Dancing on her own

The weather report said it would be sunny today. But here she was, standing with an umbrella in her hand, alone in that graveyard in the pouring rain. May be the sky was reflecting how she felt today. Cold. Gloomy. Sad. She thought she would cry today, but her eyes had imprisoned her tears and wouldn't let them out anymore.

"Ma, Pa, it's been 3 years", she said standing over the graves which read "Here lie Judith and Dan, death couldn't part them". "It's been 3 years", she continued, "And I still can't pull myself together. I miss you both so much. It feels like I don't have anyone I could talk to. I want to lean on your lap Ma, and cry about the things they said. I want to hear your take on everything Pa. I want you to see the good life I'm living now. Everyone seems to think I have it all, they all see me smiling. They don't know how I feel. I wish you both were here". Nara broke down now, she couldn't stand, her knees gave in, she knelt down and started sobbing. "Oh no! what if someone sees me!", she thought. "I don't care!" she said to herself again. She couldn't stop herself now. She didn't want the press to find out she was here, so she left the hotel at dawn. She didn't want her pictures in the newspapers and on the internet showing her sorry state.

Nara Anne Willis, lost her parents exactly 3 years ago in a car accident. They were on their way to see her perform in a town next to theirs. It was tragic. She had just had her debut and the charts bore her name in the Top 10 Hits section. "Rising star Nara's parents died on their way to see their daughter perform" the headlines read that day. The press had a field day! Leeching off of her pain, she always thought. Nara was the internet sensation who stepped foot into the entertainment industry with her own song. Her single was ranked #1 in the Trending list on YouTube and she maintained that position for two whole weeks. This landed her with a contract and a ticket to America to create her own album. It all happened in a flash. She didn't have time to cope.

She was a normal final year engineering student from India, when it all began. She wasn't much to look at, she was someone that you had to give a second look, to notice her interesting features. But her fierce personality entirely compensated the lack of physical appeal. She was smart, she was kind, took care of her friends like they were practically family. She never did think twice about the way she looked, until her boyfriend, cheated on her with Dilly, the college hottie. She had loved him for a year. He was toxic, she was gullible; she was a student representative, he was a reckless, no-good guy; he got her notes and her innocence, she thought it was love. No, he said so. That it was a girlfriend's duty to send nudes even though she didn't want to. She never did and that is why he cheated, or so he said. He made it look like she was responsible for him cheating. He blamed everything about her appearance and said it doesn't please him. She finally snapped, came to her senses and broke up with him.

It wasn't easy, he broke her heart. He didn't love her but she did. One night, she had had enough of wallowing in self-pity and she vowed to help or warn any other girls stuck in a similar situation and that is when she put it all into words and wrote the song which made it all happen. She had an exceptional voice, the type that you could listen to all day and still never get tired of it. Her voice was one of a kind, it would speak to your inmost being if you took a minute to listen to it. She added a little bit of choreo, took out her camera and recorded the song. It took a lot of thinking and courage for her to click on that upload button on YouTube, but she did it. A week later, she woke up to 800k views on her video.

The whole college was speaking about it. Everyone wanted to know more about this plain girl, whom they thought to be boring at first, but now is taking over the internet. The views gradually increased and by the end of the month it had reached a whopping 1B. She wasn't prepared for this, messages poured in to her inbox from all over the world, from so many people telling her they could relate to the song and how it had helped them get through a break-up. Nara didn't know what to make of this, she didn't expect it to actually work.

Reading through the messages, she felt she had found a new purpose, she understood the power of music, of how it can touch lives. She was finally willing to let go of what had happened, and she could actually think about a brighter future without her ex. It was the last day of college and her friends came to tell her how her ex was feeling, he was devastated when he saw Nara's success. There was a new hottie in town!

