Sunaina and Nandini's conversation continued.

Sunaina : "It seems music helps in healing faster and you are a musician yourself, so I think you should make use of it to recover soon."

Nandini hadn't told Sunaina that she had tried to stay away from music since her accident. Nandini was reluctant at first, but then she remembered her previous attempt at music. She also remembered Manik's words.

"It wasn't as difficult as you thought."

"Musician's life without music is incomplete. How did you manage to stay away from it?"

"The destination wasn't right doesn't mean that the means aren't right too. The same means can lead to a better destination."

Nandini's life had changed slowly for the better since then, so she felt that she could try to include music back in to her life.

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Once when Manik and Cabir went to Mukti's place, Mukti was in her room looking at a few things. She started putting them inside as soon as Manik and Cabir went in.

Cabir : "What is it that you are hiding from us?"

Mukti : "I am not hiding anything. I was just putting them back. A few memories from the good times I had with Harshad. .. I myself spoiled everything. Now, I don't know how long I will have to wait for his forgiveness and when everything will get back to how it was earlier."

Cabir : "You saved them though you thought that he cheated you?"

Mukti : "I still loved him, so I couldn't get myself to get rid of it."

When Mukti went to keep everything inside,

Cabir (whispering to Manik) : "Did you hear that? Dhruv also has such a collection. He hasn't mentioned about it to you because you don't believe in love .. I must say yours is a unique collection .. Are you getting what I am trying to tell?"

Manik : "Hmm.. but I am not in love. If having such a collection is associated with love, then I will dispose it today itself."

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When Manik went home, he took everything he had related to Nandini at different places and put it together with the intention of getting rid of it. But he couldn't get himself to do so at that instant, so he put everything in a box and kept it out of his sight.

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When Manik was with his friends,

Cabir (whispering) : "Did you get rid of your unique collection?"

Mukti : "Cabir, what's going on between you two? I see you whispering very often. Is it a secret that you can't share it with all of us?"

Cabir : "I will share once I get a confirmation from him."

Manik : "You aren't going to get any confirmation."

Cabir : "I can bet that you will confirm it very soon."

Dhruv : "You will lose the bet against him. Lady Luck isn't going to favor you."

Cabir : "I will win for sure. I am relying on a different lady this time."

Dhruv : "What is it that you are so confident about?"

Cabir : "My sixth sense says that he is in love."

Dhruv : "Manik and love, impossible."

Manik : "It isn't his sixth sense, it is his craze of movies that is speaking."

Mukti: "Manik in love, with whom?"

Cabir : "Nandini."

Alya : "Cabir, don't confuse him with your irrational ideas. What is there in that girl for him to fall for her? She is .."

Alya was all set to point faults in Nandini as always and Manik wasn't ready to listen anything against her as usual.

Manik : "She is unique and I have nothing against her. It is just that I don't want to fall in love and end up like my parents."

Cabir : "You can't stop thinking of her and you aren't ready to listen anything against her, still you feel that you aren't in love."

Manik : "That's because I care for her. It doesn't have anything to do with love."

Cabir : "If not love, what do you think all your actions mean? Only in a matter of few months, Nandini has managed to get all sorts of emotions out of you - from disliking and hating, to caring and defending, to feeling guilty and also being crazy. This is the first time in all these years, I have seen you change so much so soon, and it is all because of one person."

Manik : "I disliked and hated her when I didn't know her. After knowing her, my views about her changed, that's all. You are trying to find unnecessary meaning in my actions. .. No one can change my views against love."

Cabir continued to try to make Manik understand.

Alya : "Cabir, Why are you forcing your views on him? If he is saying he doesn't love her, then he doesn't."

Cabir : "Alya, you are a novice when it comes to this. Let's ask our expert. .. Mukti, what do you think?"

Mukti : "She is right. It is better if we don't force our views on him. We did once and we were wrong, and he was right. If not for him, we all would have been even more guilty. Let's not repeat it again."

Cabir : "I don't want to force my views. I just want him to think over it. What if she is the one for him and he doesn't realize until it's too late?"

Alya wanted to get Nandini completely out of their lives, especially Manik's. So she came up with an idea on her assumption that out of sight plus out of mind means out of life.

