Chapter- 29

Dhruv was immediately on the defensive and he said that since Fang Ge was killed by him, there's no reason why he should explain himself or to say that he's not the killer.

Manik said that Dhruv must really have wanted to kill Fang Ge because there wasn't just an injury on the neck but also a tear behind the ear. Dhruv recalled the things that Khushi went through and muttered that Fang Ge deserved it. Manik smiled, and when Dhruv got up to leave, Manik banged on the glass to ask him to sit down again.

He told Dhruv that he promised Manan that he would save his friend, Dhruv and he also didn't want to see Sarla collapse because of him. Dhruv asked what happened to his mother, and Manik replied that his mother collapsed after hearing that the case was against Dhruv, but Nandani's taking care of her.

Dhruv said "Thank goodness there's Nandani." Manik heard that and his face changed.

Dhruv saw and quickly said, "Please don't misunderstand, I only purely wanted to thank her."

"You don't need to explain, I know just how important you are to her." Then Manik spoke his heartfelt words, "I would rather lose everything, than to lose someone's true heart. So you do plan to throw Sarla's worry, Nandani's true heart and Manan's concern into the bin?"

Dhruv asked him if he's so willing to help him " simply because my mother asked you? Or is it because of Nandani?"

"I've said before... it's for Manan. Anyway, I have confidence that I can help you get out earlier, so that you can reunite with those who care about you" said Manik.. Dhruv finally agreed to let Manik defend him.

Later, Manik revealed to his assistant that Dhruv's lying because there wasn't even a tear behind Fang Ge's ears and that from his reactions, it was obvious that he didn't want Manik to find Khushi. Manik suspected that the key to this whole thing was Khushi and asked his assistant to prepare a list of questions.

The prosecutor for this case was Mr. Dixit, someone obviously very capable of sending bad guys to jail. He was discussing with his assistant that Manik would definitely head for a self-defence thing, so that the sentence would be lighter, but based on the evidence given, he's positive that it was murder instead.

Nyonika went to Nandani's house and was going to deposit something in her mailbox when Manan came home and ran up to her. She felt 'caught' and was going to run away but was trapped in a situation when Manan asked her why she wanted to run.

Nandani smiled and told Manan that Nyonika was hoping for Manan to show her their big yard, and Manan joyfully brought Nyonika into the house. She actually brought photos of the outing that she and Manan went for [ the natural environment thing] and she kept looking around Manan's room.

Later, Nandani cooked the speciality again, and she stood there with a slightly lecturing tone, and asked, " Manan, what's the eighth rule in this House?"

Manan dutifully answered, "When I'm eating with adults, I can only start after they start. BUT I'm so hungry!! Daddi!!" He turned to Nyonika, hoping that she would help him, but Nyonika coughed and said, "Your mother is right." which caused Nandani to be pleasantly surprised.

While she was washing the dishes, Nyonika apologised to her for saying that she was not brought up properly, "after I saw how obedient Manan is, I realise that your parents must have brought you up very well in order for you to bring Manan up so well."

She looked at Manan and said, "When Manik was at Manan's age, he was nowhere as happy. I often brought him to tuition, to classes... because of my interference, he didn't smile or laugh often. I realise my mistake now, but it's too late. We're both single mothers, but from you, I think I should reflect upon myself." "No, actually we're the same, we both love our child, just that we love in a different way... no one will love Manik more than you. But I took his childhood away, and broke you and him up, and in the process caused Manik, caused you, and even Alia to be unhappy."

"Yet, it's because of your decision, which was what allowed Manik to live on. Isn't this the most important? It's also because of this which allows me to understand what I should cherish. Even if Manik and I didn't go through all these obstacles, it doesn't mean that we will be together forever... no one will know what will happen the next second, so we should try our best and make the best decisions for our loved ones at that moment." Nandani said... She was touched, because Nyonika told her not to give up on the marriage. Nandani replied that she never wanted to give up but because Manik already treated her like a stranger and she didn't know how to get close to him.

