M A N I K
In life, we meet all kinds of friends. There are some whom you hang out with just for the sake of company, some you painfully endure because you need something from them, some who are acquaintances, some whom you sit with for a coffee because you bond with them on certain good topics, some who grow apart with time and some become your bestfriends. But at some point in life, you also befriend people who gradually become your ride-or-die, your platonic soulmates, those people in the world you could trust more than your own life.
Most people meet few such friends around whom your life could easily revolve. I was lucky enough to have six of them.
But... life doesn't always go as planned. Fate has its twisted ways to get to you. Five years back, I lost all six of my friends, with nothing and nobody to blame except circumstances.
And then, or over the years, I did wish to see them and be with them once more, but if I'm being truly honest, I didn't hold out much hope for that day to come.
I didn't consider myself to be lucky enough for a second chance.
And then here I was. The bulb overhead flickered every few seconds, making me uneasy while I tapped my foot on the polished floors impatiently puffing out some air from my lips and shutting my eyes for only a brief second. I didn't feel the urge to fall asleep. Sometimes, if you're too tired mentally and physically to even sleep, when you shut your eyes, you see lights dancing around in a black abyss. And in that short few seconds that I shut my eyes, I didn't see darkness either. It was almost as if I saw the entire universe with closed eyes, mostly because in that instant, I felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders singlehandedly.
Almost immediately pulling myself up from the chair I was sitting on, I leaned on the wall beside the window, staring outside, realising how I had lost track of time driving between two hospitals.
I switched on my phone only to check if I had any missed calls from Cabir, who was also on his way here but much to my disappointment, there was nothing new.
In order to kill time, I did what I usually do best– I stared at the faint stars playing hopscotch with the dense clouds in the lapis coloured sky that painted a perfect twilight as the first rays of sunlight filled in.
It was crazy how the sky repeated the same algorithm everyday, and yet, the sunrise I had watched yesterday somehow seemed so different from today's.
"Mr. Malhotra?"
The doctor's heavy voice broke my small reverie. "Yes?" I turned to him, taking a deep breath, the anguish vanishing from my eyes.
"You can go inside now." He held the door of the room behind him open for me.
I stared at it reluctantly, before giving him a small nod to let him leave. I had hoped Cabir would be here for this moment and he'd be the one to walk ahead of me.
But he wasn't here, so I walked inside.
I'd taken only a few steps inside but could already feel the weight of the silence pushing me down.
The ECG machine beeped a few feet away and I took in the sight of the room ahead of me, the plain walls and prominent scent of a syringe that I had grown to hate after seeing too many die in similar hospital rooms.
My eyes wandered everywhere consciously before they stood fix at the man on the bed lying in a white tee shirt and black joggers, both of which had marks of burns and tear holes where the fire had managed to penetrate. A white bandaid went from across his forehead to the back of his head, covering it in a circle and I couldn't help but notice his right arm was also bruised with a second degree burn, a white gelatinous cream applied over it.
His eyes opened the moment I shakingly placed the bag of fresh clothes over the corner of his bed, but he didn't seem to care about that when he looked at me. I halted in my place, a few feet away from him.
"Hey, Buddy," I utter in a mere whisper because of being at loss of words.
"Hey Buddy? Seriously?" Aryamman growled. "I almost died and that's what you have to say, asshole?"
"You're okay, stop being dramatic," I controlled the urge to roll my eyes. "And, well... you didn't die. I had my team on standby, so that counts for something, doesn't it?"
"You had your team at standby?" He ridiculed and I watched with wide eyes as he plucked the wires connected to his fingers carelessly, standing up in front of me with his hands crossed against his chest. "I got locked in a room full of fire caused by a bomb that was sent to kill me, and all I get in return is 'hey buddy, you're okay, I had my team on standby?'"
I scowled back, "Then what do you want me to say?"
"Oh, I don't know," he sarcastically replied, "How about 'my plan was flawed Aryamman, I am so sorry about endangering your ass immediately as I found you after five fucking years?'"
I blink at him, and he stares back with his eyebrows raised.
A chuckle breaks down on my lips as I shake my head in disbelief walking ahead and throw my hands around him. He pretends to struggle for a moment before smiling and hugging me.
