31

Nandini

“I have injected the painkiller, Nandini. The blood I drew earlier will be taken to the lab where they will try and find what drug was injected to you. That will help us know if you will have any lasting side effect of the drug.

“For now, I have thoroughly done your physical examination, and did not find any serious effect of the drug on you. I will call Manik once I get your test results,” The doctor says, and I nod at her.

Sitting on the bed with my back leaning against the headboard, I keep staring ahead, too stunned and shaken to say anything.

I hear low murmurs around me and I know Manik and his parents, who are currently gathered around me, are talking about me.

Although I am trying to faze out what they are talking, I do have the realization that they must be discussing with the doctor about my condition.

The pain from that drug is still in my body.

My head is still throbbing, although it has decreased much in intensity after the doctor injected painkiller earlier.

But what about the pain I feel from what happened after Aastha hid me inside Rishabh’s secret room?

What about the raw angst jolting my entire body because I am unable to erase the heartwrenching screams of Aastha when Rishabh had slashed her body repeatedly with the belt?

How do I lessen the overwhelming hurt and guilt about Aastha having to suffer so much at the hands of Rishabh and his men because she helped me hide?

No painkiller can lessen the angst and pain I feel due to it.

Nothing in the world will ever be able to lessen it.

Closing my eyes, I recall what happened an hour back before Manik reached Rishabh’s place to rescue me.

Still slumped on the floor of the hidden room where Aastha had pushed me earlier, I felt guilt overwhelm me.

I knew I needed to go after Rishabh to the basement and try to stall him, so Manik could reach him and get him caught.

But no matter how much I tried, I was unable to stand up and punch the damn buttons on the wall to get myself out.

‘Such a coward you are, Nandini. Such a coward.’ My inner voice mocked, and I curled my body into a ball, sobbing as I pathetically waited for Manik to come and get me out of there.

“Nandini, you are safe now. You are in your house,” Manik’s soothing voice brings me back to present.

Looking around, I see we are now alone in the room.

The doctor as well as Manik’s parents were nowhere to be seen.

“Everyone left. The doctor said it would be better if you rest now,” he tells me, but I shake my head.

“Aastha. Need to find Aastha.” My voice is only a whisper.

My throat is still hurting due to whatever drug Rishabh had injected to me before abducting me.

Rishabh’s thought sends a chill down my spine, my mind transporting me back to those few moments when I had been in his house.

I was still curled up on the floor, sobbing as I rememebered how Rishabh had beaten Aastha for letting me get away, when I heard Manik’s voice coming through the television.

“Nandini, are you here? Nandini?”

Never had I ever felt such overwheling relief hearing his voice than I felt at that moment.

‘He came for me. He is here to save me.’

Hastily trying to stand up, I stumbled twice before getting back on my feet. Once I stood, I quickly walked to the wall and punched the five buttons on the wall, impatienly waiting for them to turn green and the door to open.

‘1...2...3...4...’

Before I could think 5 in my mind, the door opened and Manik entered the room, his lips curving in a small smile and I could see his eyes welling up as he steps closer to me.

When he was near, he quickly grabbed my arms and pulled me into his arms.

He said nothing, only glided his hand soothingly up and down my back and my arm, as if reassuring us both that I was safe.

I also took a moment to get that feeling infused into me. To feel safe in his arms. To feel his warmth seeping into me and replacing the coldness that Rishabh’s presence had instilled within me.

After that one moment, though, I reluctantly broke the hug, stepping back. “We need to save Aastha. Rishabh has taken her. He is about to escape from here through the basement.”

“Do you know from where to get the basement, Ma’am?” I heard another voice, and looked behind Manik, registering two uniformed officers standing there.

‘Of course, Inspector. I come here everyday. I know every ins and outs of this house.’ I wanted to snap, but gulped the annoyance, knowing they were only asking so they could get to the basement sooner if I knew the location.

“I have no idea,” I told him, and they nodded at me, before hurriedly leaving the room.

“We also need to search for the basement, Manik. We cannot let Rishabh get away with Aastha. We need to save here.”

“We will save her, Nandini. We won’t let anything happen to her.”

That was the last sentence I had heard before the darkness engulfed me.

After that, when I woke up, I was here on the bed, in Manik’s room, surrounded by him and his parents, while being tended to by the doctor.

“You have already told everything you knew to the police, Nandini. And they are trying their best to find Aastha,” Manik tells me, but that does nothing to calm my anxiety.

“She will get killed by that madman, Manik. She had told me he would kill her after finding out she let me escape.”

