Siddharth woke up the next day with twenty missed calls and a flurry of conversation in the group chats. All from his friends.

Before he could wade through the texts he decided to call Yug. It would save some effort on his part. 

Yug answered almost instantly. 

"Sid where have you been? We've been trying to reach you all morning," he demanded. 

Siddharth glanced at the time groggily and realized it was almost 1 pm. He looked around the room and found it empty. He had slept around 5 am last night and his mother hadn't woken him up. 

"Sorry, I was asleep. What's up?" he asked sitting up in his bed. 

"The concert has been moved up. There was a mix up with the venue and it was double booked on the 6th. We could either cancel the whole thing or wrap the concert up before the end of this year." 

Siddharth groaned. 

"Moved up? How soon?" he asked. 

"A week."

"So next week?" 

Siddharth's eyes flew open. All the sleep vanished from his droopy lids. He was supposed to wrap up with this wedding before the Red Wagon concert rehearsals even began. That was the plan which worked out perfectly for him. 

Now that the date had been moved up how was he supposed to navigate both the wedding and the practice sessions?

"Unfortunately, yes. All of us are leaving the day after tomorrow. I'll send you the flight details but once we're in Jaipur we can squeeze in a couple of rehearsals before the concert." 

"Is there no other way?" Siddharth asked getting up from his bed and walking into the shower. 

"We might have to cancel this show or postpone the Kolkata show. We have discussed this all morning and this is the best possible solution, man." 

"Fine. Just make sure it isn't on the 28th or 30th. I cannot skip the actual wedding." 

"Already knew that," Yug said smugly, "We will land on the 25th. We have two practice sessions on the 26th and 27th and then the concert is on the 29th. That works for you right?" 

"Works for me but I am going to get an earful from my mother," he mumbled. 

"Great, I'll let the others know," Yug said.

"Okay."

"How's the wedding going, by the way? Any hotties who caught your attention?" Yug asked. 

Siddharth shook his head. He could picture the grin on Yug's face as he was asking him this. 

"No, Yug. It's mind-numbingly boring," he said.

"Oh c'mon. There must be something fun? Or somebody. Siddharth Kashyap, you have a reputation to uphold. Don't be so drab," Yug chastised. 

Siddharth briefly flashed to the only moments of fun so far. All of them were with Chetna. Sure she was his only source of entertainment here but he didn't think to get involved for a second. She was too... innocent. 

Over the past year, Siddharth had had several casual relationships because he didn't feel the need to branch out any further. He was too busy and the women he dated were okay with the short duration of their relationships. 

With her sheltered upbringing and idealistic worldviews, Chetna was far from the kind of women Siddharth had grown used to seeing. She did have a rebellious streak but that was the extent of it all.

"See the silence indicates that there really is someone," Yug said. 

Perceptive as ever. 

"There is no one. I've barely talked to anyone since I got here," he lied.

"Meera is going to be so disappointed." 

Meera was a friend of Siddharth's. She was also Angad, the lead singer's girlfriend. Once upon a time, Siddharth had had feelings for her but it had long since faded into a strong platonic friendship. Meera was especially invested in Siddharth's finding a soulmate. 

She didn't approve of how he was currently handling his love life. 

"Yeah? I think she's used to it by now," Siddharth laughed, "Are they coming?" 

The 'they' referred to the people Red Wagon members were in a long term relationship with. There was Meera, Angad's girlfriend, Deepani, Shreyas's girlfriend and Jai who was Yug's boyfriend. It was a very close-knit group so they usually came along for the concerts and events. 

"Not Jai, he is in Mumbai still," Yug said. 

Siddharth sensed the sadness in his friend's voice. Jai still lived in Mumbai permanently and it was hard sometimes for Yug to keep up with this long-distance relationship.

"I am sure whatever is keeping him must be important," Siddharth offered as consolation. 

Yug just hummed in response. 

"Alright, I have got to go now," Siddharth said before squirting some toothpaste on his toothbrush. 

"Okay, bye." 

Siddharth took the next half hour to get dressed and then headed downstairs to find his mother. He realized that a tiny part of him was hoping to bump into Chetna so he would have some company but he quickly quashed it. 

His mother was in the garden with the other guests. The lunch had been set up there for the day. 

He walked up to the giggling group of ladies that included his mother and their relatives. 

"Arey, Siddharth beta? You are up finally?" his aunt said laughing. 

He just gave her a polite smile and nodded. 

"Partied nicely last night?" she asked with a suggestive look and the women burst out laughing.

He looked at his mother confused by the implication. She just smiled. 

"We know what trouble you boys got into last night at Veer's bachelor party. I know you boys want to have fun but try not to destroy hotel property. I had to pay the hotel quietly. If Veer's father had found out it would have gotten tense," his aunt explained. 

Her tone was light and airy but her voice strained slightly. That tipped him off that things weren't as easy-breezy as she was letting on. 

 "Oh, I wasn't with them," he said and then instantly regretted it. 

If he wasn't with them then it would obviously prompt questions like where else was he till 3 in the morning and who was he with and why was he with the bride's sister all alone.

"Yeah, yeah we know. Nobody was on the hotel roof. Don't worry, we won't tell anybody," his aunt laughed. 

He didn't bother correcting her. Let her believe whatever she wanted to. 

"Ma, I need to talk to you."

His mother excused herself and they walked to an empty spot in the garden. 

"What are you doing with them and why didn't you wake me up?" he asked.

"What am I doing? I am simply attending the wedding and doing my part. Your aunt called me in the morning to help pack some gifts so that is what we've been doing. And you seemed pretty tired so I thought I would let you rest. You came in pretty late last night."

Siddharth was irked by the familiar way his mother was treating his father's family; like they were actually close relatives, but he decided not to comment on that. 

"I wasn't at that party, you know that right?" he asked.

"You weren't?" 

"I just dropped in for a couple of minutes and then left. Then I explored the hotel because I couldn't sleep," he explained deliberately editing out the part where he spent time with Chetna. 

"Okay, it's a good thing. Those boys are up to no good. They destroyed the fountain and broke a few chairs in a fight. Good thing you escaped that," she said sighing.

Siddharth wanted to mention that he could have taken any of those boys on in a fight but refrained from saying that either. 

"Listen, the concert has been preponed," he said and then explained his conversation with Yug. 

When he was finished he was surprised to see his mother with a neutral expression. 

"Good luck. I hope you're prepared for it." 

"That's all you are going to say to me?" he asked in shock. 

"Yes."

"You do realize it means I won't be able to attend one of the events?" he confirmed. 

"I am just grateful you came here with me. And if you miss one function for such an important event then it is completely okay," she said. 

Siddharth had almost forgotten how reasonable his mother could be at times. He gave her a grateful smile and texted his friends to confirm the plan. 

The concert was on and he couldn't wait till his friends arrived so they could light up the pink city.

A/N

Really sorry for the long break. I just got busy with exams, submissions etc. 

Thank you to all those who checked in via comments and DMs. It compelled me to finish this chapter that has been in my drafts for so many days. 

I am also in the process of editing TGICR so updates might be slow. 

There is going to be some Sid-Chetna action in the next chapter so stay tuned. 

PS Yug made an appearance! 

Glossary 

Beta - Son