Flashback continues...
I had been observing the girl for nearly a minute when I noticed that her phone was buzzing continuously. However, she seemed to be in a world of her own...should I go and tell her it's ringing? What if it's something important? Before I knew it, I found myself walking towards her table.
When I finally reached her table, I attempted to get her attention by speaking to her first. It was of no use! She just looked at me and continued to stare. Having no other choice, I started moving my hand in front of her face to bring her out of her trance.
She stood up rather abruptly and said, "Madhyam? Madhyam Singhania...? Hi, I'm Nandini Murthy."
I was about to introduce myself when I realised what had just happened. Did she just refer to me as 'Madhyam Singhania'? As in Mukesh Singhania's son Madhyam?
Who are you Ms. Nandini? Why are you meeting with him? I found myself contemplating all this and saw a rather confused look on her face.
Without thinking I replied, "Yes, Hi! I'm Madhyam."
If she was connected to the Singhanias in any way, I had to figure out exactly how...maybe it would come in handy. I decided to pretend to be Madhyam just to see where it led.
As soon as we sat down, I immediately asked her who she was. However, her answer dissatisfied me a great deal. She started talking about her educational qualifications and her professional achievements. Wait a second, was she applying for a job? What kind of a person interviews a candidate in a lounge? No, it couldn't be!
"Is this a job interview?"I asked, in order to confirm that it wasn't.
She seemed even more puzzled and answered in the negative. So, I was right! The meeting was of a personal nature. Was she on a dinner date with Madhyam? And she had never seen him before? How strange! At the same time, I began to envy him...why did a douchebag like him deserve somone as gorgeous as Nandini? That Madhyam was one lucky bastard!
When I finally reigned my thoughts in, I tried a different approach to make her talk. When I asked about her passion, she blurted out, "Stars, fireflies and music."
She then started to tell me the reason she loved stars so much. She had a beautiful sparkle in her eyes as she spoke about her childhood. I realised how different she was from others. She had experienced such tragedy at a young age but nothing seemed to dull her shine. When she completed her story, she seemed embarassed by what she had just revealed.
"I'm sorry,I didn't mean to burden you with my family history. It's probably too heavy a topic to discuss on a first date." She said.
At that moment my personal agenda, flew out the window! I found myself holding her hand in an attempt to comfort her.
"Hey, It's okay. I'm sorry about your parents. I'm sure they would have been very proud of you!" I said, smiling, meaning every word of it! I continued to stare at her for a few seconds. Suddenly, I realised what I was doing and immediately let go of her hand. Manik, why are you behaving like some love-struck teenager? Get the requisite information on the Singhanias and leave!
In an attempt to change the topic, I asked her, "So, you like music?"
When she told me about her fascination for music, I couldn't help but smile. Music was such an important part of my life. My band Fab Five had made a name for themselves in the world of progressive rock music and we were going to sign an album deal very soon...but now that I was a fugitive, would that be the case? I didn't know anymore.
When she asked me about my passion, I told her how important music was to me. I nearly revealed my identity...but controlled myself at the last moment! What was this girl doing to me? I'd never been so careless before!
"Madhyam, I wanted to ask you, how come you agreed to an arranged marriage?"she asked out of the blue.
Wait! What? I thought this was just a date? She's never met Madhyam before and she's his fiancee? What the hell?
Suddenly my eyes fell on the restaurant manager at the entrance of the restaurant. He had a look of alarm on his face. I saw him look backwards at a television screen and look at me again, fear visible in his eyes. This was not good...had he recognised me?
I had to do something to get away from his line of sight. I finally made up my mind and said, "Nandini, let's not talk about that right away. Let's just take it one step at a time!"
I asked her for a dance in order to move away from there, but she flatly refused. Why did she have to be so stubborn? However, my taunts seemed to do the trick as she finally agreed to give it a go.
When I led her to the dance floor, she seemed apprehensive and dazed. I pulled her towards me and she crashed on my chest. She put her arms around my neck for support. As I held her in my arms I couldn't help but notice how delicate she was. We seemed to fit perfectly together. Suddenly, my mind seemed to be free of all troubles. I could only focus on how beautiful she looked and my eyes never left hers during the entire dance.
I stopped when I heard the crowd applauding our performance. I looked at her and gave her a slight smile. However, she seemed very embarrassed. Before I knew it, she had disappeared to the washroom.
I immediately wiped the smile off my face. Why wasn't I able to control myself around her? Focus, Manik! Focus! You have to get the recording from the Singhanias. But how?
The Singhanias' homes were always heavily guarded. How was I to break in alone? No, there was only one way to get what I wanted, and that was if they handed the recording over to me themselves. But why would they do such a thing? Come on, Manik! Think of something you can give them in exchange for the recording!
