~MaNan FF~Benaam Rishta...The Ill-Fated Souls💔

3. Pehli Mulaaqaat (First Meeting)

Manik glanced at the clock as it ticked 4:30 in the morning. He took her luggage which was kept near the door and escorted her to his bedroom. He showed her the bathroom and asked her to freshen up. Nandini meekly nodded and taking out a fresh yet worn out pair of her cotton salwar kurta headed to take a nice long shower. By the time she exits, he tried to clean up the mess as soon as possible. He picked up the discarded clothes lying on the floor, arranged the books on the table, collected week old dishes which were stinking badly and put them in the kitchen sink. Once satisfied, he reached his cupboard to take out the uniform since he needed to report on the duty soon. He was shuffling the other clothes to find his pant when his gaze fell on a yellow dupatta. Pulling it out, he touched the piece of fabric which contained stains of his own blood which was now dried up. Caressing it, he was transported to the memories of 4 days back.

Nandini decided to take a warm shower and when the water descended down her body, she flinched as it stung her bruises. It was after a long time that she was having a relaxing bath. The hot water calmed her senses. Once finished, she turned off the faucet and looking at the mirror patted herself dry with a clean white towel. She was about to wear her kurti when her eyes caught the leather jacket she had removed few minutes back. The same jacket which has been providing her cosiness, protecting her from the cold weather, hiding her torn clothes and bruises since 4 days. Taking the jacket, she clutched it against her chest as she remembered the happenings of last 4 days.

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4 days back

Ramnagar, Mussourie, Uttarakhand

It was a chilly night...the cold wind gushed making the trees sway and leaves fall. Manik whose right shoulder was hit by the bullet coupled with other grave wounds on his body was desperately looking for a refuge. He and Siddharth had come on a secret mission to bust out the human trafficking racket which was headed by the renowned 'Daataa' of this small village. His duty was to just raid the place and release the girls safely. Well, atleast that was what Tiwari Sir had ordered him to do. But the moment he had seen one of the drunk leech molesting a fairly young and small girl, he couldn't control his temper. His nostrils flared in anger as he shot the man right on his forehead. This alerted the other men who were equipped with heavy arms as compared to Manik. Nonetheless, he successfully freed the girls and asked Siddharth to direct them to a relatively safer place. Siddharth tried to offer him help but Manik was more concerned about the girls' security. He had 2 revolvers with him which meant he had 18 bullets and the men were roughly around 10. Taking a deep breathe, he launched an attack over the men. He killed some of them with directly shooting bullets in their body while he had to fight with some of them one on one. Reaching the climax, he had one bullet left along with one man in his front who had his hands raised. He sensed someone's presence behind him and understood that he was trapped. When he heard the sound of the trigger being pulled behind him, he turned in a jiffy and shot the last bullet at the man behind him. When he turned back again, he saw the earlier man pointing a gun at him. Smartly, he put up a fight with him and ended the combat with a hard blow on the man's nose landing him on the ground. He was about to leave the place when the man got up again and with his weak hands shot aimlessly. The bullet hit Manik's right shoulder and he hissed in pain. Soon he heard the voices of few other men and he knew that it was better to leave from there since the men would outnumber him and he was weaponless but moreover he was injured and not in a position to fight them. After walking for about half an hour, he came out of the woods where the girls were held captive. It was stark dark and his body was slowly draining out of energy. He realised that he needed to get the bullet out of his body before it harms his bones or organ. Another fifteen minutes passed and he came across a structure which probably looked like a house. Trying hard to keep his eyes open, he faintly knocked on the door. When he failed to get any response, he banged it hard and then he comprehended that it was locked from inside. With some minimal energy left in him, he kicked open the door and was shocked at the sight in front of him.