19. NAVYA MURTHY!

Nandini is searching the whole factory with his team to find any proof which will prove Suleman guilty in court. While searching she comes around a narrow passage which goes towards the forest. She follows the path of being attentive to her surroundings and her pistol is ready to work if anything goes wrong. Soon she stopped in front of a small house. Before walking inside, she checks everything but to her shock, everything seems nice. 

She informed her team about her location and walked inside through the window which was open by chance. She looked around the whole house but didn’t find anything suspicious. She got attentive when she heard a noise from the basement and couldn’t stop herself from following the noise. 

She saw a girl who curled herself in the corner holding an iron rod in her hand to protect herself. She walks towards her which makes her sacred and seeing her condition she stopped in her way, “Hey… Relax! I am from the police and you are safe with me.”

The girl got scared even more and cried, making her feel guilty while murmuring, “I did nothing!… Please,… ( Hiccups ) Don’t arrest me.” 

“I am not here to arrest you.” Nandini replied trying to calm her down and continued putting her pistol in the corner to gain her trust, “See, I put my gun here, so, you should also leave that rod. It will harm you.” 

The girl throws the iron rod to the other side, trusting her for the first time and Nandini walks to her with slow steps not to make her scared. She engulfs her in her arms and rubs her back, “Hey, you are fine. Just take a deep breath.” The girl looks at her innocently and pleads, “Don’t kill me… I didn’t do it deliberately. It’s not my fault.” 

“Ok!… I know it’s not your fault, I trust you…” Nandini replies and the girl clings to her. “Tell me, what are you doing here alone?” She asks but the girl never replies, making her sign. She stood up and brought her up into the room from the basement. 

Till now, her team is accompanied by Cabir who is looking at one photo frame. Seeing so many people around her, the girl screamed but Nandini calmed her down efficiently, “They are with me and they won’t harm you.” The girl nods and Cabir hands over the photo frame to her which he is seeing a moment back. Seeing the picture Nandini looks at it with a frown while Cabir gestures to her to ask for it from the girl. 

Nandini put a photo on the table and pointed at the girl in the picture while asking the girl, lovingly, “Is it you?” The girl looks at the picture lifting her lashes and nods while Nandini continues, “Aww… you are so beautiful.” The girl smiles shyly, “But, who is this man? Do you know him?” She asks again pointing at the man who is none other than SULEMAN. 

The girl nods and whispers timidly, “He is my brother Suleman.” Nandini nods and again asks, pointing at the other man in the picture, “Oh… so, he is also your brother? By the way, what is his name?” Seeing the third person in the frame, the girl panics but uttered timidly, “He… He is my husband Da… DAVID.” 

Nandini nods and the next second the girl hugs her and cries while murmuring, “Please… Please save me from them…. They… they beat me a lot…” Nandini caresses her back and ruffles her hair but in a second the girl faints in her arms. 

“Nandini, take her to the hospital, immediately, and look after her until I appoint a guard for her safety.” Cabir commands in his bossy tone but Nandini reads his eyes which have different emotions. 

X—X—X—X—

“Mam, please fill out the admission form until the doctor is checking the patient.” A nurse requests Nandini who nods and moves towards the reception to fill out the form. She stopped knowing that she didn’t know her name but she took a deep breath before writing NAVYA MURTHY on the patient’s details. “Mam, what is your relationship with the patient?” The nurse asked and she replied without thinking about it, “She is my elder sister.” 

X—X—X—X—

“Sorry miss, your sister had a miscarriage.” The doctor informed Nandini who got emotional while something stirred in Cabir. Controlling her emotions, she asks, “How… How did this happen?” 

“Maybe she didn’t have anything from a few days and was stressed about something which triggered her fetus.” The doctor informs them and goes away patting Cabir’s shoulder thinking him to be the patient’s husband. 

They walked inside to find her looking at the ceiling with no emotions. She wanted to cry but there were no tears left in her eyes. The nurse already informed her about her loss. Although she has no connection with the child, this pain is beyond any other pain she bore all her life. 

Nandini rubs her shoulder to bring her back to her senses and kisses her forehead, “Are you fine?” She nods and asks, innocently, “Why is everyone calling me Navya?” 

“Woh!… The receptionist asked me about your name but I didn’t know about it, so I just named you Navya… Navya Murthy.” Nandini informed her and continued while introducing herself, “My name is Nandini and he is my senior Mr. Cabir Deshmukh.” She introduced pointing at Cabir who is a silent spectator. 

“My name is Nagma…” Nagma, trying to hide her pain, asks out of a sudden, “Why did you name me Navya?” 

“I lost my elder sister in an accident. Her name was Navya. I gave you her identity so that you can restart your life leaving your dreadful past behind.” Nandini says with a smile while Navya looks at her with hope and asks, “Can I have a normal life?” 

“Why not?” This time Cabir interrupts bringing a small smile to her face. “Then, I am happy to be a NAVYA… NAVYA MURTHY sister of NANDINI MURTHY.” Navya says happily, making them chuckle and in a second she forgot about all her pain because she has a younger sister who is always there to protect her. 

