6 - The Fight

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|| THE FIGHT  ||

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SARA knew that this was a do or die situation for her. Once she spotted the intruder's silhouette come close enough, and before he could even reach out for the handle of Neil's door, Sara struck him with a stick as hard as she could.

A blood-curdling shriek rang throughout the mansion and the intruder stumbled to the ground, holding his head between his hands.

The sound of doors being opened and clutters of urgent footsteps sounded in the air. Perhaps the shrill wailing from the intruder had woken everybody up from their slumber.

As if magically, the lights came on. Sara still had the stick in her hands lest the intruder tried to pull any unwanted stunt.

But she need not have worried. The intruder still lay on the floor, doubled down in pain.

It was a woman, she could tell, from her high-pitched voice and from her long, golden tresses which were sprawled across the floor.

So what if she was a woman? Sara wasn't going to act lenient and let her get away with this. Gender equality was a thing and Sara firmly believed in that.

So she pulled the intruder up by her hair, making her scream even more.

Sara blinked in awe when she finally got a glimpse of the woman's face. She was so, so damn beautiful. The kind of beauty that romance writers often described in their books.

Sara could vouch that had she not been strictly straight, then she'd have fallen for this gorgeous lass with sea-green eyes, golden tresses and sparkling complexion, right then and there.

Sara suddenly started feeling a little envious too. Normally very satisfied with her appearance, now it seemed like her confidence had received a big, fat blow. She suddenly began to feel 'not-so-beautiful'.

The anonymous woman struggled wildly against her grip before spitting at Sara's face.

"Leave me, you bitch!"

Whatever trance the woman's beauty had trapped Sara into, was broken the moment those words flew from her mouth.

External beauty could keep you attracted for a while, but it was always internal beauty that stayed on.

"Must appreciate that your confidence hasn't gone down even after getting caught red-handed in the act," said Sara as she tightened her hold on the girl. Sara might look delicate and fragile from outside, but she was quite strong actually. "And no bitch, I'm not going to leave you so easily."

"You!"

The door swung open and Neil emerged out of his room. His hair was damp and it seemed like he had just walked out of a shower.

"What the hell is going on over here?" he said without even looking and when he finally saw the sight before him, he did a double take.

"Well, I've caught the person who was trying to harm you," said Sara very proudly. Her fingers dug into the woman's skin, making her wince even more.

"Ishika!" Neil gasped.

"Neil! Save me from this mad girl!" The woman named Ishika cried out.

Sara was so surprised to see that Neil knew this woman, that she reflexively let her free.

Ishika lost no time in latching herself to Neil, tugging at his shirt and crying out as loud as she could. Initially a little too stiff, Neil awkwardly patted her back in order to comfort her.

"You both know each other?" asked Sara, still quite surprised.

"Of course, they know each other."

A shrill, annoyed voice came from behind and Sara instantly recognized it to belong to Kaamna, Neil's very pretentious mother.

Dressed in her satin night gown and messy hair, Kaamna looked thoroughly displeased at having her sleep disturbed. Beside her stood her ever so obedient but at the moment sulking husband, Shirish.

"Ishika is Neil's fiancée. How could you raise your hand on her and ill-treat her so badly?"

Sara's mouth fell open. Neil had a fiancée? Really? Why did no one ever tell her this?

Her gaze rapidly flicked between Kaamna, Neil and the woman he was comforting in his arms, Ishika.

"She hit me with a stick!" Ishika started wailing even more. "And then pulled my hair like an animal! Like who does this?"

This angered Kaamna and she seethed. "How dare you harm our would-be daughter-in-law? Do you know whose daughter you've laid your filthy finger on?"

Ignoring Kaamna, Sara turned back to Neil. He was still rubbing Ishika's head, back and what not while she kept clinging to him as tightly as she could.

Sara felt jealous.

"Just because she's your fiancée, doesn't mean she isn't the one behind your life. In fact even in 'Till My Last Breath', the evil sister had also tried to kill off her own fiancé!" Sara clapped as she made the connection.

"What bullshit is that? Doesn't make any sense!" Neil grunted and finally pulled away from Ishika. Which for some reason seemed to relieve Sara.

