The Wedding Whisperer

Chapter 15: A Dance to Remember

"Don't be nervous. You got this," Akshara whispered as she stood next to Abhimanyu the following night, watching the youngest performers on stage.

"Don't say that. I'm not nervous."

"You look nervous." She smiled.

"What?"

"You adjusted your tie eighty-three thousand times, pulled on your cuffs seventeen times, and ran your fingers through your hair so many times that all the styling is gone."

"I hated what the guy did to my hair."

She bit her lip. "I have to agree, your hair looks better this way."

"Oh good. You like my messy hair."

She looked up at him. "My liking doesn't matter. I only said that the natural look suits you."

"Whatever. For the record, you ruined this event for me."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, Mr. Birla, but the bride is our focus today, so please suck it up and put on a good show for your lovely sister."

"Yes, I will, Ms. Akshara Sharma."

She let out a laugh. "You'll be fine, Abhimanyu."

"That's the Akshara I like. The other one called me Brozilla."

"I did not. Never."

He chuckled. "Definitely not to my face."

"You are making me nervous now. Please stop."

He laughed victoriously. "Mission accomplished."

"What happens if I pull out now?"

She turned to look at him, perplexed. "You will not."

"I won't, not after you spent all that time teaching me."

"You're doing this for Anisha, remember that."

"For Anisha."

"Absolutely. She is the bride, and she gets everything her way."

"I'm the bride's brother. What do I get?" he teased.

"You get to dance with the bride."

"How come you don't dance? I know you love to dance."

She smiled, lowering her eyes for a moment before looking up at him. "This is a family event, and our job is to train the family members to perform for the bride and groom. It's no fun if we dance, right?"

He fell silent as they watched the show from backstage. Anisha and Deepak cheered and hooted for their family members who were performing for them. What started off with the youngest members of the family followed with the oldest, with grandparents doing a coordinated dance with their arms from where they were seated.

The event was coming together beautifully, and the last-minute change they made to recreate the stage based on the wall theme that Anisha had created at Abhimanyu's place was perfect. The black background with antique lamps in bronze and teal blue hung from the top at multiple levels, creating a mysterious yet fun aspect on the stage.

"The setup is beautiful," he said, clapping for the performers.

"I'm so glad Aaru was able to pull it off."

"Yes, she did. Do you think Anisha managed to figure out the mystery woman I shared my mom's dessert with was you?"

She turned around to look at him. "How can she do that? Did you tell her?"

"No. But I told her the mystery woman liked the wall."

"As long as it doesn't ruin her surprise, I'm good with that."