Rhea fidgeted as she paced across the length of the room she was in right now.
She had never found herself caught up in such a peculiar situation where she wasn't even aware of what was going on.
"Focus, Rhea. Focus."
She reminded herself as she nervously stared at her reflection in the wall mirror of the room.
Her new teal colored bodycon dress.
Perfectly salon-styled hair.
Gorgeous high heels.
But that frown.
"Damn!"
She cursed herself as she tried for the umpteenth time to forget whatever she had seen yesterday in the green room and focus on what was more important now.
She had her dance performance and she was supposed to look all gracious for her Zumba act but here she was, looking like the dullest creature ever.
She was all geared up and engrossed in the whole essence of this inter-department battle for the West Gala, and all of a sudden her entire concentration on it was jeopardized.
All because of that.
She should have been merrily jumping today since in yesterday's segments, the science department beat the psychology stream with a 2-1 score, winning the extempore round as well as the drama round.
But no, none of it made a difference for her currently since her mind was lost somewhere else.
.
"Why are you so nervous?"
She heard the familiar husky voice as she turned around and to her utter surprise found Neil standing at the door, watching her with a surprised expression.
"Wh-what are You doing here?"
She asked hesitatingly, hurt and disappointment etched on her face.
Neil was on his way to the auditorium where the segment was supposed to take place when his steps had halted in his tracks seeing Rhea being all hyper tensed and talking to herself as if she was going through some emotional crisis.
He had known her for a long time and knew how competitive she could get and even if that meant she would end up in an anxiety pool, she wouldn't bend.
"Nothing, I was just passing by and saw you fidgeting. You okay?"
He asked, truly concerned as a friend.
"Hmm.. Yeah. Just a little nervous for the performance."
She lied.
Neil gave her an assuring smile at that as he said, "Don't worry, I am sure it will be all good. All the best!"
And saying that he just disappeared.
.
.
She stood flabbergasted, rooted to the same spot for around two minutes analyzing keenly what just happened before giving up.
She fidgeted once again as she sat with a thud on the chair in her rehearsal room, her mind constantly pondering over the unbelievable yet true fact that Neil Khanna was dating Psycho Mehta.
.
.
"How could you Neil!"
She almost broke into bitter tears as she clutched the red Zumba outfit in her fists, the one she was supposed to wear for her performance and tried very hard to stifle the sobs that came from within her.
.
.
"I hate you Avni Mehta!"
She muttered under her breath as she roughly wiped the tears from her face and straightened up to go and stand once again in front of the mirror.
Her tears were now gone but her mascara was smudged.
She took a tissue from the drawer and started fixing the ruins on her face, her mind throwing many questions at her, some that she had fruitlessly pondered over since last night.
She hadn't been able to sleep the whole night yesterday with her inner debates, which shouted that under no circumstance can Neil be in a relationship with that Psycho chick Avni Mehta!
But then she couldn't deny what she saw with her own eyes.
'That means they had been dating each other ALL this while, without even letting a blink of it out to anyone?!'
The thought itself made her insanely angry, as she threw her comb from the dresser table at a random direction in the room.
And today, today that Psycho was going to compete in the dance contest too. She felt knots in her stomach even envisioning the face of Avni, and that's when an idea struck her mind.
She took a good 15 seconds to think it through, contemplating its creation, execution, and consequences, before a wicked smirk appeared on her face and she knew what she had to do.
"Hide and seek, eh, Mehta? Now wait and watch what I do!"
She felt a sudden stream of calmness break the hysteria she was engulfed in till some time ago, and finally decided to focus completely on her Zumba act now, for she was convinced that she would take her own sweet revenge on that loser Mehta, in her own sweet way.
.
She was about to head towards the washroom to fix the untidy look on her face when a loud thud broke her trail.
She immediately looked outside the room and saw a girl wincing in pain as she had slipped.
Rhea made a face at that and rolled her eyes.
.
.
.
"Breathe in. Breathe out."
"Breathe in. Breathe out."
"Breathe in. Breathe out."
She chanted like a tape-recorder as she sat in her dressing room, all dressed up for her performance that was to take place in less than 30 minutes.
Avni had always loved dance and performing on stage was never frightful for her.
But it was only a month that she had been taking salsa lessons and hence, she was being extremely nervous about her first performance in the particular dance form.
"Uff Avni. Relax! We practiced for SO long yesterday, remember? You are going to nail it. Don't worry!"
Ali motivated her for the nth time, as she still continued to fiddle with the shimmery ends of her blue salsa outfit. She looked around and saw some of the other pairs who were to compete in the salsa round.
All of them were either busy discussing about their steps or doing their final make-up to look good on stage.
"I know, Ali. But still. What if I fall? Or I forget the steps? Or if-"
"No ifs and buts, Avni. Trust me. It will all be good."
Ali insisted once again.
She closed her eyes chanting a silent prayer to her God, in the back of her mind, also slapping herself mentally for she was the sole reason for this weird situation in her life.
'Who asked you to start this whole challenge, Avni?'
She berated herself.
"Oh God! Please let everything go smoothly."
This time she said it a little louder and as if her favourite deity heard her wish instantly, she found her phone ringing.
She immediately took it in her hand and saw his number.
A small smile automatically flashed on her face as she checked on Ali and found him busy taking selfies on his phone flaunting his dance costume and new hairdo.
Being sure he wasn't going to budge in, she received the call, saying a "Hi!" softly.
.
.
She could feel him smirking on the other end of the phone, as she waited for him to say something. And on a queue, he stated, "Stop being so hyper and stressed Avni. Your performance will be great."
"H- how did you know I was stressing?"
