~ MUQAABIL ~

~ Muztarib ~

AUTHOR'S POV

It was four in the morning. Kaainaat was on her bed, struggling to breathe. She was whimpering with cold in the scorching heat of Mumbai summers!

Cold sweat mixed with tears glided down her neck. 

She was having a dream. A nightmare.

Something about that dream of her's triggered her to the extend that she swung her hand to clutch someone close by.

But there was no one to hold. 

There was no one to share her sorrows with. 

There was no one who could comfort her at such times. 

There was no one by her side. 

No one. 

She was alone. 

All alone.

As a result, her hand had hit the glass kept on the bedside table.

The glass crashed down, breaking into pieces and making a loud sound.

Kaainaat's head popped off her pillow. She was sweating badly, her chest heaving up and down.

She tried to grab a glass of water from the side table but realized that she had crashed it on the ground.

Carefully getting of her bed, making sure to not step on one of those broken pieces of glass, she headed towards the kitchen. Switching on the lights, she sat on the countertop while pouring herself a glass of water.

She gulped it down in one go. Today she felt like something grave was to tickle time. She felt as if all her blood vessels were tied in a rigid clot.

She went to the bathroom and checked if her periods were kicking in, but no. She was clean.

"What's with these sudden emotional turmoils then?" She thought.

She decided not to sleep again as it was already 5 am.

The ICS base nearest to her location was in Mumbai itself, but she was called to the Bengaluru base because the person who was to brief her about the mission was there.

She had to reach there by 11:45 m, hence she had booked a flight scheduled to leave at 8:30 from Mumbai.

She did her morning routine, packed her bag with necessities like her laptop, charger, a few sanitary pads because her date was nearing and a few more things. She had not packed much as she would not be staying overnight. She would be returning after the briefing is done.

Locking the apartment, she took a cab to the airport. After all the needed procedures, she boarded the plane.

~🧿~

KAAINAAT'S POV

The security at the gate let me in after confirming my identity.

As I stepped inside the base, my heart palpitated against my chest. My palms were sweaty. The same fear settled in my heart. I entered the tall sleek building of ICS.

I was thoroughly checked to confirm that I did not carry any weapons and meant no harm.

After that my eyes were scanned by a robot. Yes a robot.

"Welcome Ms. Kaainaat" The robot said with its robotic voice.

"Your meeting is scheduled with Mr. Iyer at 11:45 am. I appreciate you for being early. How would you like to spend the 15 minutes you have in hand?" It asked.