YOURS WITH LOVE, THE PRINCE

"Kal k exam k liye tumhaari preparation kaisi hai?" Raima asked as she stifled a yawn and got up to wash her face. She had been studying nonstop since past three hours and was in dire need of a break.

"Theek hi hai" Kavya replied in a feeble voice as she fidgeted skittishly with the pen. "God, agar main exam mein answers bhool gayi to? Agar main fail ho gayi to? Phir kya hoga?" she mumbled to herself in a nervous voice. Though she had worked hard for her exams yet she wasn't confident about how she would perform.

"Kavya tum kab apne aap per confident feel karna start karogi?" Raima asked in an exasperated voice while she stepped out of the washroom wiping her face with a towel. "Kabhi to apne aap per trust kar liya karo"

"Hmm" Kavya hummed and went to lie on her bed. Tomorrow was the mid semester exam and she needed to top to get the scholarship to continue her studies in Space Academy, India's top 'School of Performing Arts and Creative Education' for the next semester. Otherwise she would have to return to Mangalore and then amma would kill her for wasting so much of money on her stay in Mumbai when she could have done the same for her brother Gaurang's studies. She had always been like that, rude, bossy and loveless. Despite being a woman, she had resented Kavya from the moment she had been born and had never made a secret of her thought that she considered girl child a burden.

Raima sighed as she watched her best friend lying on her bed with dejection pouring out of her in waves. It pained her to see Kavya like this, nervous, lost and distrustful of her abilities when in reality she was a powerhouse of talents. If only Kavya saw herself from Raima's eyes once, then she would see how much she admired her. With a tuneful voice that could charm any listener and a smile that could light up anybody's day, Raima had never told Kavya how much she looked up to her since she would not believe her anyway; because along with talent, Kavya possessed what many girls of her age didn't, an ice melting innocence and a tender heart that could never think ill of anybody. Otherwise why would she bear amma's intolerable behavior, a lady who left no stone unturned in making Kavya feel insignificant in everything?

Raima was well aware of Kavya's life story. They had bumped into each other on the first day of college and somehow had gelled up pretty well. It was a surprise though since Kavya was a very shy person but with time their friendship had only strengthened and now the girls were too thick to hide anything from each other. Losing her best well wishers aka her parents in a ghastly accident, Kavya had had to mature before time in order to care for her brother and survive in an environment where she had always been mocked and made to feel that she was good for nothing. From being called a bad luck for her family to a person whom nobody could love, she had experienced all sorts of abuses that had been hurled at her mercilessly. Those barbs had shattered her backbone leading her to believe that whatever she heard was true indeed and there was nothing she could do or achieve in life.

It had been nothing but the blessings of the Almighty who had finally taken pity on the lonely girl and Kishori Yadav's sleeping partner in 'Sur', the music academy she ran, Mr. Nandkishore Awasthi had accidentally come across Kavya's hidden talent when she was singing in her room secretly. He had been enchanted as her voice had weaved a magic wand of melodies around him within moments and he had decided right then there to give wind to the almost invisible wings of the girl so that she could reach where sky was the limit. Aware of the notorious nature of his partner, he had somehow convinced Kavya to get her voice recorded and had sent the audio clip to Space.

As he had expected, Kavya had been accepted instantly and in order to ensure that her amma didn't become the obstacle in her path to paddle her own canoe, he had read Kavya's acceptance letter publicly leaving Kishori Yadav with no choice but to send her granddaughter to Mumbai, the city of dreams to carve a niche for herself. But of course, being the cold calculating woman that Kishori Yadav was, she had not made it any easier for Kavya to be in peace. She had absolutely refused to pay for Kavya's education. Mr. Nandkishore had solved this problem by going an extra mile and had made Kavya give a scholarship exam which paid her full fees for the semester. Cognizant of the knowledge that Kishori Yadav would not let anything harm her public image, he had made her acknowledge in front of the cream crowd of Mangalore how proud she was of her granddaughter and would ensure from her side that she stayed comfortably in Mumbai. And so, with a bundle of insecurities, threats of amma, countless words of motivation by Mr. Nandkishore and expectations of her little brother Gaurang who loved his sister to death, Kavya had arrived to the city of illusions which was apt in pulling everybody magnetically towards itself by promising them a life of grandeur.