Besabriyaan

Chapter 24

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

The security guard who beheld the key to the CCTV room, nodded in a no.

12,000

Manik placed another pink crispy note on the stool before throwing a sharp look at the middle aged bald man who still was in denial. I stood behind Manik biting the inner walls of my cheeks not comprehending the drama going on. Bribing is a crime. Papa would've been so disappointed had he known what his learned daughter was up to.

Taking another note out of his pricey wallet, Manik added it to the bunch of notes and snapped his head up at the man who shook his head curling his lower lip.

Manik sighed.

"Sir, this is wrong. Why not humbly request him, yeah?" I whispered near him.

Ignoring my suggestion, he rolled his eyes for the hundredth time that night and raised his brows at the man who rejected his proposal all over again. Manik understandably nodded putting back the notes he was about to pull out and folding his wallet tucked that inside his back pocket. My eyes kept moving to and fro between the guard and the time bomb aka Manik Malhotra.

Manik took a step ahead and the smug smile on that man's face fell flat as the former rested his palm on the guard's shoulder, coolly. Honestly, I wasn't worried about a scene being created there because Manik Malhotra would never do that but I was worried about that man. Truly.

Manik rested his other palm on the guard's other shoulder and smiled "One more time that neck says a no and all these offered money will be put into medicinal usage, take it from me." The man gulped and I widened my eyes.

The way he threatened wasn't cruel or scary or shit like that but that daunting tension built around screamed how much he actually meant every fucking word. It was soft yet rigid, focussed yet commanding. Manik smiled at the man again dusting the invisible dust off the man's shoulders and stepped back.

The man took a step back and rubbed fingers on his throat because he might've lost his voice in apprehension, couldn't blame him though. In fact, I felt deeply sorry because one, we were wrong and two, the wrong way in which we're doing the wrong. Not relying on his ditching voice, the man bunched the money from the stool and inserted in his chest pocket and nodded at us.

"You're very kind." Manik smiled at him and I shook my head at Manik.

The man walked ahead of us unlocking the record room whilst I stood there crushing pebbles under my heels grabbing Manik's attention.

"Do I have to bribe you too now?" He huffed standing beside me.

"It's..it's wrong." I muttered. Honestly, I lied. I was skeptic about searching into the records fearing to see something that I'd regret forever.

"God, you should come with some instruction manual" Rolling his eyes at me, he stepped towards the room dipping both of his hands inside his pockets.

❃

The room was tiny and unlike I imagined wasn't stuffed with mini cameras like those in high end places. There were few controlling devices and desktop computer kept on the table and the light of the room was feeble to feebler.