Till Forever Falls Apart

40).Anika

ANIKA

As soon as I entered the community park, I recognised Anya standing near the fountain. 

I approached her, tapped on her shoulder and said her name. She turned towards me and gave me her dazzling smile. 

She had worn a purple dress and the wind was blowing through her hair. 

I didn't notice it yesterday in the dark but today in the light, her beautiful features were clearly visible. She was damn gorgeous, with her beautiful grey eyes and honey colored skin.

You didn't notice it because of the dark or because you were lost in a certain someone’s gorgeous blue eyes, huh?

Great…now my inner voice is also teasing me. Hadh hai.

“Hey, Ika. I'm glad you called me. My gurumaa got really happy when I informed her that I found her diamond.” She said.

“Diamond? Now, you're putting pressure on me. Vaise bhi, your gurumaa is Smriti Saryal, she is the real diamond. I'm nothing in front of her.” I said.

“That's not what I have seen. Over the years, Sid has shown me a lot of your dance videos, very proudly. And he's right, you are amazing. You know, you can easily become the next Smriti Saryal. Too bad that you're becoming a lawyer.” She sighed.

Should I tell her? 

“Umm…Anya, I am…”

I stopped when we heard some commotion. We both followed the noise and found a small crowd. 

“She wasted our precious time. Give us money back. If you can't dance then why do you even try? Stupid bitch.”

We pushed our way to the front and found a girl, who might be around 14-15 in age, standing on shaky legs with her right ankle swelling up slowly and tears streaming down her innocent face.

“Give us our money back you fucking bitch.” 

They all were spouting insults and calling her names when we noticed a small kid, around 3 or 4, peeking from behind the girl looking at everyone with fearful expressions.

Anya went forward with tension and anger evident on her face and said, “ Are you guys fucking stupid? How can you say these horrible things about a young girl? And did you not notice the small kid? You're scaring her? What if that was your kid? Huh?” 

“But it's not? We were promised a dance performance and if she can't even do that properly then why waste our precious time?” Said a man wearing an expensive suit.

“Exactly. These homeless kids are ruining our country's image. Bloody pathetic spawns.” Said some woman.

And the whole crowd agreed with them.

Fucking douchebags.

“ENOUGH!!” I shouted. 

Enough of these entitled fucks, who thinks they can buy anything with their dirty money.

I went forward, bent down and asked the kid what her name was.

“Emma and this is my little sister, Amy.” She whispered.

I looked at Anya and told her to take them to a bench nearby.

I again looked at the crowd and said, “You assholes want a dance performance na? I'll give you one.”

I hooked my phone to the music system and played ‘Albeliya’ by Shreya Ghoshal.

As the music started, I tuned the world out and got lost in the strings of beats.

I danced my heart out. 

As the last of the music disappeared, I slowly opened my eyes and saw the crowd clapping loudly. 

I didn't want their approval. Fucking bastards. All of them. 

“Happy? Now…fuck off…all of you.” I said with as much contempt as possible.

“You can't talk to us like that. We paid for this.” Said one of the many assholes.

“None of you deserves any respect from me or from anyone else. Treating two kids like that…you richie rich people think that you can do anything you want, treat anyone like shit and can easily walk away. People like you are the real problem of this world. Now leave, before I really do something for harassing those kids. Shoo…”

Muttering, some more insults I'm sure, they all left. 

I picked up the container, containing the money, and went towards Emma. 

I gave her the container and asked her whether she was okay? 

Instead of answering me, she hugged me tightly and started to say thank you. She repeated it over and over until I stopped her.

I wiped her tears and asked her where her family was?

“My father left when Amy was inside my mother's womb. She died while giving birth to her, all she left us is her house and a lot of debt. I've been taking care of her while doing three part time jobs but it's still not enough. I've always loved dancing, so I perform here whenever I can find the time.” She told us. 

Damn!! She's so strong, going through hell at this young age.

“I need to go. I'm waitressing at a restaurant in an hour.”

She tried standing up but winced in pain. 

“Oh no, your ankle is swelling up. You need to go look that up.” 

She tried to argue but we were not having it at all. Anya called her driver and told him to take her to a doctor and also gave him her card, so that she wouldn't have to pay. She also directed her driver to drop her at her home afterwards.

Emma tried to say no but we didn't budge. She looked at Amy, who had fallen asleep in her arms, and finally agreed. 

Even at this age, she's a proud girl, not wanting any help from anyone, least of all a stranger. I wish I could help her more in the future.

We said our goodbyes to her and walked towards the Academy. It's a ten minute walk away from the Park.

When we entered the Academy, I started getting nervous. 

Oh god!! I'm going to meet Smriti Saryal. Fuck!! What if she didn't like my dance? What will I do then? 

Anya looked at me and mouthed, ‘don’t worry, you'll do great.’ 

I gave her a small smile and entered a room with floor to ceiling mirrors on every wall. 

In the center was a woman standing wearing a blue saree. 

“Gurumaa.” Said Anya.

She turned and smiled at her.

Fuck! The aura emitting from her is so strong that I got even more nervous than I already was.

We went towards her and Anya touched her feet and after greeting her I touched her feet too. 

“Gurumaa, she is Anika. The one I told you about. She's one of the best dancers I've encountered. I've already shown you a few of her videos but she can show you her moves.” She said.

I nodded along.

“There's no need for that. I've already seen her magical performance. I've decided that she'll represent my Academy in the competition.” Gurumaa said.

Wait a minute. I'll perform from Smriti Saryal’s side. Holy shit!