Manik's POV

It's so messed up, I could feel my heart racing at an inhuman speed with what all I had heard for Siddhant and Sanvi. The reason for them always supporting Nandini and trying to get closer to her was to meet their own daughter! How will she react to it when she get's to know. I gave Moloy uncle a thankful smile when I returned from the past. He really took a massive risk by increasing the time laps for my meet with the couple.

"Manik what happened there? Did you meet them and they are safe right?" His old eyes held fear and his forehead creased with worry lines.

"They are safe Uncle and Great Grandpa helped us and thank you for taking this risk as now I have got to know a lot." Moloy Uncle kept a hand on my shoulder patting me with love. As we were moving towards the hall I saw Nandini running away from there.

"Nandini?! What is she doing here Uncle?" I asked Moloy Uncle but even he had no clue, we heard Nidhi Rajvansh's voice coming out from the meeting room and she was constantly sobbing saying Nandini is her daughter.

*Shit!!! Nandini? She got to know the truth. No!*

With this I made a mad rush outside to stop her, I have to make her understand why all this happened. I came outside and scanned left and right but could not see Nandini anywhere as it was a busy afternoon with lot of people hurdled.

"Hey Girl!! just stop... what is that girl doing on the middle of the road." A person's scream took my attention towards the left side of me where I saw Nandini walking mindlessly on the middle of the road, before I could reach her I saw a speeding car hit her and the next she was thrown afar on the road.

My breath stopped for a second and next I ran towards her screaming at the top of my voice. I reached her only to see she was lying in pool of blood coming from her head.

"Nandini!! Nandini please open your eyes, hey you can't leave me like this Nandini!!!" I tapped her cheeks to keep her awake as I scooped her in my arms. Her breath was going shallow and that was just making me panic more. Dr. Sharma would help me, his personal nursing home was just opposite to the Lodge.

Dr. Sharma!!! Dr. Sharma please check her, see what... what happened to her. She is not opening her eyes and her... her.. pu..pulse rate is also dropping. She got hit by a car." I was panting hard with my white shirt cladded in her blood. Dr. Sharma got shocked seeing me with Nandini in that condition.

Dr. Sharma-" Ward boy take her to the emergency room now. Manik just put her on the stretcher and don't worry she will be alright." A ward boy came running with a stretcher.

"Just come back, I promise to make everything alright." I mumbled in her ears, laying her on the stretcher as the ward boy took her inside. I panted heavily and sat on the chair outside the room.

*God just make her alright, she has to be alright for me. Yes she.. she can't leave like this.* As I was busy in praying my phone rang for the 3rd time.

"Bro where are you? Why aren't you picking up." It was Aryamann on the other side and I didn't know what to say.

"Manik bro? Hey... is Nandini with you?" He asked being careful, but hearing her name I just lost all my strength.

" Aru... Aryamann Nandini had an accident. She had lot of blood." my vocal cords pained as I was saying each word. I heard 2 grasps from the other side and next I heard Mukti's voice.

Mukti-" Manik Malhotra what do you mean by Nanz had an accident? Where are you two just tell me dammit." She barked over the phone and I closed my eyes.

"Dr. Sharma's Nursing home near our Lodge."

Aryamann-" We'll be there Manik. Just don't worry ok and hold on to yourself." With those last few words the phone went silent.

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Dr. Sharma came outside the room in half n hour and his expressions were very confusing.

"Dr. Sharma what happened.. Nandini is fine ,right? Is she safe?" I asked but Dr. Sharma looked at me with confusion.

Dr. Sharma-" Manik , Nandini is completely fine, in fact when I checked her wounds after cleaning them it had nothing major. Even her pulse rate came back to normal very quickly. Are you sure you checked her pulse and even more did she really got hit hard by a car?"

"Dr. Sharma what the hell do you mean by did she got hit by a car? I myself saw her accident and.. and she had got a massive hit and when I was trying to wake her up she didn't get up and even her pulse was dropping. But are you sure she is alright, there isn't any internal injury right?" I asked in high pitched voice what nonsense was he saying. But all I cared right now was her safety.

Dr. Sharma-" She is completely fine with no internal injuries. Just her head had got hit and that is where there are some cuts. Currently I have given her a sedative so she is sleeping, maybe in an hour she will be up."

"Dr. Sharma can you please not tell this to anyone, I mean not the guardians about this please? I mean there is no major issue right so can you not tell them about this." I pleaded him while he nodded his head in a yes. I didn't know why Nandini came to the office but if no one called her then definitely there has to be something other than the lodge work. Also right now none should know that Nandini knows the truth or they will doubt Nandini for eavesdropping.

