Devil's Bride

Chapter 39

We walked out of the court. It felt great to breath in fresh air. When we came out I saw Manik, leaning against his car. From the distance I couldn't understand his facial expressions but I was sure he had frowns all over his face.

"And here we go, finally my work is done." Karan announced when we reached near his car. He removed his sun glasses and scanned my body from head to toe as if checking if I was alright or not. I bit my lips in anticipation and tried to derive some confidence to look at him.

"Thank you for everything it means a lot for me." He thanked him.

"My pleasure buddy and now I have to go. Please allow me to leave"

"Sure I will meet you later." He replied and extended his hand. Karan touched his hand firmly and then left it. He took Manik in side hug and waved at me before leaving. Then Manik turned towards me, I waiting for him to say something.

"Come let's go home." It was all he said and then he settled down on the driver's seat without waiting for me. I opened the door and occupied the passenger's seat. He tied his seat belt and gestured me to do it. I wore my seat belt and then he pulled the brakes and car began to move. There was a dead moment of silence. I was waiting for him to react and, to speak something.

"Hi" I said.

"Hi" He replied without looking at me. I was thankful that at least he showed some reaction and I was looking forward for more but nothing came from him.

"Manik" I called his name.

"Hmm"

"How are you?" I tried to be a little formal with him and it looked like we were old friends and meeting each other after years.

"What will happen to me? I'm fine in fact I'm good. I'm in one piece, what made you ask this question?" I was little surprised to the sudden change in his tone. I don't know why but I felt so let down at the given moment. I fixed my gaze on the road because I didn't want to look at his face. I looked towards him through the corner of my eye. He didn't hold my hand; he didn't engulf me in his arms. He didn't talk to me at once. I had expected him to say something but in return silence was all I got. He didn't look at my face; he just stared straight ahead and continued to drive on the road. I didn't know what was going in his mind though I wanted to know about it. We reached our destination.

"Nandini, I have some work left, so I'm going to office I will meet you tonight."He informed me; I shuddered slightly at the sudden bleakness in his voice. Then without another word he left from there. I was hell shocked by his sudden exit. Did I say something wrong? Did I offend him? I ransacked my brain to get proper answer but I didn't get anything in return.

Disappointed, I moved towards the main door and pressed the door bell. Mukti opened the door for me and I stepped inside.

"Nandini, I'm so glad that you are out of the danger. I can't tell you how worried I was for you." She engulfed me in her arms the moment I stepped inside.

"Mukti, it's okay I'm fine." I answered back in a warm assuring tone.

"No Nandini it's not fine. You shouldn't have done this; we could have find another way."

"Mukti, I'm completely fine and I wasn't inside the lock up, I was in some special room. They had it for women, Karan put me there but I wasn't behind the bars." I replied, positively.

"Karan, is bhai's college friend. He might have requested, bhai wanted to meet you but he didn't allow him. Nandini I can't tell you how disturbed he was." She paused for a while to draw breath into her choking lungs while she narrated the gruesome incident.