ABHIRA: THE RULE BREAKER'S GIRL

CH04 THE LONELY BACK

The next morning, she woke up earlier than usual and ordered coffee and breakfast to her room. Everyone on tour had a strict schedule, and the event management team had scheduled the first meeting to start at eight in the morning. She looked at the schedule she received, and her eyes widened. It was a full day with a packed schedule set to end an hour before dinner.

She took the time to talk to her parents on video chat. Her father was still not thrilled she was hundreds of miles away from home and was touring with a rock band and not a classical troupe.

“Did you meet Vansh yet?” her mother asked out of the blue.

“It’s seven in the morning, and he is probably still asleep, Ma. I am meeting with him shortly. And can you two stop telling him to check on me every minute?” she managed to ask when her father stepped away to take another phone call.

“We are just worried, Akshara. You need to understand.”

“Ma, I am almost twenty-five. Please remember that.”

Her mother laughed. “Okay. When will we get to see you?”

“I don’t know, Ma. I was hoping to fly home between the concerts, but the schedule is packed.”

“Are you going to be singing western songs?” her mother inquired in a low voice as if she didn’t want her father to hear.

Akshara laughed. “Ma, I am here to sing the classical combination to the western songs. It’s called a mash-up.”

“Your father is worried you will be attracted to the western music and leave the classical music behind as that boy did.”

“Ma, please. Stop worrying about everything.” She rolled her eyes.

“Does that boy know who you are?” Her mother’s voice dipped lower.

Akshara scrunched her nose. “You mean Abhimanyu?”

“Yes, does he know who your father is?” Her mother was right to wonder.

Akshara’s father was one of the main judges of the competition from which Abhimanyu was expelled because of the rules he broke, but it didn’t stop at that. Abhimanyu and her father had an open argument as the live television recording continued in front of hundreds of people in the audience.

“Yes, he does. Why should it matter?” She smiled, knowing where her mom’s wild imagination was going.

“What if he holds a grudge against you and treats you badly to get back at your father?” Her mother was expressing all her concerns at once.

“Ma, listen. It was nine years ago, and even if he did want to get back at him, I am not a child. I can handle it. If he had an argument with Dad, it was about the competition. It has nothing to do with me. I met him yesterday for dinner, and he was very polite, so stop worrying.”

“I think that was your father’s worry. He won’t say all that to you, but he will to me, and then he gets me worried.”