Ishq Kinara[Love Ashore] Complete

48. Shore to the sea

She had no professional education about theatrics, just her passion to drive her further. That made her stagger a bit in the beginning, the sheer magnitude of where she had landed herself but Elaf had always been steadfast. So what if she didn't have the professional schooling about the subject, she knew almost as much as her team members, not in literal terms but in practical expertise.

Her first action was enrolling herself into the course to work on her deficiency, all the while she was working on her already polished skills some more.

Deepak as he referred to himself just like that, Deepak, or Deepak Bhai, was the head mentor of the team she was selected into. His looks would give anyone a false idea that he was easygoing and didn't care much for the decorum but that was far from the truth.

He was a strict teacher. Elaf understood that early on because on her first day he had shown his applause for her change of script during her audition but had also made it clear that this was the only time he was letting her get away with it. Any changes in script from here on and she would consult it with the whole team and see what their opinion about it was.

The team, as Elaf figured out and learned, was the most important unit of the academy. She was used to having her way back when she was the star of Professor Kaleem's club, given the fact that she was the best among them all but things were changed here. Everyone was good at what they did and Elaf, after initial shock and a bit of disappointment, accepted this and even proceeded to learn from her teammates. She liked this change of the playing field and her role, it gave her room to improve when not everything was on her shoulders.

She didn't have any plays so far. One was coming in a month's time and Elaf was prepping for it. It was her first here and she wouldn't ever let it go haywire.

As far her family and friends were concerned, they were as supporting as ever. Safwa was the most excited when she came to know about her decision. The rest were also happy for her. But that was her usual. What made the most difference was the presence of her parents in every step she was taking. It left her in tears at times, when Daud would ask her details about the academy with interest or Yusra would offer to prepare her costume for the play coming up.

This was her dream she never knew she had woven there in the most secured recess of her mind and heart. But now that she had it, she often didn't know how to process it all. Her normal response was going speechless or her eyes tearing up but lately she had started smiling more about every new development.

And it wasn't long when she would be back to her old self where she'd embrace every praise with a raised collar and a laugh, knowing she deserved it but still humble about it.

Slow but meaningful steps.

_____

Zonish pushed her glasses up her nose and helplessly looked at the fabric strewn across her. Myriad of shades, some of which she couldn't even distinguish, different types of clothing that ranged from overly stone work to modest embroidery.

Wedding shopping was e x h a u s t i n g.

Yeah, that exhausting.

When she had told Hesham about a simple wedding with no fuss, she had no idea that the fashionista childhood best friend of her to be husband was going to bring even this simple arrangement into utter chaos.

That evening of the infamous yes from Zonish, both the families gathered in Alvi house and finalized everything. From the date of Nikkah to the arrangements. It was a cakewalk seeing the scale was not grand, just like Zonish wanted.

She was pretty satisfied with how things were moving, till they started with the shopping for the D day and Zonish was sure she was going to get bald before that day.