ABHIRA: THE RULE BREAKER'S GIRL

CH07 HE WANTED HER

Two months and five concerts later…

 

There was no denying that Akshara was having too much fun being part of the tour. She and Vansh were now a part of the group, and they were talking about planning future concerts together. The group put on another amazing concert the night before, and they had one more to go in the southern part of the country before they moved their base to a city in the central part of India.

Two months with the band had changed Akshara in many ways. She went from hating and worried about being on the stage in front of tens of thousands of people to looking forward to the concert, and the cheering crowd no longer intimidated her but fuelled her with new energy.

Another change was how she perceived Abhimanyu. She didn’t dislike him as much as she did the day she arrived. He still had his flare-ups when the band didn’t get it right, but they didn’t bother her as much. She still could not figure out why he lost his cool so easily. His most recent flare-up was when Arya showed up late to practice.

Akshara was surprised that he read the riot act to the lead singer, his best friend, for being tardy. She did find Arya’s sudden disappearance in the middle of the day and showing up very late in the morning odd. She had made random excuses about oversleeping or making a trip to the spa in the middle of the day.

That morning, Arya snuck in from the side door when Abhimanyu was talking to one of the band members and made her way to where Akshara was with the humming group.

She came up to Akshara and asked, “Do you think Abhi noticed I am late?”

Akshara smiled. “He has been busy with the guitarist to get the right tune.”

“Oh, good.” Arya let out a sigh of relief.

“Where have you been?” Akshara blurted.

Arya rolled her eyes. “I stayed up binge-watching a show last night.

It was so addicting I didn’t get to sleep until five this morning.”

“You need to get some rest, Arya.”

“I know. I was so pumped up after the concert last night, I couldn’t sleep and ended staying up all night.”

Arya looked around the practice room and asked, “Where is Vansh? If he is late, maybe I can get away for not being the last one to arrive.”

Akshara laughed. “Unfortunately,not. He is away for a meeting with someone this morning. He told me he won’t be in until this afternoon.”

“Whatever, I am going to go check on Abhi. If he says I am late, I am telling him I was learning how to hum from you guys,” she said, winking as she walked to the stage.

A couple of hours into the planning and practice, Akshara was interrupted by a loud noise from backstage. She stepped away from the small area that was set up for her practice and headed over to where she could hear the voices.

As she walked past the stage, she noticed the musicians shell shocked and looking in one direction. As Akshara got closer, she could hear Arya and Abhimanyu arguing.