What the hell am I doing? He yelled in his thoughts when he couldn't stop himself from checking her phone. There were three unread messages: two from her dad and one from Kiran. But he couldn't stop his brain from going in the wrong direction after he met Kiran. He had just messaged her goodnight, but Shivaay checked the whole chat from the start, reading all the messages exchanged between them for the past two months. He knew whatever he was doing was wrong and he had to trust Honey. His heart said she wasn't like Ragini, but his brain wasn't ready to give his heart another chance. He had blindly trusted Ragini, only to be hurt.

A month ago, he had asked her for coffee, but she had politely declined, saying she was going with Shivaay to his show. Then, there were no messages exchanged for the next two days.

In her messages, he saw she had turned him down many times, but he continued to message her. He had started to trust her, but what's the point in trusting after his inspection went wrong? He felt guilty. He put her phone back where it was and sat half-upright in bed while she slept peacefully, unaware. He fell asleep while back-hugging her and kissed her shoulder. She snuggled in her sleep but didn't wake up.

"I am sorry! I promise, hereafter it won't happen." He whispered in her ear, thinking he was saying it to himself silently, but it was loud enough for her to hear. Anika woke up the next second and turned her head towards him, looking at him in confusion.

"What happened?" she asked. He didn't want to confess his cheap act to her.

"This, I shouldn't have done that! Sorry!" He lied, caressing her cheek, referring to their physical intimacy rather than confessing everything to her.

"Oh. It's okay! Don't think about it. Everything is fair in love and war, remember. Sleep! You have a big day tomorrow." She said and hugged him tightly, her head resting in the crook of his neck. She fell asleep in a few seconds, but he couldn't. He submerged himself in thoughts of how his past was affecting his present, especially now that he had beautifully started a relationship with someone who truly loved him.

****

It was a hectic day! Contestants started to arrive, and Shivaay seemed so unpopular among them. He started to feel hopeless and less confident. Anika noticed everything through his facial expressions, but every time their eyes met, he smiled at her, and she smiled back. As the fourth singer, Shivaay was called to the stage. Anika sat in the audience, fingers crossed. He was given a slot for two songs, 10 minutes in total, to impress the college students who were dancing and shouting like mad. When the songs went boring, they would shout weirdly, which eventually demotivated the singer on stage. It was an open stage set up in the center of the playground. She prayed to every god that the same thing wouldn't happen to Shivaay and that he would prove his talent in his 10 minutes. Anika paid 7000 rupees to sit in the second row, only to support him if anything happened. But Shivaay didn't let that happen.

The crowd went silent when he started to play the guitar with his magical fingers. Soon after, his soothing voice accompanied the tune, and the crowd was silent for the first few seconds. Anika found it difficult to swallow the lump in her throat. He was singing, but she felt the tension. Her palms became like ice, and her legs had no control, dancing along with the tune. Soon, her heart exploded when she heard huge applause from the audience, who started dancing to his songs. The cherry on top, the DJ started playing his EDM syncing to his song. Soon, Shivaay changed his tone a bit, and people started going mad with his songs. Anika's eyes clouded with tears when she heard the cheering sounds. Soon, she was dragged by someone from the place. It was Kiran. He pulled her to his friends who were dancing to his songs.

"It's a hit, Ani. DANCE." He shouted to her. Her face was constantly smiling, and she started to dance with his friends. She was on cloud nine; nobody could stop her from shaking her leg and dancing like crazy. In fact, she should be the one to enjoy it, as she was his first fan. Her mind was blown when his slot was extended for another 10 minutes due to the vibe in his songs.

She knew she was the happiest person on earth. But before she could fully enjoy it, she felt someone groping her back, touching her waist, and it wasn't just one person. She felt lots of hands on her, and she couldn't see their faces in the dark.