Alya : "She isn't here anyways, so how does his realizing or not help. .. However, there is another option to figure out if you are right or Manik is right."

Cabir : "What is the option?"

Alya : "If you spend more time with someone, even if it is a pet, it is natural that we will get attached to it, and she is a human. She isn't around now and if he stops thinking of her, the chances are that he will forget her soon if he isn't in love."

Cabir : ".. and if he is in love then he won't be able to stop thinking of her even he wishes to. Wow Alya! I thought you are a novice in this matter, but you aren't."

Cabir : "What do you have to say Manik?"

Manik : "She isn't someone whom I am going to forget even if I stop thinking of her, but that doesn't mean that I am in love."

Cabir : "Let's leave the forgetting part aside. If you manage to stay without thinking of her, then I will agree with you."

Manik : ".. and you will stop chanting about love during that time and afterwards too."

Alya's thoughts : "I did a mistake by delaying, but I have to rectify it now. I have to use this opportunity to my advantage."

Manik held onto his beliefs, but Cabir's questions were lingering in his mind because he didn't have answers to all of Cabir's questions yet.

Manik had agreed that he wouldn't think of Nandini, but shutting down thoughts weren't as easy as putting things in a box and keeping it out of sight.

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Next day, when Manik was about to get into his jeep, he found that he had a flat tire. He remembered the time when Nandini had flattened his tires. From that time, Nandini had been on his mind for some reason or the other.

Manik's thoughts : "Back then, I hadn't thought that I will have to make an effort to stop thinking about you."

When he was at the music club, one of the members' string broke, and Manik remembered the day Nandini had broken his guitar string.

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It was Alya's birthday and she took great efforts to look stunning, and attract Manik.

Mukti : "You look gorgeous!"

Cabir : "You are dressed to kill. Isn't it Dhruv?"

Dhruv's eyes were glued on Alya.

Cabir (murmuring) : "He is speechless."

Cabir had to nudge Dhruv.

Dhruv : "You are looking very beautiful!"

Seeing Manik looking in her direction, Alya thought her efforts had paid off, but she was disappointed when Manik didn't give her a compliment at all.

When Manik saw Alya all decked up, the thought that crossed his mind was how Nandini didn't bother about how she looked. He remembered how he had tried all possible ways he could think of only to get her to dress up slightly better for the charity event.

Cabir : "Manik, it is Alya's birthday. Come out of your dream world for a few minutes and wish her."

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For the first few days, Manik started his day reminding himself that he had to stop thinking of Nandini, and he ended up thinking of her more, but he couldn't continue like that. He had to make a serious effort to prove that he wasn't in love.

From then on, Manik tried to divert himself whenever he thought of Nandini. His friends also helped him, and Alya took the lead and came up with ideas to do so. She was trying to show Manik that she was on his side and also that she cared more for him than others did. All those things didn't help him, it only made Manik more and more restless, and also irritable. Nyonika also noticed it.

Nyonika : "You don't seem to be fine. Is there a problem?"

Manik : "No mom. .. What made you think so?"

Nyonika : "You seem to be getting angry for small reasons. If there is something that is bothering you, you can discuss with me or dad. We may be older than you now, but we have been through your age and there are chances that we would have faced similar problems and may be able to help you."

Manik : "It is just that I haven't been able to sleep well from the past few days. .. I have been working on a project. If there is something that I can't handle on my own, I will discuss with you."

Nyonika made Manik lay his head on her lap, helped him to go to sleep and then left.

Manik had a dream.

Nandini : "Isn't it sufficient that I am far away from you? You seem to be taking so much effort to not think of me. If my memories are bothering you so much, then I will go away from your mind forever and won't return, and you can get back to your life."

With that she left creating a void in his life, and that hurt him a lot, and also woke him up.

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The past few days had made Manik realize that he couldn't stay without thinking of Nandini, and it had become an essential part of his life. Till now, he wasn't even ready to consider that he was in love.

Manik stopped diverting himself from Nandini's thoughts and that calmed him down to a certain extent. He also stopped denying and started analyzing further. After that, it didn't take long for him to realize that he had fallen in love with Nandini, but it also brought up other points to consider.