Nandini was taken aback by the revelation, but she steadied herself soon.

Nandini : "It's your misunderstanding. How could you even think like that?"

Mukti : "You were having an affair behind my back and thought that I wouldn't come to know about it. When your true colors have come to light, you are trying to escape by saying that it's my fault that I misunderstood you. Do you think I am a fool to not know what you both were doing together in a room?"

Nandini : "When did you see us together in a room? .. Being together in a room doesn't mean that there is an affair going on."

Mukti : "How would you even remember? You might have spent many days and nights in his arms..."

Nandini : "Hold your tongue, don't say something that you will have to regret later. Why only days and nights, we have spent months together, but not in the way you are thinking. There can be other relationships too apart from that. If you would have bonded us in any other relationship I would have accepted, but this is what you came up with?"

Nandini : "It doesn't matter to me what you think of me, but you should have trusted Harshad at least. Did you really love him? Earlier I thought that he wasn't right for you, but now I am beginning to feel that you aren't right for him."

Mukti : "You are doubting my love and trying to find fault in me to cover up your deeds once again. I have proof of the night of the party before the break when you both were together."

Mukti showed her the photos which her friend had sent her and Nandini looked at them, and returned it back to her. Mukti forwarded the same to Manik.

Mukti : "I actually got this to show it to you because you felt that I might have misinterpreted what I had seen."

Nandini : "You saw those and misunderstood?! Harshad wasn't in his senses and I was trying to get him back to his apartment from the hotel where the party was held. That's all there is to it. .. How did you get those photos?"

Mukti : "You are lying at my face even after getting caught. If I assume that you were what you appeared to be, then why would you help him when you both weren't in good terms with each other?"

Nandini : "He was important to you and Arya and you both were important to me. Even otherwise, it was a matter of his life, and yours too. How could I let him fall into a trap and become a victim after knowing what was in store for him? His drink was spiked at the party and .. someone wanted to take advantage of him."

Mukti : "You are very good at making stories. Who would spike his drink and take advantage of him?"

Nandini hesitated at first, but she had to tell the truth.

Nandini : "Your friend Samaira. She wanted Harshad for herself, but he loved you, so..."

Mukti : "Just stop it. You figured out that she gave me the photos and showed me your true colors, so you are trying to frame her."

Alya : "Didn't I tell you Mukti that people like her can only break relationships. First she broke yours' with your boyfriend, then she tried to bring a rift between us and now she is trying to fill your head against your friend. If we let her stay here any longer, then she will succeed in breaking all our relationships."

Manik : "Alya, you are accusing her without even knowing her."

Manik : "Mukti, at least listen to what she has to say. There are two sides to a coin and you know only one side of the story. Listen to her side before coming to any conclusions."

Mukti : "You want me to listen to her even after seeing those photos?!"

Manik : "The photos can be photoshopped. Even if they are real, they can be interpreted in different ways. You interpreted it based on what your heard from your friend and I can interpret it the way Nandini said too."

When Manik and Mukti were discussing, Alya took advantage of it and dragged Nandini out of the room.

Alya : "You snatched my brother from me without my knowledge, but don't even dream of snatching Manik. Don't think that he will fall for a girl like you just because he showed a little concern for you. He can never be yours. .. He is and will be only mine."

By the time Manik noticed and went out, Nandini had already left. She was no where to be seen as usual. Manik returned to his friends.

Alya : "Finally, we succeeded. It is time to rejoice for us. It is an end to your sufferings Mukti and the beginning of hers. Are you happy now?"

Mukti : "I should have been happy like how you are, but I am not."

Alya : "We have just succeeded, so it may take sometime to start feeling it."

Manik was focusing on getting Mukti's misunderstanding cleared all this time. Now it shifted from that and he realized that he had ended up doing what he didn't want to with Nandini. How could he be at peace after that? He left from there immediately. He decided to look for Nandini and ensure she was doing okay.

Cabir remembered Manik's words that winning in this would cost him his peace of mind. How could he be happy when his friend wasn't? Except Alya, no one was happy with their success as they thought they would be.

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

Manik tried calling Nandini and looked for her everywhere he could think of, but she didn't receive his calls and he couldn't meet her. Nandini was at home, but she had told her caretaker to tell that she wasn't home if anyone asked for her. She had never expected Mukti would come up with such an allegation against her. It didn't really matter what Mukti thought of her anymore, but she wanted to clear her misunderstanding for Harshad's sake.

Nandini had come in search of Mukti for him. After a lot of thinking she figured out what she had to do, but she felt that she couldn't do it all alone, so she contacted her friend Navya. Navya was the only one other than Manik who had managed to make a place in her life after she came to Mumbai, in spite of her being distant. Navya was more than happy to help her. After all Nandini had asked her something for the first time. Nandini and Navya took turns and kept watch on the activities of Manik and his friends. They had to figure out when and how they could put Nandini's plan into action.

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

Manik was present with his friends physically, but he was lost in his own world. He was filled with remorse. He didn't want to go ahead with the plan even when he thought that Nandini was guilty, and now he knew for sure that she is innocent. He took out his guitar and started strumming it, but that couldn't get him out of his guilt even for a short time. Manik strummed the strings so hard in frustration that it broke. He put his hand into the pocket of his guitar bag for a new string without paying attention to what he was doing and something inside pricked him very badly.

Manik : "Ouch!"

When Mukti looked into his bag, she found a broken string.

Mukti : "Why do you still have this in your bag?"

She was about to throw it, but Manik took it back and shoved it back into his bag.

Mukti : "Why aren't you throwing it? It will hurt you again like it did now."

Manik : "Let it hurt, I hurt her a lot more than this hurt me."

It was the same string which Nandini had broken earlier. Manik had kept it with him thinking that he would make her pay for it one day but he had forgotten about it with time.

Mukti knew that Manik was feeling guilty because he believed that Nandini was speaking the truth, but she wasn't ready to trust Nandini yet. She felt that Nandini was trying to cover up her deeds. She was in a dilemma. She didn't know whether to go by what Manik said which was in favor of Nandini or to go by what Samaira and Alya said which was against Nandini. Though they had succeeded, Mukti wasn't feeling happy.

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

They should have been rejoicing but they weren't. So,

Alya : "We have to put an end to this chapter by celebrating our success and get back to our lives. The celebration will lift your mood Mukti. If you are happy, then everyone else will be happy too."

Mukti agreed to Alya as she had been doing for quite sometime. Cabir also felt that that might divert Manik's mind and make Mukti happy at the same time. Dhruv as usual was ready to go with whatever their group agreed on. They looked at Manik for his response.

Manik : "You all can go ahead and celebrate, but I don't want to be a part of it."

Cabir : "Without you, it will be incomplete. You have to be a part of it at least for Mukti."

Manik agreed unwillingly for Mukti's sake. They discussed the details of their celebration. Navya, who was keeping a watch on them at that time, took note of it and informed Nandini. Nandini and Navya together came up with the details of how to go about executing their plan.