Broken But Beautiful

45. The Zero Hour.

Manik

We all live in a very weird world, I always believed that.

I mean, if aliens were supposed to come someday, you know, they'd probably flee after a few months of extreme complications and unexpected betrayals from these people. Suppose they came, they talked to someone, confined their intentions and tried to make the man their man. He'd probably work for them, earn a ton of money (if wizard money was any of his worth, I mean)- but at the end of the day he would not keep the pact of telling anyone about their work here. He'd go home, maybe eat with his wife, and start gossiping about how he just got work in this very weird place where they were aliens. Mind you, he'd make his wife swear not to tell anyone about it, I was quite sure of it; but so would the wife do, with her friends and relatives and the people from her work. Soon, they were the national news and the aliens would go- what the fuck?

There was nothing like humans. Not anything in this planet, not in another planet, not another universe, no. There would be human on other dimensions, though. They'd be the same. Humans- will always be the same.

As I stood behind the pillar in this gorgeously embellished hall room, which had been the Vardhan's living area only yesterday, I looked around me at these people. Well, though the shock of me being in India had worn off a bit and teenage girls weren't giggling around me that much, it was still there. So you can say this time all the looking and staring was- mutual. Also, standing behind the pillar gave me for footage of the others than it gave them of me, so.

I didn't know why I got swept away by that sudden thoughts of aliens, though. It had nothing to do with my lookout in the crowd. Or maybe, did it? I shook my head, and realized I couldn't help snorting about it. So I shifted my focus back to the reality. I looked at my left and saw Canir And Abhimanyu standing with Dhruv by the center. Dhruv's eyes found me, too. There was a smile, following a frown of confusion- most probably on where I was the whole day. He took a step to walk towards me, but I put on a thumbs up and gestured him to stay where he was.

Cabir and Abhi saw that too. I didn't stop them from coming, though.

"All good?" I asked them as they approached, "Everybody knows the plan?"

"All good," Cabir said, looking around, "We've already changed the schedule in the entrance. First's gonna be Alya and Dhruv's engagement, then dinner, then the other one,"

"Very good," I nodded, "Still, when the engagement is over-"

"We announce the dinner by mic and move people to the back garden," Abhi finished for me, a desperation ringing on his voice, "We know, Manik. Now will you tell us what the hell is actually happening here?"

I wish I could tell him, I really did. He worked twice as hard as me from the beginning for this, risking his own career in hand. But it was going to take so much time to explain it from the beginning now, so instead I looked at him and put on a rueful smirk, "I will. Just a little patience, Abhi,"

He cussed. He was really mad. 

Then in a span of five seconds, all the bright lights in the hall room dimmed. The music changed. We moved out into the main crowd go- the focus light slowly illuminating the dark corridor upstairs. Two silhouettes emerged by the line of the door, where the light begin. As the light intensified, Alya and Mukti came into view. Alya shimmered in her gorgeous white lehenga, bejeweled twinkling smearing all around from her. Mukti wore a sleek black saree beside her, bearing her usual style.  A big round of applause went around as the two sisters walked down the stairs, hand in hand.

As soon as they were down, Mukti's eyes fell on me and she almost ran. Fuck, I had explanations to do to this woman. But I was ready for it. I was ready for anything tonight. All I needed to do was to finish the work at hand first.