Reality Ever After

Part 28. Mad At (About) You

Hey guys, I'm so so so overwhelmed with all your comments on the previous chapter. I loved reading each and every one of them. All of you poured out your feelings about the chapter and it made me feel so good. I was actually happily exhausted trying to respond to each one of you. Thank you thank you thank you for all the love ❤️
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Alya, Mukti, Cabir and Dhruv were all still recovering from the whole debacle. They didn't know how to react to the entire situation. They didn't know if they were feeling betrayed, insecure, hurt, guilty or angry. Or maybe all of the above.
Mukti - What the hell guys. How the hell could Nandini say this? Woh samajhti kya hai apne aap ko? Just because woh Manik ki girlfriend hai, she can say anything to us? Use kya pata what all we have gone through in our childhood. Who the hell is she to judge us.
Cabir - Tune jo uske parents ke baare mein bola. That was not cool either Mukti. That was stooping really low.
Mukti - Look, I understand the way I said it was wrong. But usme galat kuch nahi tha. It's a fact that she doesn't have to deal with psychotic parents like ours. But usne dekha kya bola. She totally judged us for being rich spoiled kids who live off our parents' money. What does she think of herself?
Cabir - Look, I don't care Nandini ne kya kaha aur kya nahi. She's nobody to judge us. Mujhe toh yeh baat weird lag rahi hai ki Manik business pursue karne ke liye kaise maan gaya. Hum sab ne bachpan se sirf ek hi sapna dekha hai and that is FAB5. How the hell did he agree to this?
Mukti - Of course Nandini ne usko convince kiya hoga. Waise bhi Manik apni kahaan sunta hai aajkal. Dhruv sahi kehta tha. Manik ke life mein Nandini se zyaada koi important nahi hai.
Dhruv - Isse toh accha hota ki humne album hi launch nahi kiya hota.
Alya - Guys relax. We're jumping to conclusions. Let's talk to Manik first.
Cabir - What are you talking about Alya. Didn't all of us ask him the same thing some time ago.
Alya - Yes Cabir. But things got out of hand that time. Let's talk to him properly.
Cabir - If he really wanted to talk to us, he would've told us himself. Agar yeh baat Nandini ne nahi boli hoti toh hume pata hi nahi chalta. I can't believe Manik did this.

Just then Manik walked in. His whole head was a mess. In all the ruckus that was going on, he had landed up hurting Nandini by saying the meanest things to her. He would've followed her and apologised and not let her go till she forgave him. But something in him didn't let him do so. As he was equally hurt with what Nandini had done. Not only had she blurted out something she wasn't supposed to but she had also said something absolutely judgemental about his way of life. He couldn't believe Nandini judged him for who he was and somewhere looked down upon him as a 'poor little rich but ungrateful kid'. However, he put all his feelings about Nandini at bay for now. He didn't want to think about this until he had cleared his head. But he knew he had to speak to his friends to get a few things cleared first. He would deal with one problem at a time and he decided he would speak to his friends first as solving anything with Nandini currently was a wasted attempt. Neither he or she are in the right state of mind currently and he didn't want the matter to escalate further than it already had. He walked back towards the jam room to hear his friends discussing him. And as usual, the topic went back to how Nandini was more important to him than FAB5. And this time, it was Mukti who said that. He was absolutely tired of this now. How many times would he have to explain to these guys on how Nandini didn't influence every decision in his life. Yes, he was considering business as a backup option but not because Nandini wanted it but only because she made him see that he may be good at it. All he needed was time to figure out if this was in fact true or not but this whole thing blew out of proportion before that. Just when he finally heard Cabir say that he didn't expect Manik to hide this, he decided to intervene and have a clear, transparent conversation.
Manik - Guys, listen.
Dhruv - Ab sunne ke liye bacha hi kya hai Manik?
