This chapter became more lengthy than I thought. So, I had to divide it into two. This is just a sort of filler chapter. The main action will happen in the next one.

10 days later

Finally, Manik was back home. As per the doctor's advice, he was on complete bed rest since the last few days. It wasn't like he had much choice. Nandini wouldn't allow him to move an inch from the bed. Coming back to Mumbai did seem to have helped. Everything seemed to be getting back to normal. Everybody was bonding like the old times. Manik even met Abeer. Navya brought him to the hospital one day.

Manik's condition was improving. But still there were certain things that could cause a problem if brought up. So, everyone was trying to avoid those things. As the doctor had said, mental stress was not good for Manik. One of these problems were Nyonika. Manik still didn't know that she was the one behind the blast and that she had left. Nandini wasn't sure how he would react when he comes to know about it. She was scared of his reaction. So, she was avoiding talking about her infront of him and she had also asked everyone else to do the same.

Even Manik seemed to be avoiding talking about Nyonika as he had not once mentioned her or asked about her. So, everything seemed to be going fine. They even talked to the manager of O2. After knowing about everything, he even agreed to give them some more time so that Manik gets completely fine and they get back to making music.

Now, Manik had just come back home from the hospital and the whole gang was present in his room. Everyone was spread out all over the room. Manik sitting on the bed with Nandini beside him, Dhruv sprawling on the bed opposite to them with his head on Alya's lap, Navya and Aryaman sitting on the single sofas busy on their phones. At that moment, Mukti entered the room and groaned looking at them, 'Oh God!! Come on guys! Spare me the cuteness.' She made a disgusted face and earned a pillow from Manik, a 'shut up' from Dhruv and chuckles from everyone else.

She threw Manik's pillow on Dhruv, making him sit up on the bed and herself sat down on the bed too. She looked at everyone and said, 'How can you guys be so boring? Manik is back after such a long time! This calls for a celebration! It's time to party!'

Before anyone of them could answer, they heard another voice, answering Mukti's question, from the door, 'Yes! It is time to party.' They looked towards the door and saw Mr. Srikant Malhotra standing and smiling at them. All this while, when Manik was in the hospital in Mumbai, Srikant had been going up and down Mumbai and Pune, handling his business in Pune and coming to meet his son in Mumbai. Nyonika had put enough differences between this father-son duo. Now was the time to make up for it.

Srikant tried to spend as much time with Manik as he could. Within a short period of time, he had developed a good bonding with all of them. Seeing him, all of them, except for Manik, rushed to him and took turns to greet him. Manik too wanted to go and hug his father, but one glare from Nandini and he decided that he better stay in his place if he wanted to stay alive.

After greeting everyone, Srikant came and sat on the bed beside Manik. Taking him in a side hug, he asked, 'How are you feeling now?' Manik smiled hugging him back and said, 'Fantastic.' They broke the hug and Srikant, turning towards Mukti, said, 'How about we organise a big party, like, a proper party. Call all the students of your college and I'll call my business associates. Manik Malhotra is back and we need to announce it in style. The Malhotra style.' He said with a smirk at the end. Manik had totally taken his attitude from his father.

The gang took their earlier positions. Everyone was excited with the idea of a party. Manik too gave his trademark smirk and said, 'You're right, Dad. Manik Malhotra is back and everyone should know this.'

Mukti gave an excited squeal and hugged Srikant saying, 'Thank you Uncle! You're the best!'. Everyone chuckled looking at her. Typical Mukti! Always ready for a party. Srikant laughed at her excitement and broke the hug saying, 'Calm down Mukti! Relax! We have just decided to have a party. The arrangements are still left. When do you want to have the party?' He asked looking at everyone.

'What about tomorrow?', Dhruv suggested looking at everyone. Aryaman shrugged while everyone else muttered 'Yeahs', 'Cools' and 'Okays', and Navya simply nodded.

Seeing everyone's reaction, it was decided that the party would happen the next day. Everything was planned and everyone was given some or the other work to do. Nandini, Aryaman and Navya were to invite the students of Space, Alya was to supervise the decorations for the party and Dhruv was to assist her while Mukti was to look after the other arrangements for the party. Mr. Malhotra had to invite his business associates.

Manik frowned listening to this distribution of work. Srikant said, 'Come on everyone. Let's get started. We don't have much time.' Saying this he moved out of the room. Everyone else was about to follow him when Manik stopped them saying, 'Wait a minute! What am I supposed to do?' The gang looked at each other and said, 'Rest,' shrugging their shoulders.

'What the hell! No ways! I also want to do something. You all will be busy. I'll get bored!', he shouted. Nandini narrowed her eyes at him, 'Manik Malhotra, hear me loud and clear because I'm not gonna repeat this. You are not doing anything other than rest. You are not perfectly alright. Be thankful we are even allowing you to attend the party.'

