulder and I wasn't sure any longer of what I wanted.

"Thanks." She smiled to him. That irked.

"Please try and survive this." He was clearly either flirting with her in the open or trying to lighten the whole situation for her. Real mature.

She nodded and I shifted my eyes back on the woman. "Pardon me for my lack of excitement but I'm not exactly thrilled by this cute tête-à-tête."

Murthy rolled her eyes but chose to say nothing as few technical people guided us to the area where the entire thing was being prepared for its launch. A large fan was placed at the neck of the balloon until it was halfway inflated. The burner, then was lit and the remainder of the envelope quickly got filled with hot air. It was a spectacular sight to witness. Tethered to the ground, the balloon was almost ready for the flight when Murthy suddenly turned around to say something to Aryaman. Walking past them, I climbed on the steps into the wicker cockpit since basket didn't have a door. Taking her sweet little time, when she decided to step in, her tiny feet obviously couldn't manage to balance themselves. As she tumbled, I almost reached out to hold her but she grabbed Aryaman's forearm who stood outside the basket, carefully watching her. How sweet.

After the weight was carefully balanced, the ropes were casted off and just like that, our flight began turning us into birds. The sky started to appear closer and closer, the higher the balloon lumbered, the experience turned almost magical under the influence of wind. The weather up here was calm and the height seduced my head. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed Murthy standing quietly yet awed and for some reason, I felt light.

"All right." I started a conversation after a long wait. "If you are still unhappy about this whole experience, you can shout at me."

Her face turned bitter as she looked my way but it was obvious that she loved it even though she wouldn't admit. "You are sick!"

Chuckling, I looked around resting my elbow on the edge. "I'm not sick. I'm twisted. Calling me sick makes it sound like there is a cure for me but there is not. Twisted, that word suits me."

"What a valuable piece of information!" She remarked looking down at the thousand scenarios under our feet.

"Are you flirting with me or starting a fight?" Squinting my eyebrows, I smirked playfully.

"Are you trying to be funny right now?" Murthy raised her chin, scoffing.

"I can be anything you want." The fact that I took off my sunglasses and started gazing at her deeply, I could sense, was making her uncomfortable.

"I just came here because of your ridiculous threat which obviously doesn't change the settled equation between us." Remaining at her side, she declared.

"Which is?" I asked curling my bottom lip.

She gave me a surprised look before containing all her emotions. "You told me last night that we are nothing but strangers. You said th-are you a bipolar?" She hissed, totally annoyed.

"If that helps, I can be that too." Leaning my back on both elbows, I allowed my eyes to stay glued to her face which looked extremely delicate when the ray of the sun casted on her irises turning her eyes a shade lighter.

"I would really like if you keep your mouth shut for the rest of this thing." Inclining my head, I smiled watching her look seriously pissed.

Hence, I decided to do what she asked but knowing her well, I could easily predict that even though I would stop talking, she won't give up on taunting me.

"You confuse me, do you know that?" More of her accusations broke free as the balloon soared higher, if that was at all possible. "One moment you say we are strangers and the next moment, you manoeuvre the situation to get me stick to you. What do you even want?" Only if I knew that.

Her pink lips contrasted to the green dress she was wearing, the neckline tickling her collarbone. It was a miracle that she still was standing on her own two feet, dress unripped, but I had to remind myself again and again of all the things in past that we both encountered. Things would get lot worse if I didn't stop all these thoughts but I was too dangerously drawn to her and painfully attached to abort the sins.

"Are you sleeping with my brother?" The question came out of my mouth extremely confident, direct but landed as a lightning upon her.

"I'm sorry, what?" H-how dare you?" Looked like she obviously felt violated as she yelled abruptly.

My observation didn't withdraw an inch. "How far have you two gone?"

"Do you imagine everyone to be like you?" Her voice reached few notches higher causing me to close an eye against the calmness of the nature.

