(Manik is in a good mood as he has bagged the deal with great profit for his company. But his happiness is short-lived as Raj enters his cabin without permission.)

Manik (sternly)- Who gave you the permission to enter?

Raj- I don't need permission, Manik. Tum mere hi to bete ho. Tum se kya permission chahiye mujhe yahan...

[Raj- I don't need permission, Manik. You are my son only. Why take permission from you...]

Manik- Leni padegi aapko permission Mr. Raj Malhotra. Ye aapka office nahi hai jahan aap apne rules follow karva sake. Aur yahan cabin mein aapke liye vo secret room bhi nahi hai jahan aap...

[Manik- You need to take permission, Mr Raj Malhotra. It's not your office where you can make people follow your rules. And my cabin doesn't even consist of that secret room where you...]

Raj- Just shut up, Manik.

(Manik smirks and sits on his chair like a king.)

Manik- To bataiye. Kyu mera din kharaab karne aaye hain aap yahan?

[Manik- So tell me. Why are you here to spoil my day?]

(He ignores Raj's talks and starts using his phone.)

Raj- Tumse tumhari wife ke baare mein puchna tha.

[Raj- I wanted to ask you about your wife, actually.]

(Manik instantly stops and coldly looks up at him.)

Manik- I will discuss nothing with you about her, Mr Malhotra.

Raj- Tumhe uss par itna pyaar kyu aa raha hai Manik? Ek mahina nahi hua hai shaadi ko abhi aur ye haal hai. Abhi to tum honeymoon par bhi nahi gaye yaar. Relax.

[Raj- Why are you being so generous towards her, Manik? It's not even a month since you got married to her, and this is the situation. You have not even gone on your honeymoon. Relax.]

Manik- Why the hell are you here, Mr Malhotra?

Raj- Kuch nahi. Bas tumhe ye batana tha ki agar tumhe Riya ke saath mazaa nahi aa raha so you can have a new toy.

[Raj- Nothing. I just wanted to tell you that if you are unhappy with Riya, you can get a new toy in her place.]

Manik- She is not a toy, Mr Malhotra. You are talking about my wife, so show some respect towards her.

Raj- What respect is Manik? Usne bhi tumse iss deal ke liye hi shaadi ki hai. She is just a money-minded girl who has finally found her target. And that is you.

[Raj- What respect, Manik? She also got married to you just for the money. She is just a money-minded girl who has finally found her target. And that is you.]

(Manik clenches his jaws in anger and looks at Raj angrily.)

Manik- I know you are here to instigate me, Mr Malhotra. But let me warn you, don't drag my wife into all these stupid games of yours. She has nothing to do with you, so don't you dare hurt her.

Raj- Wow. Manik Malhotra is being protective of someone. So should I say you have a new weakness now, Manik?

(Manik comes close to him and stares into Raj's eyes coldly.)

Manik- This is the first and the last time I warn you, Mr Raj Malhotra. Don't you dare hurt her.

Raj- Main to chahe kuch naa bhi karu Manik. Par uski khud ki family se kaise bachaoge usse Manik?

[Raj- I may do nothing in this case, Manik. But how will you save her from her own family?]

Manik- That is my problem, so I will take care of that. You don't need to poke your nose in my matters. Aur rahi baat meri to you know I am not the same Manik I was years ago. So I know all your little secrets. Don't force me to expose you in front of the entire world.

[Manik- That is my problem, so I will take care of that. You don't need to poke your nose in my matters. And if you see me, you know I am not the same Manik I was years ago. So I know all your little secrets. Don't force me to expose you in front of the entire world.]

Raj- To mujhe bhi zyaada der nahi lagegi tumhari Riya ko raaste se hatane se. Yaad rakhna ye baat.

[Raj- So it won't take me very long to remove Riya from the path. Just remember that.]

(Saying this, Raj goes from there while Manik keeps looking at his leaving figure with an expressionless face.)

(Riya is sitting on the bed in her room, hugging her knees close to her chest, and is crying her heart out when she hears someone call her.)

Voice- Tum humari life ki sab se badi galti ho. You are a curse. Your parents hate you.

[Voice- You are the biggest mistake of our lives. You are a curse. Your parents hate you.]

Riya (panicked)- No. Ye sab jhoot hai. I am not a curse.

[Riya (panicked)- No. This is a lie. I am not a curse.]

