𝙁𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚

Chapter 8 - Suprise

Akshit's Pov

"Akshu, listen," Maa called me with the usual nickname she had for me. I was heading upstairs to my room after a lazy Sunday breakfast. I turned and retraced my steps toward Maa and Baba's room. However, when I arrived, Baba was missing, probably gone to his friend's house to discuss clients and their days, or perhaps to the office. Baba was a lawyer himself. He appreciated the fact that I chose the same profession but disliked that I didn't opt to work with him.

"What is it, Maa?" I asked my mother. She gestured for me to sit down and began to speak. "Dhruv is getting married in two weeks," Maa said. I was startled for a second. Dhruv is my chachu's one and only son. We were close during our childhood, and now we talk as much as we can in between our busy schedules, mostly during family functions. After recovering from this sudden news, I asked her, "In such short notice and all of a sudden?" She replied, "It's a love marriage, and you know how the Yadavs react to these marriages."

Of course, I know. I still remember how the whole family reacted to Megha Di's love marriage. She is the daughter of my bade papa. The Yadav family still doesn't talk about her much. She visits occasionally with her little family. Suddenly, Maa asks me the question that I dreaded the most, "When are you getting married, Akshu? We will not hesitate even if it's a love marriage. Just let us know." I was not interested, neither in any marriage nor in any woman, not yet.

Ignoring her question, I stood and said, "I have a lot of work to do, Maa. I will leave now, and let me know when you want to go to Chachu's." She called from behind, saying, "Ignore me. I will see how you ignore your father's questioning." I didn't look back. Even I don't know how I will ignore these questions when Baba asks me. But now I can ignore, and I will keep doing that until then.

Tiara's Pov

I had been dreading this day since the moment I registered for that dance workshop. Excitement filled me when I saw the ad for the Bharatnatyam dance workshop. Without a second thought, I signed up, but after that day, I started dreading it. Nerves fluttered in my stomach since I woke up, anxiety crawling its way into my heart, making me nauseous. However, I promised myself I would do things I loved. I would let this fear go away. I questioned myself every day: Was it the fear of failure or the fear of judgment that haunted me?

After breakfast, I helped aunty in the kitchen to settle my nerves a little. It helped for a while but didn't really help me for the long run. I talked a little with Shruti, and she motivated me enough. I was motivated until I got into my room, where anxiety crept back in. Knowing it would keep nagging at me, I chose to ignore it and took a shower. After my shower, I decided to visit the Puja Ghar. Praying always helped me. Shruti deeply and strongly believed in her Kanha and Radharani, and her belief made me believe in them too.

When I entered the Puja Ghar, I found Dadi sitting with aunty while aunty was doing aarti. I sat near Dadi. She gave me a smile when she saw me. Aunty completed her aarti, saw me, and gave me a surprised smile. I smiled at both of them and started praying to God for enough strength for the day. After a while, aunty asked me if I was going somewhere. I told her where I was going. She reassured me that I would do well and told me to focus on dancing rather than anything else and enjoy the learning.

Suddenly, Akshit came to the Puja Ghar while I was talking to aunty. His eyes darted towards me with surprise, which shifted into amusement dancing in his eyes. Aunty asked him what he needed, to which he replied, 'Just your blessings, Maa, to avoid every 'Kali billi' (black cat) in my path.' My eyes shifted to his demeanor with sudden vengeance towards him. This man will never give up on his tactics to provoke anger in me. He smirked while looking at me. I ignored him. After saying goodbye to aunty, I walked out of the room, brushing past him. Suddenly, I remembered what I would be paying him back, as I planned it last night.