Nandini caresses her cheeks, “You can tell me everything about your past only if you are comfortable. I will try to get you justice.” 

X—X—X—X—

“Manik, My boy!… You did a fabulous job. I am proud of you.” Amir exclaims happily hugging Manik, making him chuckle. “Ask whatever you want. I will give you anything because I am so happy today.” 

Manik smiles but Kaushal’s eyes shine with dollar signs in his eyeballs. All his dreams are shattered by Manik Malhotra who says while showing a video to his boss, “Mujhe yeah aadmi abhi chahiye…” ( I want this man, right now. ) The video is about Nandini’s kidnapping incident when a man hit her. 

His boss looks at the video and frowns but still orders one of his men to find the man within half an hour only to be cut down by Manik who says angrily, “I want information about that man within 10 minutes.” 

The man looks at him scaredly and whispers, “It’s impossible to get his info within 10 minutes.” This angered Manik and he points his gun at him and shouts, “Then, you have no right to live.” Amir puts his gun down and blinks at the man, making him run away to complete Manik’s task as soon as possible. 

“Lagta hai ladki ka matter hai, nahi?” ( Looks like a girl’s matter, no? ) Amir asks Manik while raising his eyebrows. “Finally, my stone-hearted man fell in love with a beauty. May I know the name of the girl who won your heart?” 

“I don’t know her name yet!” Manik informed, making him laugh. “So, should I take out her details as well?” Amir asks. 

“No!… I will do it myself.” Manik denied getting possessive of her. 

X—X—X—X—

“Kyu bay saale, meri bandi par hath uthayega…” ( You mor*n, how can you slap my girl? ) Manik roared while grabbing the man’s collar who dared to slap HIS MADAM Ji. He punches him one more time, making him cry in pain, and shouts, “Teri itni himmat kaise hui?” ( How dare you slap her? ) 

“Maaf kardo, Manik saab. Mujhe nahi pata tha ki woh aap ki joru hai.” ( Forgive me Manik sir. I didn’t know that she was your girlfriend. ) The man pleads, holding Manik’s feet but the ruthless monster is not ready to forgive him. Manik kicked his gut with full force which made him slide a few meters away. 

“Maafi mujhse nahi usse mangni hai tujhe, samjha?” ( You have to apologize to her, understood? ) Manik commands, pointing his forefinger at him with warning eyes and continues, “Aur ainda tune uski taraf aankh utha kar bhi dekha na toh teri aankhen nikal luga…” ( And, If you ever dared to look at her then I will pull out your eyes. ) 

The man looks at him with fright and nods while cursing himself to raise his hand at MANIK MALHOTRA’S GIRL. He knows he will not leave him easily for harming the girl he likes. But he is ready to do anything to save himself from his warmth. 

X—X—X—X—

Nandini walks inside her police station with a motive, leaving Navya at her sir’s order. She finds it strange when her sir instructs her to handle the station on his behalf because he would guard Navya. She recalls her conversation with Cabir…

“Sir, you can go. I will be here to look after Navya until Pandey comes to guard her.“ Nandini informs Cabir while Navya looks at her with longing eyes as she is not comfortable around anyone except her. 

“Why Pandey?” Cabir asks, maintaining his professional tone and hiding that jealous tone. Nandini replies casually, “Because he volunteered to help me until Navya gets discharged.” 

“No one is staying here except you and me,” Cabir commands getting possessive but handles the situation smartly before anyone can get doubt on his feelings. “I mean, this case is very confidential for us. We can’t trust anyone. Her safety is our priority and we can’t move back.” Nandini nods while trying hard not to doubt her senior’s intentions. 

She comes out from her memory lane as soon as the kiss flashed in front of her eyes, making it turn red. She fists her hand and grits her teeth, “Manik Malhotra, right?… I won’t leave you!… You dared to mess with Nandini.” She stops one of the constables and asks, hiding her curiosity, “Hey, do you know anything about Manik Malhotra?” 

The constable sweats hearing his name, gives her a frown, and replies while stammering, “Why are you asking about him, madam?” Nandini rolls her eyes and asks again, “Do you know him or not?” 

“There is no one who doesn’t know his name. He is the real monster when it comes to giving punishments. No one is ever able to put him behind bars for more than a minute as he has many big supporters who can die but won’t let him rot in jail.  He does every wrong thing but no one can arrest him as they won’t have proof to prove him guilty.” The constable informed Nandini and lowered his voice before continuing, “Most of the police officers worshiped him as their god because he gave them the information related to big sandals which helped them in a promotion.” 

“If he is a GOON then, why does he work like a police source?” Nandini asked. 

“Maybe to stay on good terms with the department.” The constable nods and walks ahead only to stop by her again. “Can I get his file on my desk within 10 minutes?” The constable looks at her with fear and says, “Why are you getting in his matter, Ma’am? He is not a person to mess with.” 

“He started this rivalry but I will end his chapter soon…” Nandini said with determination whereas Manik is also determined to make Madam Ji his. 

X—X—X—X—

To be continued…