Everything happens for a reason.

"Manik I'll be okay. Itna tensed kyu ho rahe ho baba aap?" Nandini said cupping his face.

"Darr lag raha hai. Pata nahi kyu aur kis cheez ka! Bass lag raha hai." He said slowly.

"Aap kyu Darr rahe ho? Mai hu na aapke pass. Main kahin chod kar thodi na jaungi aapko. Hmm?" She said kissing his cheek.

Little did she know whatever she was assuring him with may become a lie soon.

"Achha chalo now don't be this rotlu baby and go to office. I'll also leave." She said smiling sweetly.

Soon both rushed out of the house. Manik left in his car for Malhotra Empire while Nandini left for her meeting in Café Cherry Tree with driver.

The cafe was a beautiful one with mesmerizing interiors. Nandini was definitely impressed with Lara's choice.

Soon she spotted her clients and they got busy in discussing about their deal. On the other side, Manik too entered his office after many days and took good class of all the employees who lagged their work.

After 3 hours Nandini was done with her meeting. She called Manik while moving to the restroom.

"Hey Love!" She heard on the second ring itself.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiii" She wished him with long hii making him chuckle.

"Hmm.. I guess the meeting went well." He asked or rather stated.

"Off course it had to. After all it was Nandini Singhania handling it." She praised herself making him laugh.

"Okay okay I know my Mrs.-To-Be-Malhotra is the best-est." Manik said making her turn crimson.

"Manik! Shut up." She said trying to control her blush.

She reached the restroom.

"Achha Manik I'll be leaving soon but aap aapka poora kaam finish kar ke hi ghar aaoge. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Nandini almost warned him.

"As you say boss!" Manik said dramatically.

Soon they bid bye and Nandini after using restroom was moving towards the exit where her driver was waiting for her, but a little boy approached her.

"Didi" The little one said.

Nandini smiled and bent down.

"Yes baby?"

"This is for you." He gave her a chit.

"What is this?" Nandini asked.

While the boy only shrugged his shoulder and ran away. Nandini opened the chit and found something written inside it.

Hey Nandini! Do you wanna know a secret? Come to the back exit of the cafe. Waiting for you!

She frowned reading that. Who can send her this kind of note? She thought of checking and strode towards the back door. As soon as she stepped her foot outside the cafe's back door, her face was smashed with a handkerchief filled with chloroform. She felt dizzy and slowly lost her consciousness. Two men picked her up and put her inside a white Swift. They sat inside and rushed to the outskirts of Mumbai.

They reached a secluded building and again picked her and took her to a dark room. They placed her on a chair and tied her with the ropes. They left and after almost an hour a young man entered the room and locked it on his back. He was none other than Aryamann Khurana! He came inside and stood in front of the unconscious Nandini. He kept on staring at her serene face. He gazed at each and every part of her body and lastly stopped his gaze on her plumpy lips. He moved forward and was about to rub his thumb on her lower lips but stopped himself.

"Naah! Pehli baar tumhe itne kareeb se dekh raha hu. Tumhari behoshi me tumhe nahi touch karunga. But mai to hun hi duniya ka sabse bada impatient insaan. Ab tum mere pass ho aur me tumhe touch naa karu? Aisa kaise ho sakta hai? So let's bring you to your conscious state darling!" He said and fetched a water bottle from the side table.

He sprinkled some water on her face. She flinched and slowly started getting conscious.

"Wake up beautiful." He said.

Slowly she got full conscious and looked at her surroundings. She concluded that she was in a dimly lit room and the man standing in front of her was unknown to her.

"Hey!" Aryamann smiled goofily at her.

She got the highly negative vibes from him.

"Who-who are you-you?" She stuttered badly.

"Ohho. Don't be scared." Aryamann said.

"Who are you?" She again asked after gaining some courage.

"You don't know me?" He asked.

She just shook her head slowly.

"Okay so I guess before doing anything we need to have a talk." He said and pulled a chair and sat in front of her.

"Okay! Let's start. That so called boyfriend of yours must have told you about me. I'm Aryamann Khurana son of Sameer Khurana." He said but his this statement snatched the land below from Nandini's legs.

"Arya-Aryamann Khurana? Sa-Sa-Sameer Khurana?" She stuttered badly in fear.

"Yes babygirl. I'm Aryamann Sameer Khurana!" He uttered with a proud face.

"No! No! Leave me.. open this. Jane do mujhe. Leave me!" She started struggling with the ropes.

"Arey arey babygirl why are you struggling? Be calm. You'll get rashes." He quickly held her shoulders.

"What are you doing? Cut lag jayega tumhe in ropes se. Don't struggle. It's of no use." He scolded her.

Here on the other side Manik reached Malhotra Mansion at 7pm. After talking to Nandini, he engaged himself in his work totally. He reached the living room, he slumped down on the sofa and called for Nandini.

"Love?" He shouted.

Getting no response he again shouted.

"Princess I'm home. Where are you?"

He frowned. He got up and checked the kitchen and backyard but didn't find her. He ran to their room and found it empty too. He then checked the terrace, jam room, gym but still didn't find her. His heartbeats started to rise. He ran outside the mansion and stood in front of Max(security head of Malhotra Mansion).

"At what time Nandini returned today?" He asked.

"Sir, Ma'am didn't returned today." Max replied.

"What???" He almost shouted.

"How can this be possible? I myself talked to her nearly 3 hours back and she said she would be leaving for home soon. How come she didn't returned?" Manik asked in fury.

"I'm sorry sir but why would I lie? Ma'am really didn't returned today. The last time all of us saw her was when she was leaving with you." Max explained.

Manik was about to speak something when he heard someone calling his name from behind.

Hello there beautiful people!
Sooo....... Sorrry for being soooo....... late. But I was stuck with my pre boards and now i have my boards in around 10 days.

Coming back to the story, The demons are here finally and they have played their first card. Nandini is in Aryamann's cage and Manik is totally oblivious to everything. What do you think Manik will do now to save his Princess from the demons. And make a guess of who would have called Manik in the end.

Words: 1193

Thankyou!
Lots of Love❤️
Dhruvi.