Chapter 6: A Hundred Rejections

The car tore down the highway, ropes chafing my wrists until they bled. The police cars soon lost us in the rain.

The kidnapper sneered. "Stop looking, no one’s coming for you."

He switched on the radio. Priya’s interview played, her voice fragile: "I heard the kidnapper say to meet in the south, please save her." But we were racing north. The police were tricked.

He dragged me to a rundown house, knife glinting. "Priya’s much prettier than you. I don’t know what Arjun sees in you."

Even a fool could see they were in this together.

I dodged. "Please, let me make a call."

He scoffed. "Call who? Your inspector? Dream on."

"Call Arjun."

He laughed, kicked me, and pressed my phone to my face. "Officer Meera, you’re love-crazy! You think you matter that much to Arjun?"

He dialed, hung up, dialed, hung up—amused by my growing despair. But I didn’t give him the satisfaction.

Anger twisted his face. He stabbed me in the back. Pain shot through me, white-hot. In that split second, Amma’s hands flashed before my eyes—how she’d gently massage my bruised knees after school, her voice soft with comfort. The memory anchored me, just for a moment.

He pressed close, breath hot on my ear. "Let’s play a game. Tell Arjun your location. If he can’t get here in half an hour, you’ll bleed out."

Warm blood soaked my khaki uniform. The call finally connected.

Arjun’s voice was icy. "What is it?"

My teeth chattered. "He’s in the north—"

"Who?"

"The suspect. He kidnapped me, I’m with him."

He was silent, then, voice flat and unfeeling: "Meera, is this fun for you?"

Blood filled my mouth. "Arjun—"

"Enough. Priya is my bottom line. Don’t use her to test me. If you’re jealous, stay in your north. I never asked you to risk your life for her."

The knife plunged in again. My vision blurred.

"It hurts," I whimpered, desperate. "Arjun, will you marry me? Come find me, please?"

A pause, then his voice, cold as stone: "Priya is pregnant. Everything I said before is void."

[Beep. Mission objective achieved. Rejected by the male lead a hundred times.]

[Congratulations, host, mission complete.]

[Reward is being settled...]

[Settlement complete.]

[This mission’s reward: 80 million, severe injury compensation: 30 million, total 110 million. Special reward: talent point. Police intuition. Countdown 3 seconds, about to leave the world. Welcome back to the real world, wish you a happy life.]

Darkness faded. I was holding a bouquet of marigolds. The sharp scent of wet earth after rain filled my lungs. Sunlight filtered through the neem trees, dappling my starched khaki. The rustle of my uniform, the echo of my batchmates’ laughter—all of it achingly real, achingly mine.

I remembered that summer after graduating from the police academy. My senior had come to my ceremony, hand outstretched, eyes warm. "I heard you helped the teacher solve some big cases. Can we get to know each other?"

The sparrows chirped above, the aroma of samosas drifted from the canteen, and the sunlight danced on my shoulders. Here, even after all that pain, a new life was waiting. Maybe this time, the story would be mine.