"And just for the record, my plan wasn't flawed," I said once we broke away.
He gave me a sharp glance. "Well, then you hadn't informed that being almost-murdered was a part of your plan."
"It wasn't," I rolled my eyes. "I had hoped for a bouquet of flowers with a note that gives you a papercut, not with a bomb that sends you flying across the room."
"And what went wrong?" He taunted.
"It seems like Mukti Vardhan screwed us."
He blew out an exasperated puff of air from his mouth, sitting back on his bed. "So we're sure? It's confirmed that Mukti's behind all of it?"
I settle on the edge of the adjacent couch. "Between her actually showing up to murder Zubin and sending you a bomb with a note that's signed under her name, I think yes, it's her."
I could see the veins of Aryamman's arms popping as he leaned ahead firmly. "I just don't believe it... our Mukti can do this? Trying to asphyxiate your brother? Blowing me up with a mini-bomb? It's just... I can't, man."
"Neither could I believe at first," I sigh. "I had my doubts the day Nandini received a bouquet with a note signed by Abhimanyu who is, well, dead. My suspicions were confirmed when Jeff called me the day before and told me she met Mukti pretending to be Mia. It was barely noon when I got another call by Jeff telling me what had happened to Zubin. And then Nandini established that Zubin had mentioned being in love with a girl called Mia who had apparently 'died'. I didn't know why Mukti would do this to Zubin, but I didn't want to compromise on your safety, so I called you last night–"
He cut me off. "Well, imagine my shock. I come to London, disappointed that my shoot was shifted from Milan last-minute by a very unprofessional company on whom, quoting Jeff's words, a 'tragedy had befell', and the moment I enter the hotel suite, my best friend whom I haven't spoken to in five years calls me only to tell me that he is the boss of this shitty company, and he thinks I could be threatened shortly. But, he wants me to act normal and go along with it and I decide to trust him with no explanations at all, expecting a roadside mafia to show up on the door but instead, I get thrown across the room by a bomb that would've taken my life had I not been a few steps away from it already!"
"Did you just call my company shitty and unprofessional?" I demand.
He rolls his eyes. "Is that all that you picked from my rant?"
I reply, "Apparently."
His eyes widen. "Over the fact that I almost died?!"
I roll my eyes back at him mockingly. "Yes. It's not like someone gets to insult my company and live anyway. Besides, keep the sass to yourself until you answer my questions."
"What questions?"
I blink my eyes. "Well, how about we start with why you ghosted Aliya after everything with Harshad was over instead of, I don't know, getting together since you clearly liked her so much?"
"It's–" He trailed.
"I swear to God if you say 'it's complicated', I'll punch you in your face," I interrupt.
He bleated under his breath, "That is what it is. Complicated."
I pulled a taunting smile. "It's a good thing then, we have a lot of time."
"Are you sure that is what you want to talk about instead of your dead brother?"
I groaned. "You do know that Zubin's alive right?"
He pulled an exasperated smile on his face. "I was told, and I quote, 'let's just say the company is owned by only one brother now' and 'a tragedy befell'."
I laughed under my breath. "I just wanted to make sure it was believable. Better than straight-up lying that he's dead, right? Besides, Zubin signed the papers just a few weeks ago. Transferred most of his shares to me. So I am the sole owner of Ivory Stars, that's technically not a lie."
He blinked his eyes at me for a moment before grabbing a pillow from behind him and throwing it at me with all his force. I ducked just in time, and the pillow flew right out of the window behind me.
My eyes widened. "Are you mad?"
"Are you mad?" He ridiculed. "I just spent an hour mourning the death of your step-brother whom I had last met almost ten years ago!"
"It's not all waste," I reassured. "He is still unconscious, and he did almost get asphyxiated by Mukti. So...."
"You're being more sadistic then I remember you to be," he glared at me.
"I believe the modern internet calls it savage," I winked.
He rolled his eyes. "Okay, mister seventy-year-old-retired-savage-ass."
"Besides," I shrug, "This was my way of showing how deeply I have missed you. I returned back to being my old-self for fifteen full minutes. The moment we step out of here, business and I'm back to being all about business and I can bet on you missing my savage ass."
"I don't think so," He sighed. My phone vibrated in my hands to show a message from Cabir.
