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"Kuch mila?" Cabir jerked his neck to the left, eyeing the three girls at a nearby computer station.

"That was the Windows operating system booting up sound, have some patience!" Navya retorted sharply, which earned some eye-rolls from both men in the room. "What about you guys? I could ask the same question, kuch mila?"

Nandini, in the meantime, was carefully sliding the SD card into a random card reader she found in one of the drawers. As it clicked into place, she exchanged a brief glance with Manik who was across the room.

"Isse pata hi nahi kaise kholte hai," Manik grumbled, focused on his task. It was challenging to pry the locket open without breaking it.

Cabir shrugged, unconcerned. "I guess we'll have to break it."

"NO!" Nandini leapt up from beneath the desk, and her palms slapped the edge of the computer table as she shook her head sharply. "Nahi." The sudden outburst froze everyone in the room to pin-drop silence; the only source of sound was the computer fans that buzzed in the vacant space.

"Come on, Nandini. Now's not the time to be sentimental, okay?" Cabir's tone was softer than usual, though his earlier blunt words had made it clear that he didn't value the ornament – or its innate significance – much.

Before Nandini could respond, Soha's voice chimed in. "That might not be necessary." Her finger was hovering over an infrared scanner that looked like something she saw with cashiers to scan product barcodes at the checkout. The red beam flickered over her skin. She raised an eyebrow.

The men turned towards her in surprise. "What do you mean?" Manik crossed his arms, leaning against the desk he abandoned the locket at, with a skeptical look. "What's the plan?"

Navya was already motioning for the men to follow. "There's a sensor." She scooted aside in her rolling chair, and with a waving hand gesture, she indicated the scanner. "Try placing the locket here."

Manik and Cabir exchanged a quick look before walking over to the sensor. Manik held the star-shaped locket up to the device. The system beeped, as if authenticated by the device. Thrilled by the discovery, as a group, they repeated the action several times, to hear the assuring beep but nothing further.

"It's not doing anything," Soha murmured, her brows knitting in confusion. How could that be? Navya clawed her feet and drew herself back to her spot in front of the computer.

Manik nudged Nandini by the elbow. "Check if there is any data on the system." Nandini moved towards the computer, bending to examine the screen. Navya, on Nandini's behalf, double clicked the greyed out icon on the desktop that suggested an external device had been plugged but they were unable to open it.

"It looks corrupted," she deduced.

"Navya, you're a computer engineer na? Can you do some of your magic?" Nandini requested.

"Nawab?"

At the familiar voice, Manik promptly turned and was flustered to see the caretaker holding a little human wrapped in a teal fluffy blanket.

What was the baby doing here? His gaze naturally softened at her sight but when he realised it, he turned away sharply, as if condemning himself for something. How had he already forgotten? Soha sensed some discomfort because of the presence of a child, but chose not to comment on it.

"What are you doing here at this hour?" Manik grunted to his shoulder, his voice more aggressive than he intended just as Cabir too posed the same question face-to-face at Seher.

Oh, so they both knew her? By the looks of it, Nandini deciphered that the new entry distressed Manik. She frowned. Exactly how close was she to them?

Seher gulped nervously as she moved forward. It was bad enough when one of them interrogated her. The curt demand from both authoritative masculine voices intimidated her. "Mukti told me if she's not back by 2AM, to come visit her here and call for help if necessary."

Footsteps were echoing in the corridor, as Mukti was drawn to a familiar voice coming from a illuminated computer lab in the building: Seher's. She flicked her wrist, and squinted at the time on her watch. 1:43. No wonder Seher had arrived, but who was she talking to? 

"She's here too?" Cabir gasped, stalling Mukti in her steps. Plastering herself to the walls, she scooted in micro steps towards the lab. "Yahan koi party chal rahi hai kya humaare bina, jo hume hi nahi pata?"

By then, Seher had come around, close to Manik.

Manik shook his head at his idiot friend, who even in a moment of crisis was finding humour in the situation. "Tch, did you say she needs help?" Instinctively, he pivoted by an acute degree only to come face to face with her. "Why, what's going on with her?"

"She didn't tell me anything. She looked worried though, perhaps scared." Mukti palmed her forehead behind the comfort of those walls barricading the hallway and the lab. Did the caretaker not know whom to keep her mouth shut around?

Of all people, telling Nawab that someone from the clan was scared was like... surrendering to the cops about a crime one committed! The woman had a walnut for a brain, so damn stupid she was. Mukti nervously peeked in from the hinges of the door, anticipating Hulk's emergence.

"But I have nothing to worry about now, since you – you all – are here. Would you like to take the baby?" Seher tilted herself towards Nawab, who immediately backed off.

"Um... it's uh – I'm..." Mukti palmed her mouth and cried at the sight – his reluctance.

Nandini, who was witnessing the scene from the sidelines, shoved her prior judgments about the woman behind her mind, and stretched her arms out. "I can take her."

As Seher was relieved of her responsibilities, the little cocoon slipped into Nandini's warm embrace. "Thank you. Who is this baby?" she whispered to Seher.

Popping up from behind Nandini, Cabir murmured, "The important guest I was talking about." So she was the one who was eager to meet Nandini? She wondered what the child had heard about her until then.

The baby's mouth was drenched with drool which was smearing on her exposed collarbone; the innocence of that act characteristic to children around the toddler age naturally brought a smile to Nandini's face. "Oh, not Manik's daughter, don't worry." Cabir quickly added.

Nandini's face flushed.

"Why would I worry?"

"Yeah, why would she?" Soha asked with a mild grin indistinguishable to the naked eye.

"I mean... I thought... okay then!" That's a great understanding you both have, keep it up! Cabir teased internally, but quickly reprimanded himself. It wasn't the time for jokes and fun. Nandini slowly paced away with the baby, bobbing her and patting her as she and Soha walked towards Navya.

