I AM SO EMO Y'ALL :")

𓆩𓆪

Ignorant to a stumbling series of footsteps near the area, Nandini ran to the painted white box attached to a wall on the ground floor, and flipped the flap of it open. She ran her fingers along every switch and felt the biggest one, and flicked upwards.

When her firmly shut eyes opened, the entire hallway had been illuminated. Manik was on the end of the hall, by the staircase, on his descent to the basement but had stopped because of the flickering glow in the area that strained his eyes. He scouted the light, then the surroundings and then his eyes fell on her in the centre of the verandah. The source of it in his life.

He blinked rapidly, wondering if the building had blown up and if he was already on his flight to a certain spiritual power above because of which he was conjuring some of the most beautiful images his beloved brain desired: of the love of his life in his clothes, staring back at him with an undeniable intensity that swept him off his feet.

Like two magnets drawn to one another, they impulsively rushed, stopping one breath apart.

Bewildered at the sight of the man of her dreams, she reluctantly reached out, touched his palm, and a breath lodged in her throat. "You are real," she whispered, confirming his own rationality.

She was there, at fingers' reach. Life finally came back to him.

"I thought I told you to go from here, Nandini, kabhi meri baat nahi manni hai tumhe, haan?" he scolded, gasping wildly. Roughly. Then he screwed his eyes shut, gathering his scattered fears and thoughts that all surrounded her safety. Her well-being. He was relieved that she had been unharmed. That he hadn't lost her.

That was the most important thing. 

His icy tone barely had an effect on her. He was bleeding on multiple areas as the crimson splotches on his blazer lining depicted. Worried beyond her own belief, she tried to quickly examine the wounds on his vested chest as she asked almost solely to assure herself, "Tumhe kuch hua toh nahi na, pakka na?" He lifted his gaze to her concern.

Tum... theek ho na? Pakka na? She had asked when they drove down a dark street, towards the abandoned house where several truths had surfaced earlier that night.

Within a split-second, he understood that the worries floating through her mind were because of him. His safety. His well-being.

"Pakka pakka tum theek ho na, Manik? Pata hai –"

In a moment, two of his firm hands caged her face firmly and in the next, his lips were coming down urgently on hers, dancing on and between them like there was no tomorrow. Because for a fact, he didn't know, neither of them did, and so he could not wait any longer to claim her his. For as long as he lived, and even beyond.

A frenzied Nandini deeply exhaled at the first spark of his kiss, immensely relaxed by his ever-consuming irrational passion that shut down all her worries and brain-cells with a thud. Her unfiltered concern offset his supreme power; together, they were like yin and yang.

She had completely lost her mind over the last six hours, there was no questioning it, but the sole willpower to pull through despite the adversities – to persevere for light at the end of this dark tunnel – was being rewarded by his deep-seated unbounded love.

Her insecurities, her doubts and her courage were embraced as a whole, without qualms, without conditions. Nandini threw her arms under his arms, soothing him and herself in an embrace as she slipped her tongue in a practiced, nearly synchronised movement... seeking his.

While she remained clinging with all her might, his hands cradled her head like a delicate glass orb. There was no other feeling quite as satisfying to lose his life on, lose his life for. So if it had to happen today, he would want to pass knowing that he memorised the way her mouth felt on his. His mind, his heart, his body and his soul – they all belonged to her. Only her.

Implicitly shouldering the realisation, he dug his fingers into her hair. Separating them. As his gaze fell on her flushed cheeks, her shiny button-like nose, and her dilated irises, he understood that she had been the single best thing he could have ever asked for. He rasped against her nose, "Where the hell have you been all my life?"

Dazed beyond comprehension, Nandini wasn't even sure if she heard him right. She was just soul-snatched by his intensity, and found that matching it was expending most of her energy.

It didn't matter what Mukti said about his actions, it didn't matter if anyone in her life made her question his actions ever again because in that moment, at a juncture where their life would either start together or end, she had known for sure: his intentions meant otherwise.

And if she trusted that he meant well with regards to her, she could believe he didn't have a choice when he went against the law, just as Mukti confessed herself. Things between them would not always be that way, he promised. So, she felt compelled to say what had truly been on her lips all along. Unable to transfer to his until outright stated... for both her satisfaction and his knowledge.

"Just... waiting for you..." She murmured breathlessly, as one of his thumbs pressed her cheek and sinuously traced the curve. The fleeting change of his expressions from that of exhilarated joy, to one of a deep, tempestuous sensuality, registered on him for a second, before it harshly melted between their lips once again and an arm slipped down to her waist, possessively yanking her towards himself. 

From the other end of the stairs, a disarrayed Mukti who was a handful of seconds behind her companion, was rushing down to chase Nandini down. Taken aback by the sudden sight of her brother and his lover in each other's arms, she stopped on the landing.

