After a whole night of partying and chilling, the gang was now all prepped up for Musicana. They all reached the college together and were greeted by the media. Since Space was the most renowned school of music in India, it had always been a contributor of content to media houses, providing them with interesting bytes and Musicana being its biggest event was no exception.
Fab 5 walked ahead with their usual attitude and gave their answers as if they already knew the questions while Yaari looked amused but anyways provided the media with good enough answers before heading in towards their green room.
Maddy: Guys yaha network nahi hai kya? I can't call Sanjana
Navya: Ha even I got no network in my phone. Ek kaam karo, try calling her from outside the room...shayad lag jaaye
Maddy nodded, still engrossed in his phone and moved out only to be greeted by a person he didn't want to meet, at least not before his performance.
GD: Madhyam tum bhi perform kar rahe ho?
Maddy: Ha
He replied disinterestedly and tried walking away but GD didn't let him.
GD: Lagta hai ki tum pichli baar ki baat bhul gaye ho. Koi baar nahi, main hi yaad dila deta hu ki tumhare unn dosto ne kaise...voh kya kehte hai? Ha last moment...ki kaise tumhare dosto ne last moment par tumhe chod diya aur toh aur tumhari saari mehnat ka fal bhi le gaye. Tumhari voh Sanjana bhi tumhe chodkar chali gayi. Kya pata iss baar bhi itihaas dohraaye
GD said with a smirk. Maddy grew a little bothered as the past flashed in front of his eyes but soon he felt peace engulfing him as he felt a familiar hand holding his.
Sanjana: Nahi GD aap chinta mat kijiye. Iss baar aisa kuch bhi nahi hoga. Pichli baar ki baat aur thi jab Maine apni life ki sabse badi mistake ki thi Maddy ko chodne ki par iss baar I won't repeat my mistakes
She said slyly making GD scowl at her ahd before he could say something, another group of people stopped him.
Nandini: Exactly. Maddy humare band ka ek important part hai
Navya: Aur hum aisa kuch bhi nahi karenge jisse hum use kho de
Aryaman: Band member ke saath saath he is our family too aur family ko kabhi choda nahi ja sakta
Abhimanyu: Aur na hi hum use chodenge. Our friendship is true and we aren't fools to do what his so called friends did years back
He completed making Maddy smile. They had come looking for Maddy as it was almost time to perform and Maddy needed to get ready but instead found him talking to someone he definitely didn't want to. They heard GD trying to weaken Maddy's confidence and they knew it was their time to interfere now.
Nandini: So now if you could excuse us, we have a performance to do
She asked, raising a brow to which GD passed her an annoyed look and left making them smirk. They walked back to the green room with Maddy still holding Sanjana's hand in his tight grip. The others passed her a teasing look making her blush while Maddy stayed unaware.
Navya: Maddy you need to get ready
Maddy: huh? Ya
Aryaman: Ya so leave her hand, Sanjana isn't running away anywhere
He teased making Maddy realise that he was still holding Sanjana's hand. Embarrassed, he bit his inner cheek and left her hand immediately to get ready for their performance and Sanjana blushed.
Almost all the performances were done except for Yaari and Fab 5. Yaari were soon called on stage and Maddy was visibly nervous which was noticed by the rest of them so smiling at each other they walked to him and embraced him in a much needed hug.
Abhimanyu: Don't worry, we are gonna rock it there
Navya: Matarani ki kasam....hum humari performance se stage pe aag laga denge
She said in her all time Madhubala style and Maddy couldn't help but grin at her.
Maddy: Yup. Yaari is all set to rock
He said once again squeezing everyone for a group hug and then proceeded to the stage.
As expected, their performance had everyone hooting for them and also, the judges were quite impressed. It was then time for fab 5 to perform and for sure the audience were hooting and cheering wildly while the judges had that impressed look on their faces all along.
It was now time for the results to be declared and as always Fab 5 won but this time the happiness was double because Yaari were declared as the first runner ups which meant Yaari were going to partner with Fab 5 for the album and the group of friends couldn't stop grinning while GD wasn't happy at all and left as soon as the event got over. Maddy noticed it but this time it didn't affect him for he had his true family with him, his true friends which definitely were rare to find.
End of flashback
Nandini: Manik
She called out for him suddenly, sitting up straight making Manik look at her.
