82. Selection of participants

Bikram nodded and left.

"Now, it's the turn for the vocal candidates," Ritutandra said, swiping to a new list on the screen.

She was about to call out the first name when someone stumbled into the room. His tongue hung out like a golden retriever's as he panted, bending over his knees.

"Wa.. wait. hah.. I'm.. huff... left."

He straightened up and leaned against the wall breathing heavily, "I'm left to present my piece of music."

"I've cancelled your name for your garbage sense of time. You're an hour late. Now please get out." Ritutandra pointed her chin at the door.

"Can you just let me off this once considering I'm your substitute?" The boy pleaded in a cute voice.

"No. Now turn around and start walking." Ritutandra spun her finger.

"Uh, guys, your VC is driving me out, won't you do me justice?" He said, running his hand through the side fringe which was stuck on his forehead from sweating.

As he looked at the others with his half-closed eyes and devilish smirk showing the dimple on his left cheek, little shrieks and screams erupted from the students gathered.

"Oh my god! He's so hot!"

"I wish I could kiss him right now!"

"Look at those red highlighted strands! I'm itching to run my hand through them."

"Aaaa, I can see those biceps even through his coat!"

"Hey, look, your crush is here."

The whispers grew so loud that Ritu had to muster her scariest glare. Everyone immediately shut up.

Among them, a cute looking boy raised his hand and said, "Um, please excuse me VC, we all know that SVC Arko is a talented pianist. So, could you perhaps give him a chance? Getting as many talents on our team would only boost our chances of winning, right?"

He peeked from under his bangs to see Ritutandra's face.

"Aw, how sweet of you!" Arko gave him a flying kiss.

The boy's face immediately turned red like an apple and he became flustered, "Y... yeah. No problem."

"Are you done interacting with your fanboy? If yes, then leave otherwise you can carry on with your flirting outside." Ritutandra said raising an eyebrow.

"Honey, are you jealous?" he asked.

"Very. And so very that if you don't shut your crap right now, your honey will set honeybees on you and I guarantee that your face will be stung till you don't recognise yourself." Ritutandra said, forming a lovely smile.

He gulped seeing that look on her face. She definitely was not kidding. And everyone in the room looked at Arko with pity and sympathy. He could feel their gazes and knew that it was not impossible for her to turn that statement into reality.

There was hardly anyone who was not aware that he was pursuing her because of his extravagant style. Initially he used to send big bouquets to her class everyday. After a week of that, Ritutandra warned that if he did not stop, she would shave his head and draw flowers on it. At that time, he did not believe it but two days later, he woke up to see himself in the mirror exactly as she described. His entire head was shaved and different species of colorful flowers were drawn there. Nothing could wipe it off. He had to stay like that for two months! At first, he tried to salvage his reputation saying it was her declaration of love for him but one of his rivals publicly revealed that all of them were wild and deadly poisonous.

Henceforth, no matter how much trouble he created, they were not out of line. Ritutandra mainly ignored him but when he became too irritating a glare was enough to shut him up.

"My poor heart." He wiped fake tears, clutching his chest.

"But you can't deny that I'm an amazing pianist and attractive." The expression changed in an instant.

"Correction, it'll be mediocre." Ritutandra rolled her eyes.

"Huh? Is there anyone who can play like me in this room?... except you of course." Arko smirked.

"He can." She pointed towards Bikram who had just come out of the practice room.

"Hello. Aren't you the little popular celebrity?" Arko looked at him and winked.

Bikram furrowed his eyebrows.

"So, the five of you are chosen to be the instrumentalists for the folk song." Ritutandra glanced at the people before her and said.

The said five people rejoiced while the others congratulated them.

"As for the three instrumentalists for the solo song, it will be me, Arko and Bikram."

Everyone exclaimed in surprise. Bikram also looked at her with astonishment. It felt like he was dreaming.

He was about to thank her when she spoke again, "But the main instrumentalists will only be two of us. One is me and the other will be any of you two. Now you need to face off to determine who's going to be the background instrumentalist. Any questions?"

No one spoke. It was a given that Ritutandra would be one of the main instrumentalists given her talent in instruments, there was no doubt about that and no one would question that too unless one had the guts to play better than her.

But the silence was because of the tension between the competitors. One has been a talented instrumentalist in school for years while the other had years of experience working in the entertainment industry. Arko was among the top five in the instruments division in Ketu while Bikram had performed live in front of thousands of people and earned their admiration. Each had their fanbase. Now the people in the room were torn between who to support, their all-time favourite or the new genius who captured their hearts.

Arko was the first to come forward. He took his seat and warmed up his fingers. After that, he started playing. The piece started with a sharp and high tune and swiftly changed between the high and medium notes. It was mostly Allegro while changing to Allegretto at times. The tune kept people excited and made them anticipate the changes. His fingers jumped from one key to another in a blur.

In just two minutes, he had captivated everyone and earned a loud applause at the end of his piece.

He bowed holding an imaginary hat and said to Bikram, "All the best, little celebrity."