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Alright, mini-hiatus for a bit now after all the update pumps :P

Hope you have fun with this! <3 Please in-line comment if you can :") I love reading, re-imagining the scenarios and replying to your thoughts!

Love you readers!

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"Waise, what were you guys doing in the dark?" Soha meant it as a genuine question, knowing that the guy she was with was actually Manik... the guy who had once upon a time taken advantage of her while she was in a vulnerable state. Why – after all that – would she get stuck in some place with him?

If she had to be honest, the dark house was what panicked her and Navya further when they saw the same cab Nandini had boarded some time that day, lacking a battery in the engine bay, parked outside the building.

"Soooohaaaa... what an inappropriate question to ask one very handsome man in his... prime years... and one very –"

A huffing Manik strode angrily towards him, and if he didn't, Soha was surely one step away from scolding him about being sleazy with her friend. Even if he was gay and otherwise a comic relief for the gang over the past hour, that was no way to talk about a woman, least of all one who was in no way related to him.

"Cabir, shut it, or else I will..." He swore that he would snap his friend's neck, without even thinking twice about his friend's dreams – about living a happy life in a country where gay marriage was legal and he and his partner could travel to his heart's content.

Thinking about those beautiful dreams of Cabir's shattering as well, he quickly rectified the situation, "Oh, I'm so very sorry for crossing the line, you see I have no social awareness..."

"Woh toh dikh hi raha hai," Navya spat, making faces at Cabir.

He got back at her by imitating her squeaky 'Harshadji, Harshadji' chant, which soon iced everyone in the room.

"Too soon, sorry about that, but that reminds me... we should get going from here," He appeared uncomfortable as he apologised. It had been purely unintentional and he genuinely felt remorse for probing the Ranbir Kapoor fangirl's tear ducts. 

Soha, on realising her closest friend was completely in the dark about the matter, filled Nandini in with, "There's talk all over town about this place."

The news alerted Nandini, and she happened to look in Manik's direction... who met her eyes midway. Mutually catching each other's delicate gaze, they both felt jitters.

She hadn't done anything to inform anyone, he knew that, and he hadn't been aware that a greater section of the community had known of the house, she knew that. They were both on the same page about those things, and about a new and exciting sensation that overcame both Manik and Nandini.

It was the same nervous anticipation one felt for a crush; except it was odd, that both Nandini and Manik had previously hit second base, yet the intimacy of an unexpected eye-lock had them pumping with adrenaline.

"A police officer might or might not be on his way here. It's why we came, to check it out," Alia studied Navya sadly, feeling a certain sense of responsibility and guilt on behalf of the sister of her heartbreaker. Those emotions were still so raw in the naive girl, and on some level, she felt the sting too. She too had gotten her heart broken, after all.

"Yeah, but we were not expecting you guys," Cabir appeased, met yet again with a suspicious look from Nandini. His immediate reaction was to flare up at Manik. How much had the idiot blurted to her about them in his quest to come clean?

Manik gulped, still processing the news that they had likely been spotted some time ago at the mansion. It had been nearly an hour since they broke in, he had not even realised in all the tension and drama that surrounded them.

Most of all, now that he had the time to analyse what had happened, he could not believe that he had the guts to lift a weapon to her head. Even if he knew he wasn't going to shoot her, the sheer act of intimidating her in such a stressful situation sent a shiver down his body. It went against every instinct he had to protect her.

He stared at her, conveying something with his eyes alone. Nandini could not find the strength to connect with them. "We should go," It was a message just for her, underscoring that he owed her a proper explanation for it all, and that was still pending from before.

Nandini suggested to the group herself, "I actually just wanted to check something. I'll be right back." She pointed to the stairs. 

Picking on the hint, Manik responded, "I'll – um – follow you, it might not be safe."

An arm blocked Manik in his rise up the stairs. "Actually, that's a brilliant idea Manik." Cabir intercepted with a huge grin, "I think we all should go have a look... you know, just take a tour around the place..." Manik appeared confused, but as the Mangalorean girls rushed to accompany their best friend and Alia followed at some distance behind them, Cabir was yanked to a side near the bottom of the staircase.

"Kya kar raha hai tu?" Manik hissed in a whisper, "Don't you get it? Akela rehna chahta hoon main uske saath."

"Akele mein tu usse rula raha tha, did you even realise?"

He rolled his eyes. "We were talking about something important, and you guys just interrupted," Manik accused back.

"– with Alia right here."

"Haan, toh? Come on Cabir, you know that's history... tu abhi uske side kaise le sakta hai?"

"Dekh bhai, I'm pro MaNan, okay? Didn't you see, I was trying to tease you and make her smile?" Yeah right, more like embarrass him, Manik scoffed. Wait a second, Manan, wasn't that a cricketer's name? As his jaw tipped up for clarification from his friend, Cabir pointed at Manik, then up the stairs, and finally interlocked his hands to symbolise their union – their ship.

Ridiculous, Manik thought although his face turned red.

"Lekin Manik, you need to understand that –" He was about to blurt Alia's secret surrounding Harshad and how she was already emotionally vulnerable, but stopped himself because it was not his place to say anything on her behalf. He instead switched to the next best excuse. "It's difficult for Alia, to see you with someone else, most of all the girl she despises."

Well, Alia was crazy in that case, because Manik could not understand how anyone in the world could have a problem with Nandini.

"This is a very sensitive matter. I got to know through series of ugly abuses today that it's psychotic to kidnap someone you want to protect," Both Soha and Navya had made that very clear to him when he picked them up from the petrol station and requested that they have some faith in him. Kisiko kidnap karke, uske saath zabardasti karke one cannot gain trust.

Then, they went on to curse the hell out of some bastard who had lured and forced himself on their best friend. It took Cabir less than a second to butt in and defend Manik, but Alia's presence made it hard to reveal that Manik had not done anything to Nandini ever. His inability to answer them soon made him the scapegoat subject of their curses.

Bhalai ka koi zamaana hi nahi raha.

It would all be worth it if... just if...

Cabir could try his luck and check. "...more so if it's someone you love," He had mentally prepared to have some bones of his broken, but the sight before him was a stunning surprise. 

For the first time in Manik's twenty three years of existing, the word love when associated with him was not brutally countered by several taunts or sarcastic comments out of self-defense.

Wah! If all he needed to do to get Manik to admit to his feelings was lock those two up for one whole evening, he would have executed things a long time ago. 

Meanwhile, that also meant something far more dangerous for his friend.

Knowing what he knew, Cabir had to at least hint at those sources of obstacles in human form. "And... Nandini's friends also saw her upset, they're fiercely protective... okay, trust me, one car ride with them was traumatising... in fact, I even contemplated getting rid of them at a petrol station but they're such menaces that who knows what they would have done without our supervision. So just... behave nicely." Cabir commented, for his friend's well-being more than anything else.

And then out of nowhere, he yelled up the stairs, "Cominggggg!" as if people were being held at gunpoint and dying in his absence.

Although, with the current combination of characters that were upstairs, such a reality seemed quite plausible.

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I'm predicting 5 more chapters until the storyline wraps up. Your support means a lot in this final stage :")