(She then sees darkness all around, and Ashwin, Anita, and Harshad come in front of her.)

Anita- You are just a piece of bloody bad luck for us. You brought bad luck to our family.]

Ashwin- You deserve all the hate in the world. Koyi tumse pyaar nahi kar sakta. Ek bojh ho tum bas.

[Ashwin- You deserve all the hate in the world. No one can love you. You are a burden.]

Riya (terrified)- No...

Harshad- Tumhare saath jo bhi hota hai naa tum ye sab deserve karti ho. You deserve all the pain, Riya.

[Harshad- Everything that happens with you is what you actually deserve. You deserve all the pain, Riya.]

(She clenches her chest as she feels difficult to breathe because all the happenings have triggered a panic attack.)

Riya (breathing heavily)- Please stop this. Please.

Anita- You are a curse, Riya. Jab se humari life mein aayi ho hume sirf dukh hi diya hai tumne. Tum sab ki life barbaad kar deti ho.

[Anita- You are a curse, Riya. You have just given us sadness from the day you entered our lives. You just destroy everyone's life.]

Ashwin- Everyone hates you, Riya. Tum kisi ke pyaar ke layak nahi ho. You deserve hate. Hate and only hate.

[Ashwin- Everyone hates you, Riya. You deserve no one's love. You deserve hate. Hate and only hate.]

Riya (breathing heavily)- No... no... please... stop...

(She shuts her ears tightly with her hands as all the voices keep ringing in her ears together. All that Ashwin, Anita, and Harshad have said and have been doing to her, all her cries of pain and misery, the darkness, the loneliness, the fear, everything comes together. She is shivering and shaking badly in fear and is not breathing correctly. She sits on the floor on her knees and tries taking deep breaths, but it's not working.)

Riya- Help... please... stop... please...

(She feels her heartbeats increasing and her breathing getting more laboured. She thinks the room is about to collapse on her, and the darkness is coming to consume her.)

Riya (crying badly)- Save me... please... help...

(She is crying badly in pain when 2 muscular arms engulf her in a comforting hug, saving her from falling more into darkness. And she clutches his blazer tightly in her fists and hugs the guy. The guy also hugs her, rubs her back, and gently caresses her hair to calm her down.)

Guy- Shhh. It's okay. I got you.

Riya (breathing heavily)- Mani... Manik...

(So finally, Manik has arrived on time, and he is here for her now. He had this bad feeling in his heart that something was wrong, so he tried calling Riya, but she didn't receive his calls. And that was enough to raise Manik's worries, so he quickly came home and saw Riya in this state on entering the room.)

Manik (rubbing her back, concerned)- Riya. Don't worry! I am here. Breathe. Come on. Breathe.

Riya (crying, breathing heavily)- I... I can't... Mani... Manik...

Manik- Manik is here Bacha. Calm down. Deep breathe karo. Come on.

[Manik- Manik is here. Calm down. Just take a deep breath. Come on.]

(On seeing her condition still the same, he breaks the hug and cups her face, making her look at himself.)

Manik- Riya. Look at me. Come on. Look at me.

(She looks at him in tears and clutches his hand on her face tightly.)

Manik- Jaise main kar raha hoon vaise karo okay. Come on. Breathe in, breathe out.

[Manik- Just repeat what I am doing. Okay. Come on. Breathe in, breathe out.]

(He takes deep breaths to show her, and she does the same with him slowly.)

Manik- Excellent. Do it again. Breathe in, breathe out, yes.

Riya (crying)- Manik...

Manik- Manik yahin hai aap ke paas. Aap saans lo bas. Come on. Main yahin hoon.

[Manik- Manik is here with you. You just breathe. Come on. I am here.]

(She takes a few more deep breaths, which eventually helps her calm down. He gets up, brings a glass of water from the table, and again sits down with her and makes her sip it. Keeping the glass away, he then rubs her back as she retakes a deep breath.)

Manik- Feeling better? Ab theek lag raha hai?

[Manik- Feeling better? Are you feeling okay now?]

(She looks at him in tears and hugs him tightly again.)

Riya (in tears)- Vo sab bohot bure hain Manik. Unke paas nahi jaana.

[Riya (in tears)- They are terrible, Manik. I don't want to go to them.]

