17. The Show Day

(Ignore grammatical mistakes this author is not that good at grammar I'm not lying🥲)

10 days later~

Mahi's POV:

I woke up as my alarm started blasting near my ear. It's 6 in the morning, Yea Yea I, Mahi Deshmukh is up early because it's a big day for me.. No, for all of us. Today is our show day and I am super excited but nervous too and the result is this me waking up early.

I am early so aunty must be sleeping, I don't want to disturb her so I will just go to Nitya's house directly. I quickly took a shower and went down but both aunty and Mr Jerk are already up.

"Good morning Mahi beta." Aunty greeted me as I descended the stairs and moved toward the living room.

"Good morning. You both are up early?" I asked as I took a seat beside aunty. A lot of flowers and sweets were decorated in a golden thali.

"Yes, because we are going to visit Ganpati bappa." She smiled and started arranging all essential things.

"And I am a morning person so it's natural." Kabir replied without looking up from his phone's screen as soon as aunty finished saying and I just decided to ignore him.

"Mom, I'll leave now and I will meet you at the temple directly bye." He stood up and kissed her forehead. Our eyes met for a few seconds before he left.

"Can I also come with you?" I was hesitant, what if she just wanted to go with her son?

"Of course you are coming after all this pooja is for you." She stopped and looked at me before answering.

"For me?" I was not sure what she meant by that. She turned toward me, giving her full attention and kept her hands on mine conveying the warmth.

"It's your first official show so it's important for you to go to the temple and seek blessings from bappa. I decided to do the pooja at the temple as I always do for Kabir before he starts anything big, Bappa is always there for those who work hard and wish them success." Her words swell my heart with happiness. She is doing all this for me. I was so happy that tears formed in my eyes, but before I could control them they started to fall.

"Arey why are you crying? What happened? Did I say something wrong?" Her smile dropped and she started asking me questions with a concerned voice.

How can she ever make me cry or say something which might hurt me. She is such a kind hearted person at that moment I only wished if mom was like her.

I never thought someone would do all this for me when my mom will not even care about me. I am so grateful that she is here beside me to care, to support, to cheer for me.

Whatever it might be, coming here and living in her house with her can never be a decision I will ever regret. Even though it is just for a short time I will remember these days for life.

"No No it's just that I am so happy that I want to cry." A rueful laugh left my lips as I tried to wipe my tears using the back of my hand but suddenly I was pulled into a hug.

"I know you must be feeling down because they are not here but don't worry they soon will be here. And I am already here for you na so don't cry it's a big day for you, all you need to do is smile." She pulled back and caressed my cheek.

I smiled as she said, she is right it's a big day and I should focus on the bright side. Our dream is coming true, I should be happy.

"Now take this and quickly get changed. We need to leave in an hour." I took the bag from her. It looked like a dress but now I can wear anything she asks me to wear. I was about to stand up when she again said, "Also I invited your friends for pooja too as it's a big day for them too."

"That's great thank you so much but aunty I don't know how to get ready. I mean, I never wore traditionals before Nandini di's engagement party." That day I somehow managed because of Mr Jerk but today I can't.

"Oh that's not a problem I will help you. You go, I will come after arranging these." She said and I left toward my room.

I opened the bag and there was a beautiful lilac color dress, I changed into it and it perfectly fit my body. She came after some time and helped me get ready.

I am not someone who knows about this stuff so I let her do what she wanted. After some time she was done and told me to see myself.

When I looked at myself in the mirror I was unable to recognize myself. Is this really you Mahi? My mind asked. Is this the same girl who wear those dull oversized clothes and manages to look like a black and white movie?

"You look absolutely amazing and beautiful." Her voice brought me back to reality. I turned toward her and she placed a kala tikka (black dot to protect from evil eye) behind my ear.

"You should wear more colors, they look beautiful on you." Her phone started to ring and she picked up."It was Kabir, we need to go now. Oh I almost forgot-" She handed me a pair of golden earrings "wear these." She left saying she will wait in the living room.

I went down after sometime and we both left for the temple in her car. Soon we reached and driver kaka opened the door for us.

We both kept our footwear aside and ascended the stairs of the temple. I pulled the scarf on my head as we reached. Kabir was already there, he turned his head toward me and our eyes met. His gaze started to make me self-conscious when he didn't take his eyes off me even after a couple of minutes.

