Nandini had been barely hanging in the presence of Manik with the help of her substitute tablets but now that all her tablets had been confiscated she didn't know what to do. She had been so used to relying on her high dose tablets that the normal doses seemed to have no effect on her, not even when she had chugged down three tablets in one glass of water which wasn't exactly considered a good thing to do and now she had been regretting it as the tablets effect had started kicking in. Her head felt heavy and she couldn't get a grasp of what was going around. She felt as though the world was spinning and she was spinning along with it.

"Nanz!" Someone's hazy voice reached Nandini's ears and that made her a bit alert. "Nanz! Nandini! Are you okay?" The voice sounded more clear and the feeling of being lightly patted on her cheeks slowly started kicking into her system. Simultaneously her blurry vision cleared too. She noticed three things in quick succession as soon as she got back to her senses. One, her head still hurt. Two, she vaguely remembered how she had teleported to her apartment before the office time was even over and three, her flat mate concern filled gaze which were piercing holes into her head. "Aisha. Wh-What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming back today?" Nandini pressed her head lightly as she slightly pushed Aisha away to create some distance.

"Yeah that was the plan but the flight got cancelled because of the heavy rainfall."

"Rainfall!" Nandini cut a glance towards the window and indeed it had been raining heavily. "When did it start raining?"

"Approximately three hours ago. Seriously, Nandini are you okay?" she simultaneously touched Nandini's forehead and cheeks. "It's not fever. Are you hurt? Do you feel nauseous? Do you-"

"I am fine." Nandini interjected, placing a hand on either side of Aisha's shoulder. "I am really fine. I was just sleeping."

"Were you?"

"Yes." Nandini assured. "You should go change. You'll catch cold otherwise."

"Urghh, yeah I should." Aisha got up from the floor as she loosened her scarf and took off her blazer. "The weather forecast sucks mahn. Today should have been a sunny day according to the weather forecast but it just suddenly started raining so heavily. On top of that-" she placed her wet blazer into the washing basket. "there was an accident. Someone rammed their car into an electric pole and the whole road was blocked."

"In short it's been a shitty day." Nandini added.

"Exactly." Aisha slowly pulled off the bobby pins from her hair as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. "But the good thing is that the rain started pouring down an hour ahead from the boarding time. Seriously if the flight had boarded then it would have been a hassle for me to calm down all the passengers. By the way-" she shifted her gaze from her reflection to Nandini who had been sitting on the carpeted floor with her head leaned on the couch. "did something happen?"

"What?!"

"When I came in you seemed lost."

"I-" Nandini started only to be interrupted by Aisha.

"Don't lie to me. You were definitely not sleeping. You didn't even realize my presence and that's so unlike you. You know it's me even before I step into the apartment. Is something wrong?"

"No. I am really okay." Nandini paused before adding, "Okay I might have a slight headache and work was tiring."

"Really?"

Nandini nodded. "I am really okay. It's just a bit work pressure."

"Fine if you say so. But now that I remember-" Aisha joined Nandini on the floor. "we haven't talked about your new workplace at all."

"Yeah and that's because you haven't been home in a while. Like the last time you were here was like a week ago and that too you left right after spending a night here."

"What can I do when I have such a busy schedule?" Aisha shrugged. "Honestly sometimes I feel like I spent more time in air than on land."

"That's an overstatement now."

"Not really. It's just how it feels. And-" Aisha lightly hit Nandini's shoulder. "don't try to divert the topic. Tell me about how your new workplace is and also about that boy that managed to pique your interest."

Nandini looked at Aisha in disbelief. "I thought we were done with that topic and I have already worked there for more than a month now. I am not so much new to it anymore."

"Sweetheart you yourself assumed we were done-" Aisha held Nandini's chin and pinched it lightly. "but we aren't and you are still new okay. Now tell me how it's going?"

"It's going nowhere. I mean there's just nothing and there will-"

"never be either." Aisha completed even before Nandini could. "Don't lie to me. You dolled yourself up and went to a gathering last week. In fact you didn't come back till late at night and that was so unlike you."

"My god!! I was tricked into going to that gathering and there was nothing fun about being there okay."

"You were-" Right then the doorbell rang. "back home late and that's the main point."

"Stop being nosy and go open the door."

