Chapter 10
1
"You need to mail it to me." Sharon said. The make-up artist applied nail paint on her nails.
"It's there in your inbox," coolly replied Swayam looking straight into her eyes.
"Send it again. I can't go through my inbox to search your mail."
"I just mailed it while talking to you," said Swayam holding up his android with a smile.
Sharon had the signature SRP stern smile on her face. Now that he was certain that she purposely put him down, Swayam wanted to read her mind- what was she calculating, what was her next step? He had almost figured out the art of decoding Sharon RaiPrakash- all he had to do is think like a sadist.
"Actually I would need a hard copy as well. I think I lost it." She struck again.
What the heck do you need a hard copy of the script for? It's not like you read it at home! Bitch!
"Yeah, get me a print out of the revised script." She shook her head.
"Anything else?" asked Swayam with a smile. Vixen!
"That'll be all." Sharon smiled back.
Bitch! Medusa! Bellatrix Lestrange! No no not her. Love Helena Bonham Carter.
Bloody Dementor!
Now he had to locate a cyber cafe first which was difficult given the fact that they were shooting miles away from the city, get a print out of the entire script which had some 82 scenes, and be back in 10 minutes time, else there will be another session of public insult waiting for him, thanks to his director.
f**k my life!
Swayam pulled open the door of the vanity van and stepped out.
Sharon sipped on her green tea as she watched Swayam storm out, with anxiety written all over his face. Two could play this game.
Go! Run Swayam Shekhawat! Run for your life. The clock is ticking...
2
"...and I told him, if he doesn't do something about it, then I'll send him to sleep in the drawing room like I did the last time we fought... I told you nah? Kriya are you listening?" Suhana complained as Kriya fiercely typed away.
"Yeah yeah of course I'm listening Suhana... you were saying your husband snores a lot and you don't get any sleep." Kriya looked up once before fixating her gaze on her laptop screen again.
"Yes. How can I work like this without any proper sleep! Kriya yaar, why do you work so much? This is lunch break!"
Because I'm eyeing that promotion and thankfully no husband is pulling me down!
Kriya smiled at her loquacious colleague. She never wanted to be someone like her, who had no ambition whatsoever in life. Life, for people like Suhana was to survive and sustain and spend it away in headaches and snoring, worrying about the price of onions and Sensex. Kriya lived her life!
"What are you working on?" Suhana peeped into her monitor.
"Oh it's not a story," Kriya shut her laptop down. "It's just this journal kinda thing I keep. I'm not working on any story currently. Let's go to the canteen."
Beep!
As she was about to leave her desk, her cell phone received a text message. The screen showed Reyaansh Singhania (Actor). That's how she had saved his name. Kriya hated the humongous screens of the new era phones- all too smart but very little privacy. She somehow hid it from Suhana and opened the text, with her heart pounding in her mouth.
Hey wassup? I just wanted to say that um... Let's meet up?
You can fire your questions at me, the way you journos do.
I pick the place, you set the time, or we can do this your way.
What say? Lemme know...
This is Rey btw. :)
Shit! Shit! Shit!
Kriya wanted to do the tap dance and sing a cheesy song like My heart is beating', which was beating very fast now. She didn't expect him to remember or act on his promise and that too, so soon. However she wasn't yet ready to change her opinion about him, but she'll give it a thought. May be.
I'll get you that story Malini. It'll be bigger than what you planned.
3
It was the first day of shoot on location- daylight pack up. The crew call time was 5 in the morning and by afternoon Karan had declared pack up. The city was an hour away. It was Rey's second day at shoot. After pack up he waited for Sharon outside her van- so that they could go home together. He watched the light guys carefully dismantling the huge lights and loading them on the parked vehicles. He was familiar with film-making from childhood as he was the legendary actor Vikram Singhania's son. He had been a back up dancer and assistant choreographer in many of his father's films. Dance was his true calling, but in Bollywood there was an unwritten rule, that an actor's son always becomes an actor, or a director in the least- but a choreographer, never! But he enjoyed acting too, especially because these people were his family- Gautam uncle, Sharon, Karan- Karan had been Gautam uncle's AD and had worked with his father as well. And Gautam uncle was like his father's elder brother. So when he came to him that day, Rey couldn't turn him down. He had been selfish, but wasn't everyone? Rey too had his selfish motives. Nobody remains the benevolent god after reaching the pinnacle of power, everyone abuses, misuses it. Wouldn't Rey do the same? Was he any different?
