Chapter 2
Khushi flipped through the pages, quickly. Not actually reading the script, but skimming her eyes across the letters. Every time she saw the letter 'A', her thoughts turned to Arnav Singh Raizada. She pressed it on her face. Soon, she gave up reading.
What did she do to herself? Why did she torture herself? Was she masochistic? No. It was worse. She fell in love. Fell in love with the wrong person, the one who never loved her back. But there is no good thinking about all this now.
She decided to concentrate back on the script. She climbed down the vanity van and her eyes bored on the man standing in front of her, busy talking to the director. If she looks closely, the distance between them was just a few steps but in reality, it's as much more than that. And between them, there was an invisible line which would never let them meet again, a line drawn by him, drawn by them. It was amazing how from stealing glances of each other during shoot, they were now individuals who can go to any extent to get the other one taste the bitterness of defeat.
"Shot Ready."
It broke her trance.
In a party, Kabir finds a very drunk Antara in a compromising position with his ex-boyfriend Armaan. Kabir already being insecure about their relationship and too very possessive thinks that Antara was never serious.
Dejected and devastated he quietly walks out of there not bothering to stop as she called out to him in a voice that under normal circumstances would have melted his heart and made him run towards him enveloping her in his embrace.
"Kabir, wait. Please listen to me, Kabir." Antara ran behind him but he was too heartbroken to respond.
"I said stop!" And he did.
Antara went behind him and turned him towards herself.
"What the hell do you want now?" He asked with anger as he pushed her away.
"Kabir, I..."
"Dare you to try to speak a lie, Antara." He warned. "I loved you with all my heart and what did you do? You are cheating on me with your ex-boyfriend? How can you stoop so low? I can't believe you could turn so filthy."
Those words shook something inside Khushi. She couldn't understand why but she stood there looking at him, saying nothing.
"CUT!" The director said. "Khushi, it was good but slap him."
"How did you felt when I insulted you that day?" She heard Arnav whisper to her. "You wanted to slap me right? Just do it then."
She closed her eyes.
"Ready, Sir" she declared.
"Alright. Lights, Camera, and Action!"
And she slapped him. Not as Antara, but as Khushi.
"Never show me your face again, you s**t!"
Those were the exact word he threw upon her that day. She still couldn't understand why he called her that.
"You are not god so you don't need to give a character certificate to me. And you know what; I don't care what you think about me, because you don't affect me anymore." She said what she wanted to.
As she turned, he grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her close to himself. She tried to free herself but his grip was too strong.
"Everything will not fall in the right place if you slap me. When you are wrong, accept it. And if you are not, then clarify!" He said still holding her tight.
"Clarify?" She let out a sarcastic laugh. "Just tell me one thing, what the hell does the love means, the relationship means that need clarifications? If you had ever loved me truly, you wouldn't have any trust issues."
"I have seen everything with my own eyes." He said as he bit on every word.
"Learn to trust more on the one you love than your eyes. Every coin has two sides."
She said as she felt the tears rolling down her eyes and his fingers wiping them off. She looked down and realized she was holding his shirt tightly. She loosened her hold and tried to move away when he pulled her closer.
"Cut!"
And she came back to reality. She looked around only to realize that she again went to her own world. What the hell is happening to her?
"What a shot, guys!" The director said. "So terrific improvisations with the lines. This scene is going to be the best."
She looked towards Arnav. He was looking at her with mixed emotions. Pain? Hurt? Regret? She couldn't read what.
Then she saw Rehaan going near him and saying something inaudible in his ears. He looked at Rehaan in a plain face and left the place.
Stop doing this to yourself, Khushi. she sighed.
"You are still not over it, right?" she heard Rehaan beside me.
"No! I moved on." She lied.
"Really?"
"Yes." With that, she walked away from there.
Khushi made myself a cup of green tea as she pulled her robe off her body; it was the month of May and the weather was really hot. She sat down on the comfy settee near the window of her apartment and gazed down at the beautiful sight of the Central Park. With the lights on and stars twinkling delightfully in the sky, her thoughts went back to the day that had changed everything in her life. The time that had started with joyful beginnings, ended up sadly. Her life became meaningless after she broke up with Arnav. A realization swept through her as days passed on that he was never in love with her. He was happy with his free life and new success after breaking her heart into a million pieces. Then she too decided to focus on her career and not turn a modern-day Devdas. Pretending to hate Mr. Raizada was now a part of her life and the key to mend her broken heart. She had stopped calling him by his first name. She had decided to keep it professional, too professional.
A slow rumble of her phone between the cushions wedged her deep thoughts. She viewed Radhika's message.
"Outdoor shoot in Newyork has been finalized, ma'am. We need to leave this evening."
She sighed. As per the story, Antara leaves the country after the confrontation with Kabir to a foreign country. And Kabir will come in search of her. At first, the venue was Malaysia, but as they have already shot at that place in their first film, the destination was changed to Newyork. It's her first visit there.
She reached the airport and at the same time, she saw Arnav's car stop. He, along with his sister Naina came out. Naina smiled genuinely at her and she smiled back. They came really close during the time she and ASR were together. They tried to enter only to be flooded with the media. She was hell pissed with only the thought of the questions they were going to ask because there was news spread out of Arnav and Khushi dating in past. They denied the news every time and the talks stopped after they stopped hanging out together. Now that they're working together again, she was sure they were going to ask baseless questions.
"Relax, just follow my lead." She heard Arnav whisper in her ears.
She just nodded in agreement and they somehow managed to cross the media people. Arnav then asked Khushi to go inside and that's when she realised that he was holding her hand protectively all the while.
She looked at him and he mouthed a 'go' in assurance. She made her way through the photographers when Arnav turned the media attention to himself.
"Just 5 mins." He said.
She decided not to listen to his conversations with the media and walked past everyone.
I will thank him later, she thought as she walked with Naina.
After landing in Newyork, she shared her vanity with Naina. Though she and Arnav broke up, the relation between her and Naina never changed. She was like a little sister. They had been so busy in the shoot that she didn't have a chance to talk to Arnav or thank him. Meanwhile, she found Rehaan a little tense. She tried to talk to him but every time she started the topic, he would just ignore it. And eventually, she decided not to ask him anymore as the schedule was already hectic.
There was a scene on the beach where Antara drowns in the water and Kabir saves her. It went smoothly and they gave a perfect shot. As they both were wet, she wanted to reach her vanity as soon as possible. But she couldn't deny the fact that Mr. Raizada looked hot in his wet shirt. He had grown hotter in past years. Suddenly, he went on to remove his T-shirt exposing himself more in only his vest and shorts. His perfectly toned body, biceps, and cuts increased the heat in the surrounding. She didn't miss the girls fanning themselves with their hands after the little stunt he played.
That was it. She thought she had learnt not to get affected by him but this man never leaves a chance to make her weak. She was fed up. She needed an end of this. But at the same time, she was not ready to forgive him so easily. With the sights of a shirtless ASR and the shameless girls drooling over him, she marched towards her vanity and slammed open the door only to find Rehaan kissing the hell out of Naina.
Hola guys. I hope you liked the chapter :)
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