We report a specially configured open optical microcavity, imposing a spatially imbalanced gain–loss profile, to host an exclusively proposed next-nearest-neighbor resonance coupling scheme. Adopting the scattering matrix (S-matrix) formalism, the effect of interplay between such proposed resonance interactions and the incorporated non-Hermiticity in the microcavity is analyzed drawing a special attention to the existence of hidden singularities, namely exceptional points (EPs), where at least two coupled resonances coalesce. We establish adiabatic flip-of-state phenomenon of the coupled resonances in the complex frequency plane (k-plane), which is essentially an outcome of the fact that the respective EP is being encircled in the system parameter plane. Encountering such multiple EPs, the robustness of flip-of-states phenomena has been analyzed via continuous tuning of coupling parameters along a special hidden singular line which connects all the EPs in the cavity. Such a numerically devised cavity, incorporating the exclusive next neighbor coupling scheme, has been designed for the first time to study the unconventional optical phenomena in the vicinity of EPs. © 2017 Optical Society of America.