Mukti-" Manik, Manik where is Nandini and how is she." Mukti asked as soon as she came towards me along with Aryamann.

"She is fine Mukti. I just had a talk with the doctor. He said she will be up in some hours."

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We brought Nandini to my place as she didn't want to go home. When others thought that it was due to her accident I knew it was cos she still couldn't digest the truth of her parents. Others waited outside as I took her to my room, making her lay on my bed with cushions placed around her head I got seated near her.

"Nandini, are you alright? Is your head paining much?" I asked her to which she just nodded in a no staring at nothing in particular.

" Hey, if you don't mind can I ask you that why did you come to the lodge? I mean as far as I know you were not called today." I wanted to know that why did she come, if she hadn't been there then she won't have got to know the truth like this.

Nandini-" I came to meet you. Actually I wanted to tell you something which I hid from you. But guess what *sad chuckle* I got to know the biggest truth of my life." Her eyes started filling up and I just held her handcaressing it to calm her down.

"Hey hey... Nandini just shhhh. It's ok, I'm here."

Nandini-" You know Manik I'm not a Rajvansh. My mom... Nidhi Rajvansh is not my mom. The people who brought me up are not my parents. You know who are my parents?!" She was a crying mess by now looking at me with hollowness in her eyes which was breaking something inside me. I nodded in a yes which made her leave my hand.

" You... you know? You also know, everyone other than me knows the truth about my life. Then why are you here with me? Just.. just stay away as I'm the daughter of Siddhant Malhotra and Sanvi Malhotra! Just leave Manik... or better kill me." She screamed with a lot of pain inside her. Her hands were pushing me away all this while and I jumped towards her side wrapping my arms around her caging her in my arms with holding her both hands in mine to calm her and tell that I'm there.

"No.. shhhh Nandini please don't say, please don't say that. I also got to know today and it's not your fault Nandini, it's none's fault. Please calm down or else your health will dittoriate. I'm there for you. Nothing will happen to you. It's gonna be alright."

Nandini-" Nothing will be alright Manik now everyone will have more reasons to blame and doubt me. I'm sure the Lord will also do something to me, why me Manik, why me? Why are YOU taking my side? You hate those people right so now even you should hate me. It would have been better if I had died --"

"Nandini just stop!! for god sake just stop talking rubbish. You are not wrong, in fact Siddhant and Sanvi were also not wrong which I realized late. There are things going wrong which needs to be fixed and for that I would need your help Nandini so please for god sake cry as much as you want right now! but after that you need to stand up and fight for the things went wrong." I pleaded to her while our gaze was locked with each other. Nandini just dropped her head on my shoulder while I caressed her hair softly. After sometime I saw that she had fallen asleep as her sobs stopped and her breathing got back to normal. Slowly keeping her head back on the pillow and making her sleep properly I left the room only to see Damon, Elena, Aliya, Mukti and Aryamann standing outside with shocked look.

"What? Why are you people standing here?"

Mukti-" Nidhi aunty is not Nandini's mom? How is it possible?" Mukti was the first one to speak while her eyes were glued to the closed door behind me.

Aryamann-" We came here because we heard her screams so got worried. Bro Nandini is fine right?" He expressed his concern while I nodded my head lightly with a sad smirk.

"Come let's go in the hall and discuss, I will tell you people the truth but please let her sleep. Mukti your friend needs rest for now." I kept a hand on Mukti asking her to come with me.

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All of us were in the hall sitting in a circle looking at each other and then coming back to staring at me while my eyes were fixed on the ground.

Damon-" Should I get you a glass of bourbon so that you can start speaking? For god sake talk Mr. Travelie!" I gave Damon a hard look on his lines, this guy can never be serious, he has to say one thing or the other and his love for bourbon is insane.

"In the morning I was asked by the Guardians to kill Siddhant and Sanvi in the past as they had got to know their exact location *a round of grasps were heard* I couldn't object as I'm have no right to question our heads. So I came up with an idea that I will take our great- grandfather's help who happened to be alive in that year. Without letting Raj uncle know about my plan I asked Moloy uncle to set the time lapse longer and somehow luckily I saved them with Grandpa's help."

Aliya-" Manik you sure right none got to know about this? And how can they ask you to kill a time traveler? It's against the laws and humanity." Aliya grasped in concern and anger. She had been trained with me and all the defense classes we took only taught us to attack in self defense but never with an intention to murder anyone.

"That's the reason my doubt on their intentions got stronger and I requested both of them to tell me the why they ran away. And that is when I got to know that Nandini is their daughter."

Flashback

" why are you so interested in your wife's niece?" I stood up in anger.