Nandini: Get up, we need to go somewhere
Manik: Ab kaha?
Nandini: Just come
She whined like a baby and Manik shook his head, standing up from where he was seated.
***
Nandini: Manik jaldi chalo na or we'll miss it
Nandini repeated for the nth time in the last 10 minutes as they walked through a rocky area with Nandini leading a very much confused Manik.
Manik: Main jaldi hi chal raha hu but at least tell me why are we climbing a cliff at (checks his watch) 11:30 in the night?
Nandini: Aiyyappa it's already 11:30! Manik jaldi chalo
She panicked, getting hyper which amused Manik.
Manik: Why are you getting so hyper Nandini?
Nandini: Manik just walk and don't talk okay. Once we reach na then you'll know why am I so excited
Manik just nodded as they continued walking up the rocky cliff. After around 5 minutes they were finally at the top and Manik saw a car parked there or ro be more precise, his car parked there with the roof of the car having a camping mattress laid out on it. Manik was confused now.
Manik: That's my car but this isn't the car I drove here tonight toh fir yeh yaha kaise aayi? Who brought it here?
He looked at Nandini for answers who giggled looking at his cute confused face but answered nevertheless.
Nandini: Voh there is a roadway for cars opposite to the way we came here from so I asked your driver to drive it here and arrange for all of this and also asked him to take your car that we parked home. He has the duplicate key so it is easy for him to do so
Manik: If we could drive the car here toh tumne mujhe itna chalaya hi kyu Nandini?
Nandini: Voh I wanted to steal a little time so that the driver could arrange everything
Convinced by her answers, Manik nodded and looked around, trying to figure out why were they there.
Manik: So why exactly are we here?
Nandini: You'll know, first let's lay down there
She said, pointing at the roof of the car where the mattress was laid. As soon as they laid down, Nandini checked her watch and then asked Manik to look up at the sky which he did and the sight there left him awestruck.
There in the sky were hundreds of shooting stars making the sky look divine than ever. Nandini could see Manik's eyes twinkle at the sight which made her smile in satisfaction.
Nandini: Manik
Manik who was too much lost in gazing at the mesmerizing sight, tilted his head to look at Nandini as she called him.
Nandini: It took me two weeks to find the perfect place and time to say what I am going to say now. I know how much you love stars so I knew ki mujhe isse acha setup toh mil hi nahi sakta
She paused as Manik looked at her in anticipation.
Nandini: Manik you remember when we started our relationship we didn't know how will it be but see here we are...together and we have come so far. This togetherness na has made me realise what I actually feel for you. I won't decorate my words and nor have I prepared some speech because I think that won't be enough to justify what I feel. Manik, I just wanted to say that-
She paused again to gaze at him lovingly as she spoke keeping her palm on his heart, feeling his erratic heartbeat.
Nandini: I love you
She finally confessed. Manik went numb for a few moments before a wide grin settled on his lips. Overwhelmed by her sudden confession, he passionately captured her lips with his, putting in all his love in that kiss. They broke apart after a while, panting hard as Manik replied to her confession, pecking her forehead gently.
Manik: I love you too Nandini. I love you
He beamed. Both of them looked content with huge smiles plastered on their faces as the meteor shower continued in the sky above them and trust me, the view looked more than mesmerising.
Manik: Our relationship began with a lie which was basically our plan to get rid off Soha and I am thankful varna shayad I would have never realised that you meant way more than a best friend for me. Our story started with a lie and now we are living our happily ever after
Nandini: But I don't want a happily ever after Manik kyuki happily ever afters mark the end of a story but ours has just begun
Manik smiled listening to her and nodded as he engulfed her in his warm embrace and they resumed staring at the beautiful sky.
It all started with a lie for them but this lie turned out to be a blessing for them and they both were immensely thankful for it.
So this marks the end of "It all started with a lie"
I know the end is a little crappy but I didn't really know how to end this one. The story is very dear to my heart since this was the first one I ever wrote and I can't believe, I managed to write in so many chapters and now it has finally come to an end. I can just hope that all my readers enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me and motivating me with your likes and comments because if not for you guys, I wouldn't have reached where I am today as a writer. I love you all.
A final goodbye from "It all started with a lie".
Thank you again. I'll sure miss writing this story.