28

Nandini

I look in awe around the ballroom, fascinated by the vintage aura it exuded. The way everyone is dressed, the lights, and the designs made me feel that, walking through the door, I suddenly entered an older era.

The chandelier above covered the entire hall in a warm light, perfectly complimenting the classic interior decorations.

"He really brought you as his date, then? To be honest, I didn't expect Manik actually to go through with this," Samrat says when he reaches us, a teasing glint in his eyes as he looks at Manik.

"Shut it, Samrat," Manik glares at him.

"Oh, come on, Man. We are at a party. Try to shed your grumpy look for once and enjoy the ball. What's the use of bringing such a beautiful date with you when you will be brooding all evening," Samrat says to Manik and turns to me.

"You look absolutely exquisite, Nandini. I didn't know blue was your color," Samrat says appreciatively.

I mildly smile at him.

"Thank you, Samrat. But I guess that much of a compliment is enough. Otherwise, your date might get mad at you for turning your attention to another woman," I tell him, looking at Aastha beside him.

Looking at her fidgety behavior, I frown. She seemed so distracted looking around her that she completely missed what I said.

"Aastha, are you fine?" I call her.

She whips her head at me and gives me a nervous smile. "of co-course. I...I am f-fine."

My frown deepens when I hear her stutter.

She was not this way when we had gone shopping along with Riya last time. She had been shy and hesitant, but she also seemed happy then, as if she was truly content going shopping with us.

At the end of the day, she had even said goodbye to us tearily, letting us know how beautiful the day was for her.

Although Riya and I had found her behavior weird at that time, somewhere, I had felt a pinch in my heart, too.

She was genuinely upset to leave us that day and also looked slightly apprehensive about returning home.

Being bothered by that, I called Samrat after returning home to ask him about Aastha's parents because her behavior made me wonder if she was being maltreated at home.

But when Samrat told me he had met her parents and they seemed like good people, I had dropped thinking about it then, deciding to talk with Aastha the next time I met her.

After that day, we are meeting for the second time here tonight at this ball.

"Aastha, do you want to accompany me to the washroom?" I ask her, hoping she will agree. That will give me a chance to talk with her privately and ask about her behavior that day.

I will also ask why she looks so anxious tonight, too.

"Umm, I do-don't want to go," she says, clenching and unclenching her hands.

"What is the matter with you tonight, Aastha?" Samrat asks, looking disappointedly at her. "You are neither talking properly with me nor do you seem like you are interested in being here. You are way too distracted. You could have told me if you didn't want to come with me tonight."

Aastha shakes her head, looking apologetically at Samrat. "No. I am s--"

She abruptly stops, and her face suddenly clouds with fear. The very next moment, she presses her gloved hand to her ear, and my brows furrow at her odd action.

I peer into her ear to see if she is correcting her pin there, but she suddenly brings her hand down, and I see her ears covered by the heavily designed diamond earrings she is wearing.

Such is the design and the weight of those earrings that I wonder if she is in any pain from them.

It might be the reason behind her raising her hand earlier. To relieve the pain.

Also, the dress she is wearing. It is too loose on her.

The red, shapeless gown is doing nothing to accentuate her curves.

This is not the dress she bought when she went shopping with us. She had bought a beautiful emerald green gown. Why is she wearing this one instead of the one she picked that day?

"Let's go to the washroom, Nandini," she says, curling her lips in a way that looked like a ghost of a smile.

I nod at her, and we head toward the washroom after excusing ourselves from Manik and Samrat.

***********

Manik

"What is taking them so long?" I ask Samrat, gazing toward the direction where Nandini and Aastha had disappeared about twenty minutes back.

"You know how girls are, Manik," Samrat says, taking a sip from his glass.

He then shakes his head, letting out a chuckle, which makes me frown.

"What's so funny?"

"A thought came to my mind that you, Manik Sisodiya, must know how girls are. After all, you have had plenty of experience with the strings of past girlfriends, right?"

I glare at him. "Shut up, Samrat."

But he does not shut up at all. Instead, he doubles down on me. "What was your magic number before you met Myra?" He pretends to think for a moment. "Ten, right? Ten flings you had before your first serious relationship with Myra."

"That's enough, Samrat," I warn, looking around to see if Nandini is coming. I want Samrat to stop talking about it before she arrives.

If she wants to know about my past relationships, she can ask me, and I will tell her. But I do not want her to know the exaggerated version of it from Samrat's mouth.

I frown when I don't see her anywhere. 'Why is she taking so long? Is she in any trouble? Should I go and check?'

"Tell me one thing, Manik. Why aren't you dating currently?" Samrat asks, interrupting my thoughts.

"You told me how you dealt with Myra after she came running to you post Raghav's bankruptcy. You told me you are over Myra now. So, why not get back to the dating field?" He elaborates.

I say nothing, only glare at him, hoping he will take the hint and stop talking about it.

