The banquet was slowly but steadily filling up.
While normal people invite friends and family to their wedding, Neel's 250+ long list didn't boast of a single friend. 'Friendship' to him was a term with no tangible meaning. He only understood alliances, and alliances that brought benefits.
Except for a few distant relatives who had made it at the behest of his mother, his invitees mostly comprised of colleagues, clients, client's clients, business associates and his management, few from the global team and the rest from india. Not many people can marry out of lustful hatred and then commercialize the occasion to climb the next step on the corporate ladder. But then, you can't beat Neel Dixit at being an asshole, can you? He was born one, and in all probability was going to die one.
Somehow, having managed to escape from Ranbir's pawns, Neel had first changed into a designer black kurta (with a plunging neckline) and then gotten busy entertaining his guests, licking their dirty boots as usual.
It was during one of those conversations with a client, when he felt a sudden pull at his collar. He did manage to see Manik's face, but before he could make the slightest guess about what was about to happen next, a solid smack landed on the left side of his face, sending him into a half spin before he fell flat with a loud thud, on his fat ass.
Navya, standing meters away, blinked a couple of times. No this wasn't a dream sequence, this was actually happening. She examined her surroundings. The hall had suddenly gone silent, and not just any kind of silent but absolute pin drop silent. People had frozen in their tracks, abandoning whatever they had been doing or whoever they had been talking to. Hundreds of pairs of curious eyeballs turned towards Manik. She carefully studied the storm on Manik's face and then her eyes travelled across to Nandini, who was standing behind him, trembling with nervousness. Where was Ranbir? Her eyes scanned the entire floor till they stopped at a distant corner where Ranbir was with THEIR set of guests.
"What the hec.." That's all Neel could utter, before Manik dragged him up by the collar and gave him another massive blow on his jaw. Blood started trickling down from a deep cut on his lips.
Nandini was petrified, and so were the guests. When Amms, who was with Neel's parents in one of the adjacent rooms, heard the noises from the scuffle, she immediately ran out. Somewhere in her heart, she knew it was him. Despite her warnings, despite her keeping the marriage undercover till the very last moment, her worst fear had come to life. It had to be Manik, once more, ruining her granddaughter's happiness. On her way out, she encountered Ranbir, who tried to stop her. But, the thick headed lady that she was, she shrugged ranbir off and made her way through the crowd to where Manik and Nandini were.
"Himmat kaise hui tumhe idhar aake, sabke samne yeh tamasha karne ki? Yeh tumhare ameer bap ka ghar nahi hai ki jo man mein aaye karo, yeh meri Nandini ki shaadi ka mandap hai, aur wo uska hone wala husband hai? Aj to besharmi ki har limit cross kardi hai tumne , jitna badnaam kar sakte the hume, wo to pehle hi kar chuke ho, fir ab kyun aaye ho yahan?" she stormed at Manik.
Nandini began to say something, but Manik took over. "Oh wow, even I am wondering ki yahan chal kya raha hai?" He rolled his bloodshot eyes at her "Amms.., don't you think, yeh sare questions aapko is bloody looser se puchna chahiye... ? Yeh self-righteousness kahan tha aapka, jab aapke aankhon ke samne yeh psycho Nandini ko abuse kar raha tha? Shadi to kya, yeh to society mein rehne ke layak bhi nahi hai.." Hugely relieved that Amms had come to his rescue and noticing how she had distracted Manik, he tried to get back up on his feet. But Manik was in absolutely no mood to spare him today. Manik lunged forward and smacked him again. Physically, Neel was no match for Manik. All his evilness was only contained in his ugly little head and this time, that ugly head had had no time to plan. He had been misled into believing they had broken up. If Neel survived this ordeal today, he swore to himself he would personally chop Manik into tiny pieces and serve them to Nandini for dinner.
With each passing second, the scene was getting nastier. Even Navya, ranbir and Nishaant had joined them. Every time the snake rose his head, Manik kicked him harder. Even the four of them couldnt wean Manik off neel. He was like a man possessed. All he could see was that face he wanted to smash, all he could smell was raw blood and all he could feel was savage hatred for that guy.
"Maaanikkk!!! I said stop it. Koi ise kuch bolta kyun nahi?" She looked around, flabbergasted at her son and daughter-in-law, standing silent amidst the shell shocked crowd. "Isse pehle ki mujhe police bulana pare, there's the exit, over there... chup chap wahan se dafa ho jao..and sath mein apne un do chamchon ko bhi leke jana"
Neel's nasty parents had also followed through. While his dad tried to walk past Manik to help his son, her mom started throwing profanities at Amms and her family. But none of it could sway Manik. He was a man on mission today. Neel, even in that condition, was figuring out ways to turn the situation around. Any other guy in his place would have retaliated & thrown his limbs around in defense, but Neel didn't. Manik kept on hitting him black and blue and Neel let him, without as much as one counter strike.
