Thank you to all the ones (you know who you are) who share your thoughts and feedback! Even those who share criticism, I appreciate it so much.

Trust me, writers pour hours of their time into a project and the most demotivating thing is getting no feedback at all :( I've been lucky to find some very vocal readers whom I cherish and who leave heaps of feedback and love to overshadow the silent readers <3

Thank you for always having my back! Happy belated friendships day to you guys! :") <3

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A pound reverberated on the upstairs bathroom door, that was connected to a master bedroom. "Nandini, what the fuck is taking you so long?" It drew the young woman in the stall back to her senses.

Nandini was sitting on the toilet, the red shirt he had given her carefully placed on her bag, which was on the floor beside her.

She had grabbed her tote in the hustle-bustle as she ran up the stairs to separate from the monster when the lights in the mansion had cut out. Shortly after, his footsteps had made it to the room, so she rushed into the bathroom and bolted it from the inside for some peace and quiet.

There had been a sealed window in the bathroom, her impulse was to crack it but the glass was six inches thick and almost bulletproof. He had chosen this torture-house – what was it that he called it, safe-house – to put an end to Nandini's life, that was for sure.

Last time she was swept away in her feelings. She was not going to be naive again and let him do as he pleased with her, she would somehow find a way out and escape.

Hopping down, she had bumped a knee into some tap and held her yelp.

There had been not enough light in that stupid chamber for her to locate her bag. With much difficulty, she had found her Appa's pen in it and some blank pink notes she always kept handy. Scribbling something on them with the help of the red light coming from her Appa's pen, she had kept her shaky hands at bay... that was until a sudden knock on the door.

The drop of her pen alerted the furious monster. After the altercation some moments ago, he could literally murder her if he found out what she was up to. Damage control had to be done.

"I –" She started off, trying to ransack her brain for some excuse... anything that would buy her some more time. "I'm on my period," she said, crossing her fingers. Such personal information she had not even shared with her Chacha, the man who raised her. Her Aiyappa only knew how many more lies she had to say for the night and day or several nights and days she would have to spend with him, if at all he spared her life.

He scoffed at the confession, slamming a fist on the wall somewhere beside the door blurting, "Bullshit!" Taking offense at how easily he caught her lie, Nandini gasped and then frowned at a space behind the door where she presumed he was. Perhaps only she had been a fool, to trust him of all people.

As she pulled the red shirt he flung on her head, a mark revealed itself to her.

"Tumhe Harshad ne bheja?" She asked to his vested back, almost flabbergasted.

He turned around, massaging his neck with one hand, "WHAT?" Some amazing actor he was!

How didn't she think about that earlier?! If he really wanted to capture Nandini, wouldn't he have gone to Nandini's home? Why would he be roaming like a hawk around Navya's apartment?

"Issliye tum Navya ke ghar aaye the, hai na? Tum... tum mujhe nahi, usse lene aaye the! Kahan hai woh?"

Manik's expressions were progressively appearing annoyed.

As a last resort, he flicked a hand at his own temple. "You have completely lost your mind."

"Jhoot! Don't pretend like you don't remember anything! You know very well that he's Navya's boyfriend." She spat, clutching the red shirt he had flung in her direction to her chest. Tears of regret and betrayal were filling in her eyes, because once again her friend was in danger because of her and she could do nothing to stop it.

And that disappointment she harboured for herself poured into loud cries.

"You both are the same, bloody liars!" She wailed, running up the staircase with her pink tote flying by her side. Manik lifted a hand in the air to stop her, but went numb at the sound of her cry.

She shook that thought away and looked at the plot she had schemed in the note before her.

𓆩𓆪

The soft, golden hue from the bedside lamp bathed the room in a warm, intimate glow. Amidst the crumpled sheets were two bodies pressed close together, basking in an afterglow of their lovemaking. Cabir's head rested on Raghav's chest, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat a comforting lullaby against Cabir's ear.

"You know," Cabir murmured, "I've been thinking about us. About our future."

Raghav smiled, his fingers gently combing through Cabir's hair. "Yeah? What about it?"

Cabir looked up, meeting Raghav's gaze with a hopeful expression and rolled onto his belly. He was sprawled on Raghav's pec, tracing a finger over his heart. "I want to travel with you, see the world in your arms, shower you with my love in every country in this world... and finally settle in a place you and I both can call our own." He said, tapping his index finger playfully.

Leaning in, Raghav claimed his lips, tenderly stroking his cheek to extend the serene moment. "For that, we would have to leave this all behind," he swirled a finger in the air, as Cabir's gaze followed the surroundings.

Cabir shrugged, "What's holding us back?"

As Raghav's phone buzzed on the nightstand, its shrill ring slicing through the calm, Raghav's smile faltered.

Curiosity mingled with a hint of concern as Cabir asked, "Who is it?"

"It's Rose," Raghav replied, his voice strained. "I should take this." He picked the phone as Cabir shuffled off him, and he answered with a distracted, "Hello?"

