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So there were a couple of people requesting that I add a certain character or some scene... I tried, but it all felt extremely forced, so i decided against it. You know, when a story happens, it's not you writing a story, it's a story writing itself. All I do is type it down. I never, like, decide that I will do this then that... I just write. It's like the story has already been decided by cosmos or something... :P So sorry if I disappoint anyone, but I am helpless...
Enjoy!
Chapter 16
The next one month passed away in a blur. Vicky was finally back and performing. The group was gearing up for the award function. Sharon had started taking classes with the help of Rey and Kria. She had grown quite close to her and now she realized why Kria had become her best friend. Rey was ecstatic at their revived friendship. Obviously he would be, his best friend and his girlfriend were friends again. Sharon's asthma problem was almost completely solved.
But in all this, there was one thing that restricted her from being completely at ease. After that day, Swayam had completely distanced himself from Sharon. He performed with her and he was cordial with her, like a best friend even. But the feeling she always had when he was around, the feeling that she meant the world to him was somewhere lost. She knew Swayam would never come to her again, because she knew Swayam was a man of his words. And she... well, she never took the first step because she didn't know if that would be the right thing to do.
Swayam on the other hand always saw her from a distance. He saw her struggling against asthma. He wanted to be there for her to encourage her, to take care of her. But he knew she would only push him away, so he stood at a distance just outside her sight watching her, always ready if she needed him. For the past almost six weeks, he had been following Sharon in her early morning jog, hiding in the bushes watching her progress. He had Simi up to it and then one day, when he saw Sharon able to fight it, when he saw her sprint forward excited his happiness knew no bounds.
In that very instant he wanted to jump in the air, to rush forward and hug her. But he stood where he was struggling hard to contain his excitement.
As soon as Sharon was out of sight, Swayam dashed forward hugging Simi and thanking her profusely for accepting to do this. He knew frustration always brought out the worst in Sharon and to be with her at such times required a lot of patience. He could not explain how grateful he was to Simi for helping Sharon out, for supporting her even during her low phase.
As the days passed by he saw Sharon getting stronger and happier although he also saw her stealing glances in his direction and grimacing. That always made him smile; it was so typical of Sharon to be confused about her priorities. The girl who was so clear about her ambitions remained confused when it came to matters of her heart. Everything was setting back into place, except that Sharon was still away from him. But something told him that was not for very long, that she would soon come back to him. Call it gut feeling or simply optimism, he was sure she would love him back one day.
***
"Sharon, Sharon... SHARON..." Swayam heard Rey yell, frantically sprinting from one place to other. When Rey noticed Swayam there, he inquired about Sharon's whereabouts with him as well, to which he answered in negative. "I don't know," he replied.
Rey cursed under his breath. "I don't know where she went. I can't see her anywhere."
Swayam frowned. "That can't be good," he muttered to herself. They were backstage at the award function. Their performance was due second after the current one going on. Under such situations, the news of Sharon being untraceable was not a good one.
"Did you try her cell phone?" he asked Rey, knowing the one thing she could never live without.
Rey shook his head, "I did, but she is not picking up her phone." Just then a couple of boys from their academy passed by. Rey called them and inquired about Sharon again, but he was disappointed to hear the same response. They didn't know where she was.
"What do we do now?" Ray questioned to no one in particular. "Where is she?"
"Rey, you see to it that the rest of the crew is ready. I'll go search for Sharon." Swayam suggested. Rey nodded, and said, "Try to make it quick."
"As quick as it gets," Swayam reassured Rey. Rey smiled gratefully at Swayam before jogging away. Swayam took a deep breath and tried to decipher where she could have gone. He spanned the area and divided it into sections in his mind, excluding the obvious areas because he was sure Rey must have looked for her there.
He knew one thing that if Sharon was not seen then either she was not in the premise or she did not want to be seen. He hoped for the latter. He moved through the potential hideouts, the storage room, prop room. He opened the door of one such dark room only dimly lit from the light from passageway.
Swayam fumbled for the, feeling his way on the wall. When he finally found the switch he flicked it on. He looked around but there was no sign of Sharon there. He was about to give up when he saw the silhouette of two feet somewhere under some table. He walked forward and crouched in front of the table.
Sharon sat there, her legs drawn to her chest. She had her head rested on her knees. She didn't seem to notice Swayam.
"Sharon," he called softly.
"Huh," Sharon jumped, surprised and Ow!" her head hit the table, with quite an audible thud. Swayam winced, that had got to hurt.