"No, I don't because one Manik Malhotra is enough. However, my question remains, is he properly taking care of you? You know, in a way a woman deserves? I'm asking because I'm a little unsure here of his capabilities in this particular territory considering how saintly he has lived all his life." God knew why her blood pressure was soaring high when I was only asking her questions for my general knowledge.

Murthy opened to speak something obviously insulting but paused. "Ever heard of personal limits, Mr.Malhotra?"

"So, you consider him as part of your private life." When I stated, she tried to protest but ended up grunting. "Come on, I'm just asking?"

"I knew I was going to regret this the moment I said yes for this stupid hot air balloon!" Her breaths were fast and heavy. "Do you realise that you are insulting me, Mr.Malhotra?"

"Exactly how?" Bewildered, I asked.

"None of your bus-you know what? Forget it." Crossing her arms, she turned to another side, vexed.

"Is he any good?" Hearing me, she covered her ears as if I was hailing the Satan. "Come on? Are you two any good or still holding hands and kissing one another like teenagers?"

I needed to get the details to have my mind run on proper tracks. If she was sleeping with the man I hated most, I would obviously want nothing to do with her but if they were just good friends as they claimed, I would surely try a thing or two. Or, all of it. But then again, I had broken rules like that before too with Aryaman, didn' I?

"How deep is this friendship running, Ms.Murthy?" Sarcastically, I put forth.

"You know what?" When she turned around, she was boring holes on my face. "You are actually right. This friendship is deep, way deep and he, for a matter of fact, is great in every way."

Oh, how she stressed on 'great' made me almost want to knock her out of the floating balloon.

"So, that means he kisses you?" Murthy hated my smirk, I could bet.

"Yes." Boiling with anger, she nodded and my eyes landed on the rising and falling of her breasts.

"Does he do it right?" Biting my lower lip, I gazed at her, loving how rosy she was turning, unsure if such effect was a result of the warmth of my eyes or the almost setting sun.

"Yes." She avoided looking at me but never could Murthy anticipate what I was about to say next.

"Does he do it better than I used to?" Murthy's eyes shot up to me and I couldn't read the expression on her face.

"Do you know how cocky you sound right now?" A flash of bright red anger blazed behind her eyes.

Not awaiting my response, she turned her back to me and I let out a sigh. "Tell me, Murthy? I asked you something?" Swallowing the overpowering desire, I studied her toned back and my hand itched to touch the small of her back. "You remember the way I used to kiss you, don't you?"

"You are making this super awkward for me, you do realise that, right?" She mouthed not turning to meet me. That was the plan, Murthy. That was the plan.

"Does he kiss you anyway close to how I did, Ms.Murthy? Or, does he do it better?"  My voice turned low and huskier.

Breathing in quietly, not trying to show her pulsating unease, she looked around the beauty of nature hoping it would take her mind off everything.

"Murthy?" Lowly, I took her name.

"Stop it. Please." Her eyes turned shut and my attention was drawn at how the wind tossed and tangled her perfectly straight hair.

Shaking my head, I stared at the side of her face she allowed me to see. "I haven't begun yet. All I'm doing is asking you if Aryaman, my brother, kisses-"

"Yes." Sharply turning on her toes, she uttered into the wind wanting to get done with this once and for all.

Crooked, I smirked. "Better than me?"

Anger was dominant in those eyes when she nodded. "Way better than you."

I didn't care if this was an admission on her part but the game was just now heating up.

Seductively, I walked two of my fingers on the fence of the basket, rendering the rigid expression on her face to falter. "What..are you doing?"

"I'm coming close to you, Ms.Murthy." Taking actual four-five steps, I was standing quite close to her.

"Don't you dare confuse me again. This has-" Her words froze when my hands rested on either of the fences close to her pretty waist and I lowered my body to play in a tolerable rhythm with her height.

"So, he kisses you? Better than me, huh?" Taking in a shaky breath, she noticed how close my face was before turning hers to the side to watch whatever she did.

"I already answered you. Yes." Her nerves were a bit jumbled, I could sense.

"Then why do I have this unshakeable feeling that you are lying?" The distance of my hands on the fence were slowly growing smaller and she worried if her skin would be the next thing I might want to touch.

