A/N: So, last chapter... But it's not... Why? Because it's too long so I split it into two instead... 😁😁😁

***

T-1 hour.

As if everybody wasn't freaking out enough, Kabir thought it was a good idea to do a count down.

The audience were starting to fill up the hall and the atmosphere was a mixture of nervousness and excitement. Seema was the first to arrive. Unfortunately (or fortunately for Kabir), Ravi couldn't make it as he had to catch a flight for a business trip. However, he did send sweets for everyone involved in the concert tonight.

"I'm so proud of you guys," Seema said as she hugged Ayesha and the VKAS boys. "I still can't believe you are performing in your own concert."

"You'll believe it when you see us all up on that stage," Kabir told her. "I'm so glad you decided to skip Ravi Desai's business trip."

"Manners Kabir," she reprimanded. "He's your step-father."

"Whatever," he shrugged.

"Your daadi's (grandmother) not coming beta (son)?" Seema asked Vishal.

"Daadi (Grandmother) is in Delhi with my Chachu (Uncle)," Vishal replied. "She'll come and watch when we're performing in Delhi."

"That's in 3 weeks right?" Seema asked.

"Yes," he answered.

At that moment, Sunny's parents arrived.

"Arre Seema?!" Mrs. Singhania called out. "You're here?"

"Hi Manjula," Seema greeted.

"What about me?" Mr. Singhania asked.

"Hi Amit," she said.

"Hello Seema," he replied. He then turned his attention to the younger ones. "Hello boys!"

He went over and high fived all the boys. When he reached Ayesha he gave her a quick hug.

"Hello sweetheart," Mr. Singhania smiled.

"Hi," she answered.

"Are you going to give me a chance to talk to her or are you going to keep her all to yourself?" Mrs. Singhania scolded.

Mr. Singhania raised his hands in defence and took a step back as if he was silently telling his wife that Ayesha's all hers.

"Haye," Mrs. Singhania cried. "Mere Sunny tumko bohot sataya tha na (My Sunny troubled you a lot, right)?"

"Nahi aunty," Ayesha replied as she looked over at Sunny. "Nothing like that."

"Don't worry," she told Ayesha. "If he dares to try anything like that, let me know. I'll teach him a lesson."

Ayesha laughed.

"Maa," Sunny whined, embarrassed. "Stop it."

"Tu chup kar (You keep quiet)," she scolded Sunny. "Tumhare dad ko backstage tour pe leke jao (Take your dad on a backstage tour). I want to speak with Ayesha in private."

"Ok," Sunny reluctantly agreed. He and Vishal then left with Mr. Singhania.

"Oh haan (Oh yes)," Kabir said. "I almost forgot. I want to show you what Shreya di made for us."

"Yeah," Arjun agreed as he led the his mom and brother away. "There's this amazing t-shirt and jacket..."

Ayesha and Mrs. Singhania watched till everyone was out of their line of vision.

"Aunty," Ayesha started. "I know what you want to speak to me about."

"Do you?" Mrs. Singhania asked in return.

"Yes aunty," she replied. "It's about Sunny isn't it?"

"You know me very well," she sighed. "Yes, I want to speak to you about him. But I'm not here to defend Sunny. I heard from Sunny that you won't be joining the tour when they start travelling."

Ayesha nodded.

"Ayesha," she said in her most motherly voice. "You should not let Sunny's involvement stop you from doing what you enjoy. You can just ignore him. And I can assure you that he won't disturb you, even one bit. If you think Sunny put me up for this, you're very wrong. In fact, he tried to stop me from talking to you."

"Aunty?" Ayesha asked. "Can I ask you a question about Sunny?"

"Ask away," Mrs. Singhania answered.

"Did Sunny ever miss me?" Ayesha inquired. "I meant during the 6 years."

"Of course he did," she replied. "I caught him checking your profile on that computer kitab (book) thing."

"Facebook?" Ayesha guessed.