But Sharon was different. She was kind and pure. She would remain the same Ice queen with a heart of gold for those who get to touch her warmer side. And she would always be a fool in love. Rey was grateful that twenty years ago, Sharon picked him for a friend. She was the only semblance of sanity in the pandemonium that he had chosen as life.
"Let's go?"
Sharon snapped her finger and broke his chain of thought. She was confused to see the look on his face.
"Sure." He smiled. "Hey man, are you done for the day ya phir tujhe abhi bhi kaam hai?" Rey called out to Swayam who was passing by.
"Yeah man I'm done. I'll go home," Swayam responded.
"Cool, come along then. Come on..." Rey pulled Swayam by his arm much to Sharon's disapproval.
"Listen Sherawat, the script is in the van. Collect it and keep it with you or I might lose it," said Sharon.
"Okay," said Swayam and turned to Rey, "Thanks man. I'll return the script to you right away."
"No worries dude. You can keep it. Who reads it anyway..." said Rey.
"That... was his script?" asked Sharon, visibly miffed.
"Babe, how does it matter?" said Rey.
"It matters Rey, it matters. I... I need my own script Sherawat!!" shouted Sharon.
"Here it is, you can keep this with you," said Swayam as he fished out a fresh copy of the script from his bag. Rey saved his ass in the morning by lending him his own copy but Swayam made sure he had another copy ready for the tantrum queen by the end of the day. Finally he had outsmarted Sharon RaiPrakash. Now he badly wanted to click a picture of the trolled diva face and circulate it online.
"Sharon, seriously? It's been 20 minutes since pack up and we are standing here discussing copies of the script! What the hell man!" Rey intervened. He knew Sharon was rigid about certain things but this was beyond his comprehension. "Swayam dude, come on... and btw Sharon, his name is Shekhawat, Swayam Shekhawat."
"Do I care??! NO. And if you're done being gay with him then I'm waiting for you in the car!" Sharon fired at Rey and walked away.
Swayam and Rey smiled at each other as they suppressed laughter.
"She can be such a kid at times!" said Rey.
Swayam nodded although he was sure that she wasn't the innocent kid Rey spoke about, she was the queen of manipulation and the goddess of torture!
Sharon didn't know why Rey was hell bent on bringing Swayam with them. Rey always had to pick the wrong people as his friends. And here it had to be Swayam Shekhawat! Her sworn enemy! And she just couldn't explain her issues regarding Swayam to him. He would invariably laugh at her and call her delusional. He was too naive. He thought everyone was as nice as him. But she could see it, Swayam was wicked as a fox, he enjoyed annoying her, and already because of him she shouted at Rey, her Rey!
Ugh!
Swayam, Sharon and Rey were in the car. Sharon in the driver's seat as usual, as she would not let anyone other than her do the driving. Rey sat beside her and Swayam obviously sat behind.
Rey's thoughts wandered to Kriya. He had to acknowledge that she held some amount of attraction for him, but he was doing it only because he had promised her and she was Swayam's friend. Should he tell Swayam he offered to meet Kriya? It was weird not telling Swayam. In fact not telling Swayam made it weird. But saying it now would mean saying it in front of Sharon and he hadn't told Sharon yet. She would be angry if she heard that Kriya was a DH reporter and she may have done the story on her and Ranveer. And Rey knew Sharon, she would make Swayam's life difficult. He would tell Sharon soon, very soon, and make her understand, but now was not the time.
Unpredictable was the new tagline Swayam's destiny had chosen. One moment Sharon was yelling at him, insulting him, making his life miserable and the next moment he was riding in her car! Swayam didn't know if he liked this madness, but it was intoxicating and he was getting addicted. If this was a game, he played to win it. It was not his choice, but if he must play, he must win it. Swayam looked at the rear view mirror with determination, where a pair of eyes looked back at him. Eyes that held fire!
Swayam's gaze made Sharon uncomfortable. She was apprehensive of such penetrative eyes. She felt naked, exposed. It felt as if he could look into her eyes and strip down her soul, make it bare. She quickly adjusted the mirror. She wanted to get rid of this latent tension that was growing between them. It was new for her, unknown, alien, and she didn't know what lay ahead. But she had begun it and now there was no stopping it. She must win- it was not an option. It was the only way.
This is longer than usual- and also a lot more descriptive. So read with patience or you might miss a few detail. đ
Edited by -bLEu98- - 11 years ago
Udne Ki Aasha
326