Bonded by Fate *Completed*

21. One Step Closer

"What are you even doing?!" Guddan enquired confused to Lakshmi, who put a tilak on her forehead and then stuffed a tiny piece of jaggery in her mouth.

"Saasu maa, don't ask me anything, papa just asked me to wish you all the best!" Lakshmi chirped and started doing aarti of Guddan.

"Best of luck?! For what?!" Guddan asked, once again.

"Are you done, Lakshmi bahu?!" AJ asked entering the hall, to which she nodded.

"Chalo Guddan..." He asked and started leaving.

"Where?!" She asked, yet again.

AJ stopped and turned around, "You'll find out soon enough, now come quickly!"

Quizzically Guddan started leaving after him, when Dadi stopped her and fed her curd."Best of luck beta!" Dadi wished her.
And in response, Guddan made a face full of disbelief. "For whatt?!"

Lakshmi and Dadi shrugged and a troubled Guddan could only follow after AJ.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why have we come here?!" Guddan asked stepping out of the car, while her eyes were fixed on the massive 25 storey building standing ahead of her.

National Academy of Arts & Acting'

But AJ didn't bother to reply and rushed towards the building with a now annoyed Guddan in tow. As they entered the building, a fancy hall greeted them where photos of legendary actors like Madhubala, Dilip Kumar and many more were hung. Guddan looked at her surroundings in absolute awe while AJ stepped towards the receptionist.

" #245BHC...Guddan Gupta", Akshat spoke handing a receipt to the receptionist. She nodded and after fiddling with her keyboard for a few seconds, handed AJ a placard printed with 36.

"36 is her entry number and the numbers will be flashed on that screen.." Receptionist pointed to a large TV screen behind Akshat where currently number 29 was being displayed.

Akshat thanked her and turning around approached Guddan, who had her nose pressed against a glass showcase, where numerous trophies and certificates were displayed. Shaking his head at her antiques, he turned her around and put the placard in her neck.

"Now what is this?" She asked, inspecting the placard with curious eyes.

"How much confidence do you have in your acting and dancing skills?" Akshat asked, totally ignoring her query.

Guddan's ears perked up and she smirked a trademark victory smile at him. "Arre uncle! You don't know me! I am such a pro at Acting and dance that I can deliver mindblowing performance even half asleep..."

"Great!  Its your audition today.....as a fact anytime now, that screen will flash with this no. 36' and you will be called in to perform", He interrupted her gloating with his monotonous face.

Guddan stopped and stared blankly at his face for the next 20 seconds, trying to process what he had said. And at the 21st second, AJ was forced to shield his ears and every head present in the hall, turned around to see them."Whattt!!?" Guddan shouted and continued, "Audition?!Whose audition? When? Where? Why wasn't I informed of this?!"

"Guddan tum su..." He tried to interrupt her but Guddan was not listening,"You must be joking?! Aise koi bomb fodta hai kya?"

"Gudda..."

"What if I make some mistake, I am not even prepared?" Guddan went on and on with her rants while AJ tried unsuccessfully to bring her attention to him.

He looked behind to see no. 31 flash on the screen as a guy entered inside the auditorium.

"I'll definitely end up spilling some major blunder! Hey lord krish..." Guddan's rant was cut in half when Akshat covered her lips with his palms and signalled her to shut up by keeping his forefinger against his lips.

"Chup! Bilkul chup! If another word dares to escape your lips then...then...then I will give away your tape recorder to rag picker!" He threatened as Guddan's eyes widened and she motioned in negative with her hands and then pinching her throat between her thumb and forefinger, promised to keep shut.

Sighing, Akshat removed his palms and started explaining. "You want to become an actress right?! Then this is the place, this academy offers various courses in acting and is known to produce some of the best actors in India. As of right now, you will be giving an audition as a preliminary test, based on which you will get admitted to their Talent Acting Program, where you will be taught everything required of you as a showman...you get it?!"

Guddan nodded and then squeaked in a tiny voice, "But what if I mess up?!"

Akshat squatted down in front of her and held her palms that were nervously twiddling with each other in her lap. "You won't. I believe in you. So if you can't believe in yourself then believe in my belief on you.." Akshat trailed with an assuring smile as Guddan looked at him with a small smile of her own.

The moment was broken as no.36 flashed on the screen and both got up. "Best of luck!" Akshat wished, to which Guddan nodded and disappeared inside the auditorium.

For the next half an hour, Akshat paced restlessly in front of the auditorium, checking the watch every minute.It felt like he was the one giving the exam. The anxiety was killing him.

As the clock struck 1:45, the door of auditorium creaked open and Guddan stepped out. Akshat looked at her with anticipation and she looked back with a monotonous face. His heart dropped, fearing the worst. "How was it?" He asked, stepping towards her.

"Humara selection.." She trailed with downcast eyes, her legs rooted to her spot.

'What if she didn't pass?! He had given her such high hopes and after that..' Akshat thought as his heart pounded nervously and his breath hitched.

As Guddan looked up into his eyes, he waited with abated breath as his eyes clenched shut out of fear.
"...HO GAYA!" Guddan shouted jovially as his eyes snapped open to look at her smiling face and a smile crept up his lips too. He let go of the breath he was holding and Guddan rushed towards him with her arms wide open.

As she was about to engulf him in a bear hug, her hands paused as they remembered how touchy he was to such things.

Akshat looked down at Guddan while her hands had went statue just a cm away from his arms and shaking his head, he pushed her right into his chest by pushing at her back with his right hand. As he patted her back in appraisal, she smiled widely and hugged him by flinging her hands over his shoulders. In response, his other hand crept to her waist and hugged her completely.

"I am so happy today!" Guddan exclaimed content as she clenched her eyes shut, while supporting her cheek against his shoulder.

"Me too.." Akshat whispered as his right palm caressed her hairs and a happy smile danced in his eyes.

Finally, I have reached this point where I've been trying to reach for the longest time i.e. Guddan's dreams :)

Note: The National Academy of Acting and Arts is my brainchild. Any resemblance to such institution in existence is purely coincidental. I don't know either how acting studies go or stuff like that, so you all can just go with the flow and believe it to be a special course I devised solely for Guddan ;)

Hope you are enjoying!!

Anyway, I'd like my esteemed readers to know that I've started another AkshAn story by the title of "Secrets & Lies". So do give it a read and see for yourself how you like it :)
And if anyone is unaware, another Akshan story - "os|ts|ss compilations" had also been running side by side "bonded by fate", so if anyone of you hasn't given it a try yet, do go ahead and give it a shot.
Thank you :)