"Haan (Yes)," she answered. "Woh (That). He said that Kabir told him to check your graduation pictures on that thing but I guess he was checking out your profile."

"That's so creepy," Ayesha muttered.

"True," Mrs. Singhania agreed. "I told him to stop stalking you and call you but he refused to."

"Do you know why?" Ayesha asked.

"I think he feels bad about how things ended between the both of you," she guessed. "That's why when you came back, he tried to make things right for you."

"So he doesn't actually like me?" Ayesha concluded. "He's just feeling sorry for me."

"No Ayesha," Mrs. Singhania revealed. "He likes you a lot. He has even asked your parents if he could date you."

"What?" Ayesha asked, confused. "And they agreed?"

Mrs. Singhania nodded.

"Sunny said that he wanted to do things the right way," she revealed. "That he wants your family's blessings to date you."

Ayesha didn't know whether to be flattered or freaked out by that.

"I'm so confused right now," Ayesha revealed. "I thought I was over Sunny years ago but the moment I saw him again, it was like waves of feelings coming back to me. I tried to ignore it but Sunny made it so hard. He's always around and he's so nice to me."

"Have you tried telling him about it?" Mrs. Singhania suggested.

"No," she replied. "I'm afraid that he would reject me again."

"But he confessed to you, didn't he?" Mrs. Singhania asked.

"He thought Abhay, the other choreographer, and I were together," Ayesha chuckled at the memory. "I was so angry at him that I shut him off. I feel so stupid."

"You're not," Mrs Singhania told her. "You were angry at him. And you had every right to. But I cant blame him too. From what I heard from Sunny and Kabir about this, Ayesha, I would be very worried too."

Ayesha laughed at that.

"I couldn't sleep yesterday," Ayesha confessed. "My brain kept repeating that look on Sunny's face when I told him off. And then when the sun was rising, all I could think off was how Sunny would bring me down on his bike to Marine Drive just because I mentioned in passing that I wanted to watch the sun rise."

"Tell him how you feel," Mrs. Singhania advised. "If you need some time to think things through, I'm sure he will understand."

"That's what Sonia said as well," Ayesha muttered.

"Well," Mrs. Singhania told her. "Sonia is right. Tell him. Now where is my husband? We need to get to our seats and you guys need to get ready for tonight's show."

"They must be in Sunny's changing room," Ayesha guessed.

The two of them made their way there and true enough, there was Amit Singhania checking out his son's wardrobe.

"Amit let's go," Mrs. Singhania called out. "They need to get ready for the show."

"Right," Mr. Singhania said and went over to his wife. "We'll see all of you after the show."

The three of them bid the couple goodbye. Ayesha and Vishal then turned to leave.

"Ayesha!" Sunny called and she turned around.

"I'll catch up," Ayesha muttered to  Vishal.

He nodded and left.

"Did mom say anything weird to you?" Sunny asked. "If she did, I'm so sorry about it."

"She didn't," Ayesha replied. "But she did tell me a few interesting things about you."

Sunny blushed. What did his mother tell Ayesha?

"Sunny I need to tell you somethings," Ayesha started. "I hope you can keep an open mind about this."

"Sure," Sunny said.

"Ok," Ayesha continued. "I wasn't lying when I said I didn't like you anymore but I wasn't completely honest too."

Sunny nodded, taking in every single detail.

"I honestly don't know what I'm feeling," she revealed. "Maybe it's just the excitement of seeing a familiar face or maybe it's just that nostalgic feeling or maybe I really like you... I don't know. Everything is so confusing and then when you confessed... I mean, couldn't you have picked a better time to confess? Like at the beach? I might have said yes instantly."

Sunny chuckled.

"Funny thing is," Sunny spoke up. "That was exactly what I felt at the beach. The reason why I couldn't sleep that night was because I was thinking about you. You always called me your lucky charm and your partner but that day when you called Abhay that, I felt so dejected, as if I was replaced. Ayesha, I understand how you feel."

Ayesha stared at Sunny as if he just grew a other head.

