"Talvon ke neeche hai thandi si ek dharti
Kehti hai aaja daudenge
Yaadon ke bakson mein zinda si khushboo hai
Kehti hai sab pichhe chhodenge
Kehta yeh pal
Khud se nikal
Jeete hain chal
Jeete hain chal
Jeete hain chal"
Manik, exhausted to the bone and lulled to sleep by the hissing buzz of the SUV suddenly stirred up as if he had seen a ghost, startling Ranbir Navya and Ria. The look on his face gave away how zoned out he was. Nothing abnormal, most people wake up blank from sleep, the rest of them thought. Only that they didn't know it was the song blasting from the radio that had shaken him up from a dream or may be a nightmare.
Manik was struggling to breathe, like he was drowning deep in the underbelly of the ocean, where not a ray of sunlight could seep through, rendering the water not a happy shade of crystal blue, or a calming hue of turquoise but a blood curdling pitch black. And then these lines..like the morning Azaan, like a holy chant, were struggling to reach his ears, permeating the frightening whooshing of the ocean.
Manik, experiencing a splitting headache around his right temple, was not being able to think straight. For over a minute he couldn't even make sense of where he was or where he was heading to. By the time his pulse settled down and he could once more differentiate the red from green, Ranbir from Navya, or the trees from the sky, the song had already ended and a new one had begun. He wanted to scream and tell them that he was feeling sick, but one look at their nervous faces and he realized he should better keep his concerns to himself at least till a more suitable time.
They had almost reached Dehradun and these narrow winding roads only worsened Manik's already deplorable condition. At one point, when he could hold it no more, he asked the driver to stop so that he could rush out and puke. He could tell with certainty that he had never had anything remotely close to motion sickness. This was after all his town, the town where he had spent his entire childhood and he must have travelled through these roads uncountable number of times. Then why was he feeling so sick today..the headache and nausea..
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Nishant having done his MBA, worked as a staffing manager at the Four points By Sheraton, Dehradun. He had rented a small self-sufficient cottage by the hill.
Coming from the crowded plains of Bihar and living in a still more crowded metropolitan, Navya was wondering how she could behold so much beauty in her eyes. Despite the tension of their impending interaction with Nishant, which was creating havoc in their heads, she couldn't help but squeal in joy at the mere sight of the serenading hills. Ranbir, on the other hand was keenly recording every bit of information that Ria had given them about Nishant, in his overactive brain. The first thing that struck him as odd, was why, despite literally hating Neel and thereby his brother, she still knew more about Nishant's whereabouts than his own friends did. Not only that, but he stayed in Dehradun, merely hours away, though they both could have moved else where. Did it mean they were still in touch or rather they still had feelings for each other? For if they did, it would make their mission easier.
They went up to his cottage and began waiting for him to turn up after work.
An hour or so later, as Ria had correctly predicted or rather knew, Nishant was there. Like any other day, he was returning home absentmindedly, tired after a long day at the hotel, when his eyes fell on the bunch of people waiting in his balcony. The moment he saw Ria among them, his face lit up. Was he dreaming or was she really here. And who were these people with her, her friends? Or colleagues? Was she here on a trip?
He briskly walked up to greet her and her friends. If looks could determine nature, then Nishant was the antithesis to Neel's crookedness. His voice was as soft, as his demeanor was congenial and though Navya had already seen him before at Nandini's engagement, it was only today that she noticed him closely.
Ria asked them to wait in the drawing room while she went inside to have a talk with Nishant alone.
"Hume to lagta hai daal mein kuch kala hai." navya whispered in Ranbir's ears.
"What daal, what kala? Kya bol rahi ho Navya?"
"Humara matlab hai, kuch garbar hai. Hume to lagta gai, yeh dono sage bhai nahi hain...zaroor Neel ko kisi kachde ke dabbe se uthaya hoga."
"Ho gaya tumhara, ya abhi aur bakwas baki hai?" Ranbir rolled his eyes at Navya.
They both noticed how Manik was deadly quiet all through, and they let him be, thinking that he was stressed and needed some rest.
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"I can't believe you actually came here Ria. I can't tell you how happy I am.." He took her hands in his , gently rubbing her knuckles "7 years Ria..7 years and finally..finally u r here."
She jerked her hands free from his hold. "Before you presume that I have come here to reconcile, to accept your apologies, let me clear the air. You see those two guys and the girl outside. I have come this far just to help them."
Nishant was confused. Why would she bring them here, how could he help her friends?
"They are Nandini's friends." She explained.
"Who Nandini?" He was genuinely perplexed.
"Are you trying to act innocent, or have you started forgetting things, Nandini Murthy, your brother's fiancee. Didn't you attend your brother's engagement in Mumbai?"
Now he recalled that his parents had emotionally blackmailed him into attending this farce of an engagement. He didn't even recall the girls face, he just sat through the ordeal because they had to pose like a happy family. "Ria, you know I have no interest whatsoever in MY BROTHERS life. I don't know who walks in our out of his life. I couldn't care less."
"Right" She let out a small sarcastic smile "You couldn't care less and yet you care enough to have kept protecting him for all these years? Hai na?"
