Lullaby ❤️

Manya looked at the contacts in her phone, and scrolled down to find 'Mumma❤️'.

The number had been saved in her phone for an eternity, but she had never bothered to dial it until now. The anger and pain of betrayal that she had kept inside of herself had blinded her to every reality, as she had been unable to see anything past it.

She was going to press 'dial' when a sudden realisation hit her hard. 

She whispered to herself, "Oh no! No, no, no. This was not supposed to happen…" She looked at the clock, and it was already past eleven.

*She couldn't call him now, but what was she supposed to do? Because if the summon reached home before she did, it would really hurt her mother. This was not her current intent, even though she had wanted to hurt her at that time. She had wanted to inflict pain on her so badly, because of the things she had imagined and related to her mother for twelve years- but by doing this, she had only wanted to protect Sia. She only wanted to give her a good life, with proper care and supervision. She had wanted to achieve custody of her before she turned eighteen, so that she could live always by her side and no one could hurt her. But now? Now, the scenario was totally different- a lot of things she had been blind to, or rather had not wanted to see even with her eyes open, had been made apparent to her in the last few days. She couldn't risk her newly-improved relationship with her parents. Even though certain things felt just the same as they had been twelve years ago, it would still take time for things to heal completely. Their words and actions still silently occupied the space between the mother and daughter, and they had just started to work around it, to get to each other. But this would certainly be a blow hard to recover from, and she couldn't afford it, not now.*

She panicked, rushing directly to the room where Arjun had told her he would be, if she needed him. 

*Yes, she needed him; she desperately needed him to solve this blunder of her life.*

She rushed directly into her room, without knocking. But Mr.Arjun Chauhan was nowhere to be found. Had she heard it correctly, when he had told that he would be in this room if she wanted to find him? She was busy in her own thoughts and stepped forward to exit the room and look for him somewhere else, when she bumped into someone. But the things were bothering her to such an extent that she didn't even realise it and tried to walk again. This time, she felt a pair of hands grip her on both of her shoulders, and a voice echoed close to her ears.

"Minnie, what happened?" 

"I need to find Arjun, it's really important!" She replied without realising what she was saying or whose voice she had heard. Within a moment, reality had kicked in legs first, to make her realise that it was Arjun she had bumped into, and he was the only one who was asking her about her well-being. But before she could change her answer, she heard a little chuckle and the person's voice again.

"Ahm! Then this is certainly a big problem. Tell me, miss, did this Arjun leave you somewhere and run? Do you want me to beat the shit out of him? Just tell me once, your Highness, and I will manage everything else to carry out your command!"

Arjun completed his sentence and burst out into laughter again. 

*He knew that she was engrossed in thinking about something, and was evidently bothered by that. But he didn't want to hurt her further, or make her more bothered and tense by pushing her to speak. So he had tried an alternative way to make her cheerful for a little while, because he knew that the little girl living inside this grown-up stature loved to nag and bicker like an old woman in her 60's.*

Manya finally looked up to give him a proper and sufficient scolding, but quickly looked down and only managed to exclaim, "You are naked!" 

"Huh! How?" 

*It was a shock for Arjun as well. He bent his head to take a look at himself again, to check if his towel was in place or not, only to recall that he had already taken care of this. As she was present in the apartment, he had opted to put on a pair of pajamas and a vest before stepping out of the shower. And that was when he realised the second thing, that they had literally grown up together, and she used to be the most unbothered person around him, who didn't even care if he was fully dressed in a tuxedo or wearing only a towel! Then what had happened to her today, that she was so flustered?*

He asked again, "Minnie, are you okay? I am not even in my bathing gown, that you can claim that you found me naked! I am almost fully dressed, and should I remind you how Little Manya the Great used to bully me in my childhood days?"

*On his prompt, Manya was reminded of a scenario where she had been in a hurry, and her dumbhead friend was taking ages to complete his process of bathing and selecting the outfit. She had walked directly into his room and pulled out the perfect outfit for that occasion and handed it to him, shouting at him to get ready within five minutes. Then she had proceeded to walk out just as causally, while he had stood there, wearing only a towel. But they were young at that time- they were teenagers!*

But now, her face turned a bright shade of red and she ran outside, shouting, "Get dressed properly and come in my room in ten minutes, I will also be done changing till then."

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Shikhawat reached the venue of the concert and was about to enter, when he found Sia standing outside the concert hall, talking to someone on the phone.

