Thank you all for your votes and comments! It always motivates me to continue writing. Hope you continue to enjoy the story!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Nandini didn't leave, Mukti pushed her with force. Nandini banged onto Manik who had just come there. Nandini didn't raise her head to see who it was. Her eyes were clouded with tears because of the way Mukti had treated her. She hadn't expected that from Mukti. Nandini apologized to the person she had banged onto and left from there immediately.

Manik : "What was she doing here?"

Mukti hadn't calmed down yet, so she didn't respond.

Alya : "She was here to talk to Mukti and Mukti knows her. But Mukti was very angry at her, I have no idea why. So far, I have never seen Mukti that angry."

Manik made Mukti sit and gave her a glass of water. 

After she was done drinking the water,

Manik : "Now tell me, what happened? What did that girl do to you that you are so mad at her?"

Mukti : "I treated her like my sister, but she stabbed me on my back. I trusted her and didn't pay heed to his warnings. I felt she couldn't do anything wrong with anyone, but she did, that too with me. I wish I hadn't met her at all, then everything would have been fine."

Cabir : "If you speak like this, how will we understand? Who is he? What did she do? How do you even know her? Can you tell what happened in more detail?"

Mukti : "I first met her .."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mukti and her mom were returning to their car from the bank. They had taken their ancestral jewelry from the locker. Before they could reach the car, a thief snatched Mukti's mom's bag from her and ran away.

Mukti's mom : "Thief! Thief! Someone help us!"

Nandini who was at a distance heard her and the thief was running towards Nandini. Nandini found a thick stick lying on the ground and she hit the thief with all her might when he reached her. The thief was caught and Mukti's mom got her bag back.

Mukti's mom : "Thank you so much! If not for you, we would have lost our ancestral jewelry. .. What can I do to return your favor?"

Nandini : "If I wouldn't have been here, someone else would have helped you. I didn't do any favor by returning what is yours."

Mukti's mom : "You helped us and you aren't even ready to acknowledge it. .. God bless you!"

Nandini : "Thank you! I need those blessings to achieve what I am here for."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later at Mukti's college, a group of seniors were ragging freshers.

Harshad : "What are you waiting for? Do you need special invitation to start?"

Nandini : "I am not going to do it."

Harshad : "I am your senior and you aren't going to obey me?"

Nandini : "I am not your slave to obey your orders."

Harshad saw something behind her and got an idea to punish her.

Harshad : "You will have to face it's consequence."

Nandini : "If you think I will get scared and follow your orders, let me tell you that that is not going to happen."

Harshad started moving towards her and she started moving back without seeing what was behind, and she fell into a ditch.

Harshad : "Hope this will remind you not to disobey your seniors in the future."

Harshad left from there. There were two people who saw Nandini falling into the ditch and came to help her. Both forwarded their hands. Nandini looked at both and forwarded her hand towards Mukti whom she recognized. The other person was Arya, Harshad's friend.

Arya : "I was here first, but you chose her. May I know why?"

Nandini : "You were with him, so probably you are his friend. Then how can I trust you to help me?"

Arya : "Okay. Who do you think she is?"

Nandini : "What are you trying to say?"

Arya : "You can't take help from his friend, but you can take help from his girlfriend?!"

Nandini tried to withdraw her hand once she heard that.

Mukti : "You helped me, I am not going to harm you. You can trust me."

Nandini tried to get up with Mukti's support, but couldn't. A barbed wire which was used for fencing was lying in the ditch and that had pierced into Nandini's leg. Her leg had started bleeding and Mukti couldn't see blood.

Mukti : "Arya, please help her to get it out."

Arya helped her and tied his handkerchief to stop the bleeding. Nandini tried to walk though it was hurting.

Arya : "You will have to walk all the way till there to get it treated, which means, you will strain your leg further. If you permit me, I can carry you till there and you will be fine in two days. Or you can strain your leg and suffer much longer, the choice is yours?"

Arya showed her how far the sick bay was from where they were. What he said made sense to Nandini, but she didn't understand why he was ready to take so much effort to help her.

Nandini : "Why are you helping me? What is in it for you?"

Arya thought for a while. He didn't want to mention the actual reason. He felt it was too early to tell her when they had just met. There were chances that she wouldn't even believe him.

Arya : "In return, you won't tell anyone that Harshad is the reason for your injury."

Nandini agreed. Arya and Mukti got her wound treated and dropped her to the hostel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After that when Mukti or Arya approached Nandini, Nandini hesitated at first. Later, she realized that they meant no harm and started interacting with them. When Mukti came to know that Nandini was brought up in an orphanage, she even told Nandini to consider Mukti as her sister.

Mukti came to know that Nandini was interested in joining a band, so she approached Harshad. Arya also supported Mukti.

Harshad : "She doesn't want to obey my orders and I don't like her too. So, I don't want her in my band or anywhere around me. It would be better if you both stay away from her too."

Mukti and Arya tried to convince Harshad,

Nandini : "Don't force him. It's okay, I will join some other band. I don't want to cause any problems between you all, so I will stay away from you both."

Nandini left and Arya went behind her.

Harshad : "It is only a few weeks since you met her and she has already started influencing you both. People like her don't have anyone, so they can't see others happy. Can't you see, she is trying to cause rift between me and Arya? Mark my words, she will try to do the same with us too."

Though Harshad was pointing fingers at Nandini, Mukti couldn't see any fault in Nandini's behavior.

Later, Nandini joined another band and that band turned out to be that of Harshad's rivals. Nandini didn't know about it when she joined and that made Harshad dislike Nandini even more than he did earlier.

Arya and Mukti continued to interact with Nandini. Nandini wouldn't start anything on her own, but when Harshad taunted her, even she wouldn't keep quiet. This led to Harshad hating Nandini and Nandini disliked Harshad too.