But my brows furrow the very next moment when he dramatically adjusts his suit.

"Is that why you have been looking at me weirdly since you arrived here, Manik? Have you sworn off girls and decided to go the other way?" He pretends to cover himself with his suit properly.

"That's it," I say, sighing deeply in frustration. "I have no patience left to tolerate you."

I then start walking toward the washroom to check on Nandini, with Samrat tailing behind me.

"Wait, Manik. I was just joking." I hear his laughing voice from behind, but I do not stop. I continue to walk briskly to the washroom.

***********

Nandini

"Are you fine, Aastha?" I ask her once we enter the washroom and stand in front of the large mirrors at the side of the room.

"Yes, yes. I am fine," she says, suddenly smiling as brightly as she can. So much so that her overstretched lips convince me of her smile being fake.

"You can tell me, Aastha. Is there something bothering you?" I implore. "I understand your hesitation because we have only met once before, but you can trust me."

She stills for a few seconds.

She was looking at me, but the way she was staring made me feel she was listening to someone else.

"Aastha?" I call her when she does not say anything for a while.

"I am so sorry, Nandini. I am sorry," she says, and before I can ask her what the matter is, I feel a sudden prick at the side of the neck.

"Wha—" I begin to say, but abruptly stop when my vision blurs and my body sways.

I flex and unflex my hands as my arms flail, trying to hold onto something to steady my swaying body, but all that comes into my hands is the air, nothing else that can support me.

Through my swirling vision, I look at Aastha.

She was crying, and her mouth was moving. But I could not hear anything she was saying. She was only a few feet away from me, but it seemed like she was sliding far away with each passing second.

"Aas-Aas..tha, he-helppp...he..ll..."

That is all I can utter before complete darkness engulfs me.

Manik

I frown, looking at the commotion outside the washroom.

The venue’s staff looked anxious and they were murmuring few things urgently in hushed tone while repeatedly pointing toward the washroom.

Wondering why they were doing so, I walk to the manager of the venue, recognizing him from the meeting I had with him regarding the arragements for the ball.

“Is something the matter, Mr. Pratap? Why is there such a commotion here?” I ask, frowning when he looks nervously at me.

“We have a situation, Mr. Sisodiya,” he tells me, his stance fidgety. “Actually there has been a mishap in the female washroom.”

I stiffen when I hear that.

Nandini was in the washroom. Is this mishap the reason why she has not come out yet?

“What kind of mishap?” I question the manager, wanting to know.

“Umm, S-sir, ac-actually, the th-thing—”

“Say it clearly, Pratap. What is the matter?” I interrupt his stuttering, getting frustrated by it.

Pratap takes a second to calm himself, but nervousness still is at large in his demeanor.

“One of our waiters say that they saw your date being carried away by a man. He recognized her because he had seen her enter the venue with her earlier. He says she was wearing a blue dress and a rub—”

“WHAT THE HELL?” I fume at the manager. “Who the fuck saw her being carried away? And why the fuck did they not stop it? Where is Nandini?”

Pratap cowers seeing my anger, but immediately starts speaking when he sees me about to shout again.

“The waiter saw them carrying her to the parking lot. And he did try to stop them, but was hit by someone on the back of his head.

“When he came to us, his head was bleeding, but he managed to tell us everything before passing out.

“He has been taken to the nearby hospital for the treatment and we have already called the police and reported the incident, Sir. They will be here any moment.”

“How long ago was this?” I ask, trying my best to think properly in this situation.

Losing my calm and shouting in anger will not return Nandini to me. I need to be smart and think logically at this crucial time.

“The waiter told us about this around ten minutes back, Sir.”

“Why the hell was I not informed about it?” I ask, barely controlling my anger.

If the waiter saw them ten minutes back, they must have already drove away from the parking lot. They will not risk hanging around, especially after someone saw them there.

“We were waiting for the police, Sir,” Pratap replies. “We thought we would let you know about it once the police arrives.”

“Are you fucking serious right now, Pratap? If you had told me, I would have immediately put my men into getting hold of Nandini,” I say, taking out the phone to call the commissioner.

***********

“What the fuck is happening right now?” I pace the ballroom, angrily looking at the commissioner and the other officers gathered there.

Mom and Dad have also arrived and they too have been making calls along with me, trying our best to find who took Nandini and where she is now.

“It has been three hours already since you all arrived here and sent out a search party, but there has been no news about her,” I say, my frustration rising with each passing second.

Along with Nandini, Aastha is missing too, and we have been wondering where she went because when the police questioned the waiter after he gained consciousness in the hospital, he told them that he only saw Nandini being carried by that man.

He could not tell us how that man looked like because he only saw the back of that man.

He said he was able to recognize Nandini because that man had slung her over his shoulder with her front facing his back.

The waiter also observed Nandini swinging in and out of consciousness and the police think she might have been drugged before being abducted.

