7. NANDINI!

“Tring… Tring…” 

Manik’s phone rings, alerting everyone present in the car. He picks it up and waits for the caller to start talking. 

“Sir, the bride is here…” The waiter to whom Manik bribed for information spoke from the other side of the call. Without replying to him Manik cuts the call and looks at his both subordinates while continuing in his rough tone, “Let’s do it!…”.

Aditya gets down from the car in a second covering his face followed by Manik whereas Kaushal takes his position according to their plan. Aditya walks inside while Manik loaded his revolver keeping his senses on alert. 

Otherside Abhimanyu is also on a mission to rescue Nandini from this mess while Payal keeps praying for her. 

“You can do this Abhi… You have to save Nandini Mam from this….”, Abhi encouraged himself and walked inside, “Yeh shaadi nahi ho sakti.” He declared, making everyone gasp and tense. 

Everyone turns toward the direction from where the sound comes and finds Abhimanyu standing there calmly. Some of the guests are confused as they don’t know him but some are furious seeing his audacity to interfere in their family matters. 

“Kya bol raha hai be tu? Bhool gaya ki teri kya aukaat hai?” ( What are you saying? Did you forget you status? ) An old man spoke coming in front of Abhi, scaring him to death. 

“I am saying…” Abhi starts stuttering but is cut off by hearing Nandini’s scream. 

Everyone turns their attention toward the bride who is dragged by a masked man. The man is pulling the little girl ruthlessly at a gunpoint. Seeing the revolver the crowd got hyper and everyone started panicking which resulted in a crowded mess.

Aditya fires a bullet randomly just to scare the audience while chuckling as he is enjoying it. With the gunshot, the people get frightened which works in his favor. 

“Hey…. Ruk saale!…. Kaha lekar jaa raha hai meri beti ko…. Aur tu hai koun?” ( Hey… Mor*n! Where are you taking my daughter?… leave her!… Who are you? ) An old man shouts who is the father of the bride, marching toward the struggling bride. The masked man again fired a bullet but this time with an aim toward him. The bullet crossed his right arm, shocking everyone. 

“Papa!…….” Nandini yells seeing her wincing father on the floor and struggling more in his hold, “Chodo mujhe… Mere Papa!… I said leave me!…” She kept crying but the ruthless man didn’t pay any heed to her. She bites his hand through which he is holding her arm, making him scoff in anger. 

Aditya slapped her hard right across her cheek, angrily. “Sa*li… mujhe kaate gi?” ( Blo*dy idiot… Did you bite me? ) The slap left his fingerprints on her cheek which burns on her soft skin giving her more pain. Her tears have no stop now. She is bearing so much from seeing her father in the pool of blood to the thing which is happening to her. But she is unaware of the fact that this is just starting. She has to bear more pain to have her happy ending. 

Everyone is watching the show for free and some are lucky to slip away from the window to save their life. No one has the guts to come ahead after seeing the revolver. Their brains also stopped working except Abhi’s. They don’t know that they have an advantage of numbers, whereas the man ( Aditya ) is all alone but who will put their lives in danger just to save a girl, a cruel reality! 

At the same time, Abhi is approaching the man without his notice while others are too numb to even move from the corners. In all this Payal is also standing in a corner because she thought that all this is Abhi’s plan to take Nandini out from there. She doesn’t know if it is right or wrong but at this point, everything felt right to her. 

All this is happening so fast that no one can process anything. Even Nandini is not in the right mindset to yell for help anymore except to struggle in the hold which is painful for her. During all this struggle her veil is a long-forgotten case. Now everyone is standing in shock seeing Nandini in the place of Alya. 

“Nandini…” An old man murmurs who is apparently her father.  

“Papa…. Papa! Please help me!…..” Nandini yelled for help but no one had enough strength to come ahead. Before anyone could do anything, Aditya drags Nandini out effortlessly in a second but stops by Abhimanyu who comes behind him and grabs his hands making him lose her hold on Nandini.

Getting the opportunity Nandini runs outside. All the chaos was witnessed by Manik who cursed Aditya for messing everything up, “S*ale se ek kaam nahi hota!…” ( He is not capable of doing a single job! ) 

Abhi gets beaten up by Aditya who becomes hell angry because the girl slips out of his hold. “S*ale!… Har*mkhor! Mujhse ladega?… Tu janta nahi hai mujhe… tere poore khandan ko maar daluga.” ( Blo*dy Moron… *XYZ*… You don’t know me, I will burn your whole dynasty if you come in my way. ) Aditya murmurs angrily giving the last punch to Abhi making him faint because of injuries. He walks out but not before threatening everyone. “Agar kisi ne bhi aage aane ki koshish ki na toh mujhse bura aur koi nahi hoga!” and points his forefinger “Galati tumhari hogi aur saza tumhari beti ko milegi….” ( Don’t you dare to follow me because the consequences won’t be good for the girl. ) Saying this he fired a bullet once again and this time the aim is the watchman who is on a call giving the information to the police. 

The watchman fell on the floor with wide-open eyes and the next second the crowd saw the blood flowing out from the back of his head. It didn’t take them a minute to understand that the watchman was dead on the spot which frightened everyone more. The green grass soon turned red with his blood while the body was lying motionless. 

Otherside, Nandini is running on the street away from her house. She doesn’t know where she is going but she knows that she has to go away from that man. Manik saw her retreating figure and without giving second thought he pointed his revolver in her direction and pressed the trigger. The bullet came out from his gun and vanished in a second towards his aim. 

Everyone trembles in fear hearing the trigger sound including Nandini who turns back in a jerk and feels a sudden twinge in her right leg around the calf muscle. The next moment she saw blood oozing out from her lehenga like a river. Her eyes shut down in pain and her legs give up, making her fall on the floor. But before touching the floor she lifts her eyes only to lock them with a strange man who is just meters away from her. 

Manik is standing in his previous position while the revolver is still aiming at the girl who is dressed in the bridal lehenga. But his world collapses as soon as the girl turns around to face him. THE SAME FACE! SAME HAIR! SAME EYES! SAME NOSE! SAME POUTY LIPS! AND THE SAME HEIGHT! His heart just screamed question after question which he has no answers to.

IS SHE BACK? 

IS SHE REAL? 

IS SHE HIS NANDINI? HIS NANDINI! 

DID SHE COME BACK JUST FOR HIM AS SHE PROMISED? 

There are many questions but no answers. The revolver automatically slips from his hold and a lone tear slips down from his eyes after almost 18 years. And why not? He is seeing the face that he has been dying to see for the last 18 years. 

Suddenly the heartless goon overpowers him, making him realize that this is rubbish. “No… No… this can’t be possible. No one can take birth again… this… this is just a coincidence. She has her features by coincidence. Nothing else!” He is TRYING to deny the fact that he has hoped for the last 18 years. 

All those years he believed in the concept of REBIRTH because his girl promised him to come back to complete their story. But when she is right in front of him, he is denying the fact. He is denying to accept that HIS BREATHE IS BACK. 

Aditya comes behind him and yells, “Bhai! Aapne kya kar diya? Hume iss ladki ko surakshit rakhna tha… leave this matter for now!” ( Bhai! What have you done? We have to keep that girl safe… leave this matter for now! ) Not getting any response he shook him and continued, “We have to move from here… quick… quick!” 

To be continued…