The Filmmaker's Dream

Chapter 2 - New job

"Vicky! Vicky, wake up. We are going to Gayatri women's hostel right now." Latha woke him up.

"Why?" asked Vikram, groggily.

"It's about the girl. Shubha."

"What happened to her? Is she okay?" Vikram was wide awake. He checked the time. It was 2 am. "I forgot to call her. I fell asleep as soon as she left."

"Your driver called me. She's been thrown out of her hostel." Latha informed. 

"Oh! Okay. I thought she met with an accident or something." Vikram sighed in relief. "Ask him to drop her off at a good hotel." He slept again.

"Wake up, you idiot. Do you think she is rich enough to afford a hotel room? It happened because of us. I am going there. And you are coming with me." Latha ordered him. 

He couldn't argue with her. Her word was the law. He stood up, yawning. "Go, wait by the car. I'll be there in five minutes." He washed his face and wore his hoodie and sunglasses to go unnoticed.

They reached her hostel in an hour. "Prasad, what happened?" Latha asked the driver.

"The warden asked her to vacate by 10 am in the morning." He answered. 

"I'll talk to her" said Latha. "No Vicky. I'll go alone. You stay here." She walked towards the building. 

"Why did she have to wake me up when I am not allowed to go inside with her?" Vikram muttered.

"This is a women's hostel, sir. A place where mothers don't usually take their grown up sons to." Prasad answered, grinning.

---***---

"How can you ask her to leave? Where will she go now?" Latha fumed at the warden. 

"She should have thought about that before breaking the rules." The lady answered. "She arrived at 1 am. This is the second time in a week since she came here."

Shubha stood a few feet away, looking at the women arguing. It reminded her of a tennis rally.

"What rules? Most working women have night shifts. Are you going to ask them all to leave?" Latha raised her voice.

"But she is not one of them. She doesn't have a job. So, what has she been doing till 1 am? She returned in a luxurious car which might have belonged to some rich--"

"HOW DARE YOU!" Latha was furious. "How can you speak such horrible things about a girl? I was here to tell you why she was late. But now I think this hostel is unfit for her." She turned towards Shubha. "Shubha! Go, get your things. We are leaving." 

"Where to?" asked Shubha. "The other hostels in this area won't allow me to stay there after what happened here. And I can't go back to my uncle."

"Why not?"

"Because he betrayed me by stealing my work."

"Oh my God! Your own uncle?" 

"Yes." Shubha decided to be honest with her. "We always worked together. Last month I told him I want to work on something different. He pretended to be happy. When I asked him to segregate my work from his and give me credit for everything I did, he simply said 'What did you do? Everything's mine.' He made it look like I tried to steal his work because of which I lost my job--"

"Will you two ladies have this discussion outside?" The warden said rudely.

"Sure. It's not like I am dying to be here." Latha led Shubha out of the room. "Don't lose hope Everything will be fine. You will get a new job."