Manik scoffed and said, 'What do you mean to say? You won't allow me to attend my own welcome back party?' Nandini simply shrugged and said, 'Possible. If need be. If you don't listen to me, that's what I'll do. I'll lock you up in your room and not allow you to attend the party.'

He gave her an 'Are-you-even-real' look and said, 'Nandini, you are unbelievable. You......'

'Guys, relax! Calm down! Why are you fighting?', Alya interrupted their fight giving them an amused look.

'Don't tell me, tell her. She is being unreasonable. What will I do alone yaar! I'll get bored!' Manik complained to her.

Nandini said, 'Okay! Fine Manik. If that's what you want!' She turned towards Aryaman and said,  'Aryaman, will you stay back and babysit him. Me and Navya will manage the invitations. You stay back here. What say Navya?'

Manik's mouth hung open listening to her.

Navya said, 'Yeah, sure. You should accompany him Aryaman. We can manage.'

Before Aryaman could say anything, Manik said grumpily, 'I'm not a child who needs to be babysit-ted!'

Seeing his grumpy face, Nandini was amused. 'Are you sure? Because you are definitely acting like one', she teased him.

Everyone laughed at this while Manik just looked away giving her a whatever expression.

Aryaman turned towards Nandini and said, 'You really want me to stay back? Are you sure you both can manage?'

Nandini looked at him and gave him  a warm smile and said, 'Of course Aryaman.  You stay here with Manik. Me and Navya will manage everything at Space.'

But Aryaman was not convinced. 'But if it is about accompanying, shouldn't you stay back with him?', he questioned raising an eyebrow.

Nandini looked at Manik who was looking in another direction, but she knew he was listening. She smiled to herself and again teased him by saying, 'I don't think Mr. Grumpy here would like me babysitting him.' She saw him roll his eyes at her comment and chuckled.

She turned back to Aryaman and said, 'I'm sure Aryaman. We can manage. The rest are either working alone or are only two of them. I can't ask any one of them to stay back. We are three. So, you accompany him.' Aryaman nodded and said, 'Okay, cool. If you say so. But if you need my help, call me.'

Nandini smiled and said, 'Sure, I will. Thank you so much!'

Manik was seeing all this. He noticed the bond that Nandini and Aryaman shared. He had been noticing it from the last 10 days. He saw how much Aryaman cared for Nandini and how he was always ready to help her. Same was the case with Nandini.

Soon everyone went, but not before giving a million advises to Manik. He smiled at their care. He was really happy to be back. But even he was aware that there was something that he didn't know. Nyonika was missing and nobody even mentioned her once infront of him. Something was very wrong and he could feel it. But he decided not to bother much about it. He trusted his friends to tell him when they thought was time. But more than anyone, he trusted Nandini.

Talking about Nandini, he was annoyed with her. He wanted to spend time with her, but she went away leaving him with Aryaman. He looked at Aryaman who was busy in his phone. He uttered what came to his mind first, without thinking, 'You and Nandini are quite close it seems.'

Aryaman looked up at him not quite getting what he meant by that. Manik continued saying, 'You care a lot about her.'

Aryaman sighed and said, 'Manik, look....'

Manik interrupted him shaking his head, 'Let me complete first. I wanted to thank you. Thanks for taking care of her, for being there for her in my absence. I can never thank you enough for that.'

Aryaman smiled and said, 'You don't have to thank me Manik. I did what any friend should do. I would have done it anyway. After all, even i love her.'

***********************************************************************************************

Nandini and Navya reached Space. On the way, they had been discussing what all they had to do. They had planned to make posters and hang them all over the college and also make an announcement about the party. They had brought the materials to make the posters with them. So, they sat in one of the unoccupied classrooms and made the posters.

After a few hours of hard work, the posters were ready. They moved out of the room to stick them in the corridors of the college. They went away in separate direction so that they can be done with it faster. Nandini was having so many posters in her hand that she was having trouble handling them all and because of that she wasn't looking where she was going. She bumped into someone and that resulted in the posters falling down from her hand.

Frustrated, she muttered a sorry and looked up, she saw Madhyam standing there looking amused. She rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up the posters ignoring him totally. He too sat down in front of her, copying her actions. He picked up a poster and was about to open it when she snatched it from his hands glaring at him. He immediately raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and giving her an amused look, asked, 'So, it's true?'

Nandini was confused so she asked, 'What do you mean?' Madhyam lazily looked around and said, 'Nothing. Just that I heard that your lover boy is really back. It's true isn't it?'

Nandini could feel her blood boiling in anger at his repetitive insensitive remarks about Manik. She decided to handle him maturely. So, she calmed herself down and gave Madhyam a fake smile. He looked at her suspiciously while she picked up a poster and walked to the nearest wall. She posted the poster on the wall and turned back to face Madhyam.

'Mr. Srikant Malhotra, owner of Malhotra Industries, would like to.....,' he started to read what was written on the poster but was rudely interrupted by Nandini.