“We are trying, Mr. Sisodiya. Give us some more time,” the commissioner says.

I glare at him, my anger building with every passing minute. “This is the eighth time you have repeated this same sentence in the last three hours.”

When he does not say anything, I call my private investigator to ask if he has been able to find anything.

But I almost throw my phone in anger when I get the negative response from him too.

Along with anger, there is also fear building within me because I have no idea where Nandini is and who took her.

I should not have let her go to the washroom alone. I should have been with her.

Turning to Samrat, I see him also pacing around nervously, worried for Aastha and Nandini.

“Aastha’s phone is still not connecting?” I ask, and he sighs, shaking his head.

While Aastha’s number is unreachable, we found Nandini’s phone in the washroom, below the sink.

“No. It now says that the number is no longer in service,” Samrat replies.

“Perhaps we can call her pa—”

I abruptly stop speaking when I see a police officer come rushing with a piece of paper in his hand.

He goes to talk with the commissioner and I also walk toward him, hoping desperately that he has found something.

“Sir, we missed it when we checked the washroom earlier, but I have found something when ii scanned the area again,” he says.

“What is it?” I ask, urgency apparent in my voice.

“I was looking around the sink and saw a lipstick stain there. It had been ignored earlier, but when I looked closely now, I noticed that someone was trying to give us a clue.”

Blood drums against my ears as I apprehensively look at the piece of paper where the inspector has written the clue that he saw written with the lipstick around the sink.

‘Risha Chp’ is written in the paper, making me wonder what that meant.

“It could be the victim spelling the culprit's name,” the officer says, and I nod at him.

At least this something is better than absolutely nothing.

I fervently hope it is really the clue that Nandini has left that can lead us to her.

Immediately taking out my phone, I call Vikash to tell him about this clue.

Me: “Vikash, the police has found Risha Chp written around the sink in the washroom. They think it is some kind of clue that can lead us to the culprit. Do you think it can be of any help?”

Vikash: “Thank you for letting me know, Sir. It could be someth—. Wait, what did you say?”

Me: “Risha Chp. Why? Do you know what it means?”

Vikash: “I am not sure but I got a strange feeling. As if I know about it. Heard about it somewhere.”

Me: “Where did you hear it, Vikash? Think hard. And fast. Each second is crucial for us right now.”

Vikash: “Risha....Risha....Rishabh. Yes. It must mean Rishabh Chopra.”

Me: “Who the fuck is this Rishabh Chopra?”

Vikash: “After you ordered me to snoop around and find out more about Vivek Iyer’s death, I had been questioning around about it in her neighborhood. I found out that Rishabh Chopra was the son of the friends of Nandini Ma’am’s parents. When I asked them about their address, they told me Rishabh along with his parents shifted to the US right before Vivek’s death. Since it was before the death, I thought they were not related to his death, but now, with this clue left behind after Nandini Ma’am’s abduction, I think it has something to do with Rishabh.”

Me: “Ok, Vikash. Find out about this Rishabh’s address as soon as possible. I will also tell about it to the officers here.”

Hanging up the call, I narrate everything to the commissioner and he immediately makes a call to ask them to find out about Rishabh’s address.

I know I should feel slightly relieved after finding out the culprit’s name because we are now one step closer to finding Nandini, but I only feel the claws of fear squeezing my insides.

When Vikash told me who Rishabh Chopra was, I remembered Nandini telling me about the man who molested her.

She had not told me his name, but she had revealed he was her parents’ friends’ son.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I feel myself shaking, a mixture of anger and fear rising within me. “She is with that fucking molester. Fuck.”

“How do you know this, Manik? And how did your private investigator know the name of Nandini’s culprit just by hearing the words from that clue?” Samrat quirks his brow, looking questioningly at me.

“Because Nandini is my wife,” I tell him, ignoring the shocked look on his face because I am in no mood to answer his further follow-up questions.

Instead, I walk to the commissioner, wanting to know if they have found out Rishabh’s location yet.

Samrat, however, follows me.

“Why the hell did you two hide your relationship then, Manik? You did not even tell me about it.”

“Seriously, Samrat? My wife is missing and you want to know why I hid about my marriage from you? Get a grip, man. And if you can’t, get lost from here. I don’t want to waste my energy on anything else other than finding Nandini,” I tell him, immediately looking at my phone when it pings, alerting me of a message.

Looking at the screen, I notice it is a message from Vivek.

As I open the message, I see it is some kind of address.

“This must be the location.” I show the message to the commissioner who then shows it to his officers, telling them to go to the location asap.

“I am also going,” I say, not wanting to stay back.

When I see the officer-in-charge about to argue, I give him a look, making him promptly shut his mouth.

Without wasting any time, I run to my car and start the engine to drive to the location as fast as I can.

“Please, hold on, Nandini. I will soon get you out of there. Very soon.”