"As I enter Arya's office, the vibes give me a notion that something not so good is occurring. Since I have unofficially joined his mafia world, I have become attuned to this malevolent feeling. Arya impersonates himself as a full-fledged businessman but I know in reality, he enjoys being the mafia king of this world more. Although he was not this perilous and bloodthirsty in his childhood, the betrayal of his stepfather and the upbringing of his foster mafia father made him like this. Now he can be easily compared to a naked weapon that can rip anyone apart and can vanish like an unstoppable and untrappable wind. I stop at the threshold of his room. The door is closed and a gunman is guarding outside. His hawk eyes meet mine and obedience replaces the deadpan emotion. I knock at the door lightly and step in without waiting for permission. My eyes fall on an expected sight. Arya is torturing a man who is screaming like an animal that is being butchered mercilessly. Due to soundproof walls, his screams can't go outside. Arya looks at me. His eyes are brimmed with diabolic emotions. I look at the man tied to a chair. Most of his nails are plucked until now and Arya has a plier in his hand. The man gazes at me as if I have come here to save him from this devil. But he doesn't know that a devil always gets along with a devil only. However, right now, I have a more important discussion with my friend. This mundane work can wait for some time. I occupy a chair and curve my lips at Arya."

"Stop playing with this toy for a while. I have more important things to discuss."

Manik utters in a concerned tone. Aryamaan keeps the plier on the table and calls the guard who was waiting outside of the room. Within a minute the blood-soaked man gets removed from the cabin. There are some blood stains on Aryamaan's white shirt. He takes his shirt off and throws it on the floor. His ripped body is shining with sweat. He lights a cigar and sits on the table's edge fairly close to Manik's seat. Manik's eyes go down to his hand. His hand is bleeding and he is oblivious to it.

"Your hand is bleeding. Get a first aid."

Manik suggests. Aryamaan puffs some smoke and retorts,

"Is this your important talk?"

Manik budges on his seat and replies,

"No...as I said it is related to Nandini."

He takes some seconds to muster his thoughts.

"SP Bhosle is here and he tried to blackmail me."

Manik mouths with an unshaken voice. Aryamaan folds his hands across his chest and puffs the smoke through his nostrils. His eyes are dark.

"Hmmmmm...I have some news too. He came here to investigate something. Some days ago, one of my consignments got caught in Mumbai port. He is here by sniffing my name and of course, you are the sitting duck who is associated with me. Vacation is just an eye wash."

He mutters staring at his wound. Manik wobbles in denial,

"Uhu...here you are associated with me, unfortunately. His actual target is Manik Malhotra and he wants to reach me through you and Nandini. He threatened me by her name. You know what I meant. He just pressed the wrong chord by trying to blackmail me with Nandini's matter. I won't spare him, Arya."

Manik bellows. Every line of his face gets hard by suppressed rage. Aryamaan stands straight and walks towards a closet to take out a tee shirt. Slipping into it, he mouths in a casual tone,

"What will you do? Will you kill him?"

Manik chuckles mischievously and hisses,

"No...that would be the last option. I have another interesting plan. I want you to introduce me openly in the Mafia world as your partner. This is the time to come into the daylight."

A sarcastic cackle adorns his words.

"How will it help you to stop Bhosle?"

Aryamaan sounds curious. Manik reclines in the chair and mouths with conviction,

"It won't stop him but it will divert him from Nandini to me. He is here to catch me and I am giving him that opportunity. Mafia Manik Malhotra is a more alluring catch than absconded Manik Malhotra."

His eyes are beaming with a sardonic smile. Aryamaan's eyes flatten. He mouths in disbelief,

"And you are doing all these just to keep Nandini with you. Manik, this is madness. You want to become a hardcore mafia just to be with her?"

"Forever....I want to be with her forever and for that, I can be anything...a conman, a murderer or a hardcore mafia. You just arrange a meeting. I want to meet all your partners. They will be happy to see me...ha....ha."

Manik giggles dangerously. Aryamaan mutters concernedly,

"Manik, this is not a simple friendship payoff where you can protect a person by putting yourself forward. Abhimanyu did wrong with Mukti and he should have been punished."

"He had been punished, damn it! He lost his life for that mistake. You know very well that it was not an accident. Someone killed him for his prank."

Manik chides.

"Prank? Abhi deliberately made that video to take his revenge on Mukti. Neither he posted it on social media nor Mukti committed suicide. Damn, Man, you are justifying his deed!"

Aryamaan chips in. Manik gets up from his seat and yells,

"He didn't post it anywhere. It was me. I circulated it. She killed herself because of me. Abhi shouldn't have been punished."

"Yes, that is what you always tried to make us believe. But we are your friends, Manik. We know each of us in and out. Abhi proposed Mukti but she denied it as she loved someone else. In jealousy, he captured her private video and circulated it. As a repercussion Mukti committed suicide and most probably her love interest took revenge by planning that accident. How hard you tried to guard your friend; the actual truth took his life and our bond broke. Did you succeed in saving our notorious 5 bond.? Did you succeed in saving Abhi? Will you succeed in keeping Nandini with you by making yourself the target?"

Aryamaan eyes Manik's beaming orbs while facing him hostilely. They keep on staring at each other for some moments. Both are not ready to step down from their opinion. Manik grits out,

"I can even destroy myself to keep her with me because, without her, this life doesn't have any meaning. Either she will be with me or I will be nowhere. Arrange the meeting. In any case, you were dying to get me along with you. Now, what happened? Brotherly love overpowers the mafia's mind?"

Again, some moments of pin-drop silence engulf the surrounding and then Aryamaan mutters without shifting his eyes from Manik's face,

"I knew that love is dangerous but today I came to know that love is destructive. It will finish you one day. Welcome to my world. officially."

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

As Manik drives out of Khurana office premises, a car stops his way with a loud screech. If Manik had been with full pickup, his car would have collided with it. Letting out an abuse, he peeks out his head of the car window,

"Hey, Dick head! Couldn't you find any other car to get killed?"

In reply, the person from another car takes out his head and retorts,

"I happily chose to get killed by my friend. But before that, let's go for a coffee date."

The smile of the person contagions Manik too. He mumbles with curved lips.

"Dhruv"

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

Half an hour passed and they are sitting in a rooftop café sipping on hot coffee. Manik's eyes fall on Dhruv's hand. There is a bandage tied to it.

"What happened to your hand?"

Manik asks. Dhruv casually glimpses at it and mouths,

"Nothing...just tried to cut an apple but I am really worthless."

He giggles. Manik replies absentmindedly,

"Hmmmm...even Arya cut his hand. By the way, did you come to meet Arya? Did I play the third wheel?"

He concludes with a pleasant smile. Dhruv winks and retorts,

"Maybe...but never mind. I can catch up with him some other time."

"Hmmmm..."

Manik hums and adds after a brief pause,

"Dhruv, will you give me a genuine answer?"

His eyes are narrowed with foretaste. Dhruv nods with folded lips.

"Did you know that it was Abhi who spread that video of Mukti and not me?"

Manik abruptly asks. Dhruv sips on his coffee and turns to look outside. After some seconds, his reply comes,

"All 5 notorious knew it. You failed to guard Abhi."

Author's note: The cloud of mystery is getting removed bit by bit. Did Manik do right by joining the Mafia world actively? Will it affect his relationship with Nandini? A new secret of Notorious 5's past life got revealed. Will it divulge more secrets? We will get to know. Till then, keep reading.  🤗🤗