As creepy as only Neel could be, he was calculating his next move. He would get beaten, he would break a few bones, he would bleed a little but when out of desperation someone would call the police, he would play the 'victim' card to his advantage, sweep the girl and also accrue the sympathy of the crowd. By taking those nasty blows, he was infact, gathering witnesses for himself. The entire hall could give testimony to how between the two of them Manik was the perpetrator, the beast, and Neel the innocent wronged fellow. No one knew the real story, but everyone had witnessed the one sided sabotage. However, little did he know that his luck, which had somehow brought him so far was going to run out on him soon.
"Bas kar Manik, mar jayega yeh." Ranbir was hopelessly trying to pull Manik away, infact not just Ranbir, but Ranbir, Nishaant, Navya & Nandini.
"Yes, mar jane do saale ko, I should have killed him long ago."
Ranbir was in a fix. For whatever reason, this wasn't going by the plan. Infact, as per the plan, Manik was to make an entry at the fag end, right after the video. But if he didn't do anything fast, Manik would actually end up killing up that bas***d. Not that he felt sorry for Neel, infact, far from it, he wanted expedited death for him, but just not at Manik's hands. And right now Manik was too blind to see the legal implications this could bring on him or all of them.
Ranbir left the scene & before anyone else could call the cops, he did.
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People present there were coming out of their initial shock to cause a commotion. They wanted to stop Manik, because for obvious reasons they had labelled him as the proverbial villain, but no one dared in reality, especially after experiencing his rage first hand. The hush-hush whispers had begun. Even the cops were on their way and Neel was still slumped on the floor, pretending to be almost dead when in reality all he had were a couple of fractured bones.
That's when Ranbir hit the play button. He had stayed up all night to do last minute touch ups to the DVD , that Manik had sent him along with his gifts to Nandini.
The giant screen which usually played the live coverage of the pheras was going to tell an altogether different story today. And the moment, the video started rolling and Manik's recorded voice began to reverberate through the air, once again, a deadly silence fell over the place. This time even Manik stopped. Only Three people knew what was in store, while the rest, including Amms and Neel's parents looked on anxiously.
And there he was, Manik Malhotra, on screen, peeling layers off the scoundrel's carefully constructed image. But the best thing about the video was that, it wasn't just lame story telling. With each incident that Manik narrated, he added a clipping of the real witnesses, sometimes via video chat and sometimes face to face.
So Neel's classmates from school testified how he was a sly bully all his life. Then Ria came on screen to narrate exactly how the bas***d had molested her and how his parents had covered up the entire case by stuffing money, defamed her and ultimately forced her to leave school. Then came another shocker, Neel's colleague in his first job, whose paper he stole to get an entry into the IIMs.
The list was long & the revelations deadly. People were in deep shock and everytime they thought, it was over, more stinky stuff was on display. But the most horrified of them all was the asshole himself. How on earth had they done it and when? He had never expected the brawny Manik Malhotra to have brains, and not certainly this sharp of a brain. Was this the end for him then.
Manik unraveled how Neel had set up the false case against nandini's uncle and used it to blackmail her into marrying him. He interviewed the guy from the phone shop who explained how and when he had been instructed by Neel to tap Nandini's phone. Manik had even caught the folks Neel had paid to kill him. This was the piece he had gone to Panchgani for. But the video didn't end there. It went on to flash his bank records and how he had resolved to unethical, illegal practices at work, by bribing clients and seniors with money and flesh.
Neel's ship was sinking. He had no face to show to anyone anymore. And his hapless parents had nothing to bark about. All these years, they had lived in denial. They knew he was an revengeful, mean minded , shrewd fellow, but they had kept on guarding him in the hope that he would mend his ways. They were also partly blinded by the laurels he brought home. His exponential success and the perks that came with it had shut their mouths. But today when their son's deeds were out in the public, before his own colleagues, clients and seniors, they had no place to hide.
Cops had reached and seen the video.
They silently handcuffed him and dragged him along. They had enough evidence to file 10 different cases against him. His high paying job at credit Suisse was a thing of distant past now. Forget the job, he was slated to face a few lawsuits. One by one the guests walked out, their heads hung in shame.
Manik was tired. He was very very tired. So were Navya, Ranbir & Nishaant. But the black chapter of Neel Dixit was finally coming to an end. Once again they realized, it takes a while for truth to surface, but when it does, it outshines every remnant of lie. Just that one must not give up, get scared or lose hope for destiny only favours the brave.
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A/N: It took me forever to pen this down, i wrote, rewrote and repeated this thrice and yet i am still not sure how it has turned out :)
Wait a bit for the next update. I have few exams to knock out.
CID
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