"Oh it does," said Sara defiantly. "Why don't you ask this darling fiancée of yours then as to why the hell she was sneaking inside your house in the middle of the night like one guilty criminal?"

Before Neil could say anything to that, Ishika beat him to it.

"Oh c'mon! I am Neil's fiancée for crying out loud. I can come to his house at any freaking time and I don't need anyone's permission for that, okay?" Ishika snapped haughtily. "Besides, as soon as I got to know that Neil has taken a fancy to a new girl and has even asked her to stay at his place, I couldn't resist myself any longer. I had to find out what exactly was going on between Neil and this wannabe girl."

Neil's thick eyebrows furrowed together. "Wait. Who told you about me appointing a new female intern?"

"Your brother, Mayank did!" exclaimed Ishika. "He even said that the new girl was pretty and that I should feel threatened."

Just then, Mayank walked up with a loud yawn. "What's happening guys? Anything wrong? I hope I haven't missed too much of drama," he chuckled but instantly shut up when he found his family shooting accusing stares at him.

On top of that Neil's silent, deadly glare was enough to make Mayank want to hide under covers.

"Alright Sara," Kaamna began, tapping her foot on the floor. "What do you have to say for yourself, huh?"

"What's there to say anyways? How was I supposed to know that the person trying to barge into Neil's room in the dead of the night was his fiancée? Heck, I didn't even know he was engaged. But that's not the point." Sara paused to catch her breath. "The point is that I automatically assumed that the person breaking into his room was the same one who had planned the previous attack on him."

"So you say that you saw someone trying to enter into Neil's room?"

"Yes."

"But my question to you is that what on earth were you doing outside Neil's room so late in the night? It's not that you could have known well in advance that someone was going to sneak into Neil's room, right?"

"Oh. I saw that in my vis-" Sara immediately slammed a palm to her mouth. She was almost going to let the secret out! How could she be so careless?

She stole a glance at Neil who was disappointedly shaking her head at her.

Loudmouthed, crazy and dumb. Sara could literally read the disregard for herself in his eyes.

Kaamna continued to hound her with her questions. "You saw what? And where?"

Sara didn't know what to say. Her mind had gone on a mini vacation and couldn't come with any legitimate excuse.

Ishika stepped forward, her eyes blazing. "I think I know what she was doing outside Neil's room," pointing a finger at her, "She has her eyes on Neil! She wants to snatch him from me!"

Kaamna grunted in approval, as if this was what she had expected from Sara all along. Mayank could be heard chuckling to himself quietly. He was actually enjoying this drama way too much. Shirish thought it was best for a man to stay out of women's matters and remained zipped up.

And Neil just stood there, stupidly wondering as to why was he even alive.

"Oh hello. I agree I'm crazy, but not so crazy that I'd see Neil in 'that' way," Sara retorted. "Besides, I have eyes only and only for one man, that is, Aditya."

"Who the heck is Aditya?" asked Mayank.

Sara jerked her head in his direction. "What? You don't know who ADITYA is? Are you serious? He's the protagonist from Neil's most popular book 'Till My Last Breath'!"

"Oh. How'd I know that when I haven't read any of Neil's books? In fact I can bet even Mom and Dad haven't read his works," Mayank laughed loudly as it was the funniest thing in the world.

Sara opened and closed her mouth quickly. "The whole world celebrates Neil's works and his own family hasn't read a single book by him? How's it even legal?"

"Shut up, okay!" blasted Neil. "And stop mentioning my book over and over again. At this rate, you'll end up making me hate my own characters and stories!"

Neil felt upset. Even though he wasn't even the least interested in Sara, yet the fact that she preferred a fictional character written by him more than himself, did not sit very well with him. It was hypocritical of women to fangirl over sweet boys in fiction, while in real life they conveniently ran behind the bad boys.

Also the fact of his family enjoying the money his books brought in, yet never caring to read or appreciate any of them was out in the open in front of an outsider, angered him further.

It was Kaamna who spoke up again. "We are still waiting to know what you were doing outside Neil's room at this hour of time, Sara. We don't have all night."

Sara nervously bit her lip. Why didn't her mind work when she really wanted it to?

