MAUVE
"OH"... leave me! , what are you doing ?"moaned Sia in a sweet and fussing manner.
"C'mon, don't you know?.... like really! , I know you like it too" ,grinned Kabir with a sweet but husky voice. He pulled Sia in his arms. Need blossomed in Sia's chest, sparks ignited as Kabir leaned in close, lips brushing together, tentatively, for the first time. .. slowly her delicate body started melting within his robust physique and....
" s**t! I can't do this ", his fast moving tender fingers suddenly stopped with firm grip. He deleted the whole paragraph, after halting for a minute ,he shut the laptop and sighed a huge breath , unable to express himself he dunked his head in his own lap .
"Creak", the door of the front gate opened , a young man with red sneakers dressed up in a green T-shirt and a pair of beige pants set foot in an overgrown green garden and a w**d-choked courtyard , his eyes were a- flicker with curiosity over a friendly smile he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap
"What the hell !" whined the man , "Did he again lock himself in his room?"
He dashed towards the house, opened the gate and rushed inside. He scanned. There was no sound in the house, not even the sounds that houses make: air-conditioning, or furnace, or the stairwell creaking, or the frig cycling on; nothing but a silence that seemed to have been thickening. It was a rambling old farm house. He opened the door of the room adjacent to the front yard.
"Is your room like your garage or like your television set? Ruhhan!! ,where have you been?" inquired the young man.
" Have you gone mad? You have locked yourself here, for the past two months I lost your track, and why the hell are you not answering my calls?" He added .
"Thank god your brother, ' Jai ' revealed that you are here in your grandfather's farm house ,otherwise.... "Are you even paying attention ?"
For a long time the other man didn't utter a word. He was as still as a stone and hardly seemed to be breathing at all.
"Who is it? " with a whiskey-soaked voice. Ruhaan raised his head, his hand was over his eyes. He looked like a failed soldier right now.
Usually,his face is like a blade, and a knife, and a flicker of light: it is delicate and fierce, and scowls beautifully forever. His eyes were blue, but not the pleasing blue; when he stared at someone it made them uncomfortable. The blue-like drill bits, icy, hard, and derring-do personality with bass voice were a big part of his ambitious character. He is himself, his own world, his own Universe. He always wore nifty clothes and his spicy aroma was appealing, but today he looked miserable and distressed.His tearstained face was puffy and swollen with grief.
"Aadi, you are here!" Ruhaan howled .
"Are you serious Ruhaan???" Aadi's temper riled up, "and what is .. why are you..... ah! leave it, first get up" ,he rushed towards Ruhaan, held him up and helped him to rest on the couch.
" Now tell me what happened? Why are you here? What are you even thinking"?" Can you please... .
" Can you please stop ? " nagged Ruhaan.
" OK, leave that, I have great news for you"," your previous novel.....
"Seriously Aadi, can you please stop talking about that one ,and you seem more like a manager to me now. I think my friend is missing and you have become more of a boss now " .
Aadi took a sigh of relief that Ruhaan was back to his senses , he then took his hand in his and before he could utter a word , Ruhaan's distress was all over his face .
Aadi ceased his words ,"Look Ruhaan, you can share it with me , what's going on?"...." I think I could h.....
" I'm like a painter without a brush", " a preacher without a voice"," I think I'm incompetent now".....I.... before he could finish, Aadi grabs Ruhaan's ear with both hands "What are you doing?", shouted Ruhaan .
" I think I'm doing the right thing if someone had done it before... shouted Aadi furiously.
" You backstabber!!!" ," how could you do this to your own friend, you......I am cutting off all my relationship with you" ..... 'Aaaahhh !!!... ' squealed Ruhaan and he too grabs Aadi's ear in his hand.
"Don't start ".
"Don't start what?".
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You always do this " , Ruhaan argued blissfully.
"Are we good now?" Ruhaan grilled Aadi, "what about you. Are you okay!?",Aadi cross -questioned him, as their eyes met and both started giggling .
"You can spill the beans now" ,advised Ruhaan .
"What? What beans? Do you want to eat something" ," should I make....
" You dumbass" ,Ruhaan stroked Aadi's head before he even finished.".Leave it ,what was the important thing?" ,asked Ruhaan.
"Which imp.... Aah!!..... first sit here", instructed Aadi as he helped Ruhaan .
" Anything else sir? , now tell me what happened ?" demanded Ruhaan.
" Well..... the thing iss . that.... I... Aadi hesitated .
" Come back again when willing to tell me ", Rihaan interrupted before he could even finish.
" OK , but promise me you won't get angry" , begged Aadi.
" I will first listen before promising anything to you. Now tell me", questioned Ruhaan "what's happening?"
"YOUR RECENT NOVEL,"MAYBE YOURS", IS GETTING A MOVIE REMAKE!!!"
"Isn't this great news" ",like you are getting famous and.....
"Who gave the permission ?" Ruhaan ballistically shouted at Aadi.
" Ruhaan what's going on ?",I think it's a ..
" Who gave the freaking permission?", Ruhaan furiously docked against Aadi , "where is my consent?", it's a good thing that my work is getting recognition but ",what about me?', "don't you people even think of getting my assent first, before approving to this?", Ruhaan grumbled.