Cabir propped himself up on his elbow, admiring his lover's physique as he layered up with the phone stuck to his ear. His tired voice stung Cabir's heart and made him want to cuddle his love in a protective embrace. As Raghav's expression shifted from confusion to alarm, the room shrunk.

"Wait, what? When did this happen?" Raghav's voice was tense, his words clipped as he listened intently.

Cabir slid out of bed, instinctively moving closer to Raghav. "R, what's going on?"

Raghav ended the call abruptly, his face pale and his hands trembling slightly. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. "It's Harshad... he's out on bail. I need to go see Rose. This is important."

Perplexed at the news, Cabir's eyes widened. The first person who crossed his mind was Navya. If the man was out and about, it only made sense that the first person he would visit would be a 'tie' he had on the outside – that was also if Manik's presumption was right.

"Do you need me to come with you?"

Raghav shook his head, his expression firm but pained as he put on a blazer. "No no, stay here and keep this information to yourself. If anyone else in the clan finds out, that's..."

"You can trust me," Cabir quipped, his heart aching at the thought of leaving his partner after a wonderful session together.

Smiling, Raghav pulled his face in for a quick fluttery kiss, tapped his cheek in goodbye and headed out in a single swift motion. He stood alone in the dimly lit room, feeling weirdly anxious for the girl several thousands of kilometres away. Probably Harshad's next target.

𓆩𓆪

A tone that did not sound like an iPhone's rang somewhere in the distance of that attached bathroom, its chime undercutting the eery silence. Nandini winced as Manik banged the door again and his footsteps retreated. She had a brief moment of respite.

"Haan Cabir, bol... sssss, ahh," Manik hissed into the phone, somewhat relieved that he had a companion to steer him through the darkness.

Nandini's eyebrows furrowed at the distant caller called Cabir, and she pasted her ear to the door.

Intrigued by the turn of events in his friend's life that led to him moaning and hissing, Cabir marvelled to himself. "Oh wow! Am I disturbing something? Wait a second... ho gaya kya?" He was only lightly teasing to test the waters with Mr. Hulk.

"Huh? What do you mean ho gaya? Teri idea thi na... teri wajah se phasa hoon main!" Manik sharply uttered and pressed his forehead, a subdued ache from earlier resurfacing with every word his stupid friend spoke. 

Cabir burst into uncontrollable chuckles, imagining his friend rolling his eyes on the other side which made the situation even funnier. "Aisa... aisa kya kar diya Madam ne?"

The mention of Nandini got Manik's fingers stroking the edge of his mouth, that was freshly seeping with blood. God, how powerful was she exactly? Maybe it had been a grave mistake on his part to have brought her to the secluded mansion. Was he trying to scare her or was he frightened for himself, who could tell?

"She's punctured my lip, I think... the blood is not stopping only!"

Cracking into fits of laughter again, Cabir applauded the woman for serving him straight. "Wow, blood... kinky huh?"

Manik glowered as he threatened, "Don't you dare!"

Quickly realising his friend's possessiveness, Cabir modified and straightened himself, "Okay, sorry, and what did you do?"

"I might have... I might have provoked her a little." Manik admitted sheepishly, and how was he to blame? He had held her over the well expecting her to panic, but when she realised he was just mucking around, she could have smiled... but no, Madam had to be grumpy!

His alternative idea was to set her free once they both were safely inside the house, so she could do as she pleased in his safety net, but her instant reaction was to escape him. So he decided to tease her a little, and what had that become? Another angry bird episode.

He had finally come up with an idea to make her a nice filter coffee that would help her forget her worries and smile but she had charged him with a fantabulous punch, whose effects he was still grappling with. There was no winning with Nandini Murthy in the picture.

Manik sighed deeply, "I don't know yaar... she's not happy. What's the point of all this then?"

"Wow, ek ladki ne mere dost ka haal hilaake rakh diya! Hats off to Nandini, huh!"

"Cabirrrrr..."

"Toh do something that makes her happy! Come on now, tujhe thodi na lessons chahiye iss baat ki! Or better, do something that makes both of you..."

Huffing at the mind-numbing suggestion yet again surrounding sex, Manik snorted, "Not happening, okay? So just... shut those ugly thoughts. Something else..."

"Hmm... Sochke bataata hoon!" The line went silent for a few moments.

Manik eagerly clutched the phone to his ear, leaning on a wall near the windowsill. "Oi! Kahan jaa raha hai? Rukh yahan, aur baat kar."

The bathroom unlocked and a shirtless Manik who had his eyes closed, lazily threw a glance across the vacant room. Cabir's voice hit a deaf ear. "I have other things also to worry about. I just got to know that Harshad is out and about, and..."

Nandini stepped out of the enclosure, pulling the hem of his shirt to feel less exposed. Was she sure she could go ahead with this plan of hers, if she was this freaking shy?

Her waist-length hair that had been growing in the time they had been apart was sleek and loosely hung on her shoulders, as the sleeves swallowed her arms. Moonlight shone on her white skinny jeans, emphasising her curves.

Manik's eyes darkened, as he took a involuntary step closer to her. Wary of him staring, she shuffled her weight between her legs and some of her fingers reached out of the sleeves to tuck her hair behind her ear, only failing to do so.

