Manan FF - Kaisi yeh Yaariyan season 3 - Chapter 123 & note - Page 18

"Nandini!!!!" Navya couldn't believe the sight that welcomed her at the hospital. Her mind had known all along that she would have to encounter something like this, ever since she had heard Nandini's frantic voice, incoherently blabbering about Manik's accident, but her heart had chosen to remain in denial. Such a news, could make anyone go blank. In Navya's case it was more shocking because she had received not one, but two back to back shocks within hours.

But she had to do it, she had to keep her own emotions aside, to think and function for her friend who needed her desperately. However, she knew that alone, she wouldn't be of much help to either Nandini or Manik. So she informed the rest of them, she told them whatever she knew, she took the hit upon herself which would have gone to Nandini otherwise. She answered the Whys, Hows, OMGs & W*Fs as best and as calmly as she could and she made them promise not to ask Nandini anything, at least for the time being.

Finally she managed to pull them all together and drive to Panchgani, to the hospital where Manik was admitted in the emergency unit. But without Ranbir, none of it would have been possible.

Yes it was Ranbir who covered up for her, who calmed Mukti and literally scolded Dhruv and Alya. He was the one who told them that they could speculate and theorize later, that they could hurl their complaints at Manik, but only if and after he made it alive. This realization, that they could lose him forever, turned them around and despite having dozens of questions in their mind, they all agreed to come down.

Nandini was a wreck. She appeared ghostly pale and her eyes were frighteningly red. But she wasn't crying. She was stoic like a piece of rock, her face was blank, devoid of any emotion. One could tell just by looking at her that she was in deep shock. Nandini didn't move or even flinch at seeing Navya or for that matter Mukti, Dhruv, Alia or Ranbir. She just looked through them, as if they didn't exist.

"Nandini!!!" Navya shook her but Nandini still didn't react. Navya put her arms around her and drew her in a tight hug. She wished she could have come earlier though it was practically impossible. She could imagine what Nandini must have gone through alone, all this time. The four of them stood right there, unable to say anything.

Muki kneeled down and gently placed a hand over Nandini's knees "Nandini, koi updates hai abhi?"

Dhruv moved closer to Nandini "Don't worry, Nandini, we are here na. Manik ko kuch nahi hoga" Ranbir, standing at a distance, noticed the friends coming together for the first time. So this was Nandini, the girl Cabir used to brag about as Manik's girlfriend, the girl who looked like a kid but spoke like an oldie. The girl who was the first to know about Cabir's being gay, the girl who had the guts to confront him directly and the heart to support him when his own friends initially shied away. It was so heart breaking to see her broken like this. He wished he could do something.

Even though they hadn't ever met, he had a lot of love and respect for Manik and he desperately hoped that he made it through, for his friends, for Nandini, for Cabir and for himself.

Just then the doctor came over to inform Nandini that Manik had been shifted to ICU from the Operation Theater and that he was still unconscious.

This time Nandini reacted. She tried to ask the doctor but no voice came out of her parched throat. "How is he now?" Dhruv and Mukti asked together.

The doctor's body language wasn't too encouraging as he explained Manik's condition. "Luckily, he doesn't have a lot of injuries on his body...perhaps because of the seatbelt, but he was bleeding profusely from his head and even though the MRI's show nothing major, we don't know how much damage has actually happened. In cases like this, its very important for patients to regain consciousness at the earliest. Then only we can determine the extent of the damage to his cognitive abilities. So waiting for him to come out of the coma.. The sooner it happens, the better for him."

"Can we see him?" Ranbir asked.

"From outside of the glass panel" he replied.

They all ran upstairs to the ICU and peeked inside from the tiny glass window to see a lifeless Manik lying with his head wrapped in a bandage.

That's when Nandini lost it and started speaking, or rather mumbling amidst loud sobs. "Yeh sab meri wajah se hua, I should have told him, I should have told him everything." She grabbed Navya by her shoulders "You know , Navya, Manik ne kaha tha ki phone pe bol do, maine...maine bola usko ki tum yahan aao. He didn't sleep the whole night, he drove 4 hours in the morning and maine fir bhi bola ki jaldi jaldi aao...meri wajah se woh is halat mein hai..agar usko kuch ho gaya to...main mar jaungi.." Mukti, Alya and Navya, together they hugged Nandini to pacify her.