She smiled at the news her friends brought, but she refused to feel happy about it, because she would not give over this success to him. Nara vowed she would never allow a man to make her feel this pain ever again. She kept receiving so many emails and calls from multiple record companies asking her to sign with them. She also kept receiving so many calls from TV channels and individuals asking to interview with her. Her parents were immensely happy for her, they were elated. They were not rich, but definitely rich in their love towards her. But they weren't experienced in handling the paparazzi. They swarmed around her house, wanting to take one picture of her, of the new internet sensation.

Nara was sitting behind closed doors, with an engineering degree in hand, and a job offer from a renowned IT company, for the post of developer, and with multiple contract offers from various record companies in another hand. She now had to make a decision, to choose between living an ordinary life and living the life where your every move is being watched by the whole world. She loved to code, yes, but it didn't give as much happiness as much as singing did. She could climb the corporate ladder and still be a star if she chose the job and be away from the celebrity life she never wanted. She never did like fame, she wanted to lead a quiet life. But the thought of making her own music called to her. "Ugh, why is this so hard", she thought to herself. She then thought to toss a coin and decide because she was so indecisive. She was now not happy that her parents had given the decision making process to her, unlike other Indian parents who decide for their children. "Fine! I'll toss a coin", she said to herself. "Heads I'll become a developer, Tails I'll sign the contract and become a singer". She smiled over the fact that the coin was going to decide her future. With shaky hands, she tossed the coin up in the air, she couldn't bear to look, but she had to. She opened her eyes. 'HEADS' the coin read, "So developer, huh!", she thought. She signed the contract to become a singer.

She signed with "Rusty Dave Records", even though there were more famous record companies, she researched them and found that their principles were more in line to her convictions. The company had sent her bodyguards now, to handle the paparazzi and also assigned her a personal assistant to handle her schedule and to make her aware of the etiquette to be maintained before the press. She was a big hit! An innocent sweet girl, from a small Indian city taking over the internet was the talk of the whole internet. There was so much pressure on her to maintain the momentum.

A few radio shows, 20+ talk shows and over a hundred interviews later, Nara felt nothing about her life was private anymore. But she enjoyed singing, seeing the audience cry when she sang her song, made her understand it was all worth it. She can connect with so many people just with her songs. She was invited to sing on so many shows that she lost count.

She wanted to build a new home for her parents with the money that kept pouring in, but her parents were already content and didn't want to move from their family home. A few months later, she released another single, which soon made it to the Top 10 list in the charts. She was travelling so much that she didn't have time to meet her old friends or her parents. So when she was to perform in a city near her hometown, she invited her parents to come meet her there. And that is when it happened, the car accident, that took them away from her. She was devastated, she suddenly felt so alone in the world. It took her almost 3 months to show her face outside after the incident. She kept blaming herself for what had happened. If only she hadn't asked them, if only she would have gone to meet them herself. The endless thinking brought new anxious thoughts and possibilities to think of.

Three years later, here she was, back in India where her parents were laid to rest, as was her habit of coming back every year to see them on the day they passed away. The rain kept pouring, she didn't mind, she had to cry more, her pants were already soggy and dirty from kneeling on the ground. "Nara, I'm afraid we have to leave, the press is here, John has held them back at the gate for now", said Carrie, her assistant. Carrie was assigned to her 3 years back when Nara had debuted. She had become more of a friend than an assistant, Nara trusted Carrie with almost everything. Carrie was just 2 years older to Nara, a smart girl who got the job every girl would die for. She handled Nara's schedule, prepared speeches and answers for her interviews, picked out her outfits and so much more, as was the job of a celebrity's assistant. She did so much more that was not expected from an assistant, she became a friend, or more like Nara befriended her. Carrie made sure she drew a line between her job and her friendship. Seeing Nara cry like that wasn't easy for her, but she had to do her job now, she had to make sure she got Nara in the car as soon as possible to avoid photos of Nara crying over her parents graves being plastered all over the news.