"I'll call you back," He muttered intensely into the mouthpiece as his gaze was still hooked on her. Covering the gap between them, he instinctively repeated her gesture, only to notice her recoiling at his hand in the air.

Yet again.

His fist tightened by his side while he posed a suggestive accusation, "You lied to me..."

"What?" She asked meekly, unable to find her voice in the proximity.

"You're not due for another eleven days." He uttered, clicking a button on his phone which flashed the screen on, highlighting the trail of crimson still running down the corner of his lip. "Actually... ten this month."

Nandini chilled in her spot, absolutely baffled by the creepy insights she had just been an audience to. "How did you know that?" She asked in sheer disbelief, and as he watched her, his lips curved into a smirk... further scaring her.

In his initial calls with the Pandit, he had figured out a pattern in her absence from the Aiyappa temple in Gujarat. It was precisely four days long on a particular week of the month, and given how religious the woman was, he concurred that those were the four days of the beginning of her menstrual cycle. He did not want to tell her that.

"I'm asking you something." Nandini said a little louder than previously, scrapping her plan right away. His frame was lethargically retreating, the smirk still persistent. "You can't just ignore me, okay? And besides, why is it bothering you that I lied when all you have been doing is that?" She scolded as she hinted at their tainted past, and instantly regretted it when his frame came swooping down on her, barricading her to a wall.

"You should be very careful who you raise your voice at, especially when you look like that." As he murmured, he eyed her flush lips that were quivering, hoping he was the cause.

Manik was not touching her, not the slightest, but she was trapped under one of his arms that caught the arch of the bathroom. The act had been undeniably seductive... the act, not him – he was a monster. 

It was in her destiny that she was going to die in this mansion, he had tactfully sealed the plan airtight. The sooner he would take her life, the easier it would be for her... to liberate her from her sorrows... forever.

Mildly threatened by the proximity in which both their breaths danced together, in that exact moment when she eyed his parted lips, she feared herself more than she feared him.

She could never trust her judgments anymore, he made sure he taught her that lesson... no, he had etched it all over her heart. He might have only been physically bleeding, but he had made sure she was emotionally and mentally suffering for her utter stupidity.

Painfully reclaiming her gaze from those skilled lips she stared at each eye of his at a time, her body shivering in the process of exhibiting bravery.

How could it be, that all of what she felt for him was not real at all?

How had he instead used her unwavering trust against her, and robbed her of a choice that night?

Manik's face fell, seeing her shimmering tears and writhing frame. Her tears would be the end of him one day. Her smile, he wanted her smile back. It had been seven months and sixteen days since he had last seen it. If only the day he was registering it for the last time, he paused a bit longer, watched her a bit longer, cherished that moment a little bit longer.

Just... thoda sa aur.

But a nagging voice in his core knew that even if he did all that, he would still be wishing those same things at this juncture.

If giving up his own life could make her smile again, just once, he would do it a million times over.

Pushing those dark self-destructive thoughts aside, he composed his racing breaths and blinked. What was he wanting to ask of her again? Had he forgotten already? God, what was she, an angel? An angel capable of destruction was what she was.

His index finger shivered in the air as he commanded, "You won't ever lie to me." Deeply conflicted eyes drilled into hers as if narrating a story – or a long list of apologies – silently.

Feeling incredibly weakened by their superpowers, Nandini uttered in a resigned tone, "How does it matter?" Everything that started between them was a lie.

"Promise me, and I'll do anything you wish... on one condition."

Fuck off, she thought. "No," came her response.

In a placating tone, he reiterated his clause. "Anything you wish. On one condition."

"I won't allow it."

He was almost begging when he asked, "You won't even hear me out?"

Her heart wrenched at the plead, but she would not give in this time.

"I don't want to."

Unable to consistently take her rejections in stride, he regarded that he could not ask her to smile against her wish; he didn't want that if she was not genuinely feeling happy, and especially not if he wasn't doing anything to earn it.

Shaking his head, he thought of something else. "You will be within a foot range of me at all times,"

Nandini gawked at him, unsure if she heard it right, because it sure seemed like he had another demand in mind but something made him shift course. "At all times?"

"At all times."

A foot range, that was it? He didn't want her in his arms, he didn't want to kiss her or have his ways with her?

An inkling of a thought began to take shape but was quickly sidelined when Manik nudged his chin in her direction for a response. 

In fact, now that she thought about it, his suggestion seemed better than her pathetic idea to seduce him. What was she even thinking when that plan crossed her mind?

"A foot range, no closer." She stated.

"No farther, and I won't force you. You promise?"

The room filled with a contemplative silence as Nandini pondered on the clause and Manik hoped and prayed she would comply. He promised himself he would treat her to the best night of her life if she complied to his wish.

Nandini cleared her throat. "I am hungry, I want to eat something."

𓆩𓆪

Please please keep your votes and comments flowing, and if any part strikes you as interesting/not so nice, please let me know!

I love sharing my love for KYY with you guys :")