MaNan: Breaking Free

5|Nandini Murthy

Robin smirks at me, clearly trying to intimidate me. But all I feel is excitement and adrenaline. He is not much taller than me. Only about 2 inches.

As our bout begins, Pathak adjusts himself in a corner. Robin advances towards me and grabs me around the waist, trying to throw me off my feet. He is strong! But I am no less! I use my right arm and hit his shoulder blade hard. He quickly retreats, and looks surprised.

"Okay. This is going to be fun!" He mutters with a grin.

After about fifteen minutes of hitting and dodging, Pathak asks us to stop and goes inside.

"You're good man! I think I have a broken nose!" Robin pats me in the back.

"Thanks!" I mutter, a little smug. Nothing in me is broken.

As I sit in front of Pathak, I see him looking at me intently. After a moment, he starts going through my resume. Abhi and I had a good time modifying it to omit London University completely. I think we did a decent job. Now I can only hope its decent enough.

"Where did you go to college?" He asks.

"Umm...due to personal reasons, I couldn't graduate. After school, I directly took up a job."

"You seem to have good fighting skills. Have you trained?"

"Yes. I have trained in mixed martial arts. I have a black belt."

"Where?"

"At a local workshop." I say with conviction. I had been training regularly for the last four years.

"Do you know how to shoot?"

I knew this would come. So,I had been practicing my brains out every evening for 4 hours for the last one week. Mom kept wondering where I disappeared to. But I made excuses, which she bought.

"Yes sir. I am an amateur, though." I reply.

"That should be enough for now. Not that you need a gun with those arms." He looks impressed with me. I simply nod.

"You don't look like you haven't been to college. You seem all-", he hesitates, "I don't know, educated from the way you speak." He finishes.

"My family wasn't always broke. I had enough money to go to a good school, growing up." I say confidently.

"What went wrong? What do your parents do now?"

"That, sir has nothing to do with this job. I do not appreciate people asking me personal questions." I reply, a little harshly.

"If you want this job, I am afraid you will have to give me some personal information. I need to make sure you are right for this."

"I assure you, sir. There was some problem at my dad's job and we lost a lot of money because of it. I am not hiding anything. You can run a background check on me. I am clean." I offer. It's true, I have nothing to hide. But I can't give him any personal information. No.

As he is about to speak, the door of his cabin flies open. I turn around. A lady walks in. The old lady from across the road!

"Pathak I-" she tails off on noticing me. Her face lights up with a smile.

"Hey young man! What a coincidence!" she exclaims.

"You know Manik here, Jenny?" Pathak asks her.

"Not really. Only he saved me from a couple of goons some time ago." She sits down beside me. " Manik, is it?" I nod.

"He is here for the post of the bodyguard." Pathak informs her.

"Oh really? I feel sorry for Robin. A smartass fighter he is! Welcome to Singhania group!" Jenny laughs.