Nice discussion guys!!
Two cents- Dhruv's insecurity with Manik ran deep , it started from the moment Nandini came , Alya just became the collateral damage later on . Actually from what I gather, we tend to look for the same foundation that MaNan had with other couples which is kinda hard .
Also I feel Alya never could fully understand herself or what she wants, she just flowed in with Dhruv because he was everything that Manik never was with her. She needed a wake-up call to actually focus on herself and not be all needy with the guys. She tends to look for emotional crunch always, with Manik she totally was delusional, Dhruv gave her that emotional space but then they both looked at their thing from different angles.
I don't personally want Alya to have any guy/romance at this point . Her track with Harshad is lot more promising than anything else.
Manik-Alya , had already drifted apart, one could see in the first few episodes how they just had a habit and were together because it was convenient. Manik was always loyal to Alya and basically is the father figure to fab5 , so that security was always there. These two never could talk freely ever because they both probably had nothing to offer to the other. Alya wasn't wise enough to understand Manik's complexities and she deffo won't have survived his darkness while the boy just won't have ever opened up to Alya because he would have wanted to protect her considering she be a friend.
It was trust for him because Alya should have known better, she is been his friend for long. Also he did the same with Nandini, difference, Nandu was tricked , she never gave up on Manik and he just couldn't let go. He knew his girl was naive and no match to Nyo then.
Also I feel now Manik is more guilty about that break-up with Alya because there was some truth in her suspicion , just that Manik wasn't even aware of his attraction/fascination towards Nandini.
Dhruv's words to Alya makes sense Manik is like running water, there was no way Alya could handle him, Nandini did , she took away that mask from him and makes him constantly face his fears and talk about it.
Alya-Dhruv had a lot of potential , vampire saxx and bad execution ruined it. I don't want pity romance for her though.