Manik - Listen, I know I should've told you guys this before. But tum log album ki offers ki wajah se already bohot upset the, that's why I thought it was better not to tell you then. I'm sorry. And the other reason was also because I was not sure. I still am not sure if I want to pursue this business thing or not. And I didn't want all of you to stress about it until I didn't decide it myself.
Cabir - Please Manik. Ab bahaane mat bana. I can't believe tu apne Dad ki baaton mein aa gaya.
Manik - Nahi Cabir. Main kisi ke bhi baaton mein nahi aaya hoon. Mujhe Dad aur Nandini ne sirf ek different perspective se dikhaane ki koshish ki hai about the fact that I may have some calibre about business. But neither of them have asked me to quit FAB5. Both of them are just saying that I should have a Plan B. What if we can't make it? Koi toh career option hona chahiye na. What will we do if we don't make it big?
Mukti - Manik, tujhe bhi pata hai we're so good. Aaj nahi toh kal we'll make it. Tu toh pehle hi album launch ke baad exit maarne ki soch raha hai.
Manik - Main koi exit nahi maar raha hoon yaar. Can't you see me trying to make this work? Yeh saari mehnat kar toh rahe hai hum. I really want us to be successful too.
Alya - Toh phir yeh backup plan ke baare mein sochna bhi kyu hai? Just have faith that we'll do it.
Cabir - Abhi toh aisa lag raha hai that you don't believe that we will make it at all. Isiliye tu already doosre options dhoond raha hai.
Mukti - I know. You know we have the talent, you know we're so good. Of course we'll make it.
Manik - Sirf talent kaafi nahi hai to make it big here. All of us have to be equally committed to this. We have to ensure our personal lives and personal differences don't get in between the band business. Apart from all that, we need to see humein kaun sign karta hai. If we even get to play the genre we like to play, the right marketing, the right PR, the money and god knows what all. Get real guys. There are multiple things that can go wrong. Aur iss uncertainty mein agar humaare paas koi backup plan hai toh humaare liye hi accha hai na?
Dhruv - Mujhe toh ab lagta hai tu hi bahaane dhund raha hai yeh sab bol ke. Agar yahaan tak pohoche hai toh aage bhi figure out kar hi lenge.
Manik - Main bahaane nahi maar raha hoon guys. I'm serious. This is not college and our audience is not just the students of SPACE. You saw what happened after the album launch. All of us didn't get equal offers. There's a high chance this might not work. Why don't you all get it? Music labels don't want to sign bands. And I don't see anything wrong with that. Look at all of us. Hum ek dusre ko bachpan se jaante hai and we're best friends but still there are so many differences between us. Of course music labels will find it risky to invest in us.
Manik's patience was wearing thin now. He wasn't in the right state of mind anyway because his fight with Nandini and his friends were not helping him at all.
Mukti - Kuch bhi mat bol Manik. Everything was just fine before your girlfriend decided to shit all over it. Usne tujhe convince kiya and now you want to leave FAB5 to do business.
Alya - And don't try to rub it off on us that we didn't get offers and you did.
Manik - God. Where the hell is this conversation going! You know what guys, I cannot explain myself anymore. I don't want to rub off anything on you guys. I was, in fact, trying to protect you from being hurt about it. And Mukti, if you think everything was okay before Nandini convinced me then let me give you a list of things which aren't right between us. Alya and Dhruv aren't talking to each other. Dhruv and I aren't talking to each other. And forget talking to each other, he hasn't had the audacity to come and even say sorry after that argument we both had. And I'm not sure usne Alya ko bhi apologise kiya hai ya nahi. Cabir has decided to support Navya until she gives up her baby for adoption. He's in desperate need of money because he's on his own now and has the responsibility of a new born baby along with its mother. And Mukti, you've just gotten done with therapy and your rehab treatment. You still need time to figure things in your life. And do you guys really think that all of us are clear and transparent with each other? You didn't think I noticed the video you all tried to make yesterday? Jitna bhi hum ek doosre ko convince kare ki were are on the same page and we care for each other selflessly, we're wrong. Jab baat success or popularity ki baat aati hai, all of us want an equal share of it. And besides, tum log mujhse hi kyu gussa ho rahe ho for just thinking about a Plan B. Where was all this when Dhruv decided to go and sing by himself in that bar before the talent hunt. He had not even bothered telling anybody about it after he sang there.
