As the competition approached nearer I was slowly losing my mind. 

We were still working on our original at a maddeningly slow rate and I had internals to study for. Now I had previously thought I hadn't bunked very many classes but turns out skipping a couple of lectures every week really adds up and I was left behind with a lot to catch up on. 

We were singing the cover portion of our set in front of Yug, Virat, Hina and a few spectating bystanders. 

Our final set was one pop song that everybody would like - 'I don't wanna live forever' by Zayn Malik and Taylor Swift, one classic - 'Endless Love' by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, and the final song was the original. 

We ran through twice and Virat and Hina seemed plenty pleased with our performance. Angad was frowning by the end. When we were done talking to the others he pulled me aside. and said,

"What was up with that performance, Meera? I didn't want to point it out in front of everyone else but this wasn't your best."

I sighed. He was absolutely right. I had been really worried about an upcoming test and the others that followed that. On top of which we hadn't finished our original. What if we didn't finish writing it in time? What if I fucked up? I really did not want to let them all down the first time I represented them outside the college. 

I voiced some of my concerns to him and he smiled.

"You are worrying too much." He said and placed his hand on my shoulder reassuringly, "You'll do great on your tests and as far as the original goes I will make sure we have it done by the end of today. Hey, when does your internal wrap-up?" 

I had to make an effort to drag my attention from the tingles his palm seemed to elicit in my shoulder to answer his question.

"Around 3." 

"Great, meet me here."

"Oh okay, we can squeeze in some more practice," I said.

"Sure," he nodded. "I'll see you then."

***

"Let's go out today guys!" Vahni suggested enthusiastically as we walked to a nearby bin to throw our paper plates, which were previously filled with samosas from the canteen, away.

"I am serious, as soon as you guys are done with your test we can go to the mall. We haven't done that in so long." 

Smriti was too busy flipping through her notes to answer so I did,

"I can't, Vahni. More rehearsals." 

"Meera you have fallen deep into this hole," she said.

"I'm sure you can understand. You must spend countless hours rehearsing your fashion show routine too?" 

"Yeah, we do! Not as much as you have been lately with this little competition coming up. Although I'm sure the company helps." she smirked suggestively.

"Oh, God! Vahni there is nothing less than innocent about our rehearsals. I don't even like Angad," I insisted yet again.

"So you keep saying. I don't understand how someone doesn't fall for him. His chocolate hair and eyes. His voice is equally chocolatey. Ah, I am so jealous of you! How I would love to sit with hunk for hours on end and gaze into his eyes as we sing love duets." she sighed wistfully.

I just shook my head at her ridiculousness. The rehearsals were more technical than romantic and with the added stress of lyric writing, we frequently got into debates. Not that Vahni would ever believe that.

"You have talked to him before. Why don't you come along when I invite you whenever we go out as a group. Shoot your shot then." I said.

Vahni and Smriti always declined my invitations. Initially, it was because they claimed they didn't know anybody from Red Wagon or Rhapsody but then I made introductions. Things progressed then, albeit a little awkwardly. If they refused to interact with them even after all this then there was little else I could do. 

"It's not that simple. Also, Angad never dates anyone here in college. I guess nobody is good enough for him." Vahni said.

"Are you kidding me? Have you talked to that man? He flirts with every female creature that comes his way." I rolled my eyes.

"He talks to everyone very nicely but that doesn't mean he would date them. As a celebrity, he has to extend basic courtesy to his fans."

"Celebrity? Fans? We are talking about the same Angad Mehra right?" I laughed.

"Meera you might be friends with the man so you don't understand how the Maurya population adores him and the other band members," Vahni said very gravely.

I felt like she would get upset if I kept joking around about the matter so I dropped it.

I pulled out my own notes to go over them one final time before the test. 

***

I walked out of our classroom satisfied with how the test had gone. The format was a lot different now that we were no longer in school and this was an easy first. 

"Smriti, how did it go?" I asked her as she joined me.

"It was pretty easy, honestly. I was worrying for nothing. How about you?" she said smiling. 

"Yeah, it was great. You heading home after this?" I asked her as we approached the end of the corridor.

"Actually, I am going to help Nirav put together the poster for the department event," she said.  

"You are?" I asked a little surprised. 

"Yeah, I have done some graphic designing in school and he says he could use my artistic expertise." she smiled at the 'artistic expertise' part. 

"I hope you are prepared for an hour of him speaking over you and ignoring all of your suggestions," I said. 

"Oh I don't think that will happen," she said.