"Kuch nahi hoga Manik ko..mata rani use kuch nahi hone degi" No matter how hard they tried to console her, she just would stop crying. She was holding herself responsible for this.

"Woh nahi aa raha tha to maine use..phone kiya... his phone kept on ringing. I called him 10 times and he didn't pick. I knew something was wrong but I couldn't reach him.. And then someone called me to say that they were bringing him to the hospital because uska accident ho gaya hai...yeh sab meri wajah se hua... use kuch yaad nahi tha aur maine use kuch nahi bataya...aiyappa use please thik kar do...who thik ho jayega na Navya...bolo na..." She was pleading like a child. Navya wished she had an answer for her poor friend.

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Seconds rolled into minutes and minutes into hours. The six friends, forgetting their personal issues and misunderstandings kept constant vigil outside the ICU. Each prayed to his or her respective God, even those who didn't believe in any prayed along the others. None spoke anything, but they all, in one way or the other were lost in the memories of their golden past.

Every two minutes one or the other would peek inside, as if that would help in reviving him.

Nandini , sitting in a corner, wondered why her...why always her. Why did it always happen to her, why every single thing she ever loved had to be mercilessly snatched away from her? She could have had a happy childhood if God had not snatched away her parents. But no, she had to walk alone over fire with her traumatized brother. And then she bumped into her soulmate only to be pulled apart yet again. Were those three years of hell not enough, her silent sufferings, those tortures at Neel's hand, those lonely aimless nights ..didn't hey suffice? Who would tell her what was her fault, what was she guilty of ? Whose karma was she paying for, whose punishment was she bearing?

Unlike other girls she had no demands, she didn't hanker for money or anything remotely materialistic, she was never jealous of other's happiness, all she ever wanted was a little love. Her one and only dream was to be with Manik and God couldn't grant that one dream too. She had lied to him for his sake only, because she wanted to save him from the guilt that her confession would bring him and this is what she got in return... pain and tears. She had fought for too long and just when she thought her ordeal was finally over, this happened.

She was tired, and exhausted. But she knew one thing, if Manik didn't make it, she would stop believing in God altogether. It either had to be them or nothing at all. She didn't want to think about life without Manik because she already knew that death was way easier.

Song lInk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGaLYwzMIl0

"Uske hath move kar rahe hain, shayad use hosh aa raha hai" Dhruv shouted and all of them rushed to the door while Ranbir went to call the doctor. When the doctor finally arrived and walked, they too tailgated though it wasn't allowed.

Even before the doctor could scold them for walking in, they saw Manik flinching his eyes and then they heard his feeble voice "Ab tak kahan the kameeno??" He scanned through their faces when his eyes stopped at Ranbir.. "Cabir!!!!!! Tu zinda hai??"

Hadn't Nandni told them that he had lost his memory, then what was this? They all looked at Manik with wide eyes but the widest pair of eyes were of Nandini's. Her hero was back !!!

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First of all, thank you...

Thank you for 300 Followers and thank you for the countless comments on the previous chapter. Had TRP been applicable here, chapter 72 would have created history (for me). Also the story views is currently standing at 97.6k...2.4K to reach one lakh...Well to me thats beyond awesome, given that I started with one reader in india forums :)

So I am publishing this chapter earlier than I was supposed to. .. to show my gratitude to you all.

But folks last few chapters have taken a huge toll on me personally because I cant handle all this negativity. Also I have never handled thriller scenes or a whole cast of characters together. So I will step back for a while on this story and perhaps update the other one. That's why I had taken a poll on the last chapter without realizing that I had put you up on a cliff hanger. Not so with this one as u now know where the story is heading.

To those who think this is the climax and I am wrapping up.. well sorry to disappoint u , there's lot more to come. To compensate for the break here, I might put up a game or survey here. Will decide based on your response. The writer wishes you happy reading and happy weekend.