Kaisi yeh Yaariyan Season 3

Chapter 17

It had been a long day. So much had happened within a span of 24 hours that Nandini was having a hard time, letting it all sink in. It was still pitch dark outside. Manik had left, even Neel had left after dropping Navya at the hospital. She had called Chachi, lying to her that she was spending the night at Navya's flat whereas in reality, she was lying on the hospital bed, with the saline drip still on. Navya had cuddled up on the guest sofa.

She felt sorry for Navya. For a week now Navya had been hosting two shows, one that was hers and the other late night show she had volunteered to host to cover for her sick colleague. She must have been dead tired but not once did she show it. She dropped everything at hand to rush to be at the hospital.

While the rest of the world was fast asleep, Nandini lay awake. Despite Navya being in the same room, she felt overwhelmingly lonely. The last three years flashed in front of her eyes, how the initial shock at Manik's unexplained departure, had eventually turned into worry and then intense anger and hatred over the years. How the famous FAB5 which was as famous for their music as for their friendship, fell out and crumbled to pieces, how Nyonika tried every trick in her book to mess up her life & how she was trapped by Neel. She would have fought through this and more if Manik hadn't deserted her. Together they would have seen through every difficulty, and that was her biggest regret... that they weren't together.

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Flashback: 3 years ago on New Year:

It was pouring heavily outside on the unusually cold evening. Being the first day of the year, it was a holiday and people all around were in a celebratory mood. Nandini was packing her bags with one hand & wiping away her tears with the other. She had had a huge argument with Amms over the phone. Accompanying Manik to Denmark for his treatment was an impulsive decision and Nandini was adamant about it. She didn't care how her relatives or neighbours would react once they came to know she was going with her boyfriend. She didn't care that she had to leave her studies halfway. She didn't know how long it would take for the treatment to complete, she didn't know how difficult it would be to sustain in another country, she didn't even know whether despite everything, doctors would be able to save his memory, but none of it mattered to her. The one and only thing that did was her love for Manik.

But Amms wouldn't understand any of it. Even Nandini's uncle was sceptical. It was one thing to know that she had a boyfriend but to let her go to another country alone with him was a different ballgame all together. On top of that Manik's father was sponsoring everything because Nandini's uncle even if he wanted to, couldn't afford the expenses. Nandini had always been a docile child. Family meant a lot to her, especially after she lost her parents in an accident. But this one time she had to defy even at the cost of disappointing her Amms and uncle.

Their flight was at 11pm. It was half past 7. Manik would be here anytime, Nandini thought. But when he didn't arrive even by 8, she started getting worried. She called him once twice..a total of 10 times but each time she would get the same message 'The number you have dialed is currently out of service.'

Nandini tried to recall the last time she had spoken to him. The night before, she panicked. On any other day, they call each other several times throughout a day but today she was so busy with the packing and arrangements, they hadn't spoken even once. 'Was he ok?' She wondered.

Time was slipping away. One by one Navya, Dhruv, Alya, Mukti and Aryaman called her. They were all at the airport waiting to see them off. She asked the Fab 4 to wait at the airport while she took a taxi to Manik's home. She had a gut feeling that something was wrong. But nothing in the world could have prepared her for what she was about to witness.

When she reached Manik's home, Manik wasn't there.

Panicking she asked one of the servants "Bhaiya Manik kahan hai, hamari flight hai in 2 hours."

Servant: "Manik baba to chale gaye. Unki flight to 6 baje thi."

Nandini: "Bhaiya yeh mazak ka waqt nahi hai, please Manik ko bula do nahi to flight miss ho jayegi."

Servant: "Aap mera yakin karo, main khud unko airport chor aya tha sham ko."

Nandini totally lost it. Despite their telling her that he had left she couldn't get herself to believe them. Manik couldn't do something like this. She dashed upstairs to Manik's room. It was empty. She shouted his name but no one responded. His luggage too was missing. She opened the drawers and all the clothes had been packed away. Manik had indeed gone somewhere. Her first thought was 'Nyonika'. She must have done something. But no matter what she intended to do Manik would never leave just like that after having promised to go together. She called Fab4 and they all came rushing to Manik's place.

11 pm came and went, there was no trace of Manik anywhere. Dhruv called Manik's dad and put the phone on speaker.

"Uncle Manik kahan hain? Manik aur Nandini aaj fly karne wale the Denmark par uska koi ata pata hi nahi."

Mr. Malhotra: "Nandini ??? Manik ne to Nandini ka nam bhi zikar nahi kiya tha. Tickets bhi khali Manik ke hi book huye the and 6 pm ke. Who to chala gaya."

They all were speechless not knowing exactly how to react.

Dhruv: "Uncle Manik ka contact number hai kya aap ke pas? Uska old number to nahi lag raha."

Mr. Malhotra "Dekho Dhruv, tum jante ho main Manik ke personal mamlon mein interfere nahi karta. Agar jane se pehle usne tumlogon se contact nahi kiya to iska matlab who tumse contact nahi karna chahta. Leave him alone. Waise bhi who who beemar hai and ekbar tum logon ki wajah se , especially that Nandini he self discharged himself from the hospital. Aaj wooh jo bhi suffer kar raha hai uski wajah se. So please stay away from him."

Each one of them was shocked to their bones except Nandini, who remained in denial. She kept waiting for Manik's call..days rolled into weeks, weeks into months and months into years but Manik never called...until today.

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Nandini started shivering, these memories had pushed her down a bottomless abyss. She just couldn't control her tears. Her loud sobs woke up Navya. She immediately got up and hugged Nandini in a tight embrace, massaging her back as if she were a kid. Nandini wanted to tell her everything and get this load off her chest. But she couldn't. She only kept crying and Navya kept consoling her till she got exhausted and fell asleep.