ABHIRA: THE RULE BREAKER'S GIRL

CH09 KISS HER BACK

“Hey, why was Abhimanyu sporting a suit yesterday?” Akshara asked Vansh at breakfast the following morning.

Vansh didn’t look up from his plate. “He had a meeting.”

“Oh… he works, too?”

Vansh looked up at her. “Yeah, and he almost dismantled the band to take over their family businesses.”

“You mean break up the band?” She was surprised someone like

Abhimanyu was going to step away from the fame. “When they are the top band in the country?”

“The tours were taking a toll on the band members and their families.”

“Oh.”

“He pulled the group back together for this one last tour.”

“No wonder the tour is so important to him. Then why treat Arya like that?” she grumbled.

Vansh placed his fork down. “Let’s not talk about Arya.”

“I hope she is doing okay. She didn’t answer my call when I tried to reach her last night.” Akshara missed having Arya around.

Vansh went silent for a long moment. “Let’s go.”

Akshara was nervous for that day’s practice. The one song she practiced all day, Abhimanyu was going to hear for the first time. The other songs she had been working on were mash-ups but were a much slower tune, but this one was a high-energy, high-pitched one that Arya would have rocked.

She followed Vansh out of the restaurant in the hotel, the anxiety of singing in front of Abhimanyu, especially after her not-so-innocent thoughts about him the previous day, ran high. She felt jittery as she walked into the large conference room, the banging of her heart in her chest deafened her.

She was surprised to see Abhimanyu to one side of the stage and no one else.

“Where is everyone else?”

“It’s their off day.” Vansh smiled, walking toward Abhimanyu.

“Hey, guys,” Abhimanyu said, and she smiled, looking away from him.

She could not look him in his eyes without her every nerve getting spiking up.

“Akshara, are you okay?” Abhimanyu asked the question he had asked her more than once in the elevator yesterday.

Vansh chuckled. “She is nervous.”

Akshara glared at Vansh and looked at Abhimanyu when he laughed.

“Don’t be nervous. You will like this song.”

“I like the song, but I don’t know if I can sing it like Arya.” Akshara kept her eyes on Abhimanyu.