"I'm sorry bro , even I'm ashamed , but look, it's a great opportunity for you" ," I genuinely care for you and I really believe that this will be a bedrock for your upcoming projects" ", I know you are struggling with your new novel and please trust me with this Ruhaan , things will turn out positively" , Aadi firm and determinate eyes stuck on Ruhaan's face in search of an answer , which he was pretty sure will be in his favour.
A strange stillness circled them. After a moment of silence, Ruhaan expressed his assent to Aadi .
"Oh!, you are such a sweet talker , I hate you Aadi, you are really a pain in the a*s" ,Ruhaan sneered.
"Whose?', if that's yours, I don't mind being a pain", Aadi mocked Ruhaan , and Ruhaan threw a pillow in Aadi's face. Both of them start laughing once again.
"So shall we go now?", Aadi stood up .
"Yaa , you can go now.... wait a minute, did you say we ???, I'm not going anywhere", Ruhaan protested .
"You better be ,please bro, the director ardently asked for your presence as you know the characters better than anyone and it will help in casting the actors. Now go and change" , Aadi drove Ruhaan in the bathroom.
***********
The director, S.L Kumar embraced both of them with content and showed gratification. He was in his mid 40s ,a simple man and polite in his behaviour, dressed in comfy casuals, although not so tall ,but was fit with respect to others , though it was his first time as a director ,in the past. He worked as an assistant director and all of his projects were a massive hit.Mr. Kumar walked straight, his face held forward in a steady gaze , and had an air of authority around him which was palpable.
" Hello! Mr. Ruhaan , I have heard a lot about you" , greeted Mr. Kumar with a radiant smile.
"Hello , sir it's an honour to meet you ", Ruhaan complimented him .
A sudden awkwardness encircled the room as Ruhaan secluded himself again ,seeing this Aadi with a big smile, shook hands with Mr. Kumar.
"Huge fan sir, we were really excited in meeting you ,in fact Ruhaan was eager to meet you as soon as he heard your name" Aadi applauded Mr. Kumar.
"What is this, when was I? " Ruhaan silently questioned Aadi by raising his eyebrows with surprise ".
"Play along with me " ,Aadi answered him by throwing a huge skeptical smile in his dubious expression .
Ruhaan wished he could kill this man who is his so called friend ,but understanding the situation he moved his gaze towards Mr. Kumar with a synthetic smile he greeted him along with a firm handshake and three of them walked towards the main hall where audition for the casting was about to begin .
Ruhaan with Mr. Kumar and four other members of production house were judging the contestants , while others where earnestly considerate towards every candidate , Ruhaan was simply flipping the pages ,looking here and there and was lost in his own thought , he simply wanted to go home .
"s**t! I'm stuck here " ,he cursed Aadi in his own mind , he looked up and scanned the hall ,Aadi was on the other side of the hall flirting with a film crew member .
"Old habits don't go easily" ,Ruhaan acknowledged it in his head , and nodded his head in repentance.
Three candidates for the male lead where shortlisted by now and audition for female lead started , Ruhaan as usual was just daydreaming and he just nodded time to time whenever anyone asked his opinion .
"Aaaaaaah!!!!! ",Ruhaan sighed but this time it was not in his mind , he literally sighed very loud ,eyes turns towards him and he became blank , he looked at Aadi and who was laughing silently in the corner , he cursed him again and embarrassedly started flipping pages again .
A sudden uneasiness surrounded Ruhaan and he appraised Mr. Kumar that he is going to the restroom .
TICK TOCK ! the sound of boots indicated the arrival of someone in the hall.
" GOOD AFTERNOON", a sweet voiced echoed in the hall ,Ruhaan felt sudden tingle in his heart , A single tear rolled down his cheek unknowingly .
" I'm 'Shija' , Shija Agrawal" , that identical voice repeated , he raised his head and looked close to tears , he witnessed a blurry image of a women standing in front of him.
She had a shapely figure,her brown hairs were curled , a syrup-sweet lips and a feline and utterly luminous eyes, which projectes their own ray beams. Shija's dainty hair strands swayed at the side of her face, and from her slim nose, a large pearl-pieced ring hung.Her face was calm and a slight smile was spread across it , dressed up in pair of denim shorts and bicker leather jacket the only piece of jewellery other than nose ring on her was a purple pendent necklace which looked expensive ,if you have to describe Shija in one word than it will be Enigmatic as she has a mysterious air about her .
"WOOOH!!!! ,you are pretty !", exclaimed one of the interviewer
" Well ,how old are you ?" " ,questioned another .
"I'm 22 and a student of media studies " Shija replied with a big smile .
"Can you act well ? , we don't want pretty faces but those who can give life to the characters Mr. Ruhaan wrote" Mr. Kumar questioned .
" I think , I have to use the restroom " ,Ruhaan got up from his seat, begin to move towards the door .
He felt a sudden touch from the back with a sense of warmth as if someone was holding one of his hand , he turned around and was surprised to come across Shija , his eyes widened and started blinking timidly as he unknowingly had a short eye contact with her ,his pupils dilates , his darting eyes were reflecting his nervousness , the sweet expression in Shija's face changed as she was looking outraged ,Ruhaan on the other hand had a confused look all over him.
"who told you?" , she shouted.
"Wwwhat?" , he panicked .
" You messed it up totally ".
"When did I.... what are yo.... ." he failed to answer.
" I'm not your liability" , "with whose permission did you do that ?" huh.... , Shija had killing gaze and a smirk on her face , she came near Ruhaan and a feeble voice echoed in his ears "I will kill you if you repeat this again".
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