𓆩𓆪

Cabir approached his group of colleagues at a table having their dinners in the neighbouring dining room. Where did his distressed friend even go? Perhaps someone from the team would be able to share some insights on it and catch Cabir up to speed.

"What's going on with Manik?" He pulled a seat for himself and placing his hands on the table, he locked them together twiddling his thumbs.

Alia got a whiplash of a time some weeks ago when Cabir asked the group the same question. That time, it was in the context of figuring out why Manik was so distracted around them. He was found often making pathetic excuses and escaping from the rest of the group, but would message her or call her from wherever his hideout spot was for a quickie.

It was indeed exciting, thrilling to be hiding from the group and hooking up but beyond just the mind-blowing degrading sex, the bond they shared as coworkers had hence grown stronger. Many of her moods and emotions that others could not decipher, Manik had effortlessly picked up from being intimate with her and seeing another side to her.

That raw vulnerability dug through the burrow of emotional boundaries she had set up in her field of work, and assured her that their relationship was meant to be more than just a friends-with-benefits equation. Now someone else had come into his life and taken her spot, and that mere thought made her narrow her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"No, I..." Cabir had a strong suspicion Manik's disappearance for the night had to do with Nandini, which was why he was a bit more wary about divulging those details with the woman who seemed to have personal vendettas with the girl. Shaking his head, he modified, "I went to talk to him about Harshad,"

Mukti sipped her wine and hummed as she swallowed, "Yeah, I met him earlier tonight too."

Cabir gestured at her nearly empty glass and wiggled his fingers in a questioning motion. Mukti raised a set of fingers before her. In shocked surprise, Cabir asked with a croak, "Fourth?"

"It's my night off tonight guys, Seher's on daughter duty."

Dhruv shook his head at the wonderful chemistry they shared, something akin to that of siblings despite not being bonded by blood. They both regarded each other on that level, it was wholesome. He tapped a revering Cabir to bring him back to reality. "What about Harshad did you want to discuss with Manik?"

"He's working in Rossi, new recruit." The others made an O with their mouths, while Alia felt visible relief at the news. Thank goodness it wasn't about that bitch Nandini. "But that's besides the point,"

Alia furrowed her eyebrows, eyeing Mukti. "Yeah... how did Raghav even give him the green light? If I remember correctly, he has a vigorous protocol of preliminary checks to validate loyalty..." She had voiced out the worries Cabir hesitated to disclose with the rest. Everyone except Manik who was another ballpark, someone with whom he shared inside jokes and the birthright to tease and be teased by.

How personal were Raghav's inclinations to get Harshad on board?

"Do you think he knew about us from–?" Dhruv trailed off, distressed about digging their own grave with that one deal they engaged in with a stranger.

Mukti twitched her lips with surefire certainty. "I don't think so, but I told him about the Malhotra clan anyways."

"Oh goodness gracious, that will keep us away from him." Alia said with a huge breath of relief.

"What's the guarantee that he would not turn into a snitch now that he knows we work with the Professor?" While the others looked at Cabir with a myriad of emotions flashing across their faces, his neck felt like spiders were running across it. He twitched and rubbed the unnerving sensation. "That's why I wanted to talk to Manik."

Mukti nodded. "It's a good idea. Where is he?"

"I... I don't know. He abruptly left,"

"Left where?" Alia asked inquisitively.

"Nandini, obviously!"

Alia uncontrollably knocked her fists on the table. "Guys, seriously, don't you think this Nandini matter is getting out of hand?" Her intense outburst was not well understood by any, not surprising to her. She often felt like the most emotionally expressive one in the group, completely overwhelmed by her feelings sometimes which deemed her into the unstable category amongst the rest of the clan.

How could she ever begin to explain had it been anyone else on Manik's mind, yes it would have still hurt but Alia would not have opposed it. But Nandini... that goddamned girl, no. No fucking way. "I mean, all I hear these days is that girl. Is Manik secretly double–"

"NO!" came a feminine voice.

"NO, are you crazy?" Cabir protested.

"I mean, who even knows? That girl is a master manipulator guised by her sanctity and preaching worldly wisdom. She's probably converting him, we need to be extra careful."