"Whatever," I say dismissively, "Either way, you and Zubin are both supposed to remain dead."
"Excuse me?" His eyes widen.
I take a deep breath. "Jeff stays with Zubin in the hospital after he wakes up, asks him about why Mukti is calling herself Mia and doing all of this, and they shift to our farmhouse to stay away from the media, letting them assume he's dead. Same with you. We leave from behind, I've already spoken to the doctor, nothing comes out to the media. For all the world knows, the beloved Gucci model was in a blast and the reports are sealed."
"What's the point in all this?" He shakes his head, his eyes fixed at me.
"Firstly, it assures us Mukti won't target y'all again. Atleast until we know why she is doing this and come up with something to deal with her." I sigh.
"Secondly?" He raises his eyebrows.
"Secondly, for whatsoever absurd reason, I think Mukti is playing a game here," I conclude.
"And....?" His voice trails as we stand up to leave.
A gentle smirk spreads through my face. "And I'm just playing it back."
~
"Why didn't Cabir come, again?" Aryamman asks as I park the car outside Nandini's house.
"He thought if Mukti is out on a killing spree for no known reason, it's better he stays back with the girls. I think he's just being protective for Navya. He just got to know he's having going to be a father and then all of this happens... I don't blame him." I tell him.
"Wait," he says from the other side of the car as we get down. "Navya's pregnant."
An immediate smile crosses my lips as I nod.
"Oh my, God," he gasped, "I mean, wow."
I laugh as we cross the road. "You've missed out a lot, buddy...." my voice trails.
He quietly agrees. "And who's house is this?"
"Nandini's."
"Wait," he almost pauses as I walk upto the door. "You and Nandini....?"
My smile only widened as I nod. "Like I said, you've missed a lot, buddy."
He fake groans. "And I thought I had some chance with her."
I ring the bell. "Don't let Aliya hear that, can you? Or today would definitely be your death day."
"Nah," he clicks his tongue, a sad smile adoring his face. "I'd consider myself lucky if she even talks to me."
His voice faded as the door opened.
"Who talks t–"
Aliya's voice faded as her eyes flickered from me to Aryamman and just stopped there. I couldn't decipher what she felt in that moment. Her expression seemed like a mix of happy and sad and being horrified and excited, and yet at the same time, it seemed blank and emotionless.
It seemed like Aryamman's smile had vanished too. All the confidence with which he was talking all through the car journey was lost as well.
"Hi...." His voice trailed, his eyes not moving away from her.
I watch as she tightened her grip on the door, her voice a sharp whisper. "Hey."
~
Aryamman was right in the car. He did blend in in just a few minutes like he's not left at all.
He was already pleading Cabir about being the unborn child's godfather, teasing Navya how this was her last moment to run away from Cabir, and then flirting with Nandini. The last one I wasn't definitely very happy about.
I stood a little away, watching intently how his eyes kept flickering to Aliya from whoever he was talking to, who stood alone in a corner. They hadn't spoken any words except the hellos on the door, and that was it. I was quite worried about her to be honest.
"Hey," I murmured once I'd walked up to her.
She tried pulling a smile on her face as she briefly looked up at me.
I went on, "Are you okay?"
She'd barely opened her mouth to reply when one of Cabir's questions held us all captive.
"So, you wanna explain why you ghosted everyone gradually?" Cabir had asked Aryamman tauntingly. By everyone, he meant particularly Aliya. I could see her face fluster, but she kept her eyes on the carpeted floors.
"We just grew apart. I was finding work and dealing with competition in the modelling field isn't a cake walk. I didn't have companies I could inherit or many courses I could take up after planning bachelors in music. I swear, it was just an over-time thing. Doesn't mean I didn't keep thinking about y'all, and everytime I thought about contacting y'all after I was stable, I wondered if all of you had moved on, would you like shadows of your past following? And so I didn't. I swear." Aryamman said in one breath.
I could see Aliya shake her head in disappointment and I knew there was something more than just growing apart with time that he wasn't sharing but it was also clear he didn't want to talk about it.
"Okay fair enough," Cabir nodded, and we both exchanged a quick glance. I knew he was thinking the same as me.