John, Nara's bodyguard along with 3 other guards tried to block them off at the gate for as long as they can. "Just 5 more minutes, please. I don't want to leave them. Why can't I mourn in peace?!", She started crying again. Carrie held out her umbrella for Nara because she wasn't doing a good job of holding one by herself. "Nara!", Carrie said impatiently when she heard the gates open as Nara's bodyguards struggled to hold them back. Nara sensed the urgency, got up, buttoned the last button on her long coat so the mud on her pants won't show and put on her black sunglasses. She left the bouquets she had bought on both of their graves. She could almost hear her mom yelling at her from heaven for spending so much on a bunch of flowers. A smile reached her lips, and an uneasy but warm feeling began to fill her. "I miss you, Ma! I miss you, Pa!", she whispered. "I'll see you soon".

As soon as she moved away from the graves, reporters swarmed around her. Nara's face showed no expression. John and her other bodyguards, now made a way for her, by shoving the reports aside, for her and Carrie to reach her car. As soon as they did, John got inside and drove away with the other three bodyguards following them in another car.

Now that they were safe in the car, Carrie hugged Nara and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry it had to be this way", she said. "I know what I signed up for Carr, I almost expected this to happen. It's okay, I'll be fine", she said.

"John, you're all wet!", Nara exclaimed. "Yes, the last time I saw my umbrella was when I was using it to block almost 2 reporters at once. I think they've now claimed it as their own", said John. Nara chuckled. John had his own way of caring for Nara. He was strictly professional with everything concerning her. He wouldn't even smile when he is on the job. Nara's personality puzzled him, she had shown kindness to him on numerous occassions. She was different than the other celebrities he had worked with. She would bring him drinks if he has been standing for a long time, would actually get him a chair, which he will always refuse, everytime she had to be on a set outdoors. John was extremely loyal and became Nara's trustworthy guard, he doted on her like an elder brother, but never really showed it. Nara had already inducted John and Carrie into her inner trust circle. Caring for them was the least she could do, she thought.

Nara removed her sunglasses and took out tissues from her handbag and started dabbing them on John's hair. "Miss, please stop, I'm driving, you're distracting me"

"Hold still John, and please stop calling me Miss, you always call me that when you're on work mode. You're going to catch a cold.", Nara insisted.

"Nara, let him be, let him be sick for all I care", said Carrie. "Just don't let him give you the cold when he gets it", she continued.

Nara smiled. Anyone looking from the outside would see that John and Carrie never got along. But only Nara knew how Carrie secretly cared for him and even now Carrie said what she said because only then John would let Nara dry his hair. She knows that John always put his work first and wouldn't want Nara to be sick because of him.

When Nara was convinced that his hair wasn't as wet as it was before, she leaned back on her seat. "Your eyes are swollen and red, wear your sunglasses when you get out of the car and till we get on the airplane", Carrie said. "Sure, wake me up when we're there", Nara said after closing her eyes. She wanted to become numb to this feeling of sadness. She wanted to think of happy memories to try to dull the pain she felt now. She couldn't find any and so she just wanted to sleep, atleast for 30minutes so she wouldn't feel this miserable for that short period. Sleep came to her rescue, she was indeed sleep deprived and she had to travel immediately after flying in.

Nara moved her home to Los Angeles, 4 months after her parents passed, because most of her work was there and she didn't have time to fly back and forth. She made sure her family house was cleaned periodically and assigned a person to take care of it.

They now boarded the plane to go back home. Carrie came to her with news from the Rusty Dave Records headquarters, (who is now handling her public appearances and relations), that Nara has been asked if she could be a guest host for 10 episodes on a reality TV show. The show was 'The Song', where the judges judged the contestants based on their voice and their song choices. Nara seemed to want a change, and so she said yes.