Manan suddenly ran towards Nandani, stuck close to her and said, "Isn't this close mumma?"

Then he stuck close to Nyonika and asked, "Isn't this close? daddi" [ because he was thinking of close in the physical sense ]

Nandani and Nyonika laughed and Nandani said that he eavesdropped but he was like, " I'm called Manan Manik Malhotra and I can do this". They laughed again and Nyonika said, "Sure... you're Manan Manik Malhotra, so you should be Cupid and make sure that Nandani doesn't give up."

Manik interrogated Khushi but Khushi couldn't recall Dhruv being the one who stabbed Fang Ge -- all she remembered was Fang Ge having lots of blood and Dhruv holding a pedestal. Manik noticed Khushi keep touching her amulet and even asked where her amulet was even though it was just by her neck. Later Manik said that he had another suspicion and it shouldn't be wrong. He asked his assistant to contact Doctor Arnav who was a physiologist. Doctor Arnav gave Khushi a check up and told him that Khushi really suffered from mental distress and she would lock the memories that she didn't want to recall deep inside her. Manik told her that it's important Khushi recalled the exact scene soon because the court would open the following day. "If I'm not wrong, I know what Dhruv's trying to hide." and Doctor Arnav nodded.

The next day, Manik called Doctor Arnav but Khushi still hadn't recalled anything.

Nandani thanked Manik for what he had done and asked if he could stay later after the court because she needed to talk to him. He said, "We will see how things go on."

The court started, and the prosecutor stated clearly that Dhruv planned to kill Fang Ge and adding on to the fact that there's evidence for him wanting to escape, he hoped that the court would give a heavy sentence. The judge asked if Dhruv pleaded guilty and he said yes, even though he knew that would break Sarla's heart.

Manik's turn came and he said that Dhruv was self-defence, hence he hoped that the court would give him a lighter sentence, or no sentence at all. The prosecutor called in their first witness and it was Fang Ge's brother who stated clearly that Dhruv had a motive [ since Fang Ge stabbed his hand before ]. The prosecutor also stated that it was planned because they already had the siren ready to lure all the sidekicks away.

It's Manik's turn to question the witness and he asked the witness if he discovered any weapons after giving Dhruv a full body check when he went to give them the money. The witness grudgingly replied no, but he said "I didn't see clearly" when Manik asked if it's true that Fang Ge refused to let Khushi go even after he got the money. The judge demanded him to answer honestly, and he said "I think it's like that."

Manik asserted his point that Dhruv only wanted to leave as soon as possible and that there's no motive, so it's self-defence. The prosecutor stood up in objection and said that since Dhruv met up with Fang Ge a week ago, he could have already found out that there's a pedestal there.

Manik then called in the third witness who was Nandani, whose statement could prove that Dhruv wanted to own up, instead of wanting to escape as he himself said. Manik wanted to assert the point that Dhruv's character was not someone who would plan a murder, so he asked Nandani why she wanted to help Dhruv even though they're not related in any way.

Nandani said that Dhruv helped her and Manan a lot and that without Dhruv, there's no way Manan and she could survive the six years. She also said that Dhruv's very honest, kind and upright, and there's no way he would kill others. Manik heart broke hearing this... The prosecutor stood up and basically just caused the court to treat Nandani's words as invalid because she had relationships with both Dhruv [ ex-fiance ] and Manik [ present - husband ]. The prosecutor thus asserted his point again, that Dhruv had a motive, and he wanted to escape after murdering Fang Ge.

On the other side Doctor Arnav is trying to get Khushi to recall the events, and he purposely tried to snatch the amulet away from Khushi. In the process, they accidentally knocked over a cup and as Khushi watched the cup roll around on the floor, she recalled how the pedestal was on the floor as well and that Fang Ge, in the fight, cut off Dhruv's amulet.