"You.." For once, she wanted to place her hand on my chest to create some distance but the idea of touching me took a backseat in her mind and she shook her head. "You are not thinking right now."

"Clearly." I admitted.

"You-you should..." Anticipations weighed down her words.

"Does he make you feel this nervous whenever he gets to be this close to you? Hmm?" My warm breath falling on her forehead made her gulp.

"I feel better with him." She said not looking up at me.

"Really? Nice." I nodded with a smile. "That means, his breath intoxicates you the same way mine do, huh?"

"...Yes." She looked past my shoulder to grab something to focus on and prove it to me that I had no effect on her any longer.

"Do you turn mushy in his hands like you used to, a wax doll against the rough of my palms?" I could tell that her cheeks were heating up.

Her eyes closed and she sounded a touch frustrated. "Yes. Yes. Yes."

Time, however, for her to turn back had run out. Trying and retrying, I couldn't erase the image of this morning from my memory, even though I stood this close to the same woman. It was an image imprinted behind my eyelids and no power in me could ignore the voice in my head telling me to sin. I could not un-hear the voice because it was only getting louder.

A sharp gasp fell from her mouth when my thumb thrusted his lower jawline upwards as I needed to see her pretty neckline from this close. Her heart was beating mercilessly against her ribcage when I glided my fingers on her exposed neckline.

"Does he touch you the way I am touching right now?" She cursed under her breath as my voice rumbled like a thunder near her ear.

"This is...wrong." She whispered, scared of opening her eyes.

"I was born with the wrong stars." I smiled bringing my mouth close to her neck. "How can I ever commit to a right thing?"

"You are evil." Her eyes parted open as the words weakly escaped her mouth.

"And, there is no running away from this evil." Caressing her jawline, smooth as butter, my fingers glided almost close to the plunge of her breasts when quickly she stopped my hand. I was certain she considered pulling away but something inside her forced her to stay still.

"What are you doing?" Her eyes desperately searched for answers in mine.

We were flying through the clouds and over the mountain ranges but all of the lights of this universe glimmered when she blinked her eyes.

"I'm going to kiss your brains out, Cinderella." Shooting her a predatory grin, I licked my lips.

The lust had increased tenfold and before she could even feign a protest, my lips captured hers like a vicious storm. Something about her touch, her body, her innocence unleashed the beast in me and I wouldn't stop now even if the world was collapsing around. Maybe, it was her and not me. Perhaps she was not God's best creation but personified version of devil's horns to me and that was what made her so irresistible right now. I could recount all the times in past when she had been too shy in front of me but right now, she was responding to my kiss just right and I couldn't help but form a filthy, little smirk.

Against the quietness of the nature, sloppy sounds of our moist mouths whiplashed the dominating wind. A little hesitant, she finally allowed me to slip my tongue into her mouth and unmistakably, none of this turned out as I imagined because I still was replaying flashes of that bewitching woman in the water even though I was kissing her breathless in my arms. Strange. Her mouth was tasting like sweet mangoes whereas I imagined it to taste like the nicotine in my cigarettes and yet it was powerful to bring me to my knees.

Pressing her delicate body more into mine, her heart started beating against my hard chest and I deepened the kiss as if I wanted to be high. I could tell that Nandini Murthy was pouring all her emotions into the kiss and it was turning everything hotter. One of my hands moved to her neck and the other glided as hot butter over her ass and squeezed the right amount of flesh. Her small mouth showered little moans into mine and her palm, bit by bit moved to steady itself over my hand on her ass.

The immortal smell of her perfume was causing my death and all I could imagine was wriggling her out of this green dress. Shit. Her ass was soft to my touch and I fathomed she needed me just as much when she bucked her hips grinding deeper into mine. I didn't know if she could feel the twitching bulge in my pants because right now I was everything and that was shameless. It didn't matter what she would say. It didn't matter what she would think, for, I only wanted to do bad to her body and claim every inch as mine, at least for now.

