Beyond the Beats

Chapter 78. Following the command

My head hurt, and when I noticed Nishant laughing his ass off, rolling on the road, all of my heartache turned into rage.

"Why didn't you alert me?" I scolded him.

He wiped his tears. "I would have missed the fun then."

I went to kick him, but he dodged in time. He reminded me that we were getting late and the weather had turned very cold too.

We continued walking, and as per our usual route, I took the left turn, but I stopped when I noticed that Nishant wasn't with me. I looked back, and he was standing in one spot.

"You went in the wrong direction," he told me.

I looked at him in confusion, but since my mind was full of other thoughts, I agreed with him and turned back. We took the right turn, and again after going some distance, I found Nishant absent from my side.

"What are you doing?" I asked him in irritation.

He jogged backwards. "Actually, you took the correct turn earlier."

With that, he burst out laughing again, and I chased him. Through the whole way, he continuously made fun of me. He was new at work, so I let him go after punching him.

Tejas followed his promise of not bothering me, but on some days, he still joined Nishant on the walk towards our event management company. He never talked to me, and at the studio, his behaviour reminded me of the time when he used to ignore me.

That's what I had asked for, so I had no right to feel bad about it. I regularly attended my college, and my team never complained about me missing some practice sessions. As a team leader, Tejas efficiently handled the situation and gave me a portion of the choreography where I could easily practice without others.

I felt bad about my team's preparation getting disturbed because of me, so during the last few days of the final rehearsals, I arrived on time and practiced diligently.

Soon, the day for the evaluations arrived, and fortunately, everything went well. When our performance ended, my whole team did a group hug, but I stayed back as I was feeling guilty for my earlier actions.

Yukta pulled me in the hug, but at the same time, Tejas moved out of the group hug. I looked at him as if he had physically hit me, but he borrowed a camera from a staff member and told everyone to pose.

Akki knocked my head and told me to stop making a rotten face. I wasn't able to smile. Tejas clicked a few pics, and after the mentors gave out their comments, our team left the stage.

On our way down the stage, Tejas announced an after-party, making everyone jump in joy. I went to the girls' powder room alongwith with Yukta and Jolina, and both were excitedly talking about the party.

While getting changed, Yukta checked her mobile and announced that Tejas had sent the venue address. Jolina confirmed the same and told me to hurry up.

I checked my mobile and huffed - I had received no such message.

"Bhoomi, you are coming to the party, right?" Yukta asked me seriously.

"I am not invited," I said and picked up my bag.

"Tejas invited everyone, girl," Jolina told me.

I showed her my mobile. "He didn't send me the address."

"You fought with TJ?" Yukta asked me.

"I don't want to talk about it," I replied.

Both girls tried to convince me, but I didn't stop. I left the changing room, and on my way out, I noticed Michael, Akshay, and Tejas waiting outside the boys' changing room.