"Pranam Pandit ji." Aunty's voice made him turn his face and I let out the breath I didn't even know I was holding. I also folded my hands to greet Pandit ji (priest). He kept his hand on my head to give me blessings.

"I hope we aren't late." Sameer's voice was heard and I turned my head toward them. Four of them were here including Nitya.

"No you all are just on time." Aparna aunty said and passed the thali to pandit ji. "I also called Nitya, she was my student too." She looked at Nitya and hugged her.

"Thank you so much ma'am for inviting me." Nitya reciprocated the hug and Aunty told her to call her aunty from now on and she agreed. Soon Pandit ji started the pooja.

"Bappa aj ka din hum sab ke liye bohot khaas hai bas apni kripa hum sab par rakhna or sab acha karna. Hum sab ko apke ashirwad ki bohot bohot zarurat hai." I prayed for everyone's well being and seeked blessings from him for today's event. (Bappa today is very special for all of us, please look out for us so everything goes smoothly. We all really need your blessings.)

The pooja was over and Pandit ji distributed the prasad. Aparna aunty went to distribute the prasad to the needy people. "I really failed to recognize you today Jam." It was Sameer who said that.

"Yea for a moment I was like, do Mahi have a twin sister?" Rishi really crack lame jokes.

"Ha ha ha must be funny right?" I fake laughed and they kept their mouth shut. Yes, don't mess with me and that also in the morning.

"Ignore them. You look so pretty that I can't believe my eyes." Nitya said and I could not stop smiling. It was not the first time she complimented me but this time I really felt beautiful myself.

"Everything is ready, the show is at 7 in the evening but we all need to be there by 4 pm to get ready and do other necessary checkings." Karan said and we all nodded.

"You all know right, that almost 10 thousand tickets are sold of our show tonight." Rishi was so excited and the happiness can clearly be seen on his face.

"Mr Ahmad just informed me about that and he said we need to go for the final rehearsals and sound checking." Karan informed us and we all were ready to leave when Aparna aunty came back.

"Best of luck kids, I will see you on the stage." She wished us and we all thanked her for today.

"Oh Mahi we all came in Sameer's car today so there is no space for you." Rishi said. Are they serious? How can they leave me behind?

"No problem, I am going to the agency so I will take her with me. You all go ahead." Kabir came near who was silent for the whole time. As I had no option I agreed. We all left together and aunty went to college in her car.

"Are you nervous?" His sudden question made me turn my head toward him. Is it that obvious? It's not like I have never performed in front of people but not in front of so many people. I didn't want anybody to notice but he did and something told me from within that it's okay not to pretend in front of him.

"Yes a little." My voice came out like a whisper but he heard it.

"I have seen you practicing and I know how much you all worked hard in the past weeks so you all will do your best. You will do great, I believe you." He said the last three words looking in my eyes and his eyes showed that he mean it.

His words helped to reduce my nervousness and at the same time we reached the agency building. I opened the door to leave but my scarf was stuck in the seat belt buckle. I tried but it was all tangled and I could not get the scarf out from it.

I looked up in his direction but he was calmly looking at me as if he was enjoying all this. "Stop staring at me and help me." I groaned in frustration but he chuckled in response.

"You are such a kid." He moved closer and in an instant he got my scarf out. Why I was not able to do it? "Don't be always in a hurry if you will be calm, things will be solved quickly, if you will be harsh it will tear." I looked upward and realized how close we both were.

His hazel eyes were shining perfectly and he even had long thick lashes. Few of his hair fell on his forehead and the natural pink shade of his lips. Our eyes piercing each other's "You always happen to surprise me, how you do it?" His words increased my curiosity to know what he is thinking right now.

"What did I do?" My mind managed to convince me to ask and he opened his mouth to say something but my phone started ringing. We both distanced ourselves from each other and I left the car hurriedly.

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So this is the next chapter guys!!!! I hope you enjoyed it!!!!!

What were Kabir's thoughts any guesses???

It really upsets me to see only few of you commenting where are others??? Don't be just a silent reader guys. Dil khol ke characters ki tarif karo mane kab mana kiya hai.

So please do comment (You might get a surprise update this week) or else I will start updating once a week again! (Just kidding but I might do it 🙃)

If you want Friday update then I want at least 180 votes on this chapter, I know you can do it ;)

Will see you next time till then don't forget to smile!

Lots of love!!! Byeee!!!💕