Trigger warning: there are some insinuations of non-consensual acts from a single perspective

Song recommendation for this part: Daryaa by Manmarziyaan

𓆩𓆪

Fragments from a meteor shower exploded in the sky, bundling him with it as it powered down with increasing momentum, and just before it touched the ground, he sprung up startled. In an unfamiliar bed, he was arched on an elbow, unable to feel his fingers that deeply dove into his spiky strands when they supported his weight.

Cocooned by darkness all around.

As his heart rate exponentially picked pace, the breathlessness activated some hyperalert senses that registered a soft cooing breath. The breath of a woman.

Waves of relief swept over him.

Feeling much less miserable, he pressed a button on the side of his watch, lighting the dial which was too illuminant and blurry in the dingy premises. "Shit, it's..." Manik squinted, bringing the device closer to study it better. "2:50?" His near yell stirred the girl in her sleep and she whined, pulling her duvet closer to her chest and smacking her tongue still doped.

The vague memory of a figure akin to his, strolling across half the room just to find the light switch and turn it off, so as to not disturb her peaceful slumber knocked Manik's skull; as if by a miracle, some of that peace written on her features had transferred into his body too.

"Aise... ugh... aise kaise so gaya main?" He thumped back on the bed raking his hair while reprimanding himself.

Why had he turned off the lights, despite hating darkness so fucking much?

Above all, how the fuck did he feel so bloody relaxed? He mused with his hands interlocked on his chest, feeling something on his finger that he hadn't felt before.

The bed wobbled, and his monologue reached her ears against her will, causing a crisp crinkle on her features. "Tch, Navya stop annoying – and – sleep..." She mumbled something incoherently afterward and shuffled towards him. Her hair that had loosened from her braid gently brushed his elbow and her acquainted scent made his heart fuzzy.

Heart? What the fuck?

Manik glared at the ceiling while mindful not to move a muscle or wake the young woman up; the drug although effective for inducing sleep did little to sedate its consumer.

"Get a grip of yourself, Manik! Think!" Ransacking those useless brain cells that wanted nothing more but to relinquish the deep unadulterated state of hibernation for as long as possible, he tried to recollect why it was that he had forgotten to take the pill last night.

Or precisely why he had given it to her instead.

He intended to look at her casually, but found himself awestruck at the aura of purity she embodied. He had to protect it at all costs. Unable to name exactly where the fierce need came from, a part of him slipped away from resisting the first genuine connection he felt for someone without a clause attached to it. Goodwill without obligations. Actions above intentions.

His phone buzzed in the looming distance, the other room, but if he moved the likelihood of rousing her was high. And that was when it clicked. "Harshad..." Manik's rage channelled a darker version of himself, deeply driven by overpowering guilt for taking a life he suspected but being short-sighted in his chase. The real culprit Harshad had nearly escaped.

Nearly.

If it wasn't for Nandini, Manik's helper in disguise.

"He can't get away like this. He has to pay for it." He challenged himself and decided to execute his plan of leaving for Mumbai to clean up some unfinished business. At the bedroom door, his black-banded hand held the hinges while he passed one last look to the woman who had his back not just once, but twice without her knowledge.

He would not let any harm come her way, including himself, and the day something tragic like that would happen to her would be the day Manik Malhotra's last breaths stop forever.

𓆩𓆪

Nandini's eyes were firmly shut when she stretched her arms out, her muscles celebrating from the released tension as she was cooped up to one side of a queen bed in contrast to her usual sleeping space that she never shared with anyone.

Manik was her first.

Excited to start the morning by blessing her eyes with the sight of the man she fell head over heels for, she turned to his side of the bed and peeked with one eye, only to find it empty. Where was he?

She patted the bed around her to look for her phone which was nowhere nearby.

Alerting her attention to the bathroom, she tried to rule out the possibility of him being there. Nope, not there either.

Her last resort was screaming for him, that ought to bring him!

"MANIK!"

To her disappointment, she didn't hear back.

Sitting up in a jiffy had her seeing white flashes and vigorously blinking, she half-wondered what made her feel so lightheaded that early in the morning – or was it even early because the curtains had still been drawn and she had no quick way to find out what the time was, not until she got out of her bed and...

As the duvet peeled off her, she stilled. Her favourite kurti was not just torn, but actually cut through, fraying on the edges as if a blade sliced it.

While a myriad of thoughts spiralled within her, she found it impossible to voice any of them out with the uncanny pressure around her throat; it felt as if someone had been choking her to keep her from crying. Crying her heart out.

No, no it couldn't be, she shook her head which began spinning further. An aftereffect of the wearing drug.

Moments later, some keys jingled on the door, and with a click, some metres away, Navya hopped into the house and rejoiced after her beautiful night with her beau; it had been an elaborate date night with a three-course dinner, a movie marathon, and lots and lots of kissing. She couldn't wait to tell her friends all about it!

As she took off her slippers near the door, she spotted Nandini's and her face gleamed – oh how amazing, her best friend was here already! With every step Navya took in the direction of the guest room, her anklets jingled but to Nandini, they sounded like gunshots erupting in her chest.

The deep breaths were not helping. Her bones were icy but her skin felt on fire.

"Nandu, you won't believe what just –"

Nandini burst into unexpected screeching cries alarming her best friend who was halfway there already. Her own thrill dissipated in thin air at the horrifying sound and it took her less than a second to reach Nandini who was drenched in cold sweats, clutching the duvet around her frame like her soul depended on it for survival while she met her own voice screaming louder with every subsequent cry.

A panicked Navya sprung to her rescue, her eyes pooling with tears at the devastating condition. She embraced the twitching girl who initially seemed electrocuted with Navya's mere touch, but as Nandini recognised her warmth, she began muttering something under her breath. It traumatised Navya, to say the least.

With some desperation to understand her friend, she attempted to unbundle her friend from the sheets and spotted the clear-shot cut on her clothes. It, along with Nandini's gut-shaking cries, wrenched her soul.   

𓆩𓆪