She started screaming and crying, and Doctor Arnav went to sooth her and Khushi told her that she recalled everything.

Dhruv got called up as a witness and Manik said that he didn't feel like defending him AT ALL with his uncooperative attitude. "The pedestal with blood stains but no fingerprints, no use. Fang Ge's brother only saw you holding the pedestal, not you stabbing Fang Ge with it, invalid."

He went on to say that he had no idea why Dhruv wanted to admit to the crime when there's only actually 25% of him committing the crime -- he could assume that " Fang Ge found his own conscience and wanted to commit suicide, that the little brother wanted a mutiny, killed the big brother because he wanted to be the leader, or... that Khushi got a shock and killed Fang."

Dhruv heard that and immediately said, " Manik, what rubbish are you saying? I killed the man, why do you mention Khushi for? She had nothing to do with this at all."

Manik smiled, and said, "Weird... why didn't you say that this had nothing to do with Fang, that this had nothing to do with the little brother, why must you say that this had nothing to do with Khushi? This is because you found out that Khushi lost the most essential part of her memory that night, so you decide to hide the truth. There's only one possibility why you must admit guilty, and that's to protect Khushi!"

Dhruv wanted to kick his lawyer (Manik) away and he was damn agitated, " I already admit that I killed the guy, why are you all not arresting me huh?"

Khushi opened the court doors and said, "No! Lawyer Manik was right -- I killed Fang."

Dhruv quickly asked her to go back, but Khushi said that it's enough and he shouldn't lie anymore. Later, Khushi gave her statement, and that Manik suspected that she lost a few seconds of her memory so he got Doctor Arnav to try and recover her memory. She described the whole process and that she took another pedestal to stab Fang. Doctor Arnav came up and said that Khushi was controlled by drugs and because she was constantly abused by Fang, she'd gotten PTSD and she could safely assume that she didn't have any motive to kill Fang.

"I'm sorry, if I didn't leave home, this wouldn't have happened at all. I'm so sorry, so sorry..." said Khushi crying... Dhruv teared and asked why Manik wanted to recover her memory. Manik replied that Dhruv did wrong and he should have called the police in the first place -- " I did this all because!"

"No, Lawyer Manik was right, you really did wrong. Do you know how guilty I felt when I saw you taking the blame for me? Without you, I will not be happy." confessed Khushi...

Results of the court?

Well Dhruv was proved as innocent and Khushi would be arrested for further investigation. Dhruv told Khushi not to be scared and that he and Sarla would be waiting for her at home. After the court, the prosecutor praised him and that he's impressed that Manik could find the symptoms of PTSD in Khushi. Manik revealed that he had PTSD as well, that's why he could see the symptoms. The prosecutor said that he heard that Manik would also be attending a conference in America that's going to be held in a few days -- " I hope that I can rub shoulders with you again."

They both shook hands.

Later Dhruv thanked Manik, who promised him that he would try his best to get a 'not sentenced' for Khushi. Manik said that it should be him who should thank Dhruv instead, because it wasn't until that day that he realised just how much Dhruv had done for Manan and Nandani.

Dhruv laughed and said, "What's the use? Six years ago, you saved Nandani. Six years later, you saved me, this shows that you are the one with ability to take care of both mother and son.... Not me"

Manik smiled and said, "This only shows that I'm a good lawyer... the rest, doesn't matter at all." Then he walked out.

Dhruv asked him what that meant, and Manik replied that he wanted Dhruv to continue what he had been doing for the six years -- take care of Manan and Nandani.

Dhruv asked, "Did I hear wrong? You want me to take care of your son, and your wife as well. Then what are you supposed to do?"

Manik said that he wanted to marry Nandani because he thought that it's still possible between them, but he realised that Nandani was right, "I'm not the one whom she can depend on, who can give her a tomorrow.... you are."

"Big Lawyer Manik, it can't happen that you still don't know why she left you?" asked Dhruv being shocked...

Manik was stunned and asked "What do you mean?"

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