TALAASH - Reliving the Past

62. Full Moon

Exciting news! Someone close to my heart is back on Wattpad. Now brace yourself for some back-to-back surprises!😈😈

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Night 2:30 AM,
Hoogly River, West Bengal.

Mansi: Di, over here! We're here!

Mansi screams at the top of her lungs as she spots a motorboat approaching the shore of Minnon Island, a tiny manless island near Sagar Island. Maya urges the person sailing the motorboat to speed up, while Kaira counts the number of people on the shore surrounding Mansi and Mahipal, who are tied to the coconut trees.

As the motorboat reaches the shore, the men on the shore approach the trio with a metal detector and scan them from head to toe one by one. Once the trio clears the check, they are escorted to where Mansi and Mahipal are tied up. Maya rushes to Mansi, but a goon blocks her way.

Goon: First, you meet our boss.. then, you can greet your sister.

The men then lead the ladies to a nearby tent, a few meters away. They instruct the trio to enter while they stand guard outside.

Inside the tent, they are greeted by a projector projecting "WELCOME" on a white screen. They move to the center of the tent and look around, finding nothing and no one except three chairs in front of the screen and a chair next to it, with a mini refrigerator in one corner of the room. Kaira notices a black rose lying right below her feet. She picks it up and gazes at it intently before crumpling it in her hands.

"Right on time! That's impressive, ladies."

A voice grabs the trio's attention, causing them to instinctively turn back.

DKS: Hasu!?

Kaira mumbles in confusion. Maya quickly goes to Kainat, saying,

MJS: Kainat, why in the world did you come here? It's a freaking island, and you have Thalassophobia. What if your anxiety is triggered?

Maya says in a worried tone before something flashes in her mind.

MJS: Wait! Who told you about Mansi's kidnapping?

Maya swiftly turns her head to look at Kaira and Karishma with suspicious eyes while the bhaukaali sisters shake their heads sideways in denial.

MJS: Never mind. You're here now, but remember, we are not here to fight those men. We are here to fulfill their demands and take Mansi and Chachaji back safely. That's all we'll do. Got it!?

Maya says in a firm tone, as if she is talking to a child. Haseena, who was silent until now, smirks and says,

HM: Of course, I won't, madam. Why would I when you are here to fulfill the demands?

Maya nods and gazes outside the tent to see nothing but the luminous full moon on the distant horizon above the roaring Hooghly river, saying,

MJS: Why hasn't their boss come yet?

Maya wonders while Kaira and Karishma follow Maya's gaze, looking out at the majestic moon shining like never before.

HM: Um.. why don't we just sit over there and wait?

Haseena suggests, and Maya agrees with a sigh. The trio sits on the three chairs before the projector, and Haseena moves forward to occupy the chair next to the display screen, not before casually grabbing a bottle of whiskey from the fridge.

HM: I'm exhausted from traveling all the way here in such a short span, you see. My body's aching all over.

Haseena says, cracking her neck and shoulders before settling into the chair. Kaira turns her head to look at Maya, who is clearly struggling to contain her temper at the sight of the whiskey bottle in Haseena's hands. However, their attention is diverted when the projector changes the "welcome" image to a newspaper clipping.