"You okay?" he asked, as she looked up at him, rubbing her head. "Uh huh," she mumbled. Grumbling something to herself, she stumbled her way out of the table. Swayam stood up looking just as sheepish as Sharon did, watching her tug at her dress and sleeves.
"How did you find me?" she asked quietly, chancing a glance at him.
"Why are you here anyway?" he countered. Sharon quickly looked away, scowling at everything around her. "I..." she hesitated but didn't get any other syllable out.
Getting the hint that she needed to be pressed a bit further, Swayam asked her, "Is... is something wrong, Sharon?"
"I..." she repeated again. "I...," she huffed out a breath, this time looking at determinedly, "I am scared okay? I... this... this is the first time I will be performing on stage, in front of so many people..."
"Sharon Raiprakash cannot be having performance anxiety, that's ridiculous," Swayam looked absolutely incredulous. "You are born to dance. Nothing can, will or should stop you. Besides you have performed so many times on stage."
"I didn't have asthma before. What if I have an attack on stage? What if I screw up the dance? What if-"
"Woah, woah, woah," he wildly waved his hands, trying to stop her from hyperventilating. "Relax Sharon," he lightly touched her shoulders. Even the effect of the phantom touch was not lost on Sharon. She felt her stomach flip at that simple gesture. "Sharon, your asthma has never stopped you from giving your best in dance. Trust me on that, it cannot stop you. You have performed flawlessly before, and you will do so today," his words were simple but somehow she found herself believing them. She found herself actually feeling assured and more confident. She couldn't get herself to get rid of the nerves, or get her to slow the pace of her heart. But it felt good. It felt good to feel them after such a long time. Somehow, dancing on the stage had become a part of her essence. It had lost the charm, the adrenaline that kept her going. But now that it was back, she was determined to enjoy it as long as it lasted.
***
"God, we performed at the Annual Award Show," Rini shrieked out. She had started raising the same topic every day since the day they had performed a week ago. They had not really anticipated how big this would be. They knew the award show was a big affair but what they hadn't expected was that their performance would be appreciated so much and that their group photo would be the cover picture of the month's Showbiz magazine. Since the news had come to them, Rini couldn't have enough of it. Actually no one could have enough of it, truly speaking.
"God, Rini, you have said the same thing at least a hundred times. Now shut up," Simi snapped at her. "And please stop zooming around me, it's making me feel dizzy," Simi complained as Sharon again spun around the two of them, skating around and in between the two. They were in their college basketball court, a privilege they had even after passing out of college, owing to their parents being the trustees of the college. The security guard let them get in and out any time they wanted.
"I don't want to stop," Sharon answered simply. Rollerblading gave her a feeling similar to dancing. The way it made her feel light on her feet, the way she always felt so free and open when she did it. Her lips always stretched into a smile on their own accord.
She was humming, she knew she had heard it somewhere but she didn't remember. It was a comparatively old song, she knew, but couldn't remember the words. Her mind blanked out, completely focused on the song, on the tune. It was like her body couldn't respond anymore other than the way her heart thudded, not wild, not erratic, but softly, like in a loving reminiscence, like it knew exactly what this was about. A phantom warmth engulfed her body making her close her eyes. But even with the eyes closed she looked into the chocolate brown eyes of a boy with hair falling on his face, partially veiling them from her sight. She noticed the soft curve of his lips, the way he studied her face like he wanted that ingrained in his nerves. She felt his arms around her, not demanding, just protecting with an edge of possessiveness. And when he moved, he held her hand in his, like he would never let go. Even in that small moment, she felt the feeling of being secure in his arms. She felt the tug in her heart, like she could tear it down and pour it open in front of him but he would only take care of it, never demand more. She felt the feeling she had felt for a long time but never had a name to it. Now she did.
Sharon's eyes flew open. She had it, she finally had it. A memory. She couldn't believe she found what she had been looking for. Sharon zoomed past Simi to the ledge. In a hurry to get her skates off, she hurled them away and picking her bag, she dashed forward, shouting her apologies behind her back to Simi and Rini who kept questioning her, startled by her sudden leaving. She would explain everything later, but right then she had more pressing matter, she had to tell all this to him.
Sharon jumped into her car and pulled it out of the driveway, straight into the road, honking furiously at the dozing guard from a mile away to open the gates. She couldn't keep her lips from stretching into million watt smile, and why should she?
Sharon zoomed past a dozen traffic signals breaking half a dozen traffic rules. Probably she would end up earning a handful of fine anyway, and this was more important than that. In her excitement, Sharon didn't notice a car taking a turn. Snapping out of her daydream, she slammed the break with as much force as she could, but it was a bit too late.
Book Talk
Anupamaa
Vasudha