Cabir ignored everything else but agreed on the last bit, associating the analogy to someone from his life whom he cared about to great extents. "She's right, matters of this sort must be nipped at the bud."

"If you guys say so." Mukti's phone rung as she finished, and she stood up with it in her hands."It's Adira's caretaker, I'll be right back." The other three fell back in their seats as they waited for their friend to return.

Escaping into a quieter nook, she answered.

"Yeah Seher. Is she nearly asleep?"

Seher explained Adira's tantrums about wanting to see her mother after hearing two booming sounds outside and refusing to sleep if not coddled in her safe arms. Mukti felt a twinge in her heart at the unconditional affection. At least once every day, the little one's innocence and boundless enthusiasm would enlighten Mukti to see a twinkle of light in the dark dull world that consumed her against her will.

As much as she loathed the animal that raped her, it was often incredibly difficult to exhibit such animosity to the baby she had reluctantly nurtured in her womb for nine months and painfully birthed as a result of his assault. She steeled herself from succumbing to the heartwarming emotion of being a mother.

"No, I can't get her used to it. I won't always be around her."

Mukti heard a faint knock on the phone, and Seher excused herself for a moment as she tended to it, Adira's cries swivelling in the surrounding quietness. Mukti shut her eyes tight. Reeling in the aching feeling as she resisted something so pure, she also remembered with a stunning clarity another part of why she was doing it – if the child hardly bonded with her, it would be easy to forget her in the unfortunate circumstance that Mukti was martyred. It eased the guilt.

"Mukti, Nawab's here."

"Naw–" A small painful smile played on her lips. If she had believed in God, she would profusely have thanked him for sending a guardian to look after her angel. "–tell him I said thanks!" She ended the call and chuckled amidst a growing sniffle and blocked eyes which she swept clean before anyone else noticed.

She returned to the group with a faint smile that masked her internal state from the rest. "Nothing to worry, Manik's on maama duty."

𓆩𓆪

"Statue!" Manik stood frozen in the middle of the room while little finger guns were directed at him. Two tiny feet plunged from the soft bed onto the marble. His first instinct was to catch her in the act and protect her from hurting himself, but as her two cute ponytails flicked in his direction, he refroze so as to not be caught by her.

Nobody would believe that merely moments ago, the girl had been a sprawled mess after being told 'no' to seeing her mother, and had resorted to lying on the floor and kicking her legs and hands in a reckless attempt to have her ways.

Seher, who had been entertaining the little one for hours at end, was finally dismissed from her responsibilities and was packing her belongings. She had informed Nawab of Adira's tantrums without meeting his eyes as he entered and was soon after blatantly ignored by the child who had consumed her whole day's worth of energy in a mere few hours.

Adira had been a handful of joy but with it came her limitless energy which was proving to be nothing but troublesome nearing her bedtime; after putting the little one to sleep, Seher had irresponsibly promised to go upstairs to the cruise kitchen and help with the dirty dishes so her fellow servant friends could retire early for the night.

When Mukti's friend had come, she had unexpectedly felt a wave of relief. He would take care of the rest and she could finally help her friends out, it had worked out in her favour after all. Seher however reprimanded herself on it almost instantly.

A man of such power, wealth and incredibly attractive features was a symbol of danger, she had believed that once before when Mukti entrusted him to babysit Adira until Seher came from a doctor's appointment and took over, and she still stood by that belief; how could she leave the little one all alone in his company? She stole another glance of him.

Hidden by an upright pillow, the two feet tall girl encircled him and waddled towards the bed, only two fists peeking from the sides. The toddler placed the heavy object on the headboard, patted the centre of it until it could comfortably cradle a body, and then standing before him, she pointed to it and commanded, "No freeze. You can now go sit there." She meant unfreeze, Seher was about to say but stopped herself at the sight before her.

Manik had no other option but to listen. Seher's heart felt fuzzy at the impulsive heart-robbing smile she saw on him as he obediently listened to a girl a third of his size. He was indeed a very good-looking man.

As he relaxed on the pillow, Adira climbed the bed with much difficulty, crawled towards Manik and shuffled into his lap. Manik's arms naturally curled around her as he inhaled the soothing scent of the toddler and rested his chin on her head, exploding Seher's ovaries.

