#5 Ishq Junoon Deewangi Chapters 1-4. - Page 37

Chapter 1

The birds chirped, announcing the sun rising. Dawn it was. New morning, new beginning, new happiness, new life! Kriya opened her eyes with a huge smile on her face. The passion and the glitter in her eyes were slowly returning. As one could see, she was a lot happier with each passing day. No longer did she have sleepless nights.

She got out of bed and walked up to the calendar, not one sign of tiredness in her. She picked up the marker and crossed out one more day. It had been two weeks since she and Rey had a talk about giving it a time; 'it' referring to their relationship. They needed time to bring the lost trust back. Two weeks since the Valentine's Day. Two weeks since the time they had gotten rid of their past misunderstandings and had decided to move on.

Now, the only thing that was awaited for was the competition to begin. She knew it won't be easy. Others already said she's a marvelous dancer and she's surely to win. But as the saying goes, 'Never underestimate your opponent.' She followed the rule and would take in the compliments she got but wouldn't let that take over her pride. She let herself remain down to earth, like always.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she beamed and left to get ready. She surely was looking forward to her days now. What more can she want when she was getting to see Rey everyday now? With each passing day, they were coming close. Not that close yet to let their trust fear down. She knew he was trying and she was going to give her best shot at it as well.

***

Over the two weeks, Sharon, Swayam, Sonia and Vaibhavi had stayed calm so as to not arise any suspicion between them two. If they suddenly started trapping them in a situation where they had to stay with the other, they would have figured out that they were up to something. To prevent that, they had just been planning; making sure their plan became a success whenever they put it in action.

Sharon drove as Kriya sat in the passenger seat. It was another day of practice. A beeping sound disturbed the car's inaudible atmosphere. Kriya unlocked her cell to check the message she received. It was from Rey, she knew it before she forwarded to unlock it. It had become a regular routine now to text each other as the day began.

She smiled as she read, 'Good morning!' She replied to the greeting with a greeting and sent it. Sharon kept an eye on her and as she touched the send button, and then asked, curiosity getting the best of her, "Who's texting you this early?"

Kriya was caught off guard and the smile vanished from her face as she realized she wasn't alone like other days. Today, Sharon was with her. "No one; nothing important."

She suspected her to be lying but still nodded, just to assure Kriya that she had believed her. In reality, she was still questioning as to who it could be. She had a vague idea who would text her. She was just surprised to know that Kriya lied to her saying it was no one.

Kriya didn't reply to the second message she got from Rey. She kept her phone on vibrate so it wouldn't buzz again. It was all so that Sharon wouldn't doubt her for lying. On the other hand, Rey was entering the rehearsal area, waiting for her to text back.

When she didn't reply back in the next five minutes, it worried him to no end. He started sending message after another that it was something he said that made her mad. He wondered like crazy, trying to figure out 'what' it could be that made her mad that she wasn't replying AT ALL!

As the drive continued, Sharon looked the other side to check for cars to make the turn. Kriya took that opportunity to quickly send a message to Rey. She didn't have much time to type anything so she just sent him a blank message.

Rey jumped up at the beeping sound his cell made on receiving the message and squinted his brows seeing the blank message. Blank message? He then realized that someone, most probably Sharon, was around her. He understood and relaxed a bit. He also stopped sending the back to back messages.

As it was, they didn't want their friends troubled seeing that they were coming around in their relationship and not 'everything' could be called 'perfectly' normal. Thus, they had agreed upon keeping their 'meetings' to themselves till the things worked out amongst themselves.

***

Kriya entered the locker room and someone pulled her in the washroom. She didn't fight back as her senses told her it was Rey. Only he would do that. She had known that move since college times. No one else would even think about pulling her in like that.

She closed her eyes and let the blush come up on her cheek. He smiled as well and asked, "Won't you open your eyes?"

"Mm-Hm." She replied with a hum, lips sealed and head shaking back and forth. He was in mischief mood seeing her stubbornness. He blew softly on her face, making her ticklish and giggle. She struggles to keep them close. She so wanted to open them and see his face. Still, she kept them tightly shut, just to see what he would do.

She wasn't ready to give in and he knew better than to give up. If he had learnt anything in the past years, then it was this one thing: Never give up! He held her hands, crisscrossed behind her waist and tickled slightly on her waist. She held back the giggle and spoke with a stern voice.

"Rey!" a warning reflected from her tone. He was well aware of why the warning and the stern tone. He was breaking the rules. Those rules that they had made long ago during college times. He couldn't tickle as she would always be out of breath by the end and then she'd be struggling to breathe again.

Long time had passed, but neither of them had forgotten the rules. How could they? It was a part of them and one just doesn't forget their own self. Do they? He only did it because he knew it would irritate her. Enough to have her open her eyes and scold him playfully.

"Please?" he pleaded now. She couldn't refuse the cute plead and thus opened her eyes slowly to set her eyes on him. A smile automatically spread on both of their faces. They would spend the little time they got by themselves before rest of them started coming and before they'd have to act as just 'judge' and 'participant.'

***

Everyone started warming up before the rehearsal began for the day. The competition was in another week. This was the last week to strengthen their weakness before it's too late. Things were surely going to get more hectic then anyone one of them could imagine.

Vaibhavi raised her voice above the music sound. "5'6'5, 6, 7, and 8." The beat picked up and she clapped to the beat, they all started dancing to it. Came the time for Kriya's solo and the rest slid off the stage smoothly, giving her the spotlight. Kriya ended the dance with a perfect step. It was a flawless performance and it could be felt by even any enemy she might have made jealous by her dancing.

Everyone clapped as the lights came back on and they praised each other for their improvement. As always, Kriya got compliments on how outstanding she does. They always fail to find a fault in her performance.

Vaibhavi felt like the time had come. If not now, then it would be never. They had to put their plan into action now. It was a now or never situation. She clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. Everyone understood that an announcement was to come and soon fell in a neat semi-circle, with Rey and herself as the center.

Everyone listened with attention as Vaibhavi spoke. "Competition is a week from today. Till then, I've decided to have each one of you have lessons with both of us individually. Since there are twelve of you and just 2 of us, I've decided you all according to your weakness and judges on who will be best for you to help you learn. The list is posted on the board over there," she pointed at the board and continued.

"And well, let me just wish all of you. Each one of you is different and special in your own way. There's a passion that we saw in each one of you. That's the reason you all are here. It is true. At the end, there will be only one winner standing, head held high. By the end though, I want you all to stand hand in hand and say that you had the best time here doing what you love doing the most: Dancing. Show the world that there's more to dancing then just dances done for celebration in weddings. You give your best at it and we'll make sure you succeed in life and show everyone what dance is really about."

Everyone cheered her for the boosting lesson she taught them in just few words. They were all even more confident than before. "What are you waiting for? Go, check the list and get started. Lessons begin from tomorrow." She ended and everyone scurried away.

Kriya, however, went towards her bag to fetch some water before she went towards the board. Rey stayed behind to let everyone leave, like he always did, so that he can talk to Kriya. Vaibhavi on the other hand stayed back today to see how Kriya would react seeing that her name was added on Rey's list.

***

For the note/my bak bak, look below 🤣

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