Situations(MaNan FF)

Part 16

The minute hand reached the hour hand, just a few millimeters from the large 10 on the clock as it reflected the messy room it was hung in. It was obvious last night hadn't been cleaning day, with clothes on the floor, a guitar lying in a half-open case near the bed and the duvet only half covering the two bodies on the bed.
The alarm was already thrown and broken on the corner opposite to the taller body and it seemed as though her phone was going to undergo the same thing as it rang for the 3rd time finally managing to grab the person's attention.
Mukti's sleepy voice made it through the device as she picked up the call with no sense of who was on the other side.
" Subah subah( Early in the morning), why are you disturbing me? Don't you have some other work?"
But the shriek in response quickly jolted her awake.
" Subah subah!? Tumhe pata bhi hai ki subah hoti kya hai? Yaha 10 baj chuke hai, aadhe ghante mein tum logon ko stage par perform karna hai aur tum log waha ghode bech ke so rahe ho. Aur hum bewakoof hai, jo yaha pichhale ek ghante se tumhe call pe call kiye jaa rahe hai. Abh jaldi utho aur apne doston ke saath yaha aayon nahi toh hum keh dete hai, roz 4 baje aakar tumhara darwaza khat khatkhatyenge jab tak tum dar se paune char ko hi aankhe khol do. (Early Morning!? Do you even know what morning is? It's 10 already and your performance is in half an hour and you all are sleeping in peace. And here am I, the idiot who is trying to reach you guys for an hour. Now get up and come here with your friends otherwise I am telling you, every single day, I'll knock your door at 4 AM till you start opening your eyes at 3:45 in fear.)"
Navya was in no mood to hear any further explanation and cut the call leaving Mukti to put her phone aside and clutch her head in frustration.

***

Ever since their interaction on Musicana night, Navya and Multi formed an unusual friendship. It was a shocking scene when a few days after the event, students saw the 2 walking around laughing and chatting like old friends when it was no secret that they had been rivals not long ago. It was actually Mukti's therapist who had suggested this friendship and Multi did not regret abiding. In Navya, she finally found a life outside FAB5 and learned to let go of the group as her only anchor. While her commitments and devotion to them remained the same, she no longer depended on them for a sense of security which she now felt in herself after being able to defend Navya on her own. Navya too found comfort in this friendship, after all, she had been head over heels in love with the band before Harshad's brainwash and surprisingly found it easy to mingle with the overly reserved Mukti. While she still didn't know the whole story, she knew that Harshad had hurt Mukti and realized that she was helping the latter come out of grief and was willing to support her whenever she got overwhelmed.

Other than that, Navya quickly assumed her quirky mother hen role for the entire FAB5 and often looked out for them, like she did that morning.

***

"Sh*t!"
Shaking the girl beside her, she called her out.
" Alya! Alya! Get up!!! We have to go to college now!! Term performance is in less than an hour."

Hearing about the performance, Alya too sat up straight immediately.
"What. But how will we get ready? Itni jaldi sab kuchh jaise hoga.( How will we do everything so fast.)"
Mukti hit her forehead.
" Meri pyari fashionista(My dear fashionista). Let us reach at least, after that we can worry about how we're gonna look. Now come on, we need to wake the guys up as well. I'm calling Cabir."
Multi left the bed with a pouting Alya to call Cabir, who as expected was still in his dream world.

Alya quickly looked for her phone and called her boyfriend. As it turned out, Dhruv, the responsible one was actually stuck on the way with no balance on his phone while Mukti's efforts finally paid off and Cabir was up and in the process of getting ready.

And now it was time to awaken the monster.
Cabir took up the responsibility and dialed his friend's number as he put on his clothes.

After the 3rd ring, an urgent and hopeful voice answered with a single word that made him wince.

"Nandini?"

***

It had been about 6 months since the night of Musicana, the day after which his friend lost her and they sort of lost him.
It wasn't the first time, this happened.
Even after all the private detectives had failed and all the doors were closed, somehow Manik still believed that he would be able to find Nandini again.
Ever since that day, the arrogant, egoistic devil was gone and in his place was a lost broken soul. Manik had never been the patient one, but his one impulsive decision had changed everything and while the volcano of anger had calmed down, a storm of loneliness took place. He was afraid of cheers and after every performance, he walked off immediately to drown them out. Every performance took him back to Musicana and that is why Fab4 made sure to always try and cheer him up before them, which was the reason all of them were late.

***

Gulping, Cabir answered breaking his hopes for the umpteenth time.
" Nahi (No). Cabir. Manik, we have to be on stage in half an hour. Get up and get ready. The stage will not come walking to your bedroom."
He tried joking to lighten the mood but it did nothing to help

"Hmmm. I'll be there ASAP."

But promises are meant to be broken; by the time everyone got ready and Alya and Mukti picked up Dhruv and waited for the tow truck to come and pick up his bike for repair, it was already over an hour from Navya's call. But this was Fab5, so with no guilt or remorse, they walked to the auditoriums just the way they always do with their heads held high and confidence showing in their eyes.

But as they reached the auditorium, the confidence turned to disbelief when they saw, what was happening on the stage.

All of them gritted their teeth and glared at the scene in front of them in annoyance while they waited for the program to be over.
They stood at the back of the auditorium as the students left for their classes with the exception of Navya who was standing outside waiting for them. It would be an understatement to say that she was pissed. Despite her warning they were late and she knew that what was coming next was going to be no apology, so she just stood there in case there would be a need for damage or rather anger control.

While it was true that the volcano inside him had calmed down, but Manik Malhotra was still Manik Malhotra and right now Manik Malhotra was very angry, particularly at the 2 people coming down from the stage: Harshad Saxena and Nyonika Malhotra.

I'm trying to get the chapters written in bulk soon....so that you can have more updates, but I'm getting stuck and I think I'm having 1st writers blocks...so please bear with me....
Love you guys❤️
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!