Hello, everyone. I hope you all are doing well. I'm back with a new update but before that I want to give a shout out to my new book "KISS ME UNDER THE MOONLIGHT" which is a pure college romance. If you had read "A JOURNEY FROM REJECTION TO FOREVER", then I think you will like it as well. It's available on my profile. Check it out.

Now enjoy the latest chapter of this book and new chapter will be updated after 220+ votes.

👇🏻

"I've had many enemies over the years. If there's one thing I've learned, it's never engage in a fight you're sure to lose. On the other hand, never let anyone who has insulted you get away with it. Bide your time and strike back when you're in a position of strength—even if you no longer need to strike back." ― Steig Larson

S T O R E   R O O M
Manik was lying on the floor, it could be guessed easily that he was unconscious. Aryaman was sitting there on the coach which Manik and Nandini used when they were stuck there. He was waiting for Manik to gain his consciousness.

He was keeping eyes on Manik continuously for a chance. His plan was to kidnap him at the first possible chance. That's why he also missed his classes. Also he didn't join Space to learn music, it was never important to him. He was here for Manik and today is the day when his mission would be accomplished. At least that's what he was thinking.

Almost an hour back when he saw Manik coming out of the jam room alone, he went behind him, taking it as his only chance. He had already planned that one boy would bump with Manik and he would spill his coffee on him. It happened according to his plan. Manik cursed the boy and went to the washroom to wash his t-shirt. When he was coming out of washroom, Aryaman was already there waiting for him.

As soon as Manik stepped out of the washroom, Aryaman hit on his head from behind. It was so sudden that he could not fight back nor he could do anything in his defence. He fell unconscious. Then Aryaman looked around. No one was there as it was class time. He took Manik to the store room as he knew it's the place where his sister was burnt but the thing he didn't know was it was his sister's plan only in which she herself got trapped.

Aryaman was looking at Manik's face with utmost hatred. He wanted to kill him at that very moment but he knew if he kills Manik now, then he won't feel the pain which Soha had to go through. So, he was waiting for Manik to gain his consciousness back. He checked the time and found it's already time. Manik would be up any moment. He tied his hands behind his back along with his legs so that he can't escape. Then he went back to his place.

Few minutes later, Manik moved a little but Aryaman didn't notice that. Manik frowned as his head was paining a lot. He winched in pain and tried to hold his head but he failed to move his hands because Aryaman had already tied them. His frown deepened also he felt something cold and  solid under him.

Manik slowly opened his eyes as he was having difficulty in opening them. He looked around but couldn't see anything clearly, his vision was blurry. He jerked his head to clear his vision and tried to move his leg but failed once again. He realized that he is tied. "What the hell!!!" Manik muttered in a loud yet painful tone and sat back with a great difficulty.

Manik's voice gained Aryaman's attention. He gave Manik a look filled with hatred. "So, Mr Malhotra, you are up finally. I must say you took a very long time. I hope you enjoyed your sleep." He uttered standing in front of him.

Manik raised his face and found Aryaman. "Why the hell you have tied me here? Have you also gone mad like your sister?" He was struggling to free his hand.

Aryaman was taken aback hearing Manik's words. "You knew?" He asked in shock.

Manik gave him a smirk. "What do you think? You will enter into my college changing your name and try to harm me and Nandini and I won't get to know anything? I'm not stupid like you and your psycho sister."

He couldn't take the smirk on Manik's face, so he directly punched him. "Shut up! How dare you call my sister a psycho? She loved you so much and you killed her. She wasn't a psycho, you are a jerk, a murderer. You killed my sister." Aryaman shouted.

"Do you even know about your sister's reality? You have no idea about her condition and what she had done or tried to do." Manik tried to calm himself down, knowing there was no point of getting hyper. Aryaman isn't aware of the reality. If he also lost his cool, then things would only mess up.

"I know everything about my sister. She told me everything. She loved you and you just pretended to be loving her for the album. Then you cheated on her with that characterless girl, Nandini." Aryaman said in a venom filled tone.