"Aliya....." Aryamman's voice faded as he looked at the girl standing beside me.
"If you want things to be right again," she said, and then quickly added, "...with everyone, I think you're going to have to do better than giving us this reason."
"Does it matter though?" He immediately counteracted, not lifting his eyes off her. "The time is gone. And what matters is that our bestfriend is out there, hell bent on killing all of us. We gotta figure out why."
It was the first time Nandini spoke up in a long time. "She's lost a lot."
"As have we," I counteracted. "And I agree she's lost more than us, much more than all of us, but still... there has to be something else. Something we don't know. She needs help. She needs to know that we still love her and we can save her. We have to save her."
"Would you have made the same call, Manik..." Navya looked up at me and I didn't miss how her hand protectively held her stomach, "...If Aryamman or Zubin would have actually died?"
"I don't know, okay?" I blow out some air from my mouth in annoyance. "Truth being said, I don't know. But what I do know is that we abandoned Mukti when she need us the most. We couldn't save her when we should have. So we gotta do that now. We gotta save our bestfriend before she goes insane."
Cabir sighed, "I don't think she's alone in this. There's no way she can do all of this... alone."
"Do you think Harshad...." Aliya's voice trailed and everyone fell silent. I could feel jitters in my own stomach by his only name.
"I'd called Smaran to update him on everything happening, but he didn't pick up. When he calls back, I'll be sure to ask him about Harshad as well," I say and the others nod.
My phone buzzed, and it was a string of messages from Jeff.
Zubin's up.
He's ok. A little shaken, but fine.
I showed him Mukti's picture. He confirmed it's Mia, but doesn't know why she'd try to kill him.
I'll explain him the plan and talk to him properly once we shift to the farmhouse.
He made a few calls and asked me to forward you this file from his hospital.
[ File attachment. ]
I opened the file, sitting down on the couch. All eyes stood at me as I read out what was written in there.
"December, 2016," Cabir said, "The month Abhimanyu died."
"She came to London?" Nandini gasped.
Taking a deep breath, I flipped the page, reading ahead.
"No memory?" Aliya repeated.
"And return of distorted memories could drive her insane," Aryamman added.
"Our best guess is this is what is happening to her," Navya says. "She doesn't remember everything, she only remembers certain things, like being in love with Abhimanyu and his death and wanting revenge thinking maybe we were somehow involved?"
Gulping, I flip the page.
Aliya interrupted, "Am I the only one who noticed his entry changed from calling her 'patient' to 'Mia'?"
"So you think he could.... like her?" Aryamman asked.
"He did," Nandini confirmed.
Cabir interrupted in a taunting voice, "She's doing fine? Clearly not."
I rolled my eyes, reading ahead.
"That's the last entry," I said, shutting my phone.
"It's August now," Aliya observed.
"She clearly wasn't fine," Nandini said.
"So we assume that she doesn't have her memories, only some random distorted ones, enough to drive her insane," Aryamman sat beside me.
"...And what do we now?" Cabir asked.
"We do what we can," I say firmly, "We help our best friend when she needs us the most."
"And will we be able to do it?" Navya said in an unsure voice. "Don't get me wrong, I want to do everything I can to save Mukti because that's what she deserves but dealing with an unstable person who wants to kill us all? Can we do that?"
"I don't know," I say, "But what I do know is that I'm not going to give up without trying. I'll either win, or I'll die trying."
"Me too," Nandini agrees, "After Amms and Abhimanyu, she's the closest person I had to a family. And I've lost her once, I'll do everything in my power for history to not repeat again."
"I don't think I have anything to lose," Aryamman says, smiling. "I'm in."
Aliya finally steps ahead. "Me too."
A smile lingers on Navya's lips. "I'd like my child to be held by his or her Aunt Mukti before anyone else. Of course I'm in."
All eyes turn to Cabir. "Then what are we waiting for? You know what the motto is."
"One for all, and all for one." Aryamman said, "Let's do this. For Mukti."
For Mukti.
~
To all those people who are always sweet enough to leave a bunch of kind messages,
thank you.
I might not always reply but I always do read them all and I can only assure you I have so much love for the ones who always make it a point to comment. I want you to know that I appreciate you and your love for this story so much.
Love,
Heer.