Varun’s PoV
She was sitting in the car now with her head leaning against the window, sleeping. She is outrageous. I just cannot handle her. She threw up on me in the plane as we were about to land. The air hostess said that she finished a whole bottle of wine in one hour! She is insane. Who the hell in their right mind would do that? With her behavior it is pretty clear that this is her first time drinking it.
“Hehe yes, athaan! I just had some wine! It didn't taste good, uak!” She said to me before actually doing it on me. She completely vomited everything she drank! It was disgusting. It was a very little word to describe the actual.
“What the hell!?” I stood up and the airhostess showed her hands for me to sit down as the flight was descending.
“Achacho! Sorry, athaan.” She started prying on my shirt to take it off of me. She was completely tipsy and blabbering.
“Amaithiya iru de. Unna kolla poren. (stay quiet. I am going to kill you)”
“Appovey nenachen, vayiru orumari iruke nu (I should have stopped when my stomach felt funny). But the wine was so tasty that I wanted more.”
I glared at her but understood that she is not in her senses. We waited for everyone to get down and the air hostess helped me to clean her up. She was very clever not to get herself dirty. Idiot. We got down and I left her with Dhilip to go and change my clothes in the restroom.
“Athaan, I want to take a selfie!” She tried to hold her phone up to take a selfie of us.
“Vaaya moodu (shut up).” I snatched her phone from her. As I am a public figure and I usually use this airport, they have a special clearance for me. Dhilip collected her huge bags and we set out of the airport through the back doors to my home.
“Hahaha!” Dhilip was laughing non-stop.
“Shut up, Dhilip. She is absolutely ridiculous. The first thing I am going to do is call my parents to tell her how big a drunkard she is!”
“Haha, OMG! She is so hilarious. I should have clicked a picture of your face. Come on, Varun. She is a little girl. This is her first time. Let it go this one time.”
“Little girl? You don't know her, Dhilip. She is toxic. She did this purposely to insult me and make trouble.”
“So what? I think, in our monotonous life, she will be a fresh breath of air.”
“Huh, fresh air? Her? Let me see if you say this after two days.” I stopped his stupid talks.
After reaching home in the awful chennai traffic, I helped her down the car. She was in no position to stand straight on her own.
“Dhilip, give a hand.” I asked him.
“Your wife, your problem. I can help with the luggages though.” He said with a smirk and moved in with the luggages in his hands. His crime rate is increasing by the moment.
“You are an asshole!” I shouted at him and lifted her bridal style and walked into the home. This is not new to me, I do this in all films. But they are all planned and the girls would help me make the lift seem flawless and easy. Here, she is drooping her head and her hands are hanging either side making it so hard for me to carry her. I cursed her in my mind and walked up the stairs and let her down on the bed.
“Papa ku enna achu, thambi? (what happened to her?)” Vijayan, my housekeeper asked me as I got down from the stairs. He gave me a tall glass of lemonade.
“Papa va? Kudichutu mattai ayita. Avala poi papa nu solringaley. Ponga anna. (Baby ah? She lost consciousness due to over drinking. You are calling her baby. Go, bro.)”
“Papa kudichutha?(she got drunk?)” He asked me astonishingly. My housekeeper and others working in my house all know my family. They have been here many times during her vacation. I have told Dhilip not to mention anything about our marriage to anyone and I have planned to tell everyone that she is here to finish her studies. I should tell her to maintain the same.
“Don’t disturb her, Anna. give her food or whatever she asks for after she gets up. I have to go shooting. Make my breakfast ready.” I told him and ran upstairs to my room. I have been eating delicious food and haven't done any exercise for more than a week now. I went straight to my gym where Dhilip was already there getting my weights ready.
“Hahaha!”
“Stop that annoying laughter, Dhilip. I am going to tell them that she is going to stay here for a year for her studies. You maintain the same thing too.”
“I think you guys are meant for each other just like your Ammachi said.”
“Stop that smirk or I am going to throw this dumbbell on you.”
“Haha, I could not stop it. Sorry. But to tell you the truth, you are behaving totally indifferent with her. Why, Varun?”
“Because I hate her with every fiber of my being.” I told him and concentrated on my workouts. She is impossible.
I gobbled up the egg whites and boiled chicken with some broth and ran to the car as I was already running late. All because of that devil that has clinged on to me.
It was a love-action subject and the heroine is a newcomer. She is so young, almost Laya’s age. Her acting is awful and she takes too many attempts to get a single expression. The romance scenes are the only ones she does naturally. It is a song today and I don't know why the hell she was dressed in such skimpy clothes.
“Hello, Varun sir.” She greeted me with a warm smile.
“Hello, Preethi. Good morning.” I greeted her back and ran into my caravan to get ready. My assistants were all ready with costumes and make-up.
“Good morning, Varun. How is your grandma?”
“The operation was successful and she is fine now. I will be out in five minutes, director sir.” I told him. He was the director of this movie. Such a renowned director and I still wonder how he agreed to cast Preethi as his heroine. But then, she is the daughter of the producer and he had no other choice.
“No problem, take your time. She is still learning her steps.”
“Will we finish this song today?”
“God knows! I need a favor to ask of you, Varun.”
“Tell me, sir?”
“I want you to teach her some acting. She is quite comfortable with you. She acts naturally when she is around you.”
“I am not an acting coach, sir. But I will see what I can do.”
“At this rate, this movie will face critics for her acting even though the story and you excel. And we would be pushed to give false advertisements for our movie.”