Thankfully, Neil jumped into her rescue at the right time. "Oh yeah. I forgot to say this earlier but I had called Sara to my room for some work."

Ishika was mortified with the info. "Why would you call her to your room at NIGHT? Are you having an affair with her?"

"What, no!" Neil said annoyedly. He ran a hand down his face. He was so done with all of them. "You know it's usually at night that I brainstorm ideas for my stories. Since Sara's my intern, I decided to call her over to discuss some possible plotlines that were beginning to form in my head. When Sara took more time than ever, I thought of enjoying a warm shower until then," with a pause, "And the events after that, you know."

Sara sighed in relief. Neil may be a jerk, but at least he was creative enough to come up with good excuses every time she was stuck in a spot.

"Can't believe our sleep got ruined because of this girl's foolishness," huffed Kaamna. "C'mon Shirish, let's go."

When Kaamna hooked her arm with her husband's and turned to leave, that's when Sara spotted something bright red on the side of Kaamna's neck. It was a hickey.

Sara tried not to laugh. No wonder Kaamna had gotten so upset at 'being disturbed'.

There wasn't anything wrong in old people making love to each other in their age. But for some reason Sara found it funny.

"Let's call it a night then," Mayank announced with a much louder yawn than before and began heading towards his own room.

Sara didn't want to play gooseberry and left the scene, clearly not having even the slightest intention to 'come between the couple'.

"Can't believe that Neil has a fiancée," she grumbled to herself, not really knowing why this piece of news was bothering her so much.

Once she was gone, Ishika slid a finger down Neil's cheek. "Baby, I don't think I can go back home at this odd time. I'd have to spend the night in your room."

Neil went pale. He wanted to tell her to take up one of the other spare rooms in the mansion but swallowed back the words. As an engaged couple, it was considered absolutely fine by his family to share the room with Ishika. He didn't want to raise any doubts that he was unhappy with his relation with Ishika.

Besides he never believed in the concept of love. So might as well marry that girl whom his mother had chosen for him?

He brushed Ishika's hands away from him. The idea of having her in the same room as his was scary. He hadn't forgotten all those times when Ishika had pratically thrown herself at him and he had managed to reject her advances with a lot of difficulty.

"You look so tired and...a little injured too. Why don't you take a bath first? While I go and grab some first aid for you?

"Fine with me," said Ishika. Fluttering her lashes, "Comd back soon."

Neil gulped and ran away like a bolt of lightning.

●◉◎◈◎◉●

SARA had to pass through the garden again to go back to the guesthouse where she and her mother were staying currently at.

She heard Neil's soft footsteps hurrying after her and calling her out.


"Hey listen! We need to talk."

Sara paid no heed and continued walking faster.

"For heaven's sake, just stop, girl."

That was the final straw for Sara and she spun around, her eyes spitting fire.

"Get this straight, okay! Just because I'm supposed to act as your intern and you as my Boss, doesn't mean that you'd treat me like this," waving a finger back and forth between him and her, "I've a God damn name. So address me respectfully with my name rather than referring me as 'girl, woman' or any other obnoxious terms."

Neil took a deep breath. "Alright. Sara. Will that do?"

Neil realized that this was the very first time that he had taken Sara's name on his lips. The effortless way in which her name rolled off his tongue, gave him a strange feeling of satisfaction.

"So," he cleared his throat. "What was all that about?"

"What do you mean by 'what was all that about'?" Sara became angry. "I had a vision and was on my way to save you from any possible danger."

"Of course, woman-" Neil corrected himself, "Of course, Sara. I know that you had a vision," looking around to make sure no one was in the vicinity, "But we don't have to scream and announce it to the whole world. We can very well do with talking around riddles."

Sara considered this. "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"What did you see?"

She narrated the latest vision she had seen more than an hour ago. "Darkness all around. And someone trying to enter your room."

Neil frowned a little. "I don't understand. Like Ishika coming into my room wasn't even a life-threatening event. Then why would you get a vision about this?"

"Even I don't understand this," admitted Sara. "Also, I'm not extremely experienced in this area. I'm just a newbie, still trying to make peace with the fact that I've some special powers. I'm also learning something new every single day along with you. So yeah."

