Nandini is feeling insecured by alya. She decides to go and confront manik and find out his thoughts about her.
In maniks room:
Curiosity piqued by the sophisticated alya, nandini asks manik about his thoughts about her. Nandini tries not to feel intimidated, and stammers a denial when manik asks if she's jealous.
But manik can read nandini like an open book and decides to have a little fun. He says a little jealousy isn't out of the question, given that they did kiss. He leans in close, making nandini close her eyes and wonder if this is going to be Kiss No. 2... until he laughs at her gullibility.
Nandini realizes he was messing with her, discouraged at this indication that the kiss meant nothing to him.
Next day in space:
Nandini's friends commiserate, but are unable to stick around for their planned lunch date - navya got a job at a beauty salon, while shahid has to eat lunch with his department at the place he works.
That leaves nandini to eat alone. Although she can't bring herself to ask manik to join her, it's a pleasant surprise to run into him anyway.
Nandini finds a table for them, but to her disappointment, manik joins friends at another table without so much as a word so the poor girl has too eat alone.
Later, she spies manik sitting at a bench, and eagerly makes her way to join him. But just as she does, he's joined by an older student, aryaman khurana, who tries to recruit him to his club. After some resistance, manik agrees.
Nandini is, naturally, curious to know which club it is. It's why manik purposely doesn't tell her, because he knows she'd follow him there.
Being called out on it doesn't stop her: When he heads to the club's meeting room, nandini stealthily follows. He's on to her, and leads her astray, but she eventually finds the right room.
Spotting her arrival, manik doesn't even look surprised and mutters that she found him after all. To her surprise, there's another familiar face in the group: alya. Manik and alya were both were champs in the national high school tournament two years ago, explaining how they know each other very well.
By now alya has sized up nandini as a rival, and although she maintains a pleasant tone of voice, her words border on bitchy - that nandini shouldn't have come since she doesn't know how to play tennis. Nandini replies that she was told that all she needed was interest.
Manik tells alya to let it rest. He has to tack on the comment, "She's a thoughtless girl anyway."
@ the tennis club
At the first practice, the gentle and welcoming aryaman takes his place as their training coach. Nandini finds aryaman very kind, but alya and manik trade smirks, because nandini's about to find out the truth.
(Which is? aryaman transforms into a fearsome drill sergeant the moment he gets on the court. He tests the members' proficiency levels one by one, barking orders and delivering fierce serves that can't be returned.)
aryaman is nervous around alya, though, and gives her an easy serve. She wants a proper one, and this gives her the chance to show off her prowess. manik is next, and he crushes aryaman. This earns him the others' admiration but sends aryaman's temper up another notch, with only one member left: nandini.
Nandini's scared to go out after manik has pissed him off - particularly since this is her first time holding a racquet - but go she must. She dodges a few balls in fear, and then one flies at her face. She blocks it with the racquet, which recoils into her face and knocks her out.
Funny enough, this impresses aryaman; he praises nandini for her focus on hitting the ball, disregarding her own safety.
Once he's off the court, though, he's back to his mild-mannered self. When the club goes out for drinks, he separates himself from the group, embarrassed of his behavior.
Everyone marvels at how perfect and talented alya and manik are, and speculate that both were very popular in high school. Alya says she wasn't interested in dating, spouting off a bunch of Sartre about loving the self and the nature of human existence.
And then, manik completes her sentence for her, continuing "the pretentious display of pseudointellectual quotitis."
Everyone is lost in all this philosophical flim-flammery, particularly nandini, feeling the gulf between her and them.
Back to space
The trio's next run-in takes place in hindi class, where they're joined by a fourth - harshad. When the lecture starts, pandit trilok chaurasia asks nandini a question, but as she doesn't understand proper hindi, she turns to manik for help. He ignores her, so she makes a garbled apology in her broken hindi.
Harshad also attracts the teacher's notice, who asks if he's a student in this class. harshad can communicate in perfect hindi about as well as a monkey, so alya speaks up and explains to the teacher that harshad's not a student, and that he's only here because he likes Nandini.
Then she turns to harshad and, with her steely-sweet voice, calls him a public menace. She adds under her breath that she hates stupid guys, which are the same words manik used to describe nandini.
@malhotra mansion:
Nandini glumly says to manik's mom that manik must like those pretty, smart, skinny girls - the kind that abound at school. nyonika immediately understands that a third wheel has hitched herself along for the ride, and reassures nandini that she and manik are the type who have to be together to be perfect, like a pot and lid.
Next day
nandini drops by a school near malhotra mansion to deliver some school materials, that was asked by nyonika, where nandini sees that a boy in year 8 has a crush on a classmate. To help him along, Nandini approaches the girl and invites her home and, naturally, she and Mom spy. The playdate doesn't go very well - the girl's bored and petulant - until manik arrives.
