"Naira hurry up please!!!! We're getting late." Nilima said agitated. Naira always took too long to finish her breakfast.
"Just two minutes more please." Naira requested, wolfing down the remaining sandwich. Nilima sighed. Visheshwar was reading the newspaper on the dining table.
"You know what Dad I had a dream last night that I got a call and then I went to the balcony and then I slept. Weird isn't it???" Naira spoke and chuckled. Visheshwar half heard her. Nilima however was startled by the news. Her eyes opened wide like saucers.
"Show me your phone Nayu." Nilima at once demanded. Naira casually handed her her phone. Nilima unlocked her phone and went through the call history assiduously. What she found blew her mind off. Naira really had received a call from an unknown number last night. That wasn't a dream. Nilima's face was taut with anxiety.
"Nayu you actually got a call from an unknown number last night. You weren't dreaming. What....What conversation did you had with that person????" Nilima asked fraught. Visheshwar now was keen to listen. Naira looked up at her innocently.
"I don't remember. All I recall is that I sleepwalked to the balcony and then came back and slept." she replied politely. Nilima was bemused.
"No you weren't sleepwalking. If you went to the balcony that means that person asked you to do that. But why would....unless..." her voice sank into a whisper "Unless.....Unless.....SOMEBODY WAS WAITING OUTSIDE.....Ohhhhh!!!! That's not a good sign." Nilima fell on the chair with a thud. Meanwhile Neil came into the dining room and was baffled to find his sister pulling on her hairs.
"Is everything ok??" he asked warily. Nilima looked up at him in horror.
"You wouldn't believe Neil, last night somebody called Naira on her phone but that's not the scary part.....that person was actually standing outside our house. Man!!!! Can you believe this!!!" Nilima spoke loudly. Naira was a bit scared now. Neil gaped at her in shock.
"Dear can there be any chance that you're overthinking??? Maybe that was a spam call, I get one those often." Visheshwar tried to ease the situation. Neil nodded in consonance. Nilima however wasn't pacified.
"I kept telling you all that something was wrong but you kept on ignoring me. And.....Hawwww!!!! I know that's the same guy.....the man Naira met that night in the hotel. It's all my fault....I should have hunted him down by now. I failed and now he's find out our home and literally has my little sister's number." Nilima was hysterical. Neil slapped his hand on his head.
"Nilima sometimes people do not have ulterior motives they help other people for no reason. I have told you before that that guy that night simply felt pity on a little girl and helped her. Had he been a bad guy as you allege him to be, he could've done something bad to Naira maybe had taken her as a captive. But he didn't, he just wanted to help Nilima....please understand, sometimes life does not work according to shitty Bollywood logic." Neil tried to pacify her. But Nilima's big sister intuition wasn't wrong, she could tell it.
"No....I am listening to none of you this time. I am tracing this call and I am hunting him down no matter where the hell he may be. And sometimes....men do have ulterior motives. They do!!!!" she whispered as she stood up and stormed out. Visheshwar was perturbed.
"I never understand this girl. She's always so scared that something bad might happen to her little sister. But....she cares a lot for you Nayu." Visheshwar told Naira. The latter smiled adorably.

Trixie's Cafe was not usually crowded with people and today was also no exception. However there were quite a few people in the cafe mainly because it was Sunday and people are usually free on Sundays. Neil had dropped Naira here and because he was getting late for his work, he left quickly. Naira and Kirti had promised to meet here since they wanted to try food of this cafe. This was a new cafe and Naira was just curious to experience something new. Now the cafe part of the 'cafe' was localised to the ground floor while the first floor was basically a small office of somebody. And ofcourse from the behind the railings of the upper floor you can look down and observe the people eating and gossiping. So, behind the railings stood Narasimha Varma. He watched predatorily at his object of affection, his little baby girl Naira Dhariwal. She was sitting alone on a chair behind a fancy round table. She was nervously going through the menu. Her father had given her a 500 rupee note and let's just admit that the prices of even basic snack items here were a bit too high. She had decided that she will order nothing but a muffin and an oreo shake. But let kirti come first. Narasimha was never a mind reader but he could read her mind though. He knew the prices here have literally bemused her. Honestly though, like why would you charge 180-190 for a doughnut, you can get the same quality doughnut in any bakery around here at way lower price. These fancy just charge too much for no reason. Anyways, Narasimha was excited. I mean it was only him after all who remembered their full conversation from last night. Now look, Narasimha might be crazy in love but he still had vestiges of sanity intact in his head. Before he dialled her number last night he already knew that she was to come here today with her squirrel teethed best friend. Ok fine that was rude but she did have a bunny teeth. And he had planned to spend some time with her here. You want to know how???