Now Manik couldn't control himself when he uttered shits about Nandini. "Don't even dare to utter these craps for Nandini. Nandini was never at fault, it's always your sister."

Aryaman punched Manik once again and his lips started bleeding.

Manik spit out.

"You can't stop me by punching, Aryaman. You have better hear your own logics first before you start playing this game. Do you know who I am? I am Manik Malhotra. I am sure you must have heard of Malhotra Industries. You should know at least this much of me when you have come all the way to settle score with me. So, hear me out loud and carefully, I don't need to fake a relationship with your sister or anyone for an album. I am capable enough to produce my own album and launch ourselves but that won't be right for our talent. That's why we were waiting for other labels to launch us."

O U T S I D E
"Wait!!!" Mukti stopped as they were about to walk back to other side towards the door of store room. "I think one of us should be here to keep an eye on this side." She suggested.

"You are right. Me and Navya will be here. She is pregnant and we can't say the condition inside so it's better if she stays here and I will be with her." Alya said.

They all agreed to her. Navya too didn't have any problem with it. She wanted to go there and look for Nandini but her kid is also important.

Dhruv, Cabir and Mukti reached near the door.

"Dhruv, see the door is opened or not." Mukti told him as he was the one in front of them. "I just wish she had managed to do so." She muttered under her breath.

When Nandini went inside the store room, Manik had already gained his consciousness back and he was talking to Aryaman. Nandini was surprised, seeing him acting so calm. She was walking towards the door slowly making sure she didn't make any noise else it would grab Aryaman's attention towards her and they both would be in trouble even though others were out only. They can definitely go inside.

Manik was sitting against a shelve so she wasn't able to see him clearly. She could only hear him but Aryaman was visible to her. When she started moving, she could see Manik too. She saw he was tied and that time only Aryaman punched Manik and his lips started bleeding. Nandini covered her lips to prevent herself from screaming. Her blood started boiling, seeing them like that. Nandini hurriedly opened the door knob and started going closer to Manik. Now she could hear them clearly.

"Do you even have the idea that your sister, Soha was mentally sick and she needed medical help? I'm sure when she cooked up the stories about me and her, she didn't tell all that to you. Go and ask Mr. Khurrana. He knew everything even before I spoke to her regarding Soha's behaviour but he kept on denying it as he only cared about his reputation. If he had arranged proper treatment, then you didn't have to stand here with me." Manik shouted in a dead serious tone.

Aryaman bent down and clutched Manik's collar. "I have already asked dad and he has also said everything to me. Because of you, she started behaving differently. We lost her because of you."

"Do you have any proof that your father said the truth? What if he is lying? Apart from the things he said to you, how can you blame me?" He looked directly into Aryaman's eyes.

He was taken aback with Manik's direct statement. It took him off guard but he composed himself. "Why would he lie to me? Don't try these cheap tricks on me, Manik Malhotra. They are not gonna work on me."

Manik chuckled. "I don't need to use any tricks on you because you are already cheap. Just like your sister, you don't have the courage to fight face to face. If you were a bit courageous, then you wouldn't have to kidnap me like this. You would have directly come to me and fight. There is no use of saying all this to you. You won't understand."

"Shut up! I have not come here all the way to hear your bullshits." Aryaman jerked Manik back as he left his collar. He took a long breath before getting back to Manik.

"You remember this store room? This is the same place where you had left my sister mercilessly to burn and die. Even if you didn't love her, you could have save her for the sake of humanity. You didn't do that too. You don't deserve to be called a human." Aryaman vent out his anger. He was fuming in rage as he continued speaking.

"You don't know the whole truth, Aryaman. Your father has fed you with all the wrong information. So, don't do anything which you are gonna regret later." Manik muttered seriously.

But Aryaman was blinded by his anger. He was in no mood to hear him or anything else. At that moment, his revenge was the thing he could think of. "You don't need to think of me. You should think of yourself. You must be thinking why I have got you here in the store room leaving all the other places where I could kill you easily. Because I wanted you to take your last breath at the same place where my sister had taken her last. You should feel the same what my sister had felt."

