Beyond the Beats

Chapter 46. Shooting stars

I spent the night at the hotel, and I had already suspected it, but it was still very surprising to know that Hriaan's family owned that hotel and also the one across the street.

In the morning, I, Hriaan, and Mahreen had breakfast, and they offered to drop me home, but I refused. They had already helped me enough. Mahreen got me a pair of new clothes, and I left for my home after thanking both of them. I was still worried about Tejas leaving so suddenly yesterday, but Hriaan told me not to think much about it.

After a lot of time, I convinced myself that Tejas might have something else on his mind, and the way he looked at Hriaan yesterday, they might have some issue between them, and I might have nothing to worry about because Tejas didn't say anything to me at all.

As for my absence in Yukta's party, I was sure Hriaan must have informed his best friend, and if he didn't, I was going to do it anyways because Falguni and others wouldn't have let me live in peace without an explanation.

I didn't have my phone with me, so I was really bored while travelling. I kept staring at others' mobiles and kept getting jealous of how they were passing their time.

I had just done shopping, and now, I had lost my phone. Thinking about buying a new one was giving me a headache. My old phone didn't have anything important to take backup of, so I wasn't worried about losing any financial details, but I still loved my phone. It was my first, gifted by Dad, and I was planning on keeping it until I died.

I sulked till I reached my home because I knew Mom was already waiting to beat my ass. Surprisingly, she didn't choke-slam me once I stepped inside our house. Dad was getting ready to leave for his second shift, Dhara Di was taking her medicines, and Mom was watching TV while Srishti was doing her homework.

Everything looked normal except Mom who was actually relaxing instead of jumping from one place to another.

My family let me settle down before they bombarded me with questions. Dhara Di called Akshay, and soon, he arrived with his whole family, and I was getting scolded from humans ranging from a four-years old to the fifty eight-years old.

After everyone was done getting the explanations they needed, Akshay's family stayed for the lunch. And then they decided to extend their stay till evening, and I couldn't even use my terrace for practice due to rains.

Therefore, I and Akshay went to Vibhan's garage studio as only two days were left for our final performances of the first round of solo evaluations. My crew hadn't returned yet, but Vibhan's father always had a spare key, so we opened the studio.

"You didn't go to Sarthak's studio?" I asked Akki.

"The trains on that route are running really slow today. I asked my mentor about it, and he allowed me to practice at home," Akshay replied.

"Let's start the practice then. We don't have much time left."

"Cool."

Because of me not having my phone, Akshay and I took turns recording our practice videos on his phone. We stayed till late night, going back home to rest around 2:30 am.

With only one day remaining, we had to mark our attendance at Sarthak's studio. Akshay again had to shield me through the rains because I had lost two umbrellas within a week.

While I wasn't worried about mine, I was concerned about Tejas's umbrella. I still had the pocket money Dad had given me, so I bought an umbrella for myself and one for Tejas on our way to the studio, doubting if he would like the quality or not.

On reaching the dance studio, we met with our mentors to update them about our progress, and after their reviews and some minute changes, we were allowed to start practicing for the finals.