Entangled

Part 18

Manik had already made up his mind that he wouldn't go ahead with that particular revenge plan irrespective of whether Nandini was the culprit or not. He didn't want to be responsible for someone's death. Slowly, he had begun to feel that Nandini is genuine, and not pretending to be good as he had heard from Mukti and Alya, so he felt that there were chances that Nandini could be innocent.

When Manik was with his friends,

        Manik : "Mukti, mom says that sometimes things aren't as they appear to be. So I think that you should talk to Nandini once before we proceed with any kind of revenge plan. There are chances that you could have come to conclusions hastily without considering all the possibilities."

        Mukti : "That's true, Nandini isn't as she appears to be. I don't want to see her face, let alone talk to her. I didn't come to conclusions as soon as I heard about it. I followed them and confirmed it myself. There is nothing left to consider."

        Manik : "If you don't want to talk to her, I or anyone of us can talk to her on your behalf."

        Mukti : "Neither are you going to talk to her nor anyone else."

        Alya : "She is right. It will alert that girl and she will escape unscathed. All our efforts will go waste. There is no doubt that that girl is at fault, and she needs to suffer the consequences."

        Cabir : "Manik, girls can understand the mentality of other girls better. Why are you stressing yourself considering other alternatives when they are so sure?"

        Manik : "How can they be so sure? Alya hasn't even interacted with Nandini to know her, and Mukti went by what she heard from her friend. What if something drastic happens to her as a result of our actions, and later we come to know that she is innocent? We won't be able to undo it later."

        Alya : "She is no innocent, she is only pretending to be one. You are getting distracted unnecessarily and it is delaying our plan."

        Mukti : "I assure you that I haven't made a mistake in judging her. My friend had nothing against her to condemn her. I know Samaira way longer than I know Nandini, and I can trust her blindly. She has seen what they were doing in a hotel room, there can be no other possibility when it comes to such matters."

        If it was earlier, may be Manik could have convinced Mukti, but by now Alya had fueled Mukti's hatred towards Nandini to such an extent that she wasn't even ready to consider other possibilities.

        Manik's friends tried their best to convince him that they were on the right path, but Manik was determined not to go ahead with any kind of revenge plan till he gets a confirmation. Since they weren't even trying to consider his point of view, he felt that that wasn't the right time to tell them that he had already backed out of their plan.

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        A few days passed. Manik was standing under a tree outside the orphanage. He had plugged in air pods to listen to music, but his mind was busy thinking.

        Manik's thoughts : "There is no point in me coming here anymore. I won't be able to get any confirmation unless I ask her directly. I have already gone against Mukti by backing out, I can't go against her once again by talking to Nandini about it."

        Manik's thoughts : "I can't keep Mukti in the dark for long, I will have to tell her about my decision. How is she going to take it? .. She is definitely going to be furious at me. How am I going to pacify her? .. Will she understand my reasoning behind my decision? How am I going to convince her that I am not taking anyone's side, but I am doing so for my peace of mind. I told her that I can even give up my life for her if necessary, but I can't end up taking someone's life and be at peace."