Nishant kept quiet. He knew how much it hurt her. But she didn't know that it hurt him more to have failed her. It hurt him way more to see her suffer through the years. "How can I help you or them?"
"YOUR BROTHER has trapped her into marrying him. Actually Nandini loves Manik, the tall handsome guy there, amongst them." She tried to show him by slightly moving the curtains. "Neel even tried to get him murdered!! So they wanted me to testify against Neel so that they could expose Neel before both the families."
"No..no don't do any such stupid thing Ria. These people are bloody stalkers. I can't imagine how they have dug up your entire past just to serve their purpose. Please don't step into their trap Ria. Neel ko kuch nahi hoga, he is a bas***d, but you will get hurt and humiliated." Nishant was all panicky.
She laughed out loud, sad and sorry at the same time. Sorry because his concern seemed genuine, and sad because he still didn't have the guts to stand up for the truth and be a man. She had originally planned to tell him the truth, that it wasn't her, but him who would have to help them in finding the evidence. But his reaction to her last statement, made her redraw her strategy.
"Do you remember that night and the following day Nishant? do you remember me in torn clothes, just seconds away from being raped? do you remember how I had been in a daze, how I had gone alone to the police station to lodge an FIR, do you remember how your parents turned the wole case around and proved infront of everyone, our friends and principal, that I was characterless, that I had thrown myself at your brother and all through it you stood mum as if you were deaf and dumb and paralyzed. Do you remember how I had to pack my bags, cover my face and run away from the hostel as if I was the one who had raped your brother. Do you remember any of it or have you conveniently wiped it off your memory, just like you don't remember Nandini.
"Ria please, for heaven's sake!!!" What could he tell her, and how? How could he tell her that he had died a hundred deaths since..that he had cut deep gashes all over his hands just to punish himself...how could he tell her that he hated not just his brother, but his parents too, and that at times he wished he were born an orphan. How could he show her the bruises on his heart or the stabs of guilt on his soul. How could he make her understand that when a girl is humiliated in public, its not just her, but all those people who love her that lose their dignity and sanity.
"I don't want much from you, I just want you to say u saw me that night at your house when your brother...That's all."
"No Ria.. You will not do this.."
"Why not, just because you are a spineless guy doesn't mean the entire world is so. That guy Manik, he is not like that. Imagine the pain he is going through just to keep her safe. Not every guy is like you Nishant, and I envy Nandini..I wish I had someone to protect me to..I wish I wasn't left to rot, to be trampled over by everyone."
"I AM NOT SPINELESS RIA" Nishant had almost lost it. The bubble of guilt he had been holding in his heart had finally burst. He was bleeding inside. "I WAS NEVER SPINELESS!" She shrieked so loudly that the three sitting outside were startled. They could hear every word that Nishant was blurting out in anger or remorse. "MY MOTHER f**kING THREATENED ME OF SUICIDE RIA. SHE SAID IF I UTTERED ONE WORD AGAINST MY BROTHER, SHE WOULD SET HERSELF ON FIRE. YOU THINK I CARED FOR NEEL, THAT SON OF A BITCH, FORGET TESTIFYING, I WOULD HAVE BLOODY KILLED THAT SWINE IF IT HADNT BEEN FOR MY MOTHER'S BLACKMAILING. I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED YOU DAMMIT AND WHILE YOU HAD ME TO BLAME FOR YOUR MISERIES, I HAD NOWHERE TO GO BECAUSE THAT'S MY f**kING FAMILY...BUT I LOVE OU RIA..ALWAYS HAVE , ALWAYS WILL" He tried to breathe, his heart almost felt like it was on the verge of being collapsed. He had finally let out the biggest secret of his life in a moment of heat and no matter what, there was no way he could undo it.
None of them could believe what they had just heard. Fiction they rightly say is stranger than truth. Now they knew where Neel got his evilness from. And Navya might actually be true, Ranbir thought. Nishant seemed to be such a royal misfit in this haunted family.
Still reeling under the shock of his words, Ria couldn't make out who need more support now, herself or him? Who had suffered more, who had borne more? She was silently thankful to Manik and Navya, its because she had agreed to help then that she came to know of the truth that changed her life. And strangely, it still had te power to change everything one more time. If this time Neel stood up for the right, she might just forget everything and give them another chance. She couldn't deny any more that she still had a soft corner for him, despite having tried to hate him. For the first time since she had come. Her eyes fell on the wall behind them and the photograph hanging from it, broke her heart to pieces.
"Listen Ria, I am not going to let you face that humiliation one more time." he finally said.
"And I can't let them return empty handed. I can't let Neel spoil another life." She was hellbent on her stand.
"Ok, if that's what it is, I will expose Neel, but promise me you will stay out of this. I have his details, DOB, bank accounts, certificates... I have lot of info to put him behind the bars. And I don't need anything in return from you.. I just want you to be safe..and may be someday in the future you can forgive me."
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The boys got busy in digging out all digital evidence and the more dirt surfaced, the more they marveled at this special creation of GOD. But it would take over a day or more to derive something meaningful out of this information. Like they hacked into his bank accounts and retrieved a few transactions to an account in pune on the day Manik had his accident. But they still had to search the account holder and force them into telling the truth. However, no matter how much time it was going to take, they knew, Neel's countdown was reaching climax.
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