"Because Nandini is my daughter! She is my doll you rascal and I won't let you or anyone harm her even if I have to sacrifice my life or do what I did 18 years ago. I won't let the lord win." He grabbed my collar screaming at me and his each and every words fell like a boulder on me. What the hell is he saying, how can Nandini be his daughter?

"What? What are you saying? How can she be your daughter? You.. you two were not even there when she was born." I stared at Siddhant while now it took him time to register what he blurted out in anger. Sanvi held his arms which were right now on my collar looking at us in dismay.

Sanvi-" It's true Manik... Nandini is our daughter. Please will you two sit down? I will explain what it is but for that you two need to sit like a civilians." Her harsh command made Siddhant leave me while I didn't know what was going on but I wanted to know the truth so I took a seat.

Sanvi-" Nandini is our child, we got to know that I was pregnant when things were going the harsh way and I had shared this news with just 3 people, Siddhant, Nidhi and her husband who was my best friend. I was the happiest that time as the sign of our love was growing inside me, we thought that once the issues with the Lodge will get settled we will tell everyone but then one day we got to know the biggest truth or the motive of Lord's behind all this. Nandini was gonna be the first child from the Basu clan and for sure she would inherit our genes marking her the 12th and the last time traveler, the key to close the circle which meant her life was in danger." She told while I was still confused as to what was happening but her eyes told that she was saying the truth as the glitter in them was true.

Siddhant-" Things took an ugly turn when none of the guardians believed us. We couldn't gather proofs but we had heard the Lord say that he was doing all this for his own selfish needs. Everyone was after us and that is when Sanvi came up with an idea. We knew a doctor who was my friend and opted for gestational surrogacy. The baby was transferred into Nidhi Di's womb which was then bonded by a spell of a witch as we are special. We thought the baby will be safe as we had to go on risky path to gather proofs. But then things didn't go our way and we got to know the real truth which shook us terribly."

"What truth? And what was the Lord hiding?"

Sanvi-" The prophesies you have Manik are not the original one's, there are many parts which are tampered by the Lord. We found the original manuscript in his office which said something related to last time travelers and sacrifices, he had torn the pages from the original book and gave you all the one made by himself. We stole the papers to show others as a proof but before that the guardians left men after us to trap us. The only way of protecting you both was stealing the chronograph and that is what we did. But in all this we had to leave our own daughter behind... but Nidhi Di raised her as her own daughter and I'm so happy to see her." Sanvi was now a crying mess as she remembered the past, and here I had nothing to do but gape at them in shock. The original prophesies have something else and that means the pages which were torn from that book was done by the Lord also none could open it other than him or by his orders.

"Where are those pages right now?" I asked then handing Sanvi a glass of water.

Siddhant-" We gave it to Nandini in our last meet with her. The prophesies clearly talk about you two and though they are cryptic but what ever be it the end result is for sure not going to be good for anyone."

Sanvi-" Please Manik... please keep my daughter safe. We distant ourselves from her to save her. Don't let anything wrong happen to her. If you two get together then you will be able to defeat the Lord." Sanvi was pleading me with numb eyes.

"I will try my best to do what is right. If the things happening are wrong then I will stop it. Nothing will happen to Nandini, I promise."

Flashback over

Damon-" That means Nandini is your cousin?" Damon gave me a sly look with one eyebrow up

"What no!!! I mean not exactly. We don't have exact same blood line. Though she is a Malhotra but our ancestors were half brothers so nope we are not fully blood related but have distant family relation. I gave him a tight lipped smile answering him.

Mukti-" What does that mean?"

I took a notebook and drew our family chart.

"Tuhin Malhotra and Tushaar Malhotra are half brothers. After them the family blood line splits."

(In the pic it's written step brothers, my mistake it should have been half brothers)

As others were looking at the chart my mind was on a different track. The words of Dr. Sharma was not leaving my mind.

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Heyaaaaa!!!!!!! So the next chapter is up. I know it will be confusing and also mysterious. But hope you enjoyed.

Manik and Nandini are distant relatives, their great-great grandfathers were half brothers so they have different bloodlines. They are half 2nd cousin once removed *sigh* I hope now there won't be an issue right?🤔😉

Manik also had got a shock! But no worries his coast is clear.

Nandini's major accident ans still nothing happened !!!! How is that possible?

Do you feel bad for Siddhant and Sanvi? Well I do, they had to leave their own daughter.

How was the MaNan moment?

What will Manik do now? Will Manik and Nandini be able to fight the Lord?

Will meet you people with next update soon. Till then keep loving the story and keep thinking😉

Toodles!!!!!!

With love.
Satakshi (neha)❤