No, not just in each other's arms... he was ravaging her in a heated moment of what seemed like a delightful blend of carnal desire and an intuitive understanding of each other's wants and needs. A sense of belonging to each other... and only each other.

She quickly looked away, finding the sight of her brother engaging in someone so passionately disturbing to her eyes. Nobody else in the history of her brother's relationships had made Mukti that uncomfortable but she revered in the truth – Nandini had been right, all along. Manik needed them – not Nandini and Mukti 'them', but Manik and Nandini 'them'.

The halt of resounding footsteps snapped the couple out of their tantalising moment, while he still held her in place. Manik tipped his head up first, to reel in his breathing, and registered Mukti in the distance looking everywhere but him. A little flushed by the uncontrolled act himself, he remembered that he had ordered Nandini to leave.

He cleared his throat and looked down at his woman. "I thought – ahem, I... I thought I told you to stay safe."

Nandini's hand held his left palm still cupping her jaw, feeling the banded ring once again. "But I am," She soundlessly defended, having lost her voice somewhere in the exploration of his mouth, but pointing somewhere behind her to explain that Mukti, his sister, had been with her all along.

"You better hope so, because that just costed us fifteen seconds," he mumbled, crassly smearing his lips with the back of his free hand with a smirk. Before Nandini could understand what he meant, his fingers smoothly twisted into those by her face, and he dragged her down the stairs.

"Follow me!" He said to his shoulder, and Mukti huffed in disbelief, knowing he meant it for her, before she hurried along.

𓆩𓆪

"WHAT THE –?" Harshad groaned in pain, but before he could turn, the back of his neck was firmly clasped, hoisting him up as he was shoved against a stubbled face. Madhyam's.

Several metres behind that head was a pained woman, hugging a child to her frame, utterly shaken by the master manipulation tactics he had used.

Harshad struggled to focus from the blow and the grip, but looked back at his opponent. "Watch what you talk about my father, you son of a bitch!" Madhyam passed a smouldering look to Harshad writhing in pain, as if memorising his unharmed face before promising himself to ruin it forever. He smacked it with a rough swig and dislocated Harshad's lower jaw. 

Father? Cabir frowned. Madhyam was a Malhotra man? Then why was his last name Singhania? And how and where did this scumbag pop up from? 

Hurried footsteps were heard somewhere around the group. As Cabir looked up and whispered "Soha?", she pulled a strained smile. All she was aware of was that there wasn't enough time. She focused on loosening the restraints around the troop's wrists as Madhyam had instructed of her. "What are you still doing here?"

"I'll tell you everything later," she stated, still busy in her task.

From the other end of the room, Navya was gently rubbing a toddler who was mesmerised by the lacy trim of her dupatta and had hence been oblivious to any of the dooms and dashes that should have frightened her. She seemed... at peace, Navya regarded, and with a small twinge in her heart, she wondered how the little one was being raised in the throes of hellish danger.

The ropes loosened around Cabir and Dhruv. While Cabir scrambled to his feet, he massaged the area where the ropes had dug in... and left marks. "Sss.... Ahhh..." 

Soha's gaze sharply shifted to the red indented strips on his fair skin, and she looked up at him with a pained expression. "Does it hurt?" A shellshocked Cabir scrutinised at her, assessed that she wasn't mucking around with him, and then lightly chuckled.

First, it was the Bollywood moment when he bumped into Alia in their Mumbai villa, having their luggages flying around before falling near each other, and now it was this... a stranger of a woman genuinely concerned about the well-being of a man like he meant something to her.

"How – how am I always stuck in arrangements with women that would otherwise be so romantic?"

Not catching the drift, Soha confusedly asked, "What?"

In the meantime, Alia, who had been caught in a similar moment with Dhruv, was freed. The lower part of Alia's dress had been crumpled and had ridden up to her thigh, exposing a little bit of skin that never saw the sun. Mindful not to look at her as she adjusted herself, Dhruv looked away and when it was appropriate to face her, he lifted to her feet gently.

"Cabir, now is not the time for these jokes," Dhruv snapped.

"Right, yes. Moments before death is not the most appropriate time, let's go." 

Madhyam and Harshad had still been looped into a colossal fight amongst themselves, and had seemingly forgotten the existence of all three dimensions around them. While the clanmates passed a nonchalant look at the two, and evaded them in their quest to safety, Soha stopped in her steps. The man seemed to know a lot about how to manuever these sorts of situations, but she didn't have time to ponder how and why that had been.

All she had known was he had helped two helpless woman and a child upon their first request. For that, and that reason alone, she made a tunnel with her hands around her mouth. "Hey, we have to get the hell out of here!"

Madhyam wrenched his neck to her with a flick, and Soha felt her heart stop for a second. He resembled one of those heroes from movies, there to just save women from danger. It was the first time, after her long-lasting crush on Varun, that she had registered a man remotely in that nerve of attraction. Brushing the temporary spark under the rug, she waited for him to thrash Harshad onto a wall, and then elope with her out of the building. 

