26. THE BLAST!

Manik pressed the break in front of Zoya’s house and barged inside, not caring about the security who bent their head and saw Amir behind him. He enters and sees Dikshit and Zoya in the living room having their snacks. This time he didn’t get scared by Dikshit. He shouts gaining everyone’s attention and also making some souls shiver, “WHO DARED TO PUT HIS HAND ON MY GIRL?” 

For a minute, there was silence only as everyone was scared to say anything to him. But Amir shouts again and one of the men starts sweating. Amir looks at Zoya who shivers seeing him here, “You are doing this behind my back. How dare you!”

Zoya doesn’t reply because Dikshit comes forward with a smile seeing Manik and says, “My son, how are you?” Manik closed his eyes as his past played in front of his eyes seeing this disgusting man. He ignored him and asked again, ruthlessly, “I asked, who dared to shoot her? Come forward before I give sleepless nights to all of you.” The men shivered in fear while Dikshit looked proud, “Wow! I am impressed, Manik. You truly become a ruthless monster as everyone says.” Amir comes ahead to make him quiet as he is raising Manik’s anger. “Dikshit, stay out of this. I will tackle you after.” 

Manik took out his gun and randomly shot a man in his head, “If you guys are not ready to say HIS NAME then, it’s fine. I will kill everyone who betrayed me.” He points his gun again at some random man and shoots him as well. Two seconds and two bodies down.

Zoya shouted seeing his aggression, “Manik, have you gone mad? You can’t kill my man for that bit*h.” In a reflex he walks towards her and slaps her hard, making her shocked. “One last time, I am telling you not to bad mouth HER, or else I will not think before killing you as well.” He said while squeezing her cheeks, making her whimper in pain, and pushed her aside. He aimed at another man but before that, the man bent his head and said, “Bhai, Manoj ne shoot kiya tha aap ki ITEM ko.” ( Bhai, Manoj shot your girl. ) He yelled, making his pants wet, “Tameez se naam le uska.” ( Take her name with respect. ) 

The man nods and Manik looks for Manoj who tries to run but he catches him at the right time. He punched him not once, twice, or thrice but innumerable times, making him almost dead. The rest of the men feel bad for Manoj but no one says anything. He makes Manoj stand who is at the edge of fainting. “Kyu mara use?” ( Why did you shoot her? ) He pulls his hair and Manoj replied not able to bear more torture, “Dik…shit ne… bola… tha to… shoot her.” ( Dikshit said to shoot her. ) 

Suddenly his anger doubled and he pushed him onto the floor marching towards Dikshit. For the first time, he looks directly into Dikshit’s eyes with the same rage or even worse. He pulled his collar, making him stunned, “Tujhe bahut shok hai na meri har ek cheez chinne ka… toh ab mai teri sabse pyaari cheez chinuga.” ( You love to snatch my most prized possessions but today, I will snatch your most precious thing. ) Dikshit frowns and struggles to come out from his hold but can’t do so because this time there is no match to his anger. He continues, “Tujhe bahut pyaar hai na ( Point at his face ) tere is chehre se… toh dekh.” ( You love your face a lot, no? Now, see what I do to your face. ) 

Everyone is looking at the scene unfolding in front of them because this is unexpected. Manik is standing and giving competition to Dikshit is out of their thinking. The boy who feared so much from him to even stand beside him now is clutching and threatening him. Now, they understand how much the MONSTER loves the GIRL who is in the hospital. Next, what they saw made them gasp. 

Manik held Dikshit’s neck from the back and banged his face on the table, making his nose bleed and lips torn. He struggles and tries to free himself from Manik’s hold but nothing works. Manik again banged his face on the hard wooden table, worsening his condition. “Don’t you dare to come near her ever again or else no one would save you from me.” Saying this, he left him bleeding, and after seeing his face Zoya shouts. He erased all his facial expressions leaving just his eyes intact. 

Then, he pulled Manoj back and threw him while saying, “Take him into my chamber. I will take care of him afterward.” Amir comes to the front, places a hand on Manik’s shoulder, and gestures something to him before exiting the house.

Everyone is busy with Dikshit that’s why Manik went inside the kitchen and turned on all the knobs of the stove. After a few minutes, the kitchen filled with the smell of the gas. He stood at the door and threw a lighted lighter in the kitchen. Soon the kitchen catches fire and he walks out. Behind him the cylinder blasts but he doesn’t stop. The chaos happened but who cares? 