"Something is definitely going on." Aisha said as she got up from the floor and made her way towards the door.

"Think whatever you want to." Nandini couldn't possibly say that she had been attacked by some hybrid species and that it had kept her occupied half the night.

"You are no fun." Aisha chided as she opened the door and she was left spellbound, for there in the doorstep stood a tall handsome stranger. "Hii."

"Hey." came the reply and Nandini recognized the voice almost immediately. "Niall!!" She jumped up on her feet and reached for the door.

"Hey naughty."

"You know him?" Aisha asked and Nandini nodded as she let Niall in. "Yeah."

"Your to be boyfriend?" Aisha asked in a low tone and Nandini looked at her in disbelief. "What are you even thinking? He is my brother."

"Biological brother?!"

"Any doubts?"

"Wow!! You never told me you have a brother and such a handsome one at that." Aisha gushed.

"I am Niall. Nandini's brother." Niall introduced himself with a polite smile. "You must be her flat mate Aisha right?"

"Yeah." Aisha nodded. "It's surprising that you know my name. Nandini hasn't been backbiting about me to you, has she?"

"Oh absolutely not."

"Well that's good then." Aisha smiled. "Take a seat. Umm coffee, tea or anything else you would like."

"Oh no thank you." he refused. "I have some work to do. So I'll leave in a while."

"But-" Aisha started only to be cut off by Nandini.

"Aisha you'll catch cold. Go and get changed. Till then me and my brother will have some reunion time." Nandini suggested and though Aisha didn't really like the idea but she complied. She went to her room to change and Nandini took Niall to her room.

"Is something wrong? I thought we were meeting tomorrow. Why the sudden change in plan?"

"Everything is wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Blake's dead."

"Huh?" Nandini couldn't comprehend what Niall was trying to say. "Blake?! You mean the Blake we know. That Blake from the Dark night clan that was sent with us as an envoy to this human world?"

Niall nodded. "Ansia reported it."

"But how's that even possible? Apparently our kind... we are all dead beings and we are almost immortal."

"I don't know. When I reached the site with Arya I was shocked too. His body was petrified."

"What do you mean petrified?" Nandini asked.

"I don't know. After all we can't even run a test on it. It's just stone with a huge hole on the chest area."

"Urghh this is all so confusing." Nandini ran a hand through her hair. "Did you contact Skyler?"

"No." His voice was low. "Not yet."

"My god!! Such a big thing happened and yet you haven't contacted that one person who might actually be able to help. What the hell did you guys do to reach this point?"

"It's not about us okay. I just didn't know how to contact him."

"Really?!" she looked at him in disbelief. "I gave you his address yesterday."

"You did but I had to inform you too and I just thought contacting him through you would be good. So just call him and tell him to come to the square and-" Niall paused before adding, "how many tablets did you intake today?"

"We have much more serious matter to talk about than that."

"This is a serious matter too. It matters to me. So tell me."

"Three.. three normal doses." Nandini lied. She had taken total of five tablets that very day. Moreover three tablets in one glass of water and to top it she had blacked out for god knows how long.

"You better not be lying. You know it very well what happens when someone overdoses on the tablets. You have seen it first hand."

"I know." Nandini nodded. 

"If it's hard leave that job Nandini."

"I can't. I was assigned here to know more about human technologies and there is no better job than this."

"You sure? I mean you could have just applied to another research facility but you chose a gaming company instead and a position of personal assistant at that. A total contrast job than your previous one."

"I think I elaborated why I chose this company and post in the report I sent to the council."

"You did and I was convinced but not anymore. At least not after seeing what you have done to yourself."

"Niall I am really okay." Nandini assured. "And I promise you if I feel like it's too much to handle then I'll resign."

"You always say that but in the end you always end up pushing yourself to your limit." 

"This time I won't okay and we can talk about this later."

"Fine. Just call Sky-" his tone lowered. "Skyler for now." 

"My god!!" Nandini let out a sigh as she took out her phone. "What the hell happened between you two?"

****

It's my first time cooking up plots like this in my head and honestly what I really crave for right now are comments. If possible paragraph wise comments, if not just overall how it is and what you expect. If you have noticed this book is starting to get more detailed plus the chapters are lengthy. So kindly do drop your comments. 

Love💙
Aaku