She ripped her eyes away from the sight, realising both that she was overstepping her place in the little girl's life by lingering in this manner, and by disobeying Mukti's orders to take leave of the two.

"Why haven't you slept yet?" He softly asked.

"I was waiting for Mumma." Adira gleamed brimming with hope as she clutched the large calloused hands that wrapped her in his embrace with her tiny fingers. Manik was instantly pulled into a similar memory lane when he waited for hours at end for his mother to return from jobs that extended late nights. "But you can tell me a story too," Adira added appeasingly, wanting nothing but the company of someone she loved to put her to sleep.

The unblemished innocence that had been characteristic of a child her age had painfully reminded himself of another naive woman who was dancing around his thoughts all day and all night. And the uncontrollable urge to shield Adira from the cruelties of the outside world overtook him as he delicately wove a life experience into another fabricated tale.

"Hmm... would you like to hear a story about a brave girl?" He implored, as the head under his chin swivelled and jerked excitedly. He smiled, pulling her closer as Seher closed the door shut behind her, deeply sighing and praying for the girl's safety. "Once upon a time in a faraway land, millions and millions of galaxies away lived a little girl."

"What's her name?"

"I'll tell you her name later. Do you want to know what made her brave?" She nodded curiously. "She didn't have anything to lose, nobody she was afraid to lose and nobody she truly loved."

"What about her Mumma?"

"She lost her mother long before she could remember."

"That's very sad. I can't be happy without my Mumma. Did she look for her?" Manik hummed in a trance. "Did she look everywhere?" Suddenly stricken by a palpitating sensation from overlooking a scary possibility, the little girl fearfully asked, "Did her Mumma go up to God?" Her bright little eyes were instantly coated with tears. "Maama, I don't like this story."

She placed her hands on Manik's arms in an attempt to stop him from proceeding further, but she was not the slightest aware of how horribly close to breaking down he was, and how tightly he hugged her without causing any discomfort to the child.

A drop of a tear fell on the crux of a fountain ponytail.

Half-afraid that if she stopped the story at that juncture, he would leave her and go away and partly out of a curiosity to know more, the girl reluctantly asked, "What did that girl do then?"

"She tried to find another piece of herself, something else to love, someone else to protect." He said honestly as he loosened his hold on her and opened his palms for her to play with. .

"Did she find anyone?"

"A bad guy, yes."

She gasped, almost sounding like a hiccup. "A bad guy!?! That's scaryyyy," Manik made a split-second decision that the little one was way too young to be traumatised by his scars and his past. He lifted her and settled her in the covers beside him, gently patting her and brushing her forehead with his warm hand. Just the mere gesture alone caused her eyes to flicker. He changed the track the story took.

"Yes yes, very scary..." He said with a comforting chuckle that brought her fear down a few notches, "...but you see... she was good to the bad guy too. Always brought him chocolates and bhajiyaan and lots of vegetarian food to keep him happy. In fact, even if she did nothing for him, he would be just as happy being around her." Unaware of his growing smile and the soul-consuming effect a certain woman's virtue had on his thoughts, he continued, "So even when bad things happened around her, she remained pure and good to everyone and everything."

Joy finally returned to the small endearing face as she mumbled, "What's her name, Maama?"

"Go to sleep now bachcha, I'll tell you tomorrow." He promised, marvelled by how little effort it took to excite or relax a child... and yet many parents failed to do so.

"At least tell me what her name means."

"I don't know but I would like to think it means guardian angel." Her eyes glimmered with several questions. If he opened the floor for them, their conversation could go on until the beginning of dawn; it would be unwise to keep a baby up that long, but it would be unfair if he left her wondering about the meaning of the phrase. "Guardian is someone that protects and take care of others. That's your new word for tonight. Sleep now." He said in a soft command and the girl promptly closed her eyes.

His warm hand continued to rhythmically pat her, sending her into a soft welcoming slumber. "Good night guardian angel," she uttered at the brink of falling into a REM cycle.

Manik's eyes miraculously softened at the baby. He numbly blinked a few times, the phrase stirring a gnawing deep-rooted guilt that barred him from being worthy of that title.

𓆩𓆪

Everyone in the story thinks Manik is their guardian angel, but only us readers know who Manik's guardian angel is :")