Chapter 4C
"Nandini," Manik said softly. His breathing was erratic, due to the fact that Nandini was in his arms, and they were so close to other. He was drowning in the depths of her violet orbs when a sound of someone clearing their throat snapped him out of his reverie. Nandini slowly turned her head towards her left, and Manik followed suit and turned his head to his right to see Cabir standing 2-3 feet away.
Cabir had both his hands on his knees, bending down and looking back and forth between Nandini and Manik and the little-out-of-the-comfort-zone space. Manik realised their position and was quick to make her stand, but was left breathless once again as she clung to him, as if afraid to fall. His hand still was loosely around her.
I'll never let you fall. Manik thought but frowned thinking about what he'd just thought.
Nandini still clung to him, which deepened his frown. Her eyes were wide, as she looked at Manik and the hand that was around her. Breaking the eye contact, she spoke,
"Cabir, could you please pass me that?" She jutted her chin out at something and Manik's eyes went to the direction she pointed. There was a... Wait a minute. There was a walking stick laying on the ground. What was that doing there? He then looked at Fab 4, whose eyes were all wide, like they would fall out of their sockets at any moment.
Fab 4 stood there in frozen state, looking at Nandini. Cabir picked the stick and hesitantly held it out to Nandini. She looked back at Manik and spoke something, but nothing reached him as he was busy staring at her. After a few seconds when he realised, he asked her to repeat.
"Can you hold me for a sec?" She spoke in her American accent. Manik nodded and held her. Nandini carefully took the stick from Cabir with her right hand. That's when Manik took the time to look at her carefully.
He looked down to see her right leg swathed in bandages. His eyes travelled up and settled on her hands; her left arm had a cast with a black arm sling whereas her right arm had a bandage. He finally looked at her face which had a bandage on the left side of her forehead.
What the hell happened to her????
When she was sure she could balance herself with the help of stick in her hand, he let go of her.
"Thanks," She whispered softly and turned around, walking away.
Fab 5 looked at her retreating figure, as she struggled to walk and was scared to fall.
They were all surrounded by thick silence, which was broken by Mukti.
"Guys what happened to her? She wasn't like this the last time we saw her," She said, making them all remember the events that occured the past week.
FLASHBACK (1 week ago)
Nandini stopped her car at a signal,and her phone beeped. Pulling it from her back pocket, she saw that she'd received a message from an unknown number. It had some address and time. She frowned. Just as she was contemplating her phone went off. It was from the same unknown number. This only made her deepen her frown. Sighing, she received her call.
"Hello," She said into the phone, only to hear laughter from the other side. Only it wasn't just of one person but multiple.
"Hey sweetheart," She heard a husky voice say.
"Who's this?" She questioned, just as the red lights turned green. She put her phone on speaker and pressed on the gas. She drove to the side of the road and stopped there.
"Awww... Didn't you recognise us? Tch tch tch. Too bad... But we'll tell you. We are the ones who are going to make your life hell..." Saying so, she heard more laughter. Understanding came upon her.
"Fab 5..." She said, and received Ooo's and Wowww's from the other side.
"Wow, didn't know you were this smart. But you're right. Anyways listen," Manik said, taking something in his hand from Dhruv who passed it and continued,
"Where are you leaving from? And are you sure you didn't forget anything? Maybe in your locker..." He trailed off, holding that red thing in front of him and twirling it on his forefinger. Nandini on the other side was filled with confusion. Until a certain realisation dawned upon her.
Ending the call, she quickly dialled Harshad's phone. He replied in 2 rings. And she asked him if he was still at SPACE. Getting a positive response, she asked him to go to her locker and open it. He did so, and then Nandini asked him what all was there inside. She didn't tell him what she was looking for. He said books, folders and nothing special. She asked him once more if there was anything else in there, but he said no. Harshad asked her if something was wrong, But she said,
"No everything's fine. See you at home." She ended the call and pulled at her hair in frustration. Letting out a frustrating groan, she dialled the unknown number.
"You're really quick sweetheart-" She didn't let him finish and said,
"Where's my red diary?"
"Awww... Someone's missing their diary already..." She heard a female voice.
Manik threw the red diary at Alya which she caught with ease, laughing.
"I asked where. Is. My. Diary??" Nandini asked in a threatening voice.
