Aabir is gazing into her eyes, which hold anguish, grievance and incredulity. He closes his eyes to control his outburst and then opens them with determination.

“I think you need a reality check.”

He sounds grave and stern. Before Navya can understand anything, Aabir clutches her forearm and drags her outside of the cabin. All staff become stunned and get rooted to their places. Nobody has ever seen Aabir in this aggressive mood. Aarav observes them from his glass cabin and comes out. Aabir heaves Navya with full force and approaches her desk. Navya keeps on trying to free her hand while whining,

“Aabir, leave my hand. What are you doing? Aabirrr..!”

However, he turns a deaf ear to her every effort and complaint. Reaching her desk, he frees his hold and starts groping everything kept on the table. He is frantically throwing the files, papers and other things to the ground while muttering,

“Enough of your defiance. You have to admit your fault.”

He keeps on searching, and Navya is standing there, crossing her hands against her chest.

“It’s not there. It can’t be there. I have searched every nook and corner. Don’t make yourself a fool, Mr Dhawan.”

She utters sternly. Aabir stares at her with bloodshot eyes and then picks up her handbag, which was kept on the floor beside the table.

“AABIR…don’t touch my bag…you have no rights…”

Navya tries to stop him from unzipping the bag. Her words remain unfinished as Aabir fishes out the Pendrive from it. A sneer creeps onto his lips. Navya widens her eyes in disbelief. How come she forgot to search inside the bag? Her eyes move from the bag to the Pendrive and then finally land on Aabir’s sarcastic smile.

“I have the right to throw you out of this office right now for creating this drama and spoiling our valuable time, Ms Mehta. Or should I doubt that you did it purposely, lest we can’t give the presentation and lose this contract? Ms Mehta, are you playing a double game with us?”

Aabir’s voice has venom that makes Navya’s eyes teary. She parts her lips just to let out a sob. Meanwhile, Aarav nears them and intervenes,

“Enough, guys. We are running out of time. Clients are about to come. Just stop all this and come to the conference room. Aabir, come!”

He pushes Aabir a bit so that he can break his hostility. Aabir takes a deep breath and nods in assurance.

“Coming. You go and check this presentation.”

Aabir mouths calmly while handing over the Pendrive to Aarav. He nods and leaves with it. Aabir roams his eyes over the gathering of the staff who have been watching all the incidents that happened just a few minutes ago. He growls to them,

“Are you all done with the drama? Then go to your terms. You are not being paid for standing over here idle. GOOO…”

His one rebuke forces all the people to vanish within a second. However, Navya is still standing like a statue. Aabir walks towards her and utters,

“Do you need a special invitation, Ms Navya Mehta? Go and attend the meeting.”

She places her teary eyes on his stone-hard face. Her tears churn his heart for a second. He mumbles, looking at her,

“I wish I also could have explained everything with tears.”

.............................

“The moment SP Bhosle left my cabin, a rush of negative thoughts clouded my mind. He literally threatened me to tell everything to Nandana. If he tells her that the person she pushed from the cliff was none other than one of my employees, and I only fixed him to attack me? If he tells her everything about my plans, how I set up everything to manipulate her? Oh God! How do I keep her out of all these? My brain was about to explode with anticipation when an idea peeks into my mind. I recline in the chair and light a cig. Mr SP, this is Manhattan and not Mumbai, where you have the power of your uniform. If I can fool you in your territory, then I can fool you anywhere. And to save Nandana from your reach, I can even make your vacation the last trip of your life. But only if you leave me with no other option. Right now, my first step would be to shield Nandana in such a way that even you can’t see her shadow. Thanks, SP, for revealing your intention, but I won’t do any such thing because I want you to be in this illusion that you can scare me. You can manipulate Aditya Oberoi by any means. I puff some rings of smoke and snicker, thinking about my next plan. It’s time to bring the old Aditya Oberoi back. A handsome face with an evil mind…Ha…ha…I crackle at the thought and get up to execute my plan.”

Aditya comes out of the office and walks to the parking lot. The driver immediately rushes to the Audi and opens the back seat. Aditya closes the door with a push and extends his hand.

“Give the key and out!”

He commands. The driver doesn’t dare to defy and instantly hands over the car key to Aditya. He occupies the driver's seat and, in the blink of an eye, whizzes past the area. As he takes the main road, his mobile rings. He taps on the speaker.

“Arya…I am coming to you only. A matter has arisen. Need to stop. It’s serious. Related to Nandana.”

He mouths with clenched jaws. Aryan’s voice is heard over the speaker. Sarcasm is palpable in his tone.

“Nandana…hmmmm…she is indeed the only serious matter in your life nowadays. We, friends, don’t exist.”

“Stop your gibberish. You know there is nothing like it. Okay? Coming!”

He cuts the call and switches to another number. His eyes are on the road, but his mind is full of many things. The person on the other side responds,

“Yes, Sir!”

“Where is Nandana?”

Aditya asks in a hurry. His breath is surging. The person replies,

“Ma’am is inside the mansion. I think…maybe with Mini baby.”

Aditya veers the car towards the left and rebukes in a perilous tone,

“You are not getting paid for answering me with ' maybe and I think. Get in and see where she is and what she is doing exactly. If she is planning to go outside, then stop her. It’s up to you what excuse you make. But stop her and make sure she can’t go outside before I reach home. One more thing. I am sending you a photograph. This guy shouldn’t be around Nandana by any means. She shouldn’t even see him from a far distance. Got it?

The guy answers cautiously,

“Yes, Sir!”

Aditya cuts the call and sends SP Bhosle’s picture to his man. Within a minute, his car pulls up in front of the Khurana office. He gets off and hurls the car key at the guard.

“Park it.”

His brief command comes, and he vanishes inside the building.

............................

A person is sitting in a room partially lit. The wall in front of him still has a huge image of a smiling Nandana. A hat is covering his face, but the fire in his eyes is tangible. He is holding a glass half full of whisky. His eyes are fixed on Nandana’s picture, and his fingers are increasing the pressure on the glass until it breaks into numerous pieces. He shakes his hand. A trail of blood comes out of his wound and starts dripping on the marble floor. He lets it flow for some minutes and then brings it in front of his eyes. A diabolic smile appears on his crooked lips.

“Pain is pleasure. I wish I could have wounded my eyes just like my hand after seeing you with Aditya. He was touching you…”

His voice shakes with anger. He sucks the blood and hisses,

“I should have killed him then and there, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t because your body…your body was guarding him. So, I shot the mirror. Ahhhhhh…I know he was forcing you to sleep with him. He always does that. He does it with every girl. You are not any different. You are too naive to understand his devil mind.”

He gets up from the seat and walks towards the wall. His eyes are anchored on Nandana’s smiling orbs. He touches her lips, leaving some blood stains there.

“I will destroy your paradise, Aditya. I will burn your hands for touching her. She is mine, and I will make her mine.”

His voice suddenly becomes husky and calm. He smears his blood on her lips as if he is putting lipstick on them and rasps out,

“You are beautiful, Nandana. With clothes or without clothes. Ha..ha...”

A lusty and filthy giggle comes out of his mouth.