One of my hands moved lower and grasped one of her thighs which I pulled loosely around my waist so she could lean her back on the wooden fence of this hot air balloon. Damn, I almost forgot where we were! A little surprised, her knuckles turned white as she grabbed both sides of the fence because of the height we were at but right away, she tangled her fragile fingers into the cloud of my hairs. With half of her back hanging out, she could care for her dear life but chose to lose herself in my unholy mouth. My thumb pressed against her lower jawline thrusting it to move upward so she could offer me more access and licking a long, wet stripe on her neckline, I blemished her body. Damn, she felt real good and it was almost like losing my religion.

The lady's sensuality fizzed at my vices and quickly withdrawing my lips, much to her disliking, I needed to engrave the image in my head. She was a real food for lecherous eyes; pulpy body half dangling in the air - at my mercy; mouth glistening with my saliva; eyes shut tight anticipating how would I attack her next - she gave me fever with how violently magical she looked in her innocence.

Murthy's moans intensified as I peppered kisses on her neck. Tiny marks were soothed by wet kisses and my hands audaciously prowled all over her body. Bucking her hips again, she pulled me back to her starving lips and hanging above the wind, passing through the clouds, I kissed this woman just the way she wanted. My fingers wandered without a license on her bare thigh which was loosely sticking to my waist and her small palms cupped my face and that was right, I didn't want her to behave. I wanted her to take it all out on me. I didn't want her to stop touching me because sure as hell, I wasn't stopping myself even if the gates of hell fell open.

"Shit. I want you." I moaned in her mouth and she slowly parted her deep brown eyes open slowing the pace at which her lips worked.

"But you are Manik Malhotra?" She spoke on my lips.

"That's why I want you more." Saying that, I crashed my lips on her again but this time she wasn't responding as fine as she did a moment ago.

"We are about to go back." The information constrained me to disconnect our lips and look at our surroundings.

We still were thousand miles high in the air, probably floating our way to stars but we already reached our maximum. Murthy slowly dragged her thigh down to the wooden ground and drew her hand away from the cluster of my hairs, not for once blinking as I looked hard in her eyes. I expected her to shout or accuse me of confusing her , violating her with my actions but instead she smiled and everything around was scarlet under the essence of the setting sun. Her eyes looked into mine for long and my index finger touched her swollen lips which was the product of my artistry.

"Whenever on Diwali, I floated sky lanterns into the sky, I always wondered where they traveled to. Now, I know." She smiled with a glow under the hues of red and I slowly moved away from her, confused.

**

People helped Murthy to get down from the balloon whereas I simply jumped out of it, giving her one last look before walking past her. Just one hot make out and she had me addicted like cocaine. If it was anything, it was unfair. It was true that I didn't miss kissing her or the raspberry taste of her lips all this time but now that I did again, I knew I wanted it more and more. But now, since I skilfully destroyed all the settled equations between us, I needed to do a deep thinking myself.

"Ahem." Clearing her throat, Farah stood beside me and even though I was a bit confused at the sudden tease, things got lot clearer as I found a binocular in her hand.

"What?" I shrugged walking to my vanity.

"You know what?" She walked beside. "You are not a selfish person that you claim to be. You are actually good." Hearing her, I shut the door of my vanity not getting inside.

"What's that?" I asked to verify what I heard, tilting my head to her.

"I mean, you understood my phobia and actually did something to fight for it. You didn't let a newcomer get bullied. That's anything but selfishness." She smiled to me.

Smirking, I unlocked the door again. "That was me being all selfish, Farah. You needed eyes to see that."

"I guess I did?" She bit her lower lip, teasing me. "Some of it, at least."

Smiling immorally, I pinched her cheek. "Don't be greedy now. You are already getting enough onscreen kisses from me."

With that, I stepped inside leaving her behind the door because I needed to do a little thinking to myself and most importantly, get rid of something rushing blood to my head.

~ ~

Thanks for all the love and support. I pray everyone is doing alright in this trying times. Stay safe and if you liked this chapter, please don't forget to vote, in-line comment and comment your views. Sending major love.