“Meaning?”
“That you and Preethi are dating!”
“Sir!” I was taken aback. We have done this for some movies before. A little rumor will hike the rate of the movie. It will interest the audience. Producers and directors will do this when they for sure know the movie is not up to the mark. Now, Preethi’s acting is worse and the director is covering her lack of acting skills in her skimpy clothes. But he is afraid of his reputation which is justifiable. I would have agreed to this drama usually but now I feel bad. I cannot do this. Rumors means it will spread across Coimbatore also. Even though they know it is all just rumors, Athai and mama may not feel it that way now.
“I will try and teach her, sir. We will have this plan as our last resort. I am not comfortable with this rumor now.”
“Are you worried for your grandma?”
“Um… yes, sir.” I told him and got on with my make-up.
It was painful to dance with her. She lacked grace and often forgot the next step.
“Sorry, sir. Sorry.” She kept apologizing to me for her mistakes and for every take.
“Relax, Preethi. Let’s rehearse together.” I tried to calm her down and rehearsed with her three times before the actual take.
“Wonderful! Good job, Preethi.” Director shouted in the mic and Preethi just jumped on me hugging me.
“Thank you, sir. Thank you, so much.” She said releasing me from her hug. As it was a pool scene, we were completely wet and her clothes revealed everything she had. Her tight hug was too tight to be comfortable and I excused myself from the place and went into my caravan.
Nothing has felt wrong for so long and now suddenly, Preethi’s friendly hug after the camera felt so awkward. I looked at my phone and saw many missed calls from the home number. I called the number back.
“Hello, Vijayan anna?”
“Varun, Thambi?”
“Why have you called so many times? What happened anna? Is everything alright?”
“Papa is still sleeping, thambi. Tharini went to wake her up but she is not waking up.” He sounded worried.
“I will come home now, Anna.” I hung up the phone and went out of the caravan.
“Sir, is it all done for today?”
“One more shot and the song would be complete.”
“How long is it gonna take to set up?”
“Another hour, maybe?”
“Shall I just run back home and come back?”
“Haha, sure, Varun. You are a star and you don't have to ask permission like a school boy.”
“Thank you sir. I will be back before you know it.” I told him and eyed Dhilip. He nodded his head and went to bring my car.
“What happened now?” He asked with the same stupid smile.
“Come on, now, Dhilip. Vijayan anna was worried that she still didn't wake up.”
“Haha, what makes you think she will wake up if you go?”
“I just want to make sure she is fine. I have a death wish for her but not on the very first day she is here.”
As we entered the house, the maids looked at me with their mouths wide open. Yeah I came home with wet clothes. I ran upstairs to her room and saw her sleeping on the bed with her hair sprawled everywhere and her arms and legs across the bed.
“Laya!” I shook her for which she hummed in response.
“Pch, Laya, wake up. It is 6pm in the evening. You have been sleeping all day.” I shuffled her.
“Pch, please, athaan. You come and sleep too.” She pulled my hands at an unexpected moment and I fell on her.
“Arivu kettavaley. Pch!” I got up from her and she woke up because of the coldness my clothes imparted in her.
“Aiyo, bed la ye ucha poitiya? Eruma! (did you wet the bed? buffalo)” she blabbered looking at me.
“Kola veri la iruken. Mariyadhaya restroom poi fresh ayitu va. (I have a death wish for you. Get in the restroom and fresh up yourself.)”
“Pch, po. I want to sleep.” She laid back on the pillow comfortably.
“God!” I slapped on my forehead for the fate that tied her to me. I pulled her up from the bed and dragged her to the restroom.
“Aiyo, enna kolla pakuran. (he is trying to murder me)” She tried to scream.
“Shut the hell up.” I pushed her in the bathtub and turned on the water.
“Aiyo, enna thannila mukki kolla pakuran. (he is trying to kill me by dumping me in the water)”
“Oru naal kudichuttu epdi galatta pannitu iruka paru. (got drunk a day and look at her atrocities.)” I told myself and took my phone out to video her atrocities.
Her light pink color salwar got transparent as the water hugged her. Her open hair that was cut to her mid back was floating in the water. A streak of her hair fell on her face over her lips. The very sight disturbed me more than it should and I stopped recording it in my mind.
“Idiot!” I took a bucket and filled it with water and poured it on her head. “Wake the hell up.” I shouted at her and she woke up at once.
“Get yourself cleaned and come out.” I told her and she nodded her head in all directions. I went out to see Dhilip laughing out loud on the doorstep of her room.
“OMG, she is so cute.”
“Shut up, Dhilip. She is no fun. And definitely not cute. I came half way through the shooting worried for her and here she shouts that I am trying to drown her in the bathtub. She is a nuisance.”
“But she got you worrying for her.”
“Of course I am worried for her. She is my family.”
“Ok!” He lifted his hands in the air as a sign of surrender. We both waited for her downstairs and she came after twenty minutes wearing a disney printed pajamas.
“Here, Vani. This is lime juice. Drink it. You will feel better instantly.” Tharini gave a tall glass to her. She got it and gulped it down in her throat. All the while she never looked at my side.
“Do you want to eat early dinner, Vani? You haven't eaten anything since morning.” Tharini, our cook asked her. She nodded her head in agreement and making sure she is fine, we headed out to finish the leftover song. Huh, she is exhausting! One day! Not even a day and she has started her atrocities. I don't think I can handle her.