Narasimha smirked sinisterly as he gesticulated his man on the ground floor. The man nodded obsequiously and pushed his hand inside his jacket. Narasimha's fisted hands waited for action. All of a sudden, few shots boomed inside the cafe building shaking the people and tables. People clamoured and shouted as they ran for cover. Naira's heartbeat soared as she heard gunshots being fired from behind her. She started crying as she followed the hysterical people searching for a safe place. Whoever that person was, he still was firing shots continuously. Narasimha cackled as he saw his little flower sobbing while running between the tables in fear. Now all he wanted was his little prey to come running up the stairs and straight into his cozy arms. And as he thought, she started running upstairs to escape from the gunman who was going on a shooting rampage inside the cafe. Narasimha literally had his arms outstretched but then he realised that this was too soon probably and therefore he brought his hands down. Naira ran upstairs, sobbing helplessly. She was cursing herself for forgetting her phone at home.
"Oh Lord please help me!!!" she whispered fearfully as she ran into the corridor, looking down from the railings at the masked gunman who was firing at the most randomest places, the ceiling, the table, flower vases.....I mean why?? All of a sudden, she bumped into a rock hard structure. Thankfully it wasn't a wall or she must've seen birds around her head. Looking up she discovered a familiar face looking down at her with an unsettling smirk on his lips.
"Careful young lady. You don't want to fall and bump your cute little head." he spoke calmly. Aww.....Narasimha thought he sounded sweet. Naira quickly wiped her tears.
"You are the same nice man who helped me that night right???" she confirmed looking frantically at the gunman. Narasimha's face lightened up like a bulb on diwali.
"You think I am nice." he asked with the voice of a child. Naira looked fearfully at the gunman.
"Please help me out of here." she requested. Narasimha's eyes darkened.
"AM I A NICE MAN NAIRA!!!" he asked loudly. Naira flinched. Innocently she looked up at him and nodded. Immediately his expressions softened and he smiled as if nothing had happened and he just didn't scared the shit out of her a second ago.
"Aww you're so sweet. Come I'll take you to a safe spot." he said with a smile as he gently held her little hand in his big warm one and moved towards a room in the left.

The cafe was silent. And silence like this is always discomfiting. The gunman was still on the ground floor as Naira could hear him cursing the tables and chairs. The kind + creepy man had once again shown her kindness and allowed her inside his room. But she still felt uneasy around him. He had this eerie aura around him.
"Do you want to eat something Naira??" he asked politely. Naira looked up and him innocently.
"How do you know my name??" she asked softly, sitting beside him. I mean there was only one couch so and not to brag but he felt so warm. He chuckled.
"Anybody would my little flower after your father yelled for you that night." he told her casually. Naira wasn't sure how should she react at the nicknames he was giving her but.....he was being kind to her. She looked up at him teary eyed which melted his heart. What wouldn't he do just to make this little creature happy.
"Can I please call my father from your phone??? Please!!" she pleaded with tears. Narasimha really wanted to capture her in his arms and shower her with kisses until she stopped crying. But that wasn't the right thing to do at the moment.
"Yeah Sure." he said as he pulled out his phone from the pocket in his pants and handed it to her. She quickly grabbed the phone and thankfully it was unlocked. She hurriedly dialled her father's number and pressed the phone to her ear.