Along with anxiety about something happening to Aastha, there is also my guilt. The guilt of not doing anything for the girl who put her life on line to save me.

When she was getting whipped by Rishabh, I had just stayed back in that room, staring at the TV instead of walking out from there and stopping him.

“It is my fault that he was able to get away.” I sob, feeling culpability rise within me. “I should have come out of the room. Should have tried doing something. Anything. To stop Rishabh and free Aastha from his clutches.”

Manik wipes my tears and slowly strokes my hair, letting me rest my head on his shoulder.

“Nothing was your fault, Nandini. It really was not,” he says in a way as if coaxing me to believe it.

“Even if you had stepped out of that secret room, what was the guarantee that you would have been succeeded in stalling Rishabh until we got there? What if he had taken you too along with Aastha?

“If that had happened, we would have left with nothing to get him punished, Nandini.

“But now we have enough to throw him behind bars. We have his recorded confession from the tape in that secret room. He has not only confessed in planning and abducting you, but has also said he was the one to kill Vivek. That is enough to put him in jail for a long time.”

“We need to find him first, Manik. Find him to put him in jail. And we need to find him before he kills Aastha. I won’t be able to ever forgive myself if something happened to her.”

Her teary face swims in my mind. The determination I had seen on her face to save me. Her screams i had heard when Rishabh had whipped her.

I hurriedly raise my head from Manik’s shoulder and start climbing down the bed.

“What are you doing, Nandini?” Manik asks, concern for me lacing his voice, as he tries to stop me from moving.

But I ignore his question and struggle to free myself from getting out of his hold. Succeeding to do so, I climb down the bed, intending to walk out of the room, but I halt when I suddenly start feeling dizzy.

Manik catches me before I fall. “You need rest right now, Nandini. Sleep for now, please.”

He carries me in his arms, trying to place me on the bed, but I try to squirm out of his hold. “No. What I need to do is find, Aastha. I need to save her.”

“We will save her, Nandini. I promise. But we will do that once you are properly rested and able to stand up without feeling dizzy.”

“But, Manik, I ne—”

“Tomorrow,” he says, interrupting me. “We will go to the station first thing in the morning tomorrow, and ask for their progress in this case. I will try my best, involve all my contacts and connections to save Aastha.

“And Samrat is with the officers right now. He is also trying his best to get to her, Nandini. We are all together in this.”

I finally give a small nod, letting Manik’s words slightly reassure me.

Also, it helped to know that Samrat was with the officers. He had once told me he has started feeling something for Aastha.

“Not love quite yet, but definitely more than like,” he had said.

I had seen the look in his eyes then. The expression on his face. A small smile lingering in his lips.

That was the moment I had known Samrat had definitely fallen for Aastha.

He might not have realized it then, but I had seen it in the way he talked about her every time after that.

So, it reassures me a bit, knowing that Samrat will really try his best to find Aastha.

‘And tomorrow, Manik and I will also be there. Right by his side. To help him find his love.’

“Sleep now, Nandini. Rest for a few hours. We have a long fight ahead of us,” Manik tells me, and I relax in his hold, letting him stroke my forehead, his soothing touch lulling me to sleep.

"Rishabh touched me, Manik. His repulsing fingers were on my skin," I tell him, resuming to rub my arm, trying to erase even the memory of that repugnant touch.

It is not only last night's touch that I remember. My nails start scratching my whole body as I recall each time Rishabh touched me against my consent.

"Stop it, Nandini," Manik says, and I am startled by how close he suddenly was to me.

Seeing my reaction, he raises his hand up, as if to say he does not intend to do anything against my wish.

"Will you let me help you? Please?" He gently asks.

I gaze at him for a few seconds in complete silence except for the sound of running water.

He takes one more step closer to me, while I only keep looking at him.

"I can feel his lingering touch in my skin, Manik," I tell him.

My whole body was shaking and I could not figure out if it was due to the cold, disgust, or the angst.

Seeing me trembling, Manik reaches behind me to turn off the shower.

"Can you help me erase that touch, Manik?"

I see him take a deep breath before giving me a small nod. "Let's go to the doctor and we will see if ther—"

"Will your touch replace his?" I suddenly ask, interrupting him.

He sucks in a breath, shock marring his face as he processes what I just told him.

"Nandini, I don't thi—"

I again interrupt him. This time by bridging our small distance quickly and tightly hugging him.

