'I love you!' Madhu said. 'You are my breath, my heart, my whole life.'
' Louder, Biwi, louder! I can barely hear you. And say it with feeling! This is a very important scene, you know?' her husband smirked from where he was lounging in his special reserved chair.
Madhu's head buzzed from the fever that still raged in her system, and the various noises of the busy set seemed a dull background to the little tableau being enacted around RK. He was making her read his scenes for the day, and she was failing miserably at giving him his cues.
She concentrated her wavering gaze on the glaring white of the paper once again. If only she could sit down for a moment. Her head felt too heavy for her neck, and all her bones ached with dull pain.
'I love you,' she intoned, and through the fugue of the fever, became aware of the words themselves. Suddenly, a hundred eyes and ears on set seemed to be watching, listening, waiting--for the drama that RK was playing in real life, far more exciting than any he could ever present on screen.
Unbidden, a flush of colour rose up her neck and on to her cheeks.
'C'mon Biwi! Once more, with feeling!' mocked her husband, as if reading every thought in her head, and completely aware of the perfect cruelty of the moment. He had designed it and timed it to cause her most pain, probably had the screen-writer change the script to get her to say these words, just a day after that scene in the hospital with Malik. It would amuse him to make her say that she loved him when she had told him she hated him in the rain yesterday. He truly was a master of carefully crafted cruelty.
'Biwi, I think you got your acting genes from my beloved sasu ma. That is to say, none at all! You can't say one line without sounding like a tired call centre employee after they've been shouted at by an angry customer!'
Rage boiled in Madhu, and suddenly she knew how to handle this situation.
She stepped closer to RK, making him look up at her, smirk frozen on the perfect face that fronted his devilish brain. She looked full into his eyes, forgetting the script, and said: 'I love you, you are my breath, my heart, my whole life.'
And she knew she meant it , felt it, for she saw the change in his eyes-- the shocked surprise, and the confusion.
She allowed herself a small smirk. In her head, she had substituted "love" with "hate", and lo, the words had formed themselves automatically on her tongue, and they were bathed in truth. This acting malarkey was easy after all.
'Er, ' RK said, still taken aback. And then his actor mask was back on, cloaking his eyes, and hiding his soul. ' And I love you,' he said, the words heavy with irony, gazing deep into her eyes. She knew that he was an actor, and a good one, but for a moment her heart stilled and the next breath seemed difficult to draw. She could not look away. His eyelashes were so very thick--
Outside the circle of light where RK held court, someone tapped Bittuji on his polyester clad shoulder.
'Who is that girl, Bittuji?'
'Mr Sadnani!' Bittu squawked in shock. 'What a pleasant surprise! I'm about to send the contract to your office with Chief's signature, you should not have troubled yourself-' he stammered, bowing to the son and heir of the most powerful production house in the industry.
'Never mind that, Bittu ji. Who is that girl with RK?' persisted Sushil Sadnani, brushing a speck off his expensive Italian suit.
Bittu looked over where his chief and Madhubala seemed to be fighting with each other again. This time with their eyes. He sighed. But at least there was no slapping going on. One never knew with those two. 'Nobody, sirji! Er, she's just Chief's spot!' he blurted out. 'And oh, his wife!', he added lamely.
Sushil Sadnani took off his signature dark glasses and looked at him with his famously inscrutable eyes. ''Wife, eh?' he purred silkily. 'Shame, because the girl can act.'
He put his glasses on again, and made a small gesture to his cowering retinue waiting in the wings. 'Bittuji, tear up that contract,' he threw over an elegant shoulder. ' We will send you a new one this week... With a few changes.'
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