"DON'T TOUCH!" She said, turning around, but nobody was there. And again, she felt a hand touching her from the back. She kept turning around, trying to see who it was, and then she realized she had moved to the male partition while dancing, and it was too dark to notice anything. She tried to run away and search for Kiran to help her out, but she couldn't find him in the dark. Tears crossed her eyes, and she whimpered for help as she continued to be touched.

She finally took out her phone and turned on the flashlight. At that moment, she felt a strong touch on her breast. She dropped her phone the next second, trying to protect herself and crying aloud, but nobody could hear her. Shivaay's voice on the speaker drowned out her whimpering. Then, a spotlight from the stage hit their direction, and she saw Kiran rushing towards her from a distance. She didn't wait a moment and ran towards him.

"Ani, where did you go?" He asked but soon stopped asking when he saw her state. His friends came to the place and were also shocked to see her in that state. Then, she realized by dancing, she had moved away from her circle.

"What. What happened?" Kiran asked her. But Anika didn't say anything and proceeded towards the exit, running outside, while Kiran and his friends followed. They stopped when they saw her leaning against a wall, crying badly. She had no other options but to cry. Anika cocooned herself and cried.

"Hey! Anika!" Kiran called her, kneeling before her, but she didn't turn her head towards him.

"They. touched. I. Shivaay. I. want. to. go." She sobbed helplessly to him. Tears welled up in his eyes listening to her. He didn't wait a moment and made her stand, proceeding towards the backstage. Anika was left with no energy, but now she badly wanted to see Shivaay. Meanwhile, his slot was extended for another 10 minutes, but it didn't bring happiness to Anika. She badly needed him by her side.

****

His slot was extended to 30 minutes. People started loving his songs and his music. Was he dreaming or was this real? He asked himself, but the crowd's cheering from the other direction confirmed he wasn't dreaming and also aroused a new kind of energy in him. But his eyes searched for Anika. She sat in the second row, but as soon as he started to sing, he didn't find her there. But he knew, wherever she was, she would be very happy seeing him perform.

His slot finally ended, but he met many people backstage who congratulated him. He never thought the people who never noticed him before would want to have a conversation with him after his performance. Is this how success feels like? But he was constantly smiling. They asked for Shivaay's YouTube channel and also wanted to collaborate with him. Some people asked for his contact details. He responded to every single person, but his legs and hands hurried him to run to his girl, hug her tightly, and scream his happiness out.

"Thank you, I will contact you for the collaboration for sure," Shivaay responded to a person who was also an independent musician.

"Where do you live? Mumbai?" The musician asked him.

"No. I am from Kolkata," Shivaay responded and made his way outside. He searched for her in her seat but didn't find her. He also tried calling her phone, but it was switched off. When he arrived at the audience stage to search for her, everyone started congratulating him and praising his voice. He acknowledged everyone but kept trying her number. He searched for her everywhere but couldn't find her. He also tried to search for Kiran, who brought them here, but even he was nowhere to be found.

"Honey! Where are you, yaar?" He whispered when he became tired. He started searching for her in every corner. He didn't have Kiran's number to call him about her, but then he realized he had merged Honey's contact with his email ID, so he might have Kiran's number now. He searched in his contacts, it took some time to import, and he finally found it. He dialed the number, and the phone started ringing, but he could hear it from the dressing room near the backstage. He moved towards the door, peeped inside, and saw both of them in the room. Anika wore Kiran's jacket. Shivaay's mind started making stories.

"Ani, Shivaay is calling," Kiran said, giving his phone to her.

"I can't," Honey replied, supporting his thoughts.

"He needs to know. Come on, speak to him," Kiran said.

"He's happy! I don't want to say anything depressing to him, Right now!" - Anika replied bowing her head in between her joined knees. Shivaay was shell-shocked to hear that, In a moment, His heart recalled the moment when he caught Ragini cheating on him red-handed. Nothing. 

Is honey cheating on me? - He asked himself, Tears crossed his eyes uncontrollably, But his senses didn't let him stay calm. He opened the door with his heel and confronted them both with his red-shot eyes. 

********