She said, 'Mr. Srikant Malhotra, owner of Malhotra Industries, would like to invite all the students and staff of Space Academy, to his house for the home-coming celebrations of his son, Manik Malhotra, the lead singer of the star band of Space Academy, Fab 5. The party would be on the 2nd of September, starting at 8 p.m. Hoping to see you all there.' She finished speaking and looked at Madhyam with a smirk on her face. She walked upto him and said, 'All the students includes you too, 'Maddy'. See you at the party,' emphasising the word 'Maddy'. She picked up all the posters and walked away leaving behind a very irritated Maddy.

He looked at the poster and thought for a moment whether he should go or not. No! Why should he? He wouldn't go. Why is he even thinking about it? He looked around in irritation and went away staring at the poster in anger.

***********************************************************************************************

Manik was shocked at what Aryaman said. His face hardened and his jaw clenched. 'What do you mean?', he spoke through gritted teeth. Aryaman noticed Manik's change in expressions and understood what he was thinking. He spoke up, 'Woah, woah, woah! Calm down man! What I meant was that I love her as a sister!'

Manik visibly relaxed after listening to this but was still looking at him suspiciously. Aryaman chuckled and said, 'What did you think? That I 'love' love her? No man, thank you very much. I don't want to be on your hit list. I'm too young to die.'

Manik threw a pillow at him and said, 'You will also die if you don't shut your mouth up right now. You moron, Nandini left you here to accompany me and take care of me. And here you are pulling my leg!'

Aryaman carefully dodged the pillow and it fell behind him. Picking it up, he threw it back at Manik saying, 'What's up with you today? Why are you throwing pillows at everyone? First Mukti and now me.'

The pillow landed beside Manik and he picked it up again. 'Because I want to do it. What will you do, haan?', saying this he again threw the pillow on Aryaman. He wasn't so lucky this time and the pillow hit him straight on his face. He angrily stood up holding the pillow. Manik, though was only playing around with Aryaman, wondered if he went very far this time. Not that he himself cared much, but just that he seemed special to Nandini. But before he could react, the pillow came flying back and hit him on his face. He heard Aryaman laughing, and saying, 'I'll just throw it back at you.'

OK! That was it! He had just started World War. III. After that all that could be seen and heard in the room was; pillows flying and, Manik and Aryaman chasing each other around the room, and their laughter and curses.

After sometime, Aryaman saw that Manik was tired. But he knew, Manik being Manik, wouldn't back out as his ego won't allow him to. So, he did the wise thing and stopped running and said, 'OK, enough. You win!'

Manik threw one last pillow towards him and shouted, 'Huh! I knew I would win, loser.' Panting, he sat down on the bed leaning on he headboard and said, 'God! I'm tired.' Aryaman said, 'I'm going to the kitchen to drink water. You need something?'

Manik looked at the empty jug beside him on the side table and said, 'Water for me too.' Aryaman nodded his head and left. When he returned after a few minutes, he was amused to find Manik fast asleep. He chuckled and kept the bottle of water on the side table. He switched off the lights and went outside, waiting for the rest to come.

***********************************************************************************************

Aryaman was sitting in the living room waiting for Manik to wake up and the rest to come back. It had been a few hours now since everyone was gone. The first one to come back was Mukti, followed by Dhruv, Alya, Navya and Nandini. Since, Navya and Nandini were done with the posters early, they had decided to help Dhruv and Alya with the decoration stuff.

Everyone came and sat with Aryaman in the living room. Nandini looked around and asked Aryaman, 'Where's Manik?'

Aryaman answered, 'He's sleeping,' at the same time when another voice said, 'I'm here', from the stairs.

Everyone turned towards the stairs to find Manik yawning and coming towards them.

He came and sat with them. He smiled looking at everyone except Nandini. Nandini noticed this and understood that he was angry. She smiled thinking to herself, 'So, Monster is angry. OK, monster. Let's see for how long.' She thought of what to do as she noticed that Manik was not even looking at her. Suddenly, an idea popped in her head and she smirked looking at Manik who was busy talking to Dhruv about something.

So?? What do you think Nandini would do??  Any ideas?? Did you like this chapter?? 

Like I mentioned before, this chapter became longer than I had planned, so I had to divide it. So, you won't be seeing everything that happened in the sneak peak in this chapter.

I just had to update this today because of two reasons:

1) Two years back, today only, the first episode of the season 2 of Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan was aired.

2) Last year, on this date, the first part of this book was published.

WOW!! I can't believe I took an year to publish 6 chapters!!! This is crazy!!

Anyways, thanks everyone who has been reading this book. We have reached 2.2k in an year. I know it is because of me being irregular that I am not getting that many reads. I will try to be regular, but no promises.

So, Here's another question for you. Who said this, to whom and when:

'Because, I have to be with them. To..to protect them. Always. Like...like you protect me.'

Do vote and comment if you liked it and also if you didn't like it.

So, until next time, lots of love.