Is This Love??? ✔

Chapter 10

The press immediately start publishing stories about 'SanjShiv's Affair' with 'sources close to the pair' confirming they were the reason Janarthan and Shiviga split up. She had expected it but it annoys her nonetheless. Everyone always asks about Sanjay in her interviews, and she's sure that's just going to become worse now things are officially – and publically – over with her and Janarthan. She feels bad because it not only makes life difficult for herself, but also Sanjay who has been receiving questions during his latest press tour about their supposed 'relationship'. (Which he has, true to fashion, answered with thinly veiled sarcasm and a reminder to the journalist that a failure to stay on topic will result in the end of their interview.)

Janarthan is wonderful, and plays his nice guy role perfectly. He goes on record as stating that there was no third party involvement; that they're not splitting up because they're in love with other people.
"Sometimes," his statement reads, "You can love someone and it just isn't enough. If we were different people in a different world it might have worked. In a world with less complications. But we are who we are in the life we've made for ourselves and the sad reality is, we're just better off as friends."

Friends that don't speak to each other except through their publicists, but friends nonetheless apparently. Shiviga isn't bitter or angry about it – after all, she's the one that ended it. She's used to playing roles; alone-but-still-in-love ex partner is just the latest. And just like all the others, it's a lie.
Shiviga instructs her PR team to thank Janarthan's PR team for handling things so nicely. She does not speak with Janarthan directly. And she doesn't feel guilty about it for a minute.
******

Madhu sends her a message saying she's got a role for her that she's sure Shiviga will love. Shiviga knows Madhu has a pretty good instinct when it comes to these things so she agrees to come into her office and read through this mysterious 'golden script' she's promised.
It's a film called Song of Colour, and it's an artistic film but also has a lot of heart. Shiviga is excited.
"It's a musical," Madhu explains, "But you won't have to sing."
"How do I get away with not singing in a musical if I'm the lead?" Shiviga is honestly intrigued. One eyebrow quirks on Madhu's otherwise still face.
"Read the bios," she supplies somewhat unhelpfully. Shiviga flicks to her character's write up and reads about Archana and her predicament. It causes her to smile.
"That. Is. Brilliant."
Madhu raises another eyebrow that Shiviga interprets as her saying, 'Duh.'

Shiviga scans the other character profiles and smiles to herself when she reads about Karthick, the handsome love interest that her potential character imagines singing and dancing past her window each day. He's described as shy, but alluring – the kind of person who always assumes they're a wallflower but is noticed by everyone as they walk past.
"Lithe and graceful in his movements, Karthick walks on air with his head in the clouds as he sings about how beautiful the world is."
Shiviga can think of the perfect person.

"Do they have someone lined up to play Karthick?" she asks Madhu as they flick through the script over brunch.
"There's a few, but no one's signed contracts yet," Madhu is as vague as ever, "Why? Do you have someone in mind?"
Madhu's ability to read her like a book hasn't changed.
"Yeah," Shiviga smiles to herself, "I know a guy."
*******

She calls him at 6:11am on a Sunday and it is absolutely not a coincidence. Serves him right for calling her in the morning to propose their 'friends-ish' agreement. She's waited years for revenge – he should count himself lucky she didn't ring even earlier.
"I'm sending you a script," she says as soon as he picks up, "You should sign on."
"Good Morning, Shiviga," he says, voice thick with sleep and she tries to crush the mental image it conjures, "I'm well, thank you for asking."
"I didn't, but that's good to know," she takes a sip of her coffee, "As I said, I'm sending you a script and you should read it and consider it, obviously, but then sign on because it will be great."
She clicks send on her computer and hears his phone buzz at the other end of the line.
"If you're sending it to me," she hears him turn on a light and hears the rustling of sheets moving as he questions her. Crushing the mental image of him in bed is becoming more difficult, "Does that mean I should assume you have signed on to the film already?"
"Not quite, it's conditional," she can't stop smiling. At the other end Sanjay puts her on speaker as he opens emails on his laptop.
"On what?" she knows he's asking just to hear her confess to it. The clicking of the keyboard keys at the other end signal he's almost found it.
"The male lead," she does not say it depends on him, because technically it doesn't. If there's someone else who comes along who can deliver the same chemistry and can sing like Sanjay than she would totally sign on.
She's just not overly confident there will be.
And yeah, singing was kind of a big deal with this one.