Tsuki ga kirei desu ne? «B×B»

Chapter Two

"And the award for the best coming of age novel 2023 goes to...", the anchor at the podium on the stage of The Young Writers Awards 2023 said. The crystals of sweat trickled down Avinav's temples incessantly. He clutched Shaan's knee and heaved a sigh of anxiety.

"Do you think I'll able to make it?" He said skeptically.

"Says who? The bestseller author?", Shaan replied with an affirming look on his face.

It was just a matter of few seconds when the name was announced but each second felt like an eternity to Avinav. He was feeling nauseating, dizzy and thinks he might pass out if the anchor took another more second to declare the winner.

"... Avinav Sen for I'm me only when I'm with you. Let's give him a big hand, everyone."

Everything surrounding Avinav seemed to disappear. His life had paused for sonic moments. "Did I hear right? Am I the Avinav they're awarding?", he thought. The walls of the colossal hall trembling by the loud applause of the audience, the spotlight focusing on him and Shaan saying "You've done this, Avi. All this rejoice is for YOU." seemed too good to be true to him. He was in an inexplicable frenzy. He walked towards the stage while his ears were buzzing with the fan chants of his name. He received his award from another eminent writer and stood in the centre of the stage for his acceptance speech. He looked around at the crowd and saw the numerous plackets of the popular and most beloved quotes from his book held by his fans. A drop of tear stayed hanging from the corner of his eye. He gulped before he starts his speech.

"I'm immensely grateful to the judges for giving a novice like me an award. But above all, I'd like to thank my best friend Shaan, who's sitting right beside my seat, who's been through every thick and thin and believed in me and my story when no one did. Lastly, Mom, Dad, now you can brag about me to your cousins too. And dear readers, keep reading, keep loving and keep living." Avinav said and kissed the trophy. Shaan was still in his standing ovation position but his arms were wide open for a victory hug. Avi ran towards him to get embraced and sat back.

"The next category is Thriller and the nominees are..." The anchor said and the huge screen displayed a couple of bone shivering book covers with intriguing book titles. "And the award goes to Aishi Ray for The Arcanum of the Attic. A huge round of applause for Ms. Ray." The hall once again trembled with the applause of the audience.

A woman dressed in elegant red wine coloured satin sheath gown with an alluring enigmatic personality walked up to the stage, received her award and said, "My heartiest gratitude to the judging panel who thought I'm deserving of this award and a big thank you to myself for not losing hope during the worst writer blocks and keeping up the zeal throughout and hopefully, in future too. And of course, thanks to the readers who have made it possible." She put up her trophy in the air in a gesture of dedicating it to her readers and came down from the stage.

The show went on for another hour when the host came up on stage and says, "Congratulations to all the winners tonight and the very best for all your future endeavors to the non-winning nominees. The show ends here tonight. Hope to meet you again next year. But as of now, we'd like to invite all the participants for an after-party dinner. See you soon."

Everyone got up from the seat and gradually the hall was evacuated. Shaan said with an excessively dramatic tone while going out of the hall, "Now you're a celebrity, will you even have time for an unpopular photographer like me? I don't think so. Well, enjoy your night, darling."

Avi grimaced and said," You're literally getting on my nerves for being this damn dramatic. Try opening a drama school maybe. Go back home and get some sleep and get rid of all these corny thoughts by not overthinking all the damn time."

"Get yourself a gf tonight, bro. You know Tay mommy said "If you've a girlfriend, I'm jealous of her but if you're single it's honestly worse." and being a gay man, I fucking felt that. I'd definitely not be jealous of your gf, of course, I mean why the fuck would I be even, but such a gorgeous man like you roaming around single isn't very fine either."

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Be mingled", Shaan said and continues in an inaudible whisper, "It hurts to not date you when you're single as fuck."

"Good lord, take my car, crash at my place, there are a few strong booze lying, get your ass wasted and fucking go to sleep and get these thoughts outta your mind. You were fine the entire evening what the fuck just happened to you?"

"Maybe you're right. I need to sleep. Some things are better in dreams." Shaan said with a hidden gnawing agony in his voice. He gave him a tight hug and headed towards Avi's car.