But Madhyam gathered the same rope and scantily tied the man to the legs of a heavy table. "You all are making a big mistake! You don't know what you're up against!" Harshad yelled from behind as Madhyam clapped his hands off the nylon dust, examined his opponent with disgust and rushed out.    

By the porch of the campus, the escapees all caught some breaths. They were all successfully out. Amidst some deep sighs, Cabir put his hands on his knees and vaguely mumbled to his friends, "But... Manik?"

𓆩𓆪

Manik and Nandini were running hand in hand down the stairs and across the long hallway that led to an opening at its end.

Nandini regarded the rush of adrenaline that had swept her body and kept her on her toes. Over the last few minutes of covering some distance, it had been a liberating experience for Nandini to be galloping with her lover by her side... almost like the movie scenes Navya described in lots of detail.

She longingly looked at him, his blistered lip more clear now than moments ago when she was examining his injuries, as she mutely wondered if their throes of passion, she had tugged on the wound too hard.

Manik endearingly looked back at her. Destiny indeed was something, wasn't it? When he invited her to the basement earlier in the night, he had done so under the hopes that he could show her some musical instruments and confess his long list of sins for which he was apologetic. By hook or by crook, even if it meant falling at her feet, he would say his sorries and beg her to give them a chance at least.

At that stage, she had refused to take another step in the direction of their relationship. Then, through an ill turn of events, things had finally lined up such that they were both heading towards the basement together anyways. He promised himself that once he triggered the killswitch, he would shoo Mukti away and profess his love for Nandini in the privacy of that space – where music began and ended for them.

They came to a standstill near a circuit board. "Manik, have you lost it? What are we doing here? There's barely a minute left." Mukti pranced, feeling a lightheadedness spread across her temples.

At the sensor board, Manik let go of his girl's hand and rubbed his palm on his jeans. "Tch, I'm trying something."

"Like?"

Manik rolled his eyes, wondering whether Nandini had transferred some of her curiosity disease onto her companion in the short bit of time they had been together. "Isse saath kyoon le aayi tum?" He questioned her irritably.

It triggered Mukti, yes, but it also seethed the angry bird, who until now had been getting commands for not only 'smile', 'sit' and 'don't move' but also obeying him to some degree.

"How dare you, matlab abhi abhi tumne gussa kiya when I –" Nandini cut herself off as she peered at the sensor that was scanning his thumb.

It beeped in negative. "That's strange."

"What?" Mukti said, approaching.

"My fingerprint... it's not scanning. Try yours..." He urged to her.

"Oh, so now you want my help, cool yaar?!"

Manik scrunched his face up helplessly. "Just do it na Mukti, please?"

Negative.

"What? Mine isn't registering either."

Strong forearms crossed Manik's chest swiftly as he rubbed the corner of his lip. "Shit, think... Manik, thiiiink..." They had thirty seconds, tops. It was as if the ticking clock was impeding his decision making skills. Completely lost, he slumped on the nearby wall and breathed heavily.

"Gone. It's a waste. We're doomed, fuck."

Nandini, who was also rubbing her chin thoughtfully, etched her brows together. From her bag, she pulled out the locket and held to the scanner. To all of their displeasure, it did not even scan.

But the act sparked an idea.

"Manik..." Mukti patted his forearm, "Pass the ring I gave you earlier."

Nandini and Manik both frowned.

"What ring?"

"The fucking metal piece I slipped you, bro."

"Oh yeah," he slapped himself on the forehead, "Right."

He dug his pockets, found the piece and dropped it in Mukti's hands. She held the fingerprint side up, and placed it over the scanner.

Three beeps pinged.

And a message displayed on the sensor board – 'Welcome, Nyonika Malhotra.'

𓆩𓆪

Laga zorr ka jhatka? Aakhir SPACE hai kiska? ;) How will the missing pieces fit, do you think?

Also, I CAN NEVER NOT BE OBSESSED WITH THE WAY MANIK AND NANDINI LOVE ONE ANOTHER. I CAN NEVER. Every scene, every confession, every emotion, every touch, every kiss gives me uncountable butterflies :") <3

The plot wraps up in one more part (from what I imagine it to), but I have no idea how I'm going to write it. I came all this way thinking it will magically come to me at the right time, but now... phew, that's I think a problem for me to deal with :P

Meanwhile, hello... how are my silent readers doing?
I want to give a minimum of couple of bonus sappy scenes and gushy chapters for all those special spammers who have stuck this far, for keeping me going even when feedback has been low.
For how and when you will receive, I'll send you guys personally a message (you all already know who you are) <3

But if my other readers want it, I'm now going to hold you hostage :D and expect some response (good, bad, happy, sad, angry, anything) because I have done my due diligence and duties with giving you all the essential parts of this fic without getting anything in return, baaki aap apna apna dekhlo, hehehuhu :P