Dhruv - Manik please. Tujhe pata hai woh Harshad ne setup kiya tha.
Manik - Of course. Aur tu toh doodh peeta baccha hai na. Usne tujhe thoda sa instigate kya kar diya, aur tu chala gaya.
Cabir - Tu puraani baatein kyu leke baith gaya hai.
Manik - Isiliye kyuki I don't understand har baar mujhe hi kyu explanation dena padta hai about my loyalty towards FAB5. Jab ki main kabse koshish kar raha hu for this to work. And make sure we don't fall apart. Tum log jab bhi apne benefits ke liye FAB5 ko second priority rakho, tab theek hai. Didn't Alya abs Dhruv both decide to leave us high and dry one day before the performance? Why was that okay and me just thinking about another option not okay?
Cabir - Manik. Aisa nahi hai.
Manik - Nahi. Aisa hi hai. Har baar, if I decide on something different from what all of you have in mind, you all blame Nandini and me for it. I'm honestly sick of proving to you guys that Nandini doesn't mean any harm to FAB5. We both want FAB5 to work out. But just because we think that having a plan B is practical, you think I want to quit FAB5.
Manik took a deep breath trying to calm himself. He didn't want to lose his cool but somewhere he had landed up losing it.
Mukti - Oh please Manik. Nandini ke baare mein toh baat hi mat kar. You heard what she said. Who does she think she is!
Manik got even more pissed off when Mukti said this. He was really mad at her for bringing up Nandini's parents in the conversation anyway. He went up to Mukti and looked her in the eye with one of his most angry expressions on his face and warned Mukti.
Manik - If you get offended with other people bringing out your hidden skeletons from the closet, then don't bring out theirs. Tumhe koi haq nahi tha Nandini ke parents ke baare mein kuch bhi bolne ka. But you dared to do that. So you learn to live with what you get in return.
Mukti - Please Manik. Mujhe...
Manik - This topic is not up for a negotiation Mukti. And I am making this clear to all of you. None of you. And I mean NONE OF YOU WILL EVER BRING UP NANDINI'S PARENTS UP IN ANY ARGUMENT AGAIN. Is that clear?
All of them were shocked at Manik's outburst on this topic. Yes, they did think it was inappropriate to bring up Nandini's parents into the fight. But Manik was overreacting to the situation.
Alya - I can't believe you're defending her about this. You think what she said was justified? But guess what Manik, usne jo kaha, that applies to you as well. She didn't just insult us. But she insulted you too.
Manik knew what Alya said was true. But that was between him and Nandini. He didn't need to explain or resolve this with his friends.
Manik - Woh mere aur Nandini ke beech ki baat hai. You don't need to interfere between us. That is personal and we'll resolve this on our own. You don't need to interfere on what my girlfriend and I fight or don't fight about.
Cabir - Manik. Tu sach mein badal gaya hai. Agar 2 saal pehle kisi ne humein aisi baat boli hoti toh tune uska mooh tod diya hota. And look at you today, tu usse defend kar raha hai. Aur pehle tu FAB5 ke alawa aur koi career ke baare mein soch bhi nahi sakta tha. And now, you're considering business. Something that you wanted to stay away since you were a child. What the hell happened to you Manik?
Manik - I grew up Cabir. Aur yeh baat sabse zyaada tujhe samajhni chahiye. It's high time we all grow up too.
All of them didn't know how to respond to that.
Manik - Anyway, I'll see you guys tomorrow to shoot the second video. Time message kar dena.
He picked up his jacket and walked out.