Suddenly, she perks up, wowed at the handsome. In fact, she's bold enough to ask at dinner whether manik believes in love at first sight. manik hasn't ever thought about it, but the little hussy says she believes in it now, then requests, "handsome! Please just wait seven years!" (I presume she's 13 and means until she's of age at 20.)
On the other side
POOR BOY. nyonika tries to give him a pep talk, but it just doesn't have much impact to hear mom tell you how cool you are.
In maniks room
Nandini asks if manik even cares how the poor boy feels, and calls him a player.
This gives her the chance to unload her frustrations about alya, and she calls him out for playing around with her feelings - he smiles at her intentionally to confuse her and never is clear on whether he means something or is joking. She grumps, "Go ahead, you guys suit each other... you're both mean anyway."
Catching on to the source of her complaint, he asks if this is about alya instead of the guy. nandini says they're the same thing.
After nandini comes out of maniks room
the guy in year 8 lashes out at nandini when she comes to talk to him, saying this was all her fault for asking the girl over. nandini agrees, apologizing for overstepping. The guy is feeling raw and retorts, "What do you know?"
But one-sided love is something nandini knows very well - she understands exactly what it feels like to be ignored by the one you like. She sighs, "listen, I think that for two people to like each other at the same time is nearly a miracle. One day, will that miracle happen for me?"
She says it wistfully, and sanjana overhears from inside, perturbed. With that on her mind, she asks harshad if he really likes nandini that much. harshad explains that when he was always getting into trouble and avoided by the other kids, Nandini was the only one who befriended him. There's a moment that's a bit sad when harshad calls himself pathetic, working while all the other kids are off joining clubs in college. But he's intent on building himself up quickly so he can propose to nandini.
Next day at night around 6pm
Manik brings alya home to work on an assignment, and nandini finds herself caught on the balcony outside the living room. She scurries behind the screen to avoid being seen, but alas, the two settle down to work there and she is forced to keep hiding.
The report is on cultural studies and leads to some more philosophical musings about the crux of Nietzsche's ideas. alya has the idea to make their project with a visual medium rather than a written report, and they get out the camera to create some homemade claymation.
nandini sees manik's absorption in his project and finds it discouraging - she's never seen him look like that, and it further highlights the gap between them.
Nyonika arrives home and sees manik's friend and think she is super pretty, and immediately her Momdar pings - this must be nandini's rival, and this automatically means she must be discouraged.
During the assignment alya and manik start talking about nandini where Alya finds that nandini didn't know manik is only a special member of the club , she laughs that they're not even that close - it means she finds nandini utterly unthreatening: "It's no fun without any tension."
Other side
Bothered by nandini's explanation of her one-sided crush, sanjana decides that it's time to move. SHe makes this decision with a heavy heart, but feels that it would be best for nandini - she doesn't like seeing her struggle.
Next day
Nyonika and Sanjana sat down and gossiped. In between Sanjana tells nyonika about her thoughts about nandini.
Nyonika doesn't take this well. The parents had meant it when they said they wanted nandini family to keep living with them till nandini is fully recovered. Nandini's mother answers that this will help nandini give up on manik faster - they all know that he's not interested in her.
Nyonika insists that manik will come to like nandini, and she clutches at straws by asking if it would be okay for them to stay if nandini married into the family. She just really loves her and her bright energy.
manik over hears there conversation except the part of the marriage and finds out nandini is leaving. Seeing manik anyone could figure out from his reaction proves that he is effected by the news and doenst want nandini to leave.
manik heads to nandini's room to confirm that it's true, at which point he says (completely unconvincingly, I might add), "Well, I can finally get back to life as normal."
In a sad voice, she says she hopes so. He leaves her with the words, "Have a nice life." Not exactly the most charming goodbye, is it?. But even if he can't say it in words, manik's disappointment is clear.
After a week
Soon, it's moving day. Nandini and her family is ready to leave, and it's a sad day all around, particularly for manik's mother.
Nandini thanks nyonika for everything she has done for her.
Manik studiously keeps his gaze averted - I wonder if he feels partially guilty, especially with his parents so heartbrokenly saying their goodbyes. He says a quick and casual "Bye."
After the murty's drove off, manik asks for lunch.
Nyonika's response: She whirls around and glares at manik, saying it's all his fault.
manik's light send-off to nandini was his way of overcompensating, since he can't be earnest for the life of him and he sure as hell isn't going to admit to any disappointment. But next he goes into nandini's room, looking around at the empty space, and he finds her doll on the bed, the one he'd won for her in the machine - she has left it behind.