That evening, Nagaraju came to pick up Akshatha and her mother.
Before leaving the resort, Akshatha said goodbye to the production team and thanked them for the opportunity.
"Take care," one of the coordinators told her.
"Thank you. It was lovely working with everyone."
She then left with her father.
By the time they reached the apartment, Akshatha was exhausted.
The rest of the family had already gathered.
Her brothers and cousins were excited and were getting ready to go for a walk along the beach.
"Akka, come with us!" Manu called.
Akshatha smiled tiredly.
"Not today, Manu. I'm exhausted."
"But we're all going!"
"I know. I'll join you tomorrow."
She greeted everyone properly, but she had barely finished speaking before she headed toward her room.
Her mother understood immediately.
"Let her sleep. She has been working all day."
Akshatha changed, put her things aside, and went straight to bed.
Within minutes, she was asleep.
The others eventually left for their beach walk.
But among the family, two of the aunts weren't particularly pleased.
They didn't say anything openly.
They knew that complaining loudly would make them look petty.
But their thoughts were quite different.
One of them muttered under her breath,
"She could have gone with the children for some time."
The other nodded.
"What work is so tiring?"
They looked toward Akshatha's closed bedroom door.
"All she does is dress up, stand in front of a camera, pose for some photographs, and come back saying she's tired."
The other aunt gave a dismissive expression.
"Exactly."
"She behaves as though she's doing some extremely difficult work."
They lowered their voices.
They didn't want Nagaraju or the other's to hear.
After all, Akshatha was earning well, travelling internationally, and receiving opportunities that most young people could only dream about.
And that was precisely what irritated them.
To them, it looked effortless.
They saw the finished photographs.
They saw the designer clothes.
They saw the hotels and international travel.
They didn't see the hours of castings.
They didn't see the twenty-plus days of travelling between cities.
They didn't see the seventy-plus casting calls.
They didn't see the fittings.
They didn't see rehearsals.
They didn't see her walking one show after another while exhausted.
They certainly didn't see how carefully she had balanced all of it with school.
One aunt whispered,
"Who does she think she is fooling?"
The other gave a quiet laugh.
"Apparently everyone is supposed to believe she's exhausted because she wore some clothes and took photographs."
Neither said anything more.
They simply kept their irritation to themselves.
Because somewhere inside, they knew something they didn't want to admit:
Akshatha's work was becoming successful.
And success was much harder to dismiss when the results were already visible.
Her previous visit to Dubai had been wonderful, but it had also been practical. They had chosen a comfortable, decent place to stay because they were travelling within a reasonable budget. They had explored the city, enjoyed the sights, and made plenty of memories, but luxury accommodation had never been part of the plan.
This time, however, they had not planned for any of it.
They had simply been lucky
Palm Jumeirah itself still felt remarkably new. The development had an almost futuristic quality to it, with luxurious residences, hotels and villas appearing along the man-made palm-shaped island. For visitors in 2010, there was something particularly impressive about seeing such an enormous development rising from the sea.
Akshata looked out through the window, fascinated.
The place was simply impressive.
It was much larger and more luxurious than anything they had stayed in during their previous Dubai trip. The interiors were modern, elegant and spacious, with large windows allowing sunlight to flood into the rooms.
And then came the view.
From the rooms, they could see the Arabian Gulf stretching beyond the property.
Akshata walked toward one of the windows and stopped.
The sea was almost directly in front of them.
She had seen the beach before. She had stayed in good hotels before. But this was different. The fact that the beach and the sea were part of the view from their own residence made the whole experience feel strangely unreal.
She wasn't accustomed to treating this kind of luxury as an ordinary part of life.
For her, this was a luxurious experience.
The residence had its own rhythm. They could wake up in the morning, open the curtains and see the water. They could sit together without feeling as though they were confined to a hotel room. The spacious rooms gave everyone enough privacy while still allowing the family to spend time together.
Even simple things suddenly felt memorable.
Having breakfast while looking toward the sea.
Walking around the residence and discovering another beautifully designed area.
Standing near the windows in the evening as the sunlight reflected across the water.
Going down toward the beach simply because it was there.
It wasn't just the luxury itself.
It was the novelty of experiencing it together.
Akshata especially enjoyed exploring every part of the place.
"This is much better than our last trip," words left from her mouth.
The next morning began with everyone gathered around the breakfast table.
After spending the previous day exploring the residence and getting used to the sheer luxury of the place, the children were already full of energy.
Breakfast barely finished before they started talking about the swimming pool.
"Let's go swimming!"
"Yes!"
"Come on, let's go!"
The excitement spread quickly through the group. Everyone seemed ready to head downstairs immediately.
Akshatha, however, stopped them.
"Wait."
Everyone turned toward her.
"What?"
"You can't just go like that."
She pointed toward their clothes.
"You need proper swimwear. You can't enter the pool wearing normal clothes. There are rules here."
The children looked at one another.
"Oh."
Akshatha continued, "It's a proper residence pool. We need to follow the rules. So if you want to swim, we need to buy swimsuits first."
That changed the morning's plan.
Instead of heading straight to the pool, the entire group went out to hunt for suitable swimwear.
There was something amusing about the whole family suddenly having the same mission.
They searched through shops, looked at different designs and sizes, argued over what looked good, and eventually everyone found something suitable.
The children were especially excited to return to the residence and finally use the pool.
But they weren't the only ones who had decided to participate.
Nagraju and his brothers—the three brothers who had grown up swimming in rivers also decided they weren't going to miss the opportunity.
They each bought swimwear for themselves.
One of the uncles looked at the others and grinned.
"We've swum in rivers."
Another brother laughed.
"And beaches."
Nagraju looked toward the residence's pool.
"But this one looks pretty good."
The three brothers laughed.
They had grown up with a very different kind of swimming experience. Rivers, beaches and natural water had always been familiar to them. Swimming pools, especially a beautifully maintained luxury pool overlooking the surroundings of Palm Jumeirah, felt like a different sort of experience.
They wanted to try it.
Soon, the entire group returned to the residence, changed into their swimwear and headed toward the pool.
The children's excitement returned immediately.