He settled in the car and took a deep breath before zooming towards the hospital to meet Nandini. After a short drive of 15 minutes, he walked out, dialing a number, and yelled, “Cabir, I want to meet her, right now.” He heard his reply, “You can’t! This is the protocol.” He rolls his eyes, furiously, “You are going to tell me or else I would find it myself.” From the other side, he heard Cabir’s impatient voice, “Where are you?” He replied, “In the hospital.” 

Cabir yelled, “What are you doing there?” Before he could say anything Manik cut the call and walked forward to find his lady love. First, he approached the doctor and had a short conversation. He noted all the do’s and don’ts and thanked the almighty when he got to know that Nandini was fine and out of danger. 

He walks into her ward royally ignoring the constable who is patrolling outside her room and sits beside her. “I thought you won’t come,” Nandini says. He replied, “Why won’t I come? My Jaan is here so how can I rest?” 

Nandini chuckles, “I know you, Manik.” He frowns while she continues, “You come here after killing the man who is behind my condition, right?” He turned his gaze and changed the topic, “How are you feeling?” 

“I would also ask the same question, how are you feeling after killing the man?” Nandini asked, making him sign, “Nandini…” 

“Hear me out completely, Manik. That man has nothing to do with me. I was on duty and that was just an accident.” Nandini says to put some brain in him. He answered, furiously, “That was not an accident. He knew who you were to me still he shot you.” She shook her head in disbelief while he fed her soup and gave her medicine. 

On the other hand, the house turned into ashes with people except a few who ran out at the right time which included Dikshit and his few men. Zoya died on the spot because no one helped her to run. But now, Dikshit is on another tangent. He can’t sit quietly after what Manik did to him. He spoiled his whole face and everyone flinched away after his single glance. He shouts, “You will regret this your whole life, Manik, I swear.” To one of the men, “Bring all the information about that girl. Where she eats, who is in her family, how she met Manik and where she lives, every damn thing.” He dismissed everyone and looked at himself in the mirror only to flinch seeing the cuts and stitch marks all over his face. “You did this to me just for that sl*t, right? Now, see how I snatch her from you?” 

Soon a week passed and Nandini was discharged from the hospital with a long list of precautions which Manik noted as a sincere boyfriend. He took care of her like a child and pampered her which she loved about him. After almost a month, she is joining her duty back after so much arguing with him about this topic. He is going to stay at home in case she needs him. 

During this month, they had numerous makeouts which enhanced their relationship further. “Nandini, answer my call every time and please take care of yourself. You are very precious to me.” Saying this Manik kisses her forehead and lips. “Don’t worry Mr. Monster, I will take care of your girlfriend.” She replied and pecked his lips before sitting in her jeep. 

In a swift, her expression changed because she lied to him. She is not going to the police station in fact she is going to the hospital because she has not been feeling well for the last three to four days. She didn’t say this to him because she didn’t want to trouble him. 

After consulting with the doctor she gives her blood and urine samples. She waits outside for an hour as per the doctor’s instructions as the reports will take an hour to come. During this time, she answered Manik’s call who was getting hyper with little things. “Miss Nandini, you can go now.” The nurse informed her and she walked inside after praying. 

“Take a seat, Miss.” The doctor smiles and gestures for her to sit while reading her reports. “Are you married?” The doctor asked while Nandini shook her head negatively with a little fear. “It’s ok!” The doctor calmly continues, “But you are se*ually active, right?” With this question, Nandini’s frowns deepened and she answered, “Yes.” Finally, the doctor smiles, “Congratulations miss, YOU ARE PREGNANT.” 

For a second, Nandini forgot to breathe and asked again to clarify, “Me what?” 

This is the expected reaction that’s why the doctor repeats, “You are pregnant.” Nandini stayed still with wide eyes while the doctor continued, “Next time I would like to meet your boyfriend as well because you both are going to be parents.” 

Nandini came out of shock and smiled brightly while palming her stomach and replied, “Sure, Ma’am.” She exited the hospital still in gaze as this is the biggest news for her and she can’t wait to share it with Manik. 

To be continued…