I wish I had told you

The Strategy

It was another pleasant morning in Bangalore. She woke at 6:30 am as usual and got ready for her daily jog. While listening to the radio in the car, she noticed almost every other channel was talking about Section 377. She had no idea about it and didn't want to know as well. She kept tuning until a good song was played in any channel and finally got one.

Later, at home, she was scrolling through her social media and everyone had posted a pride flag. She knew some important event had occurred that the world is raving about. She googled about Section 377 and realized that finally Jay and others like had gotten recognition in India. She was really happy for him and dialled him to congratulate but as it kept ringing, an idea struck her head. He didn't pick up the call. She cut the call and immediately went to her mom, 'Ma, I am leaving to Mumbai tomorrow,' she said.

'Why all of a sudden?'

'I--I got a new gig, a big one. So, have to go.'

'Okay. Start packing, then.'

She had been writing songs since a very long time but never really composed a tune for any of it. She had written a song about Ankit and Jay back when they were together. She felt this was the right time to get it out. This even be a breakthrough for her, if it comes out well and received well. She left to Mumbai the next day itself.

She discussed the idea with Zach - after all, he has always been her go-to working partner. He felt it was great and since he was out of any job at the moment, he decided to put his everything into the song.

They worked together for a couple of weeks and finally got the song together. They played it to Anusha and some of their other trustworthy friends and all of them seemed to genuinely love the song. It was supposed to be a little sad, slow song but Zach modified it into a funky, upbeat song and they named it "Te Amo". They uploaded it on her channel and thought - now, the song will do all the talking. But, little did they know that there were already a hundred such songs on YouTube with the Section 377 concept.

The song in spite of some promotion from their friends was not doing great. Jessica was a disappointment. The views barely increased as she kept refreshing every five minutes. She genuinely felt it was a good song and deserved a lot of attention than the other crap out there. She was going through the comments below and one particular comment got her attention. It read, 'Nice one. Deserves a lot more attention.' The comment in itself was nothing special but name under which the comment was put, was definitely special - Ankit96, ANKIT.

Jessica was on the verge of elimination in "Harmony". It was semi-finals and out of the three that were left, only one could make it to the finals.

Jessica was utterly terrified and thought she had very less probability of making it because the round that would decide the winner was the "performance round". And Jessica was terrible at dance and all those over-the-top dramas. On the other hand, she didn't want to give up after coming this far. If not for anyone, she wanted to give it her best shot at least for Ankit.

During the practice sessions, the other two contestants were practising their songs and moves and there was Jessica - singing, singing and more singing. One of the contestants was nailing her song and dance, to whole another level. This alarmed Jessica and she doubled-up her duration that day, after seeing the other nail it.

She was late by an hour than the usual time and Ankit, who usually drops her in the station, came to the practice hall in search of her. As he came in, he saw Jessica practising her high notes and there was one around. She stopped her singing at the sound of his shoes as he approached.

'Aren't you leaving?' he asked.

'Yeah, I should. I just wanted to do some extra practice.'

Ankit sensed the disappointment and anxiety in her face. 'You look unusually tensed,' he said.

'Actually, I am. It's just the semi-finals and the damn round. It's a performance-based round and that's the whole problem,' she said looking worried.

Ankit pulled a chair and sat in front of her. 'Perform. What's the big deal?' he said casually and continued, 'You know, I've always loved 80's rock songs and those sick performances. Go for it.'

'That's the thing. I can't pull off all that. I can sing whatever they want but I am not that good of performer,' she said looking disappointed. Her voice was filled with anguish and gaze down. 

After a small pause, she looked into his eyes and continued, ' I actually tried a bit of dancing and little drama when I saw these girls do it so well.' She shook her head. 'It didn't work out. I looked like a clown.'

Ankit understood that she was actually having a tough time and her contemporaries had completely knocked her confidence down. He placed his hands on her knees to comfort her. 

'You know what, it's not about what you can or can't do. It's all about confidence. Just keep your eyes on the prize and don't watch anybody else,' he said and got up. 'I'll take care of the rest,' he assured her.

It was the semi-finals and Ankit hadn't told her anything about what he was planning. She, anyways, blindly trusted him - as always - and prepared only her song. As she was getting ready, Ankit came out of nowhere. He stood behind her. 

'Jess, all set?' he asked briskly. Jessica turned and got up of her chair. 

'Yeah, but what about the performance?' she asked in a stressful tone.

'See, I've made all arrangements. The background act while you're singing will take care of everything. You just be a little more expressive and do the little things that they ask you to do,' said Ankit.

'Okay,' she said.

Ankit's plan worked out well and everyone got tricked. Her little gestures along with the awesome background act somehow got her through. After the show, she came running to Ankit and hugged him. 'Thank you!' she exclaimed in happiness.

'But I feel guilty. It's cheating, after all.'

He got offended and quickly defended his idea. 'See, you actually sang way better than the other two but if it wasn't for my idea, you would be nowhere. You got what you deserve. Think that way.'

He walked towards his car after saying that as Jessica kept staring at him. He opened the car door but slammed it and shouted to her, 'Strategy.' He came a little closer. 'You can call my idea strategy, such a beautiful word.' He walked back to his car and opened the door, mumbling to himself, 'Cheating it seems.'

She now knew what she had to do - come up with a STRATEGY.