"Ooo. Am scared..." Dhruv said which made Fab 5 crack up. After settling, Manik spoke,
"Look, your diary is with us, if you want it come and get it from us. We've texted you the address and time, so don't be late. See you soon, President..." Laughing, he ended the call.
Reaching the address at sharp 8:30 pm, she made her was inside the old warehouse. Her heart was beating loudly in her chest. Warily, she made her way inside. Opening the door, she stepped inside. It was dark everywhere. And that was what she was scared of.
Her breathing soon became uneven, and she knew what was coming. Sweat was flowing down her forehead, but instead she closed her eyes and started counting backwards from 10. When she said 1, she decided to get out of there before anything goes out of her control.
But before she could even take a step back, someone grabbed her both hands behind her back and led her into a dark room. She struggled and screamed, but it was of no use. After some time, she was pushed down and she fell on the cold, hard floor. The lights were turned on, blinding her for some seconds. When her eyes adjusted to the brightness, she took in her surroundings.
And there they were, Fab 5 stood around her. She wanted to stand, but that's when she realised her left hand was handcuffed to a steel bar there. She struggled against the handcuffs but was all vain...
"Don't," She heard someone, and looked at the owner of the voice. There stood Manik, looking down and avoiding her eyes. Still looking down he said,
"Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself." He was referring to the handcuffs. But obviously, she didn't listen to him and continued to wriggle her hands out of them. When she realised it was of no use, she huffed and glared at everyone,
"Where's the diary?"
"Awww... Someone wants their diary back..." Cabir cooed, going near her and pinching her cheeks. She turned her face away.
"Looking for this?" Dhruv asked, holding a red diary in his hands. Nandini's eyes shot to the diary, a hopeful glint in her eyes. But little did she know her hopes were going to be crushed.
"Too bad," Manik said walking towards Dhruv and taking the diary in his hand, "but you won't get this." She looked at him weirdly and asked,
"Why are you doing this?" He just laughed a devil's laugh and soon turned his angry glare in her direction. He spoke in his angry and menacing voice,
"You want to know why? Because of you. And your jerk friends. You know something? I, I have always wanted to be the President of SPACE Academy. Wait, wanted? I knew I would be the President one day. Until you all came, especially you. The day you came, you made us suspend from SPACE for a whole week. Then a week later, I come to know that you are the Freaking President when I SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN YOUR PLACE..." He was screaming by the time he finished.
"And you know what?" Alya smirked while saying, "This is what you get if you mess with Fab 5." She said and threw something at Manik, who caught it efficiently. Smirking he bent down to be at eye-level with Nandini.
"You know," Manik spoke bringing the booknear her face which Nandini tried to grab, but couldn't.
"I wondered what's so important in this Red Diary of yours. It also has a number lock in this,unfortunately. But don't worry. If this so very important to you that you walked right into this trap, then watch this."
Saying so, Manik got up and took some steps ahead. Turning around, he faced Nandini, as he lifted the Red Diary in his left hand, and taking a lighter from his pocket.
"NO!!!!!!!!" Nandini screamed at the top of her lungs. As tears started flowing down her cheek. It pinched Manik's heart, but only for a second. Composing himself, he saw as the Red Diary's edge caught fire, and after a few seconds, he dropped the diary, which was burning in flames.
Nandini was in a pathetic condition, as she saw her diary, burn to ashes. She was crying continuously, tugging at the handcuff thinking it will somehow break and free her to save her precious diary.
Fab 5 just laughed at her, and after some time threw a key at her, the key to the handcuffs and left the place, yelling there booo's and being proud of their accomplishment.
END OF FLASHBACK
They left her crying in that place. They were sure she'd learnt a lesson. And they assumed it was true as they did not see her the whole week. But after a week seeing her like this has shaken them to the core.
"What the hell happened that Nandini's in such a bad condition?" Fab 5 heard Cabir say, as they were still staring at the hallway in which Nandini disappeared.
He asked to no one in particular, but it was a question that all the 5 of them wanted answer to...
* * * * *
Hey guys! Thanks for reading. Hope you liked this chapter.
I would like to dedicate this chapter to @Archana_Vinod for her comment on the last update. Reading it just brightened my day and I wore a smile for the rest of the day... Thanks!
Do vote. And comment...
Adios!
Arjun
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