Chapter 8
1
Reyaansh reached home after the press conference. "That'll be all Chhabilal, I'll be home tonight. You can leave."
Chhabilal nodded and left to park the car in the garage.
He had had a busy day, and though he had an invitation to a cocktail party, he chose not to be there.
It's good to be less visible at times. He was sick of reading about himself everywhere in the last couple of days. "A star's value depends upon his visibility," dad always told him.
He threw the hat away, fixed himself a drink and proceeded to his bedroom.
"Reyyy...!!!" He heard a familiar gleeful voice. It was Sharon lying on the couch in his bedroom, spreading her arms for him. She was very drunk.
"Sharon!!" he went up to her and hugged her tightly. "I missed you babe."
She got up with great difficulty and sat on the couch.
"I cheated on you while you were away. But I guess you already know that." She spoke with a frown as a few strands of her hair covered her face.
"That's okay," he said, removing the hair from her face, "even I cheated on you, every single night in Europe."
"You did?" Sharon held his right arm.
"Yeah." He smiled.
"Did you get plenty of action?"
"Loads! I love Ukraine." Rey grinned.
Both of them laughed heartily.
Two hours and three joints later, Sharon looked dreamily outside the window- it was a pitch dark sky with one or two lacklustre stars embedded here and there. Rey attentively removed the seeds from the reefer, one by one, readying it for the next one, playing one of his favourite songs.
Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation/ Little girls from Sweden dream of silver screen quotations...
"Shouldn't smoke this shit! Makes me so paranoid!" Sharon murmured, "Not with you though. I trust you." She turned to Rey and smiled. Rey looked up and smiled at her as he continued his work.
"You're stoned."
"Yeah!" she laughed.
"So tell me, how's Ranveer? I just met him once at Filmfare last year."
"Who cares!" Sharon turned on her side and hugged a cushion.
"I do. Tell me now. Is he a nice fella? Can I trust him?"
"I don't care Rey. It was just a onetime thing. And I don't trust myself with anybody apart from you. You're the only person who loves me, cares about me, and who knows the real me. And I don't need anyone else," she firmly declared.
"And like I keep telling you since 7th grade, there is somebody who'd love you even more than me, and more than anybody else, and he's there somewhere, perhaps. You never know..."
"Tell me Rey, can't I be like this? Always? I am happy. I have everything under control. And I have you. Is it really important to find myself a man?"
"You can find a woman as well if it suits you. Admittedly, it'll be a lil weird for me, but I'll manage, as long as you're happy... and if she's hot! We could be Vicky Cristina and Barcelona! Ha ha ha!" he laughed at his own joke.
Sharon closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Why do I want anybody at all, to invade my privacy, disturb my perfect universe, and unleash mayhem? You know every time I let someone in, it always ended in anarchy."
"That's because you're an unrelenting control freak and those guys were all douchebags! And I always warned you in advance."
"I guess I have a propensity towards men who are jerks!" she sighed opening her eyes. "Can I sleep here tonight? I'm scared." Sharon asked in a soft voice.
"You watched a horror movie?"
She nodded in affirmative.
"You know you can't handle those Sharon. Which one was this?"
"Drag Me to Hell."
"Shit! That one is badass, especially that scene, where she wakes up to find that thing on top of her..."
"Rey!" screamed Sharon interrupting him, "you're not helping meh!"
"Oh, okay. Sorry."
Sharon shifted to the bed. Rey pulled the blanket over her and sat next to her, smoking a cigarette. She slept instantly- the alcohol and the weed made her drowsy. Rey cast a glance at Sharon, then got up and moved to the balcony. A dog relentlessly barked somewhere.
Rey hardly got any sleep at night. Moreover nights were way too beautiful to not explore. He never understood how people wasted each night in mundane things like sleeping or making babies. He felt the most awake, the most conscious at nights. Each cell in his body was awake, active. He watched the smoke coming out of his nostrils, his mouth, merge with the palpable darkness that engulfed the surroundings. He continued to watch the rings of smoke till they dissipated completely.
2
"Snuffles, Snuffles baby come here..." Mrs. RaiPrakash called for the second time. But the subject of her attention didn't seem to pay any heed to her calls. Rather he busied himself into meticulously licking his genitals. Swayam hated that thing- it was awfully white and furry, and obscenely fat for a cat- in a third world country! He stood at the door when Sharon came down the stairs.
"You're here already. Time ke pakke ho tum. Sit." Sharon gestured. Swayam sat on one of the couches.
Mrs. RaiPrakash was quick to drag her daughter aside.
"Sharon, why did you ask him to sit? Jo bhi baat hai karke chala jaye bas."
"Mamma, just take Snuffles from here and go okay. We have work."
"What work? Iske saath kaisa work?"
"He is an AD. He's here to help me with my dialogues. What's your problem Mamma!"
"AD! He's a young kid. Your dad also has ADs. Look Sharon we don't need you making the headlines for a while now."
"Jesus Mamma why do you people keep telling me the same things over and over? And dad ke time pe baat aur thi. Here Karan himself is thirty-five, how old do you expect his assistants to be!"
Sharon was struggling to maintain her calm but her frustration was written all over her face.
"Sharon, see all I'm saying is..."
"Mamma, just GO!" Sharon literally pushed a very reluctant Mrs. RaiPrakash out of the door.
Swayam understood that the ladies didn't realise he could hear them, or perhaps they just didn't care. This was normal for them. He was surprised to learn that Sharon RaiPrakash too finds herself in shackles. She too had restrictions. He had been feeling guilty ever since he tipped Kriya off, but now he wanted to give himself a pat on the back- this was vengeance, served hot!
"And what makes you smile so much?" Sharon was back.
"Snuffles! A very original name for a furry, obese cat." Swayam smirked.
Sharon was pissed which was evident as she raised her right eyebrow. She looked at him for a while before she spoke again. "Snuffles was Sirius Black's nick name!"
This, Swayam didn't expect. He hadn't calculated the possibilities of the Bollywood Diva being a Pottermaniac, and didn't find any words to counter that.
Sharon was the first to break the pause.
"So, where's the food? I knew restaurant mein reservation toh tum afford nahin kar sakte..."
"Huh!"
"Food... Bengali food! Did you get any?"
"So you'd have gone out with me?"
"What?"
"Had I booked us a table at a restaurant, you'd have gone out with me?" Swayam was back in the game.
"SHUT UP! Zyaada smart mat bano."
"Actually, I did get you some food. This."
Swayam fished out a tiny package from his pocket what seemed like made of newspaper. He opened it to reveal the contents and Sharon was astonished to see what was inside. It had a mixture of puffed rice.
"What! What the hell! You were supposed to get me Bengali food! Don't expect me to eat this crap!"
"This is the most popular Bengali food. Jhalmuri. Every Bengali household will have this, muri."
"This is street food. I don't eat street food!"
"Your wish," replied Swayam, who was already busy eating from the packet.
Sharon watched him with contempt. "Can we get to our lessons, if your little prank is over?"
"Sure," he grinned.
He was already enjoying his little victories over Sharon RaiPrakash.
This is not intended to cause any offence to East European ladies, fat cats or Indian owners of fat cats- myself being one.
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12