Nandini began to realize that Manik was deliberately taunting her.

Nandini : "You are free to think whatever suits you. I guess no one here wants to waste their time, so it would be better if you could please sign this form."

Manik : "Now that you are already a member of our club, we can't let you go unless you either perform or learn the basics of music at least. Otherwise, it will be a black mark on our club."

Manik (whispering) : "I didn't include your name on the list to let you off the hook so easily. This is just the beginning, and there is a lot more to come. You will have to face a lot more humiliation than this. You dared to mess with me, now suffer the consequences."

Now that Nandini knew she was stuck, she began to think as to how to get out of the situation. Meanwhile, others started whispering amongst each other.

Dhruv : "Why isn't Manik letting her go? Why is he whiling away time unnecessarily?"

Cabir : "I think I have an idea, but let us confirm with Manik."

Manik (to Nandini) : "We don't have all day. You have only two options. Either you perform well now and get the form signed, or be a part of this club till you learn something worth performing."

Nandini didn't speak anything. When she moved away from her place, everyone thought that she had given up. She placed her things aside and moved towards the piano. Everyone thought that may be she will try her hands at the piano, but she walked past the piano and picked up the guitar that was nearby.

Nandini had left music after that incident and had decided to stay away from it forever, but now, the only option she had to escape the current situation was to play music. So she decided to play it one last time.

Nandini began to strum the guitar slowly. She remembered why she had started learning music in the first place and how much of effort she had put into it. But as she continued playing, she began getting angry on herself for taking so much interest in music and her tempo increased. She started playing so vigorously that the string broke and she had a cut on her finger by the time she ended.

The audience was silent. They were taken by surprise. No one had expected such a performance from her. Nandini set the guitar aside and took her things. The emotional pain she was going through was way more than the cut on her finger. She hadn't realized that she had broken the string either. She just wanted to get out of there, so she handed over the form to Manik.

Nandini : "I hope you don't have any issues with signing it now that I have fulfilled your condition."

Manik couldn't back out now, so he signed the form and gave it to Nandini. Nandini left from there immediately without even looking back. She had left people thinking why she had hesitated to play in the first place when she was so good at it.

Manik was focusing on humiliating Nandini first, and then on the fact that his plan had failed for the first time. He didn't realize that it was his guitar that Nandini had picked up until now. He couldn't control his anger, so he left the room on pretext of getting a new string from his car. He couldn't do anything in front of that many people, but he could do so now. He intended to hurt the hands that had touched his guitar with the same string that was broken. He looked around, but Nandini was no where to be seen.

Manik had no idea that his act had inflicted a lot more pain on Nandini than he had intended. He returned after a while and the meeting came to an end. Everyone left, except for Manik, Cabir and Dhruv.

Another friend of theirs, Alya, joined them. Alya is Dhruv's neighbor, and they became friends since the day Alya moved to Dhruv's neighborhood a few years back. Dhruv had introduced her to Manik and Cabir, and she became a part of their group.

Cabir (to Manik) : "Is she the same girl who crossed your path on the first day?"

Alya : "Which girl are you referring to?"

Alya was curious to know who the girl was since it was with reference to Manik. She had feelings for him which she hadn't expressed yet because she also knew of Manik's perception about love.

Cabir briefed Alya on what had happened.

Manik : "Yes, I thought today I had a good opportunity to humiliate her, but she escaped."

Alya was relieved after hearing that.

Dhruv : "Looking at her, I didn't even expect that she knew how to hold the guitar, let alone play it."

Cabir : "She managed to upset you both the times she crossed your path."

Manik : "She escaped today because I misinterpreted what I heard. But where will she go, she has to come back to the college. Next time, I will make a fool proof plan, she will have no way out of it. I will have to pull out all her information before that."

Manik would have appreciated her performance in normal circumstances, but now the only thing on his mind was to humiliate and punish her.

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Next day, when Navya met Nandini,

Navya : "When you told me you weren't interested in music, I thought that you didn't know anything about music, but you were superb. Why didn't you want to join then?"

Nandini : "I did learn music, but I had decided to stay away from it forever."

Navya : "Why?"

Nandini : "Personal reasons. It is better if you don't ask me about it."

Navya didn't question her further. They weren't that close yet for her to probe into the matter.

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Later that day,

Nandini's thoughts : "She is in this college, and I haven't been able to find her yet. Then how will I find her in this huge city?"

Nandini had come to Mumbai in search of two girls. She knew only the surname of the girl who is studying in that college, and she had never seen her. She had tried at the college office, but they weren't ready to disclose any information.

Nandini had just come out of her thoughts, when her eyes fell on the other girl she was looking for, Mukti. Mukti, is Manik's cousin. She was studying in the same college as Nandini earlier. She moved to Mumbai along with her family sometime back.

Nandini saw Mukti entering the cafeteria and came up to her. Alya was with Mukti too.

Nandini : "Di (sister), how are you?"

Mukti didn't respond to her.

Nandini : "Didn't you recognize me? I am Nandini."

Mukti still didn't respond.

Nandini : "You are Mukti di right? XYZ College?"

Mukti (rudely) : "Yes, but don't call me di."

Nandini : "Why? Are you angry at me?"

Mukti ignored her.

Nandini : "What happened? Why are you angry? .. Why did you disappear from there without informing any of us?"

Mukti : "When someone is ignoring you, that means that they don't want to talk to you. Can't you get that?"

Nandini : "But why? What did I do?"

Mukti : "Don't pretend as though you don't know."

Nandini : "I don't. Please tell me what it is. I apologize if I have hurt you unknowingly."

Mukti : "Your mistake isn't something that can be forgiven. May be you didn't feel ashamed of what you did, but I find it disgusting to even tell it out."

Nandini : "I have no idea of what you are talking about. Can you please tell me what I did?"

Mukti didn't want to talk to Nandini, but Nandini didn't budge from there. Mukti got furious. She took the jug of water that was on the table and splashed all the water on Nandini's face.

Nandini : "That might have cooled you down. Can you tell me now?"

Mukti : "Don't you have a pinch of shame. Leave from here and don't show me your face again."

When Nandini didn't leave, Mukti pushed Nandini with force.