I was staring blankly at the table when I saw Nandini's phone ring yet again. Suddenly, a crazy idea popped into my head. What if I exchanged Nandini for the recording? She is Madhyam's fiancée, so the Singhanias must value her! My throat suddenly went dry when I realized the implications of this bizarre plan. I would have to abduct her and take her away by force...did I really have it in me to do that? After all, she was an innocent in all this...and I hated to admit it, but I liked her.
However, the picture of my father's corpse was still fresh in my mind. I hardened my resolve and decided to go through with the plan. After all, at this point I had nothing to lose! It was my only fair chance at beating Nyonika!
I was brought out of my introspection when I saw a few police officers and Harshad enter the restaurant. Harshad! What was that bastard doing here? They immediately moved towards me and two of the police men attempted to handcuff me. Before they could do so, I broke free from their grip. I punched one of them in the face, breaking his nose. All of them, attempted to attack me simultaneously. Having been trained in mixed martial arts, I was pretty well equipped to deal with them! Within a few minutes, all of the policemen were knocked out.
Only when I stopped throwing punches, did I realize the ruckus I had caused. The entire restaurant was empty and I had ended up breaking half of its furniture.
"Manik!" I heard Harshad scream as he got a hold of my collar. "Tu abhi isi waqt Mumbai chalega! You are finished!" I guess the coward had finally mustered up the courage to attack!
I shoved him to the side and said with a smirk, "Harshad, Harshad, Harshad...tch...tch...tch...you really think I'm going to do what you say?" I wacked him in the gut as I spoke.
He in turn grabbed my collar and the fight continued. All of a sudden, I heard a shrill voice scream, "Madhyam, what's happening? Why are these police officers here?"
Oh shit! I had completely forgotten about her! Harshad wasted no minute in turning back and seeing who it was. He immediately started making stupid statements and moving towards her. This wasn't good. What if he hurt her? I acted as fast as I could and hit him with a chair which knocked him out.
"Madhyam, what is going on? Answer me!" she screamed. However, before I could utter a word, more cops barged into the restaurant. The situation was getting out of hand...these weren't the cops Nyonika had bribed! The manager must have called them! I immediately thought of a way out and pointed a knife at Nandini's throat so that the police would let us go. I felt her tears stream down her cheeks and wet my hands as I negotiated with the police. Her tears...why did they bother me? I felt like a complete jerk doing this to her, but I had no other option! I couldn't afford to get arrested!
Finally, the policemen put their guns down and I dragged Nandini along, as I made a quick escape. She struggled and screamed several times, but I was determined to lose the police. I straight away took the elevator to the tenth floor in an attempt to fool the police. I could never have fathomed what happened next.
"Madhyam, what the hell is happening? Why are the police after you? How dare you point a knife at my throat? And if you are really trying to escape, why have you brought me to the tenth floor?" she shouted, her eyes shooting daggers at me.
How dare she scream at me? No one had dared to talk to me in that tone before! She needed to be taught her place in all this!
I grabbed her by the waist and covered her mouth. I gave her a piece of my mind and told her that the consequences wouldn't be good if she made a run for it. Of course I would never harm her, physically! But she didn't need to know that! I was interrupted by the sound of my phone buzzing. I immediately picked up the phone as I saw it was Cabir calling.
"Haan bol Cabir" I said.
"Manik, you cut the call earlier without telling me exactly where you are. Tell me! Then maybe we can help you out! Did you come up with a plan to extract the recording?" he asked.
"Don't worry! My plan is standing right in front of me!" I said smugly.
"What?!" He exclaimed.
"Cabir, trust me! I have a plan and it's going to work! I can't tell you much but just trust me!" I said.
"Manik, why do I have a feeling that tu kuch ulta-seedha karne wala hain?" Cabir said in a worried tone.
"Cabir, whatever happens, I will make sure that Nyonika goes to prison! Even if it means sacrificing my own freedom!" I said, determined.
"Manik..." he again started.
"Cabir, I have to go! Bye!" I cut the call before he asked too many questions.
***********************************************
Present:
11pm, Bangalore outskirts.
The entire night's events played out in my head and I realized how lucky I had been to be able to escape. Maybe, Nandini brought me good luck...the thought just made its way into my mind involuntarily. Stop it, Manik! You have to maintain the façade you've put up, otherwise she'll realize that you are bluffing about harming her!
I looked at Nandini, who seemed to be sound asleep. Maybe the stress of the night's events had finally caught up with her.
It was better this way! At least she wouldn't ask any lame questions.
I didn't know what my future held. However, as long as it had Nyonika behind bars, I would be happy! With this last thought, I accelerated my car and drove off into the night.