Visheshwar was dozing on the sofa when his phone rang. The number was unknown so he answered a bit gruffly.
"Hello!" he said yawning. Naira was delighted to hear her father's voice.
"Papa it's me....!!!! Papa!!!" Naira cried desperately on the phone. Narasimha quietly played with strands of her hairs ofcourse outside of her knowledge.
"Nayu what happened??" asked Visheshwar anxiously. Naira cried.
"Papa there's a gunman here in Trixie's cafe. I am so scared......please take me out from here papa please." she sobbed. Visheshwar stood up and ran outside anxiously.
"Narasimha Naira. N&N.....perfect." he whispered and smiled.
"Did you say something??" Naira asked as she gave him his phone back. He chuckled.
"Nothing. What did your father say??" he asked.
"He's coming here." she told him. Narasimha wasn't so much excited with the news.

Naira waited for her father while the strange man who always finds her at times like these was playing games on his phone. He wasn't much of a talker though he loved staring at her which would make her really uncomfortable.
"Can I ask you something??" she asked politely. He looked down at her and smiled.
"Yes sure." he replied tossing his phone on the table.
"Why were you in the hotel that day???" she asked softly. He hesitated. I mean how do she tell her that he was actually discussing about guns.
"For some business purposes." he half lied. She didn't ask further.
"What if the gunman tries to hurt my Dad??? Can you do something please..." she requested, fearing for her father's life. Narasimha honestly would've loved to see her father being shot but his baby wouldn't like it.
"That can be fixed." he replied casually as he got up and walked towards the door. The gunman was now inside the corridor. Naira freaked out when she saw him outside the door. Her strange host wasn't so scared however.
"Will you get out of here!!!" Narasimha asked the gunman. Naira really felt that he has gone nuts. Can't he see he has a gun??? The gunman came towards her host but to her shock her host had launched a slap on the gunman's face as the latter fell on the ground. He wrenched the gun out of his hand too.
"See. Now he won't hurt your father." he turned and said, the smile on his face almost psychotic. Naira didn't know if she should fear him or cheer up for the gunman was now lying fainted on the floor.

Naira had returned to the home. It was all a very lengthy process of how her father brought the police to the cafe and then Naira came running to him from upstairs and then police interrogated everyone inside the cafe except for the man who helped Naira. Police didn't even dare go upstairs even though Naira told them about him clearly. All in all it was a time consuming affair and therefore it finds little context to our discussion so we chose to omit it.
"I do not understand where does this man come from. It's not a coincidence. This man is upto something." she yelled at everyone in the house. Naira was intimidated.
"God forbid man was being kind and helpful. You should be thankful to him Nilima that he saved your sister." grandmother wasn't happy with Nilima. Nilima rolled her eyes at her.
"He knocked out the gunman with a single slap and you think he wasn't upto something. Gimme a break." Nilima barked insolently. Visheshwar huffed.
"My dear you need to relax. That man might not be as bad you opine of him." Visheshwar suggested. Nilima was firm.
"You guys don't understand but I do. I am finding him and kicking him away from our lives." she bellowed and left.

Narasimha was caressing the fur of the bunny. He was astounded that she didn't query about the bunny. But she did asked few minutes before her father yelled for her.
"Hmmmm!!!!! I miss your smell already baby." he whispered, hugging the rabbit close to his naked chest. He was so close to her today yet he failed to take her in his arms and kiss her pink lips.
"Sagar do you know what do we call a man who's after an 18 year old??" he heard a voice from the door. Narasimha rolled his eyes.
"No what do we call him..." asked the other skunk faced man. The first man guffawed.
"Pedophile." he completed and they both laughed. Narasimha glared at them.
"I can't kill you now but that doesn't mean you will live forever. Fools....get out!!!!" he barked. The men tripped and fell as they ran away. Narasimha frowned.
"Mad things you would do just for a fraction of money. Just like me letting these imbeciles live." he mumbled.
_________________________________
Every single vote matters and every single follower adds up to my family. So make sure you leave a vote and follow me if you are liking this novel.