I guess Smriti was more vocal around him now. 

"Alright then," was all I said and we parted ways.

She went upstairs to the department room presumably and I strolled outside.  

I saw Angad sitting down on the stage. As I got closer I realized he had spread something out (a picnic blanket? Bedsheet?) and he had on it two cups of coffee and some doughnuts. 

"My, My, someone is having a picnic it seems," I said and he smiled.

"Have a seat," he said gesturing to the space next to him.

I settled down and he offered me a cup, I took it and thanked him. 

"So what is the occasion?" I asked.

"No occasion I just wanted to cheer you up. You seemed really tense in the morning and we all know how bad stress is for your vocal cords. How was your internal by the way?" He said and opened the box of doughnuts and offered them to me.

"It was actually great. Ooh, you got the Cookies and Creme! That is my favourite."

We spent the next few minutes in comfortable silence, sipping on coffees and finishing up the doughnuts.

"Oh, I am so full. Thank you, Angad. This was very thoughtful." I said sincerely. 

"You are welcome, Meera. Now for some even better news, I finished the song."

"You did!?" I perked up.

"Yes, I did. Knew you'd be happy to hear that," he said as he pulled out the worn-out piece of paper from his bag.

He had written the last few lines in pencil. I read it.

Broken and hurt, our hearts were wounded, infirm.

We were ready to give it all up, give it all up.

It could've been the end of it all,

If you hadn't let yourself fall.

You are my sunshine, 

You are my lifeline,

You are my reason to be, 

My hope, my life, my everything 

Can't you see? 

"So?" Angad asked when I finally looked up. 

"It is perfect," I whispered strangely choked up.

***

I was running through the corridors of Maurya in an attempt to reach the area behind the canteen as quickly as I could. My phone had been buzzing constantly during class and when I didn't answer those I had received a very panicky phone call from Siddharth a few minutes ago and he had asked me to come right away because Yug was grief-stricken. 

Nikhil had just broken up with him. At least that's what I made out from all the caps lock and 'where are you' texts he had sent me. 

I slowed down as I reached the group. Everyone was huddled around Yug as he cried on Angad's shoulder. From what I had gathered Nikhil and Yug had been dating since the beginning of the year. This was Yug's first long term relationship in his life so I could understand the distress he was in. 

"Hey guys," I said gently.

Yug looked up and from my tender expression, he knew that I knew. 

"I suppose they told you?" he asked to confirm and I nodded. 

He burst into tears once more and everyone just looked around helplessly not knowing what to do. 

"Oh, Yug." I sighed. "Let's go for a walk." 

Everyone seemed grateful enough. They had been trying to console him for the past hour I suppose. They clearly had had no success. 

I steered him away and lead him to the ground farther away from everyone else. 

"I know you feel terrible so I am not going to waste your time by saying 'don't cry'. We both know you feel like shit and there seems to be no way out." I started. 

"What I am going to say will be absolutely true because it comes from experience." I continued because he didn't reply.

"For a while, you will feel this way and there is no easy way to put this but you will question everything from choices to your self-worth. You will spiral, think of what you could have done differently, what went wrong and just general obsessive thoughts. What you have to do is break that cycle." I went on, "Only you have the power to do that. You have to understand you are more than your relationship. A few months after all of this you realize that this was part of your story and in no way as destructive or devastating as it seems now."

"How can you be so sure?" he said finally.

"My first love cheated on me and dumped me in front of our entire class," I said coldly.

"What?" he asked incredulously.

"I really don't want to get into it but I spiralled badly for a while after he made his new relationship public. I felt inadequate like I was some sort of reject. But then suddenly I didn't, because I decided that I was more than my relationship and better than crying over some boy who would cheat on me."

Then I stopped and made him face me.

"You are amazing, Yug. You are talented, smart, super nice and so, so good. Maybe this wasn't meant to be because you deserve someone much better."

He looked up and tried to smile through his tears but it turned out looking like a grimace. 

At least he wasn't crying now and that is all that mattered. 

I pulled him in for a hug. 

"You are going to be just fine," I rubbed his back.

"Thank you, Elvis," he murmured. 

As we walked back I remembered I hadn't told him to keep all of this a secret.

"Hey, can we keep this talk of my ex between us?" 

"Of course, you can trust me," he said earnestly.

A/N

Hey readers!

Updates are going to be fairly regular from now on. Thank you to everyone who has supported my work and has taken the time to vote and comment. They really encourage me to be more consistent. 

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