Neil pondered over it. "Hmmm. I think there's no hard and fast rule that you'll be getting visions only related to life-threatening or important events. It could be anything."

"Or maybe Ishika does really want to harm you but you can't seem to see through her facade," said Sara rather too sharply. She was trying her best to keep the pangs of jealousy under cover. She didn't even know why she was feeling this way in the first place.

"Don't tell me you still doubt Ishika. She'd never want to harm me. She doesn't even have any reason," said Neil.

Sara was almost going to start her rant about how even in 'Till My Last Breath', Preeti's sister was initially shown to be innocent but later on her true colours came out in the open. But she knew that bringing up the book and it's characters for the 2nd in the row on a single night would surely irk Neil to the core.

"What if Ishika loves someone else? And killing you is the only option in her eyes to have you out of her and her lover's way?" suggested Sara.

"I wish that was true and Ishika really had some other man on her mind," Neil muttered under his breath.

However, it was loud enough to be heard by Sara. Surprised, she arched a brow. "You don't like Ishika, do you?"

Neil remained silent.

"Don't tell me that Ishika is more of your family's choice rather than your own."

"That's my personal matter. I don't want to talk about that," he said.

The wind blew gently, causing a few of her locks to slip away from her bun.

"But I'm happy that your choice of a girl is not a typical, bitchy one. You seem to have a good taste in women," she said with a twinkle in her eye.

She thought Neil smiled but it was so subtle that she couldn't make out if it was for real or not. He actually had a good smile.

"Also can I just say that your fiancée is super hot?"

"Huh?"

"She's rude and ill-mannered though. But if she was sweet natured and if I was homo or bi, I swear I'd have lost my heart to her already," finished Sara.

Neil just gaped at her. Was she for real?

"You know what, you're impossible!"

"Impossible says 'I'm possible'," countered Sara.

"Cliché but whatever," Neil said with a look of contempt. "Anyways, you need to wake up early tomorrow because we're going somewhere."

"Where to?"

"To the film set of 'Till My Last Breath'."

Sara couldn't believe what she had heard.

"Wait, you are going to take me to a FILM SET? Like an actual, real film set? And I'm going to see my favourite book being made into a film? And I can see who gets to play the main leads, especially Aditya? Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!"

Sara was so excited at the prospect that she started jumping around, causing her neatly wrapped stole around her frame to fall off.

She was now clad in a night dress with an extremely plunging neckline held in place by only a pair of thin straps.

Neil was so shocked that he couldn't even take his eyes off.

Her cheeks having turned red with shame, Sara quickly picked up the stole and draped it back around her shoulders.

"W-why were you staring at me?" she asked, or rather accused him.

"I-I wasn't staring at you, okay," he became defensive. "You're just giving yourself far too much importance. I was neither ever interested in you, nor will I ever be in the future. Besides, when I already have an extremely hot fiancée in Ishika, why will I take any notice of you?"

Sara stood there fuming while Neil walked away with a head held high. He had passed a snarky remark Sara in return of her accusation. His ego was satisfied.

●◉◎◈◎◉●

KAPOOR FILM SETS

A huge board with big, bold letters hung outside the place.

Not only was Sara a book buff but she was a movie buff too. So standing at the same place where hundreds of big movies had been made, felt surreal.

Kapoor Filmhouse had been founded by the visionary Jayesh Kapoor in the 1990's. And since then, it had made many blockbuster movies and had even given wings to many of the famous actors' and actresses' careers.

Once inside, Sara felt like she was transformed to a completely different world. She couldn't count but there were more than 100 people in total.

There were lights and cameras everywhere and other devices too which Sara couldn't identify. She was having a hard time not tripping over the wires that haphazardly lay all across the floor.

Props were being arranged, scripts were being printed and handed around. Makeup artists hurried with their huge makeup kits to where a group of people, presumably the supporting actors was seated at. A spotboy ran from one corner to another, serving tea, samosas and other snacks to the rest of the crew.

Sara was so lost in this world that she didn't even see where she was walking and ran straight into a pile of chairs causing all of them to

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