*That was all the indication he required, to know that God was indeed on his side, everytime he needed. And most importantly, it was reassurance that he was doing the right thing by punishing the people who deserved to be punished. So by doing this, he was only lowering the burden on the Almighty, partaking in his responsibilities. And in return, God might have thought of lowering the efforts required by him, by making his prey come and stand directly in front of him, as a Welcome party.*

He quickly stepped towards the entrance and started whistling swiftly. He knew that Swara's daughter could forget everything, but she couldn't forget this specific tone of the whistle, and he had also made sure to test it from time-to-time.

But he stopped abruptly, when a boy came near her, out of nowhere. The sudden interruption was making him angry, as he didn't really like any sort of disturbance during his work, and this was a very important task.

*He glared at the boy from his place, contemplating his plan of action if he didn't remove himself from his path within a few moments.*

"Does he really have a death wish?" He mumbled to himself, frowning deeply. But before he could do anything, the boy left on his own, after hugging her. 

"Finally…" He spoke, and stepped closer so that she could hear the whistle more clearly and it could attract her attention.

He started whistling again; the whistle was in the tone of a lullaby, which Swara used to sing to her to sleep. 

*The girl had memories of the song and whistle embedded deep in her brain. Because apparently, the Miss.Perfectionist had wanted everything to be unique for her daughter. So, even the lullaby should be customised, and only belong to her daughter. But she always tended to forget that she had reared Manya as her daughter as well, and had prepared two sets of lullabies! Foolish woman- he had stopped to let his rant out, because he wouldn't tolerate anything that Shambhav had to share with anyone.*

Now, it was time for him to walk past her while whistling, because she would certainly have heard him, but still he noticed that she was turning to enter the concert hall again.

"Little girl, little girl, little girl...

Dressed in the beautiful pearl…

Come come come, let's go for a whirl,

Little girl, little girl, little girl…"

He started to whistle the song out loud. Just as he had expected, she turned. She turned around and looked around frantically, mumbling, "Dad! Dad?" 

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Ishaan was back in his apartment after he had dropped Vendy off at the Mansion. He had taken care to advise Vihaan to keep her on track, and teach her some manners. Although he didn't exactly want to make her suffer, because this time she was actually innocent- but the thought of Manya being with Arjun was enough to turn him into a monster and at that time, he was willing to burn down the whole city. And yet, he had only let a fraction of his anger out, so she must appreciate his patience.

He lit a cigarette, as he was in desperate need of something to take his mind off of things. His high alcohol tolerance would never let him forget anything about that day, even after chugging two bottles straight, so he had to rely on the cigarette for now. Manya was unaware of this habit of his, as he didn't dare to smoke in front of her; he knew that she didn't really like smokers. She didn't like the consumption of anything which could harm the body, and would be risky if taken more than a certain limit. He marveled at what an elegant woman she was, while lighting the second one for himself!

He set out for a walk in the lane of memories once again, successfully defeating the purpose of lighting the burning poison. It was of no help at all, as all he could think of was about her. And at that point, his only need should have been to forget her. He couldn't imagine her being with anyone else, apart from him- one of the reasons he had made Shekhar carry out her kidnapping. He knew Shekhar was interested in him, and had been well aware of his sexual identity too. But he had been spending a little too much time with Manya, and he didn't like that. He knew that he was doing all of this just to get his attention, but how dare he choose Manya to be his ladder! 

When Shekhar chose to go for his weakness, he had apparently forgotten that he was also aware of his weakness, and he would undoubtedly choose to exploit it as well!

A wretched smile formed on his face about how perfect his plan had been. He knew that he would do anything for his one and only little brother, who needed extra medical support for survival, and Shekhar was in desperate need of money for that. He had made Vihaan act suspiciously, to indicate to Shekhar that his father wanted to get rid of Manya, for which he was willing to pay any amount he could name. All he needed to do, was to kidnap her and scare her, so that she would become ready to leave ARENA's and Ishaan- both! 

He laughed out loud at Shekhar's foolishness for believing this. Or perhaps, it was his desperation for money, that had made him forget that Manya had been completely accepted by his parents, when he had risked his life to save her from drowning.

But suddenly, his laughter changed into a frown when he remembered that the first word she had uttered, after gaining consciousness, was 'Juno'. He had modified it with 'Ish', and smiled, saying "Yes, dear. Your Ish is right here, right behind you, just take some rest."

But now, this Arjun had really come into her life again. Apparently, he couldn't let them live peacefully- they were already living a dream life. But no, some people are not capable of letting the train of life run on the same track, they need to bring it back on the previous track and steer it home! 

He cursed as he crushed the remaining part of his cigarette on the pillar, and vented his frustration out loud.