She asked, a little taken aback with his words.
"Main tumhare baare mein har khabar rakhta hun."
(I keep every news related to you.)
He said blatantly, making her gasp.
"Where are you now?" She asked him in a soft tone.
.
'Was his wild cat slash Lady Don really THIS nervous that she was speaking in this low tone?'
Neil felt helpless at the thought as he contemplated what could he do to wipe off her nervousness, but to his disappointment, he couldn't really do much about it.
He was about to answer her query by saying he was already at the auditorium where the dance segment was to be held when he suddenly heard Ali's voice from the other side of the phone,
"Avni, look how stressed you look! Let's do something. We still have some time for the performance, let's go out in the garden for 5 minutes. You will feel good in the fresh air."
On hearing those words, Neil automatically felt his anger rise but when he didn't hear Avni give any reply to Ali, nor him, he knew that he had to think rationally and not behave like some weird 14-year-old jealous BF. He was an adult now, for god's sake!
He knew he could do nothing worthwhile in the current scenario to make her feel better, so the least he could do from his end was to at least let that Ali make her relax for a moment.
Letting out a deep sigh he said on the phone, "Avni! I think Ali is right. You should go get some fresh air, or else you will get a panic attack. That's the term right?"
He willingly added the question tag for that term to hear her smile as she said, "Yeah! It is."
"Hmm. Good then, go now! Or else, I might have to end up taking you to the hospital due to your panic attack!"
He teased.
She only laughed softly at those words before saying "Hmm." affirming his proposition and cut the call not before whispering "I love you, Neil."
To which, he too replied, "I love you too, sweetheart."
..
Avni looked at the waiting face of Ali who was still looking for her response to his suggestion of getting fresh air. She nodded in approval, earning a smile from him in return as he gestured her to get up.
Avni fixed her dress properly, along with her hair that was beautifully styled by Sunehri. She checked the new heels she bought, especially for her salsa performance and thought it better to wear it directly in the performance as she didn't want it to get dirty under any circumstance.
She shoved it under the table, before wearing her usual bellies and headed out with Ali.
..
Being vengeful was never a part of her personality.
But as they say trying times manage bring out some unexploded elements of one's personality.
She had a tough time contemplating what she was going to do was right or wrong. But as they say, everything's fair in love and war.
And here, she was dealing with both.
Love
For Neil.
And war.
For Avni.
And she had already thought this through sometime back in her introspective time, and now there was no going back!
.
.
Without another thought at self-moral indignation she reached the dresser where Avni had been sitting some moments ago.
She had watched her shove her shiny heels under the table there, and without wasting another second she pushed the footwear out from the space, making sure her frame was well hidden.
She adjusted her teal dress properly as she took out the small cutter from the dress' thick belt where she had hidden it and started executing her plan.
"Salsa performance, eh Avni? Now deal with the humiliation for doing this to me!"
She muttered to herself before beginning to tamper with the sole of the right heel of the footwear and once done with what she had planned, shoved the pair in the same spot once again, and left the room silently.
..
He waited patiently as he watched another dance performance come to an end.
For a moment he couldn't even believe that he, Neil Khanna, who couldn't care less about anything as silly as dancing was now being all impatient for a dance performance. For her performance.
Although that meant he had to also tolerate that stupid Ali on the stage, but right now all his focus was only on Avni.
Waiting?
That too for a girl?
'Neil Khanna, you are so bowled!'
He simpered at that thought and looked at the stage once again.
"And now, everyone, we are starting with the Salsa round. I request all the duet participants to be seated in the front row."
He heard the girl on stage announce and immediately straightened himself looking at the direction from where all the participants were to appear.
Vidyut couldn't believe his friend made him sit through a dance competition! Heck! It wasn't even a quiz or something that they shared mutual interest for.
What was up with Neil these days?'
He thought to himself before being vocal about it and asked him directly-
"Neil! You really want to sit here? Man, we can go play some basketball instead!"
Neil sighed at that as he very well knew there was no way he could make Vidyut understand why exactly he was here. So, he thought of taking the easy route and replied,
"Don't you know that psycho Mehta is performing today? I'm sure she will mess up big time and I can't really miss that!"
Only he knew how much he hated himself for saying that regardless of the fact that the whole lying was for a greater good. Never even in his wildest nightmare could he think of anything going wrong with Avni. But he had to sell something to Vidyut for the time-being to stop any further instigations from him, and thankfully as he saw it, Vidyut bought his lie.
"Yeah man! You are right! Crazy Mehta!"
Vidyut stated, blankly, to which Neil only rolled his eyes for obvious reasons.
Only he had the right to call her crazy. No one else.
..
He had seen her enter the auditorium with Ali on her side, just the way the other performers too entered with their partners.
He forgot the jealous tinges in him the moment he saw her, as she looked extraordinarily exquisite in that knee length turquoise blue dress, that blended so well with her milky white complexion.
Her long waist length tresses were styled in loose curls, enhancing her already doll-like frame.
If Neil Khanna would have been in charge today, he would have carried her like a porcelain doll and tied her to him for all day long.
A gush of possessiveness and pride overtook him as he saw her sit there, waiting for her turn, while he only signaled her with his eyes to relax and take a deep breath. It will all be okay.
.
.
He was oblivious to the fact that his little eye-to-eye rendezvous with her was under the deadly scrutiny of someone.
Rhea watched them with an infuriated gaze as she felt hurt and agony at what she saw.
She knew however that it will all end soon, and she will have her purpose served.
Hence, she brushed the thoughts and sight of what she saw just now and tried to direct all her attention on the stage as she waited for her performance.
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.
Continued below