Manik (closing his eyes to control his anger)- Hum bilkul nahi jayenge unke paas. Vo log gande hai naa. Nahi jayenge unke paas hmm. Aap relax karo bas. Unke baare mein mat socho. Main kuch galat nahi hone dunga. Bas. Shhhh.

[Manik (closing his eyes to control his anger)- We will not go to them. They are bad people, right? We won't go to them. You just relax. Don't think about them. I won't let anything wrong happen. Shhhh.]

Riya- Don't leave me, Manik, please.

Manik (thinking something)- Never. I will always be there.

(Saying this, he kisses her head and continues speaking sweet nothings to her, and it does great help in calming her down. He looks sadly at how she has tightly fisted his blazer and how she was severely shaken up when he entered the room.)

Manik- Shhhh. I am not going anywhere. I am here. Hmm.

Riya (in a choked voice)- Manik.

Manik (rubbing her back)- Hmm.

Riya (in tears)- I am sorry, Manik. I am so sorry.

Manik- Kyu baba? Aap ki galti thodi hai iss sab mein.

[Manik- Kyu? It's not your fault at all.]

Riya- Ye sab sahi nahi ho raha hai Manik. Raat ko vo nightmares aur din mein ye sab, tumhe gussa nahi aa raha hai mujh pe?

[Riya- All this is not going right, Manik. Those nightmares at night and all this in the day. You are not angry with me for this?]

Manik (calmly)- Bilkul bhi nahi.

[Manik (calmly)- Not at all.]

Riya- Kyu?

[Riya- Why?]

Manik- Uski abhi koyi explanation nahi hai mere paas.

[Manik- I don't have any explanation for it now.]

Manik (thinks)- Kaise bataun tumhe ki jab se main tumse mila hoon, I feel protective of you. I don't know what this feeling is, but this is something different, and I have this urge inside me to protect you from every evil thing and give you all the happiness and love... what! Love? Ye kya bol raha hoon main! 2 din mein kisi se pyaar thodi ho sakta hai. Manik tu pagal ho gaya hai.

[Manik (thinks)- How do I tell you that from the day I have met you, I feel protective of you? I don't know what this feeling is, but this is something different, and I have this urge inside me to protect you from every bad thing and give you all the happiness and love... what! Love? What am I even saying? Love cannot happen in just 02 days. Manik, you have gone mad.]

(He looks down at her and sighs on seeing Riya, who has closed her eyes as she has hugged him in fear and rested her head on his chest.)

Manik (thinks, while caressing her hair gently)- Par mujhe kaise pata chal gaya ki she is in some problem? Mujhe bura kyu lag raha hai usse rota hua dekh kar? I know we have promised to trust and be there for each other, but usse ye sab to nahi ho sakta naa. Oh God, what is happening to me?

[Manik (thinks while caressing her hair gently)- But how did I get to know that she is in some problem? Why did I feel bad about seeing her crying? I know we have promised to trust and be there for each other, but all this cannot happen because of that. Oh God, what is happening to me?]

(He then, after a few moments, asks her to sleep for some time so that she can rest.)

Manik (softly)- Riya.

Riya (slowly)- Hmm.

Manik- Sleep for some time. You need rest.

Riya- Sone par phir se vo nightmares aayenge. Mujhe nahi sona.

[Riya- I will again get those nightmares while sleeping. I don't want to sleep.]

(He looks down at her as she has hidden her face in his blazer now and is already dozing off because of being highly exhausted but is trying to stay awake out of fear.)

Manik- You don't have to worry about that. Main yahin ho aap ke paas, and I will not let them disturb you.

[Manik- You don't have to worry about that. I am here with you and will not let them disturb you.]

Riya- Promise Manik?

Manik- Hanji promise.

[Manik- Yes, promise.]

Riya- Don't leave me, Manik.

Manik- I won't.

(He picks her up in his arms, then helps her lay down on the bed, and then covers her properly with the blanket while she keeps holding his hand close to her chest. He kisses her forehead and starts patting her head to make her fall asleep and make her aware that he is there with her. She falls into a deep sleep within a few minutes, and he takes a sigh of relief at that. He then carefully takes his hand out of her hold and kisses her forehead again. He goes out of the room and calls Cabir.)

Cabir (on call)- Ji Bhai.

[Cabir (on-call)- Yes, bro.]

Manik- Mere room ke bahar mil mujhe. Baat karni hai kuch.

[Manik- Meet me outside my room. I need to talk about something.]

Cabir- Okay. Coming.