Vikrant

I take in a sharp breath when Nandini turns toward me.

So beautiful.

It's the only thought in my mind as I see her looking breathtaking in her body-hugging blue gown.

The color of the gown complimented her fair skin perfectly, and her makeup enhanced her already beautiful features.

I thought she looked gorgeous with her hair down, but today, with the messy bun-like hairdo she has done, with a few strands framing her face, she looks simply mesmerizing.

I slowly walk toward her, unable to take my eyes off her as I go near her.

"You look....," I pause, trying to find the correct word to describe how she looked. ".... I mean.... you.... and the dress.... perfection.... enchanting.... perfect." I feel like punching myself due to my utter inability to thread the words and properly compliment her.

She smiles slightly, tucking the strands of hair behind her ear, and my already fluttering heart skips a beat.

"I take you like the dress then? It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asks.

I shake my head. "You are beautiful, Nandini, and the dress looks gorgeous because you are wearing it," I say, and notice her cheeks getting slightly red.

"Thank you," she says. "You, too, look good in this black suit."

Many girls have told me I look handsome in anything I wear, but this is the first time a compliment has made me go warm.

"Umm, before I forget," I say, trying to get a grip on my erratically beating heart. "This is for you."

I notice Nandini's surprised look as she sees the rose in my hand.

"Yellow rose?" She asks.

"I wanted to bring the red one, but I thought you would not accept it because you are not there yet," I tell her.

"Not where yet?" She questions, and I immediately backtrack.

Tonight is not the night for that conversation. It will have to wait for some time.

"Nothing. I mean, we are married but have not had any relationship yet. So, I thought it would be better if we started from the friendship. Hence, the yellow rose," I reply.

Nandini narrows her eyes at me, hesitating to take the flower.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I ask.

"Nothing. It's just that I never thought you would bring a yellow rose for me one day, extending a hand of friendship," she answers.

I take a step toward her, noticing her suck in a breath when I get closer. But she doesn't step back.

"That's the thing, Nandini. Sometimes, when we least expect it, life gives us what we have always wanted. You just need to have some courage to blindly trust and take a leap," I tell her, indirectly answering the question she had been asking her brother earlier while looking at the sky.

"Vikrant," she says, her voice low, and I feel her breath fanning my face.

We are so close that if I tilt my face slightly, our lips will touch.

As that thought enters my mind, I look at her lips, those full, enticing lips, wondering how they would feel while moving against mine.

"We should go now. Otherwise, we will get late," she says, taking the rose from my hand and stepping back.

She tightly grabs the stem of the rose as she averts her gaze from me and looks everywhere except at me.

I also turn away from her and take a deep breath.

Why do I feel like I ran a marathon just now? I wonder, trying to calm my racing heart.

"Yes. Let's go," I tell her, but I frown when, instead of following me to the door, she walks to the center of the room.

A small smile curves my lips when she keeps the rose on the vase there, gazing at it for a few seconds before looking at me.

"I didn't want to lose it by taking it with me," she says. "This is the first time someone gave me a flower. That's why it's special for me."

Hearing that, I fist my hands to stop myself from grabbing her hand and pulling her into my arms.

*****

Third Person's POV

Rishabh feels the excitement running through him as he enters the venue where the party is being hosted by the company where Nandini works. His mind full of her thoughts.

Of her catering to his every wish.

Of the beautiful tears running down her face as he makes her his repeatedly till she completely submits herself to him.

Of that moment when she'll finally accept that she is his to use as he wishes.

"Ah! So fucking beautiful. I want to make that sight of Nandini my reality soon," he says to himself as he looks at his other obedient plaything already inside the venue.

She is with her date, Samrat Ahuja.

It had been his plan to send a marriage proposal from Aastha's family to Samrat's parents.

He was the one to arrange everything from Aastha's fake parents to the fake priest who took the proposal to Samrat's house.

He bought Aastha from her parents from the village he visited six months back.

When he saw her innocent face and gullible personality, it reminded him of Nandini, and that was when he decided he needed to have her.

That was why he proposed a good amount of money to her parents, who were all too eager to get their daughter off their hands as they had two younger sons to raise.

For the first few months after he bought her, he enjoyed her a lot.

It was so much fun breaking her, hearing her cries as he slowly made her surrender.

But now, when she is completely broken, his entertainment level while playing with her has also decreased.

After all, it is no fun watching a girl so pathetically broken that she would willingly do anything and everything he told her to do.

That's the reason why I want Nandini now. It would be so much fun to tame her.

His mind again pictures the things he would do to Nandini.

I hope it will take longer to break her. I want to have fun for a longer time with her, unlike Aastha, who took only three months to completely surrender.

"Come soon, Nandini. I have set everything to take you away from here." He smirks, scanning the venue and spotting the men he has stationed at every corner. "After tonight, you will be mine, Nandini. Only and only mine."

*****

"Is something the matter? You look lost tonight."

Hearing Samrat's question, Aastha glances at him and shakes her head. "No. Everything is fine. Absolutely fine." She tries her best to smile at him, but she knows he must be sensing her restlessness.

No matter how hard she tries, she is unable to shrug off her fidgety demeanor.

She has been feeling that monster's gaze on her, and although she can't see him, she knows he is lurking around, bidding his time, until he finally gets what he wants.

She feels her eyes well up when she remembers the things he did with her after buying her from her parents and bringing her to this city six months back. He continued to do them, making everything more intense and painful, until she had no choice but to completely surrender to his depraved wishes.

Control yourself, Aastha. This isn't the time to think about that.

She takes a deep breath to calm her emotions because she knows she needs to keep a clear head tonight and somehow think of a way to not let Nandini get into Rishabh's trap.

No one deserves the fate she got after her parents abandoned her, selling her to the devil so they could properly raise their sons with the money they got from Rishabh.

They not only sold her but betrayed her, too.

Again, Aastha. Not the time for that now. Think about how to save Nandini first. Think hard.

Looking around, she spots the men Rishabh has stationed in the hall.

She recognizes the faces of each one of them because Rishabh made her memorize them. She also knows what each of their jobs tonight is to properly execute Rishabh's plan and successfully take Nandini with them.

She met Nandini when going shopping with her and Riya, and she found her to be a nice girl.

After spending some time with her, she realized Nandini was somewhat like how she used to be. But unlike her, she isn't tainted. She isn't damaged like she is.

And she needs to keep it like that.

As long as she can, she'll do her best not to let anyone else get crushed at the hands of that devil.

But how will I do that? She wonders.

She can't say anything to Samrat, Riya, or Nandini because Rishabh has tapped a mic and wire in her body. He also has placed a tracker in her thigh.

The tracker was placed the night he brought her to the city.

And the mic and wire, well, he tapes them in place every time he lets her out of her prison, which he calls his home.

As he does each time, this time too, anything she says tonight will be heard by him. It's going to be more intense tonight as it isn't only him listening to her, but his other men around the venue are listening too.

Rishabh has warned that she will face worse if she steps even a toe out of the plan he has set for tonight. She shudders, recalling the words Rishabh threw at her before letting her out tonight.

"If you do anything to jeopardize my plan, I won't hesitate even a bit to give you to my men for a whole week. I'll order them to use you however they wish to if I fail in my plan because of your fault."