Following

39

Manik, Cabir and Mr Malhotra boarded the flight. Manik and Cabir were speculating how they wanted to reveal to their friends that they were alive. In the three months, they did not contact them, and they did not know in what state they will find them. They did not know what to expect and how will all of them react. The 11 hours in the flight were very difficult for Manik and Cabir to pass.

The flight landed at 7 pm, and with that, their hearts were thumping hard. They were very excited to meet their friends after a very long time. They could not stop smiling when the moist, fresh air of Mumbai touched their faces. They have grown up in Mumbai, and it was as if they had come back home, which they had.

Mr Malhotra decided to go to the Malhotra mansion and visit the police station in the morning to sort Manik and Cabir's disappearance. Whereas, Manik and Cabir wanted to meet everybody no matter what time it was.  They decided to surprise everybody and took little help from Mr Malhotra.  They asked Mr Malhotra to call Alya, Dhruv, Mukti, Navya and Nandini separately to come to college on the pretence that he had something very important to discuss regarding the accident. Manik and Cabir were sure that they would come running to the college. Manik and Cabir went to Space to make arrangements for the surprise.

Mr Malhotra, as requested, made the calls and dropped a message to Nandini as her number was unreachable. He asked the other four to meet him urgently at the space academy. They did a conference call.

"Guys, did you also get a call?" Mukti asked everybody on the call

"Yeah, Manik's dad called me too," Alya affirmed

"He sounded worried ", Dhruv added, "I think we should go."

"You are right, Dhruv. I hope everything is fine," Navya said, worried.

"But why again. It is already challenging to move on, and this keeps haunting us back. I am drained now," Mukti complained.

"it's okay, Mukti. Manik's dad genuinely sounded concerned, and we should be there for him" Alya tried to sound convincing.

"Okay, then let's meet at college in 20," Dhruv said, and everybody cut the call and left from their respective houses to reach college as soon as possible.

They met at the college entrance and were shocked to find the college doors open. The college doors were never open at night, and the guard let them in without any questions, just like the old times when FAB5 used to shout arrogance and confidence from everything they did.

Another shock awaited them when they found the college lit at night time.

"What is this? Why is the college not closed today?" Mukti was sceptical as they entered the main building of the college.

"And where are we supposed to meet Manik's dad? I hope this is not somebody's prank?" Alya raised her doubts.

They could hear distant music being played somewhere and were utterly bewildered. Dhruv decided to make a call to Mr Malhotra as they followed the source of the music. Mr Malhotra's phone was unreachable.

"The music is coming from the FAB5 jam room", Navya confirmed.

"But that room has not been used since the ac..." Mukti could not complete

"Accident" Alya did it for her "guys; we need to check. Something is fishy out here."

They ran to take the stairs to reach the Jam room. The music was getting louder and clearer as they approached the Jam room. The drums and the guitar were from the last song they played at the talent Hunt, and the voice was Manik's voice. The moment they heard Manik's voice, they stopped in their tracks. Their heartbeats were racing, and heart was ready to fall out. They looked at each other, eyes wide open. They slowly approached the Jam room, trying not to make any sound. Mukti pushed the door and entered, and the other followed. They were shocked to find a guy behind Caibr's drums and another guy using Manik's guitar and to sing in his voice.