"Like seriously, just move on, man! Just go and find a new home; let us live, and in exchange, I will let you live peacefully too!"

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Sia disconnected the call, she was really happy that she had gotten permission from Manya. Now, the only thing she needed to do was to get rid of the guards, so that she could go to the after-party without any restrictions. 

*Otherwise, the guards appointed by her Massi were too strict, as if she had trained them to take the place of her mother in her absence, and her personal bodyguards- they had already been like her Godmothers. Was a bodyguard ever supposed to feed her, while also keeping in mind that she shouldn't eat more junk food, as well as that the meal she was taking was healthy? Like, she was sure that it was definitely not in their job description to be her adoptive family! She had become somewhat okay with that, and was willing to tolerate the healthy meals as well. But due to them, she was not allowed to follow any trendy diets either! Everytime she tried to go on a diet, the common reply she got was "Miss! You are like our little baby, and how can we let you eat anything unhealthy or leave you without eating anything, you'll starve! We can't commit this sin, we are really sorry." And then they would repeat the same story of how tiny she had been when they were first appointed as her guards, and how they had been confused at first, thinking that Massi was her own mother. That point needed no explanation, given the way her Massi always got- and still did, when she even got so much as a scratch!

She was not exactly complaining, and most of the time, she quite liked it as well. But sometimes- only sometimes, she also wanted to have fun with her friends and that too, without her bodyguards! But nope, she had never gotten a single chance so far. And now, before she turned eighteen, she would take this opportunity and manage to sneak out anyhow.*

She had her plan ready, and it only needed to be executed now. She would return inside the party, where her friends were ready with a different set of clothes for her to change into. Two of her friends would distract her guards while she managed to get out of the hall. Once she was outside, one of her friends would return inside, dressed like her and with her face covered. She was just supposed to say that she was sleepy and wanted to go to a friend's house nearby, from where all of them would help her sneak out from the back window of the house.

She smiled, pleased with her brain that had come up with the perfect plan to execute her shenanigans. She was thinking about any possible plotholes by going through every step one-by-one. There had to be no chance for a mistake; or otherwise, everything would go downhill really fast. That was when she heard the tone of a whistle she had heard somewhere before. She recalled hearing this whistle twice after the accident, until then. It was a song which her mother had made for her, and used to sing to her while putting her to sleep. Her daddy used to play it to her on a whistle, as he was a master at whistling and was able to accurately copy any song.

She was about to follow the direction of the sound, when her friend came out to remind her about the plan. She nodded and hugged him excitedly after he told her that they were done with the preparations, eager as well as anxious for the final showdown. She was about to follow him inside, when she heard the whistle again. *No, it couldn't just be her imagination, it was definitely real. She had managed to dismiss it as hallucination the first time, thinking that she might be missing her parents, due to a milestone birthday approaching. But after hearing it again,she was sure that it was not just a figment of her imagination. It was true, somebody else knew this tune, this song as well. But how could that be? It was impossible for anyone out there to know about this, so it must be- could it be? Her father...was he here?*

She started walking in the direction of the whistle, navigating through the crowd. But before she stepped out of the area of the concert, she was surrounded by her guards. The most senior one of her personal bodyguards spoke, "Little miss! Do you want to return home, or do you want something? Just command us and we will get it for you, but we cannot let you roam alone at night, and let you take a single step more without the guards. I am sorry, ma'am."

                 ************************

Shikhawat noticed that the lamb had started moving in the direction of sound.

*'Foolishness runs in genetics, doesn't it?' He thought to himself and smiled again, at how dumb girl was to not doubt the presence of something suspicious. She had decided to follow the sound, even after having listened to the whistle two times earlier as well! But nevermind- the dumber she acted, the easier his work would be!*

He continued to whistle, leading the lamb towards its own slaughter, when she was surrounded by the guards all of a sudden! He cursed under his breath; how could he forget about the Sagrika, the real game changer?! But it was not a major cause for concern; he had the key to her forts as well. By now, she was like an old book, which he had already completed years ago! 

He scowled and muttered, "But seriously, Sagrika! You have guarded your sister's daughter with almost a dozen guards, while your own daughter roams about freely, without any guards! Are you sure you are an impartial mother, who loves both her kids equally- because I don't think so!"

So it was a simple detour, he just needed to find another way to get her free from the guards, so that he could be able to succeed in his plan.

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A/N- Hello my lovely readers! (✿^‿^)

Here's the chapter for today, please comment and keep supporting my work. Sending my love to you all! ♥