Back in Los Angeles, Ren got up with a nasty headache. He had been out, drinking till 2 A.M and didn't remember most of the night. He saw someone squirming next to him, he lifted the sheets to see a naked, hung over girl, probably in her mid 20s and still asleep. "Damn, I don't remember who she is", he thought. He got out of bed and grabbed his phone because it was blinking with a notification. It was a text from his manager. "What is it now?", he mumbled to himself. "Nara Anne Willis has finally agreed to be a guest host on 'The Song'. You're going to be working with her Ren. The ratings are going to go over the roof!!!!!! They're signing the contract tomorrow and an introductory meeting will be held the next day. You better be there. This is just what we needed", read his text.

"FINE", he replied back. "But before that I need you to take care of the girl in my bed, I'm going to the gym".

Ren Blake, is a ruggedly handsome 29-year-old and is the lead singer in the world famous 'The Great 5' band. He was voted the #1 most desirable celebrity singer by the 'She' magazine and girls and women who have seen him and heard his music wouldn't say otherwise. He was used to women throwing themselves at him and has had one too many women in his bed. He took what he wanted, and if he saw a challenge, where the girl was playing hard to get or the girl just wasn't interested, he made sure he made her fall for him. He had never lost even once. The other band members were all settled in, got married and had kids, he was the youngest of the group. The band started small at first, performing gigs here and there, at bars, clubs and restaurants. They struggled on their way to reach fame, it almost broke the band but they stuck together and they're finally basking in fame in all of its glory. They took care of each other, like brothers. They had done innumerable concerts and had 3 world tours. To top it all, the Grammy award came to them finally, last year after years of toiling towards that.

Ren picked up a water bottle from the fridge in one hand and googled 'Nara Anne Willis' in another. Ren had seen her in many red carpet events and last year at the Grammy's when they had both each won a Grammy, but had never spoken to her beyond the formal introductions, he never paid her any attention because he was busy wooing the other sexy ladies. He selected 'News' section and clicked on the first headline he could find. 'Nara weeps over her family grave'. "Idiot! she just intentionally made the reporters follow her so she could gain sympathy", he thought angrily. He scrolled down to the other headlines, 'Nara Willis wins her first Grammy, just 2 years after her debut', 'Nara Willis donated half of what she earned in the UK tour to charity', 'Nara Willis opens the children welfare center in Wisconsin', 'Nara's new lyric video gets 30M views, 5 hours after uploading', 'Nara Willis buys a whole basket of flowers from a roadside child vendor in India', 'Nara Willis, sets up professional development centers in 5 villages in India', '3 years without any scandals or love affairs: Nara Willis' read the headlines. Ren seemed to grow more frustrated after reading every headline. "Just what is she trying to pull here?", he murmured. Annoyed, he pulled further down in such speed that posts from 3 years back surfaced and he read the headline 'Rising star Nara's parents died on their way to see their daughter perform'. He stopped scrolling and paused for a few seconds and then went to the video section and clicked on a link which had Nara's performance at the 'Red Rocks Amphitheatre',

After 4 minutes of watching her video, he kept his phone down and went to the shower room in the other side of the house to take a bath because he wanted to avoid seeing the girl-whose-name-he-cant-remember who was still in his bed. Ren's was now deep in thoughts, he stood under the shower, thinking about the video he had seen. He rarely listens to pop music from newbies, Nara wasn't a newbie, Ren was confused on where exactly to place her, she had just been in business for over 3 years and already had exceptional skills with a clean career record. "There's no way a girl of that competence would be a 'good girl'. There's something behind the fake facade she is trying to pull", Ren thought. He had heard people talk about her not showing even a hint of pride which was very confusing because the other new stars in the business acted quite the opposite. More than this confusion, the thing that was bothering Ren the most was how after watching Nara perform, he lost his calm, he was totally taken over in the final 2 minutes of the song. She had somehow managed to grip him with her voice which so easily enchanted him and he didn't realise that until the performance was almost over. It was almost as if he was in a trance. "It's only right that I see for myself and expose her", he thought.

'3 years without any scandals or love affairs: Nara Willis', the headline kept flashing before his eyes. Ren smirked.

"Haven't had a scandal yet, huh? Let's see about that, shall we?"