Down The Memory Lane ~

Chapter 20 ~ Nandini is the target?

Two hijackers were standing right infront of me and I was literally shivering. Where are you Manik? My heart cried. "She's the one. Yes, I'm sure. She's the one." One of them said looking at me. And just when he said this, the other one declared out loud, "Let them go. Free them." All this was very confusing for me. Free who? What is happening? What did I do? All of these questions were running in my head and I had no answer. Not even a single clue. "Free the passengers of Business class after an hour and keep an eye on this girl." Saying this, He left leaving me in a state of shock. "Business Class? Manik..Manik is in the Business class. Yes. Thank you so much Aii appa." The fact that they are letting Manik go, made me happy and grateful to God but my smile faded away within a second because deep down inside, I knew he won't leave without taking me. No, Manik. Please. Please don't get into trouble for me. I prayed, joining my hands.

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"Are you sure it was her?"

"Yes, boss. I saw this girl with that hero, last night at the Eiffel tower. I'm sure it's her."

"Great then. Let the team of the movie leave and We shall deal with her. As soon as they leave, we will put forward our demands and I'm sure they will be fulfilled. This girl is our golden coin. In this way, nobody will even think that we hijacked the plane because of this team. But Are you sure he will do this for her?"

"Yes, boss. I followed that guy last night and he was with her and even when he wasn't, he was constantly in touch with that girl. I'm sure this guy will go to any extent to save this girl. Just let him go out once and put forward your demands."

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"Are you okay Manik? Chill. Calm down. We all are here together and we will deal with this." The cinematographer of the movie told Manik who looked extremely worried and tensed. Just when Manik was about to say something, a guy masked with a black cloth came in there and declared, "You all will be free in an hour. Follow my instructions and do as I say. When I give a signal to leave, quietly stand up and move out of the plane."

"Wait!" This one word of Manik confused each and every person seated in the business class. That man turned and Manik immediately questioned without even giving a damn about the consequences that it might lead to, "What do you mean by 'You all'? Isn't this applied to every passenger of this plane? Everybody will leave, right?"

"You all means just you all, the business class." And saying this, he left and Manik kept out calling him but all his efforts went invain.

"What is wrong with you Manik?" The director questioned unable to understand what was he upto and what was worrying him so much that he wasn't even a cent percent happy when that Man told them that they will let them all go. "Nothing. What's wrong with me? Nothing. Nothing is wrong with me!" He was literally freaking out and this very obvious for the rest of them. He took a deep breath and said, "Our whole team is not here."

"What does that mean? All of us are here Manik. Who from our team is not here?" Questioned the director. He was very irritated with Manik's behaviour and why won't he be? It was about their life. Their lives were on stake.

"Our costume designer..where is she?" He finally asked.

"Oh..Nandini..Where is she? She had to leave a day after we leave, right? Didn't she had to work on some costume designs as she joined us late? Yes, she even took my permission for this and I agreed." The director was very confident.

"Yes but She completed all her work before time and is leaving with us only. She didn't got the business class ticket in the last minute so she must be in the economy class. We can't leave without our entire team. She has to be with us." Manik was sweating out of fear and guilt. Well, guilt because it was him who forced Nandini to leave with him. He didn't wanted her to stay back without him knowing how irresponsible and careless She can be at times. Remembering how worried he became when Nandini was coming to paris without informing him while he was continuously trying to contact her, made him reach to this conclusion that he just can't let her stay back without him. It's all because of me. It's all my fault. He was continuously saying this under his breathe. "Manik, Relax. I'm sure they must be freeing the passengers one by one. I mean look, we're not their relatives that they would let us go and make others stay. I think they're vacating the business class first. Nandini is our costume designer and her safety matters to us aswell. Nothing will go wrong!"

"I don't think so. I really don't think her safety matters to you at all!" He snapped, and everybody stood there looking at him. They were all astonished. This side of Manik was new and unexpected for all of them. "So what do you want me to do? Fight with these hijackers?" The director asked. This time, his pitch was little higher and he was losing his cool. "No," began Manik, "I want nobody to stop me. I'm very clear, I am not leaving without taking her so please don't even try to make me understand because I will not listen."

"And why is she bothering you so much? Why are you so concerned about her safety?"

"Because," he stopped right there and after taking a pause continued, "because she's a part of our team and because we can't leave without taking her." That's all he could say. Before the director could say anything to this, the hijacker signalled them to stand up and proceed towards the exit gate. "He's telling us to leave, Manik. Stand up and start walking before any thing goes wrong." The director ordered and the stringe thing was, Manik stood up and started to walk towards the exit gate but he stopped halfway and cried out loud, "Oh shit!"

"What happened?"

"I forgot my watch. Just a minute. I can't leave without it."

"What are you doing Manik? Have you lost it? This Is not funny. These people are dangerous. They can shoot all of us!"

"Just a minute, sir."

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"I need to go to the washroom." The person who was sitting next to me told the masked man and in return, just got a deadly stare. "It's urgent!" He said. The man allowed him to go but also sent one of his men along to keep an eye on him.

"Hey you, don't move." The hijacker told me strictly while I tried to look around in search of Manik.

"Did the business class passengers leave?" He questioned one of his men. "There they come, sir!" He said pointing towards all my crew members who were leaving the plane. I took a sigh of relief as I saw them. Thank you Ai appa! Thank you so- My smile faded away as I realized that the whole team took the exit except Manik. He was not with them. Where is Manik? He was supposed to leave with all of them then where is he? What did these people do to Manik? Did they..No! This can't happen. They can't do anything to him. My heart beat was racing faster than usual and my mind was filled with so many questions. Aii appa! Please protect Manik. Please let nothing happen to him. Where are you Manik!?

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Hola! Where did Manik go? 😱 Guess Guess. The next update will come very soon cause I've already written half of it. And oh btw, do you think this incident will seperate MaNan? And will this bring out MaNan's truth infront of the whole world? I mean,about their love?

Do let me know your feedback. ❤

Love,
Saba.