Then he took out a match box from his pocket.

"Aryaman, listen to me. You are doing wrong. Soha was a psycho and your father was trying to hide it from the world fearing his respect and position. I had also talked to him about it. She was just obsessed with me. I never had any interest in her. It has always been Nandini for me since the day she walked into my life. You have no idea what she tried to do to harm Nandini." Manik tried to stop him.

Aryaman ignored whatever Manik said. He lit a match stick. "Good bye, Manik Malhotra. Be ready to turn into ashes and no one will ever find out about you. You are gonna vanish into thin air like ashes only."

He was about to put the lit stick near Manik when Nandini jumped between them and sprayed the pepper spray on Aryaman's face.

"Ahh!!!" Aryaman shouted loudly as her eyes, skin, the whole face started burning. He wasn't able to open his eyes. He covered his face with his palms and was screaming with the burning feeling.

Nandini didn't wait anymore and ran to Manik. "Guys, come inside." She shouted and started opening the rope of Manik's hands.

Manik was staring at her face. For a moment, he had thought that it's the end. He is not gonna see her ever again. He won't be able to hold her in his embrace, all their dreams would remain incomplete.

But as he called her 'star' and he wasn't wrong. She was surely the shining star of his life else how would she come at the right time and save him.

Cabir, Dhruv and Mukti ran inside hearing Nandini's shout. As they came in, they saw Aryaman's condition. Cabir and Dhruv held him from either side whereas Mukti and Nandini helped Manik to stand up.

Manik stretched his body as he got up. He jerked his head a few times to stable himself. His head was still paining like hell.

As Manik stood properly, Nandini didn't wait and hugged him with all her strength. Her eyes for closed as she felt him near her. She can't explain what she felt in those few minutes when Manik wasn't with her. She was scared till death. She was only praying nothing wrong should happen with Manik when he wasn't at fault. Now she couldn't thank her Ayaiappa enough for keeping Manik all safe and sound.

Nandini broke the hug and cupped his face. Manik passed a smile to her. "Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

Manik nodded. "I'm okay. Nothing happened to me. Don't worry."

Nandini touched his lips from where blood was ogling out. As her finger touched the place, Manik shrieked a bit as a burning sensation ran down through his body. Nandini too winched with him.

"Is it paining a lot?"

"No. It's just a small cut, Nandini. Why are you getting worried so much?" Manik cupped her face.

But Nandini was still worried for him. She didn't get the chance to say anything further as Cabir's voice broke their moment.

"Aye our Romeo and Juliet, kindly give a halt to your romance session and look at the serious session. What should we do with him?" Cabir asked looking at Aryaman who was trying to free himself from their clutch.

"I'm telling you again. You aren't doing right. You have already killed Soha and again you are making another mistake." Aryaman shouted. He was still struggling to open his eyes.

Manik patted Nandini's cheeks lovingly and went near Aryaman. "I said you before too and I'm saying this again, I was never at fault in Soha's case. She was the psycho one who dared to mess with our lives. I agree her death was unfortunate but you have to know the whole matter before you jump into the conclusion."

"You...."

Manik cut Aryaman in between. "You don't trust me? Fair enough. I have proof that your sister was psycho and she tried to kill Nandini just because I was in love with her not Soha."

Aryaman now calmed down hearing about proof. "Let's see what you have to show. But trust me, if it's not enough, then I won't leave you." He gritted his teeth.

"We will see that."

Manik was about to leave to grab the proof when Nandini stopped him holding his hand.

"Cabir, take him to the sick bay as I had sprayed pepper spray on him. I will also take Manik to hospital. He needs it. Then we will talk about this matter."

He nodded hearing Nandini, then she dragged Manik with her for seeing a doctor.

~~•°•~~
That's all for today. I hope you all enjoyed the part. I didn't want to write a physical fight rather a verbal one as it seemed more appreciated. Do let me know how was it and don't forget to vote.

Share your favourite moment.

22.02.2024