Unwanted [COMPLETED]

Chapter 36

Mature and sensitive content ahead. Reader's discretion is advised.

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PRESENT TIME

Nandini

I look on as Aastha punches some buttons on the wall behind the bookshelf of the room we were in, wondering what she was trying to do.

Time and again, I also keep looking at the door, desperately praying for Manik to reach here soon so he can get both Aastha and me out of here.

But what if he has not found the clue that Aastha left behind? What if he is still clueless about how to find me?

That thought brings a wave of fear to wash through my body, and I shake my head, willing myself to think positively.

Manik must have found the clue. He must be on the way. He must be.

I kept reiterating those positive thoughts in my mind, pushing the negative thoughts and doubts away.

Looking ahead, I see Aastha still punching the buttons on the wall.

There are nine buttons in total there. When each button is pushed, the blue light illuminates on it, continuing to be lit until the fifth one is pushed.

But once Aastha presses the fifth button, all the lights turn red before they fade out.

I see that happening thrice, my heart thumping furiously against the chest, hoping for Aastha to succeed in whatever she is doing, or to Manik to reach here, before Rishabh comes and....

'No. Don't complete that sentence,' I tell myself.

"What are you doing, Aastha? Why are you punching those buttons repeatedly?" I ask, wanting to know.

"There is a secret room behind this wall, Nandini," she answers. "Rishabh had taken me there two days back to get that room cleaned, so he could keep you there after bringing you here.

"Although he had ordered me to keep my head down and not look at him while he pressed the buttons, I had managed to peek, briefly seeing the pattern before the lights on all the buttons turned green and the door opened.

"I am trying to make that pattern now. Once this door opens, you can hide in the room behind this wall," she explains to me.

"But what if Rishabh checked inside this secret room after finding me missing from here?" I voice my doubt.

"I will try to distract him and tell him that you pushed me and jumped off the window. There are guards outside this room and outside the main gate. But there is no one standing on the ground right below the window of this room.

"They will search for you around the courtyard of the house, which is huge and with various different bushes and shrubs behind which a person can hide. Them searching for you there will give us some more time. Hopefully, Manik and Samrat will get here while they take time to search for you.

"I don't think Rishabh will search for you inside this secret room because he thinks I do not know the pattern to unlock the door," Aastha elaborates her plan, but I am still unsure about it.

Mostly because she has not been able to guess the correct pattern to unlock the door in the first place.

"Even if there is a remote possibility of your plan working, I should at least be able to get inside this secret room. But you are still unable to guess the pattern, Aastha," I tell her, repeatedly looking at the door, all the while fervently praying that Rishabh does not come in.