"I feel too cold, Manik. And I know it is not from this cold water," I begin to say, running my hand over his back. "I do not know why I feel this way, but I want to feel safe. I want to feel loved. I want to feel.....wanted."

I shiver when Manik tightens the hug, his fingers digging the skin over my waist for a second before he loosens his hold.

Breaking the hug, he leans back to look at me with such tender affection in his eyes that I feel my heart flutter.

"You are safe," he says to me. "And, Nandini, please believe me when I say that you are no longer unwanted in my life."

The look in his eyes tells me that he meant what he said.

Biting back a sob, I again launch myself at him, wanting to bury myself in his arms.

This time, he hugs me back with equal vigor, running his hands up and down my back reassuringly.

"I was so scared last night, Nandini. When I found out about you missing, it stopped my heart for a second. Each moment after that felt like a year to me. And every passing second, until I found you, I prayed fervently for you to be fine. To be whole and well until I reached you."

"I knew you would come for me, Manik. I do not know why, but I had faith that you would not give up on me."

"I will never give up on you, Nandini. I promise. I will never give up on you."

Saying that, he steps back, and turns on the shower, fiddling with the knobs until the water is warm.

"May I?" He asks, and gently touches the side of my neck when I nod at him.

He rubs the area at the side of my neck for a few seconds, before trailing his hand up to my face, carefully washing the area around the jaw and lips that I was scratching earlier.

Then, bringing his hands down, he soothingly runs them up and down my arms.

I slightly hiss when I feel the burn again. This time more intense than earlier as a result of my own scratching.

With my breaths coming in spurts, I close my eyes and lean to Manik, fully trusting him.

He continues rubbing his hands alternately over my arms, my neck, up to my face. His touch so soothing that I feel it replacing the dread I was feeling earlier.

I open my eyes when Manik turns off the shower.

"Wait here," he says, and steps out for a moment, before coming back with a towel in his hand.

He wraps the towel over my still clothed body and brings me out to the room.

"Change your clothes, Nandini. I will be outside the room," he tells me, about to walk out, when I stop him by holding his wrist.

When he looks questioningly at me, I signal him to wait, and walk toward the cupboard.

Taking out a towel from there, I hand it to him. "Dry yourself too. Otherwise, you will catch cold."

Clutching the towel, he steps closer toward me.

I feel a strange emotion engulfing my heart when I see something akin to affection in his orbs as he gazes at me.

Once he is close enough, he leans forward to place a soft kiss on my forehead. My heart thudding furiously when I feel his lips on my skin.

"Call me when you are done," he says after leaning back, and walks out of the room, drying his hair with the towel I gave him.

***********

Manik

"Don't worry, Samrat. We will find Aastha soon," I tell my friend, feeling a pinch in my heart when I see his distraught face.

We are currently seated in the living room of my house. Samrat arrived earlier to check on Nandini and also to ask her if she remembers anything that can help us in finding Aastha.

"It's been more than a day, Manik. And until now, we don't have even one clue about where she might be," he says, rubbing his face with his hands.

Putting my hand over his shoulder, I give it a reassuring squeeze.

I too am worried for Aastha, but I know I need to be a voice of reassurance and optimism here. For Samrat. And for Nandini.

As I look at Nandini sitting on the couch in front of Samrat, I see his anxiety for Aastha reflected on her face too.

But on Nandini's face, there is also a color of guilt admixed with worry for Aastha.

"I am so sorry, Samrat. I know I should have done something for Aastha instead of hiding inside that room as a coward. If I had found a way to stall him, Aastha would hav—"

"No, Nandini," Samrat interrupts her. "It is not your fault. If you had also been taken by Rishabh when you attempted to free Aastha, we would not have gotten any evidence against that man. I am glad that you are safe. Now, we only need to find one clue about where he has taken Aastha. One link to him that can lead us to his location."

"Yes, Nandini. That is why we are gathered here," I tell her. "Can you remember anything that Rishabh might have said last night that can lead us to him? Anything of help that you might have heard or noticed?"

Nandini looks thoughtful for a few minutes while Samrat and I hold our breaths, hoping she would recall something that can be helpful to us in finding Aastha.

But disappointment surges within us when she shakes her head.

"I am sorry. I don't remember anything. I don't—"

She abruptly stops speaking. A look of realization dawning on her face makes me hopeful.

"What is it, Nandini? Did you remember something?" I ask her.

"Take me to my parents, Manik. I need to have a talk with them," she says with such fiery determination ringing in her voice that it makes me feel this confrontation will definitely lead us a step closer to finding Rishabh and Aastha.