"One week?" Ayesha asked. "You only needed one week to figure that out?"

"Actually," Sunny revealed. "It only took me seeing you to confirm it. So, technically, a few hours."

Ayesha's mouth hung wide in disbelief. Hours? It took her a year to let go of him, another to convince herself that she didn't miss him and one more year before she could stop having mini heartbreaks whenever she was reminded of him.

Ayesha suddenly raised her hands and started hitting him.

"Ouch," Sunny squirmed. "Stop it."

She stopped.

"This isn't fair," Ayesha ranted. "How could you convince yourself that you like me in just a few hours?"

"That's it?" Sunny questioned, feeling slightly annoyed at Ayesha.

"What do you mean by that's it?" Ayesha asked in return. "Do you know how long it took me to get over you? 3 years! And it takes you just hours to convince yourself that you like? And how did you know?"

"I just did," Sunny replied. "And suddenly, everything just... Made sense..."

Ayesha nodded.

"I'm trusting you with my feelings," she told Sunny. "I'm telling you this because Sonia and your mom thinks you deserve to know this much at least."

Sunny smirked.

"And you told me my mom didn't at anything weird," Sunny sassed.

"I'm trying to tell you something here," Ayesha scolded him. "Can we please focus?"

"Sorry," he apologized. "Please continue."

"You're seriously like a child," Ayesha continue admonishing him. "Can you learn to be a little bit more serious?"

"I'm sorry," Sunny repeated, this time firmer. "Now, can you please continue with what you were saying?"

Before Ayesha could continue, they heard a knock on the door. Ayesha let out an exasperated sigh.

Sunny gave Ayesha an apologetic look.

"Yes?" Sunny called out.

"45 minutes to showtime," Kabir announced as he popped his head in. "Rahul sir wants everyone ready in 15 minutes and meet him at the area behind the stage."

Kabir suddenly noticed his sister's presence in the room.

"Ayesha, tum (you)?" Kabir asked. "What are you doing here? Are you guys friends again?"

"Something like that," Sunny replied.

"I seriously don't understand the both of you," Kabir told them. "You guys have more drama than a saas-bahu (typical Indian family melodramatic soap drama)."

"Is that all?" Sunny asked, annoyed.

"Haan (Yes)," he replied.

"Then get out," Sunny snapped.

"Sheesh," Kabir muttered. "I was just about to leave. Calm down, drama queen."

Kabir then popped his head back out and closes the door behind him.

"I should get going," Ayesha said. "The conversation isn't over. We'll continue later."

"You won't be able to do anything later," Sunny warned. "Trust me. But I'm willing to take my chances. I'll see you later."

Ayesha smiled and left the room. She felt so relieved, as though a big chunk of weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She only hopped that Sunny understood what she really meant. Ayesha then made her way to the dancers' changing room and put on her costume.

This was it, their first performance. Everything suddenly felt so real for her. She couldn't help but wonder how the boys must be feeling. They were the leads after all.

Sonia who had been looking all over for Ayesha spotted her as she was leaving the changing room.

"Kaha thi tum (Where were you)?" Sonia asked. "Everyone was looking for you."

"I was in Sunny's room," she revealed.

"Oh," Sonia said. "I guess all is well between the two of you?"

"Kind of," Ayesha replied.

"And did you tell him everything?" Sonia prodded some more.

"I told him most things," she admitted. "But I never got to tell him the most important part. I guess I'll have to wait till after the show."

"After?" Sonia stressed. "Trust me, you will hardy have time after the show. Everyone will want to meet you and talk to you and get autographs... It's just a big mess."

"I know," Ayesha answered. "But I'm willing to take my chances."

***

A/N: Tbh, I never expected this chapter would be so long... 😂😂😂 Oh well, life never turns out the way we plan and sometimes, it's for the better... Next chapter will be out shortly... I'm still putting the finishing touches to it... (That is if I don't fall asleep while writing 😁😁😁)