"Yeh kiska baby hai?"

Nandini shrugged. Soha probed, "Lekin cute na?"

"It is," Navya complimented, before focusing on her task again. "Baitho na?" She gestured to one of the revolving chairs beside herself. Nandini huddled the child closer to her chest and carefully propped herself in the seat Soha held in place for her, careful to not disturb the baby's beauty sleep.

The mild tussle stirred Adira, but comforted by the scent of her Maama from the red shirt, and an unfamiliar yet pleasantly soothing feminine fragrance that radiated warmth, the baby nuzzled further into her. Nandini palmed her mouth to stop herself from squeaking. "She just snuggled into me in her sleep, aw... I'm – about to cry!"

For a moment, both Navya and Soha looked at each other and sighed, as if imagining the same moment in their minds. Lovingly, they gazed back at their friend. "You would be a wonderful mother one day, Nandu."

"That's very funny."

"Nands, we're not kidding, I mean your baby will have literally no trauma, can you imagine?"

From a distance, a lovelorn Manik admired his Nandini lovingly pat his favourite baby in the world. His heart had felt so full at that moment. Life just felt... complete. Cabir was right a few months ago when he had put the thought of a future in Manik's mind. That... was all that he wanted from his life... for his future.

He was violently spun, without warning, and before he could register what happened, he was yanked into a bone-crashing hug. Manik stumbled; initial shock followed by utter confusion hit him like a brick, before he realised Mukti was the one hugging him.

Hesitantly, he brought one of his arms around her waist and the other softly patted her upper back, soothing her. Had he missed something? The last time he had seen her several hours ago, she had shunned him away from her life and her daughter's.

If only he had known, how much life had changed for her from the time she met Dhruv earlier in the night... scanning through several files, packets of evidence surrounding Nawab and her own personal rabbit-hole of life lessons. How could she ever doubt him?

She clutched him tighter, sobbing. "Manik, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry... sorry..."

"Hua kya hai, Mukti?" Nandini craned her neck, meeting Manik's conflicted gaze and Mukti's leather jacketed back. He immediately separated from the sister-like figure in his life. "Listen... aise ro kyoon rahi ho, hmm?" His concerned thumbs swept her cheeks in a manner similar to how he tended to Nandini's tears in the mansion.

The memory felt so distant to her then. So much had happened since, every hour had felt like a new story altogether for them.

"I should not have said those things to you." Mukti cried, and Nandini stood up from her chair at the sobbing confession. "Now you're not even laying a finger on her, and it's all because of me. I have ruined everything! I should not have taken your mother away from you. I was wrong. So so wrong." In a split-second, Nandini knew the significance of the woman named Mukti in Manik's life. His sister. The mother of the baby in her arms. 

"Hey, calm down. It's nothing! Main bas aise hi... baahar jaake aaya, toh nahaaya nahi maine abhi tak. Germs and all, you know na? That's why I didn't –" It wasn't convincing, Nandini could tell. For a man who could lie through his teeth, he wasn't doing justice to his lie at all.

Her fingers trailed towards the inside of his palm like a gaping claw clip, and embraced it into a secure hold. "I'm so so sorry, Bhai."

Manik's eyes turned beady at the call that had been literally more worth than a million diamonds thrown at his feet. It was the first time she had referred to him with that title in her life. The woman who barred everyone from harbouring even the smallest space in her heart had actually embraced him in her life – with the title of a brother.

Though within her mind, she often felt the responsibilities he carried out fit the role she had given him, it was an epiphany for her to confess it straight to his face. She had never known four letters could form the most beautiful word in the Hindi language.

Distracting herself from the unexpected outburst of emotions, she blankly muttered, "You suck at lying, I don't know why you even try!" It resulted in chuckles from both him and herself, and he patted her cheek, puckering a kiss in the air to cajole her.

She withdrew her hand from his hold while he looked at his hand, and touched the metallic item with his other hand.

Swiping the leaky kajal from her damp cheeks, Mukti turned 180 degrees to the petite woman dressed in Manik's shirt slowly patting her baby. Several moments were spent sizing Nandini up, before she came towards her and requested her baby back in an indifferent manner – without any perceivable emotions Nandini could pick on.

Delicately, Nandini transferred the child to her mother's hold, weirdly emotional about the exchange. Barraged by the thought of her own mother – who was unjustly long gone – Nandini's eyes flickered with angst.

Mukti met that pained gaze from the woman, suddenly captured by her harmless innocence and couldn't help herself from extending a tiny smile across her lips, that was reciprocated even though Nandini's was hollow. 

Unable to prolong the moment any further and remain at the same level of composure as well, Nandini escaped to the comforts of her friends.

Navya, oblivious to the remainder of the scene, lifted her hands in defeat. "Nandu, one main piece is still missing. We have the chip, the authentication token, but since it's encrypted, we need the machine we plug it in to have its deserialiser. The card is unreadable without it."

On the other side of the room, Mukti's phone vibrated in her pocket. Alarmed by the name, Mukti murmured Dhruv as she received the call.

Seconds later, she ran out of the lab, followed by a confused Cabir who sprinted behind her mindlessly. A fearful Seher too found comfort in the unity of not just half the clan but outsiders who seemed more... more like herself. She sided with them.

While Manik reeled in the disappointment that their attempts were yet again futile, Nandini took pride in the knowledge that they were just one step away. Everything had not gone to dirt.

Navya disconnected everything from the computer and the girls headed out with their possessions. Seher led, Navya and Soha behind her held hands, and extended a hand to Nandini.

As she thoughtlessly took it, from behind her, Manik grasped her other warm hand, stroking the back of her palm with his thumb and falling into step with her.

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