I felt out of place. After obstructing the path of at least five people carrying heavy stuff like the cameras, lights, reflectors, I stood in a corner. Everyone seemed to be busy in some or the other work while I had no clue about what to do.
'Ruhan sir is here.' somebody shouted and the gabbling in the room has suddenly been replaced by mostly silence and a few faint whispers.
'Good morning Ruhan, you look handsome as hell.' I cringed as soon as it reached my ear and turned in that direction to see who that desperate woman was.
'Thank you Sana.' Ruhan replied with a smile that lasted less than a second.
'I've called you last night -' she tried saying something but he politely ignored her but talking something to the guy on his left.
'I heard you are getting married. Congratulations man.'
'Thanks Sir.'
'Hey Ruhan.' I heard another female voice and wanted to roll my eyes at the female attention he was getting.
'Neha!' he turned back to her to hug her.
'Neha ma'am has also arrived. Shall we start the pooja.' The director asked the pandit and that's when I realised she's the female lead, though I remember seeing someone else's picture when I met the director for finalising our deal.
I stood to a side, waiting for someone to acknowledge my presence, I am the screenwriter after all. Except for the security guards and those five men whose path has been obstructed by me, it feels like I'm invisible to the rest.
The lead actors of the film were getting their pictures clicked while I zoned out.
When I was wondering if I were a fruit, which one would I be, I hear someone calling me.
'You are Aashna, the screenwriter right?' it was Ruhan, standing in front of me, initiating a conversation with me. No body acknowledged me until then and the first person to have a conversation with me on the set is the Super Star Ruhan, how cool is that! ( Off the record, his beauty is not limited to on screen. I gotta tell Meera about this.)
'Umm-' he might have started reconsidering his decision to talk to me.
Reply to him goddamnit
'Huh? Yeah, I'm her- I mean I'm the Aashna- I'm Aashna, the screenwriter.' I cursed myself silently for stammering. That happens each time I zone out and am suddenly supposed to talk.
'I'm Ruhan.' he introduced himself as if it was needed.
'Ofcourse I know. Who doesn't?'
'Right. Also I must say, my dad's pretty pleased with the story too.'
'Oh.' he looked at me as if he was expecting me to elaborate my reply.
'That's fine.' I added and that was the moment I wanted to bang my head to the wall.
Who replies that it's fine when they are being praised?
'Well, see you later.' he said, smiling awkwardly and left.
I should immediately join any classes that teach how to talk in public. It's not been even an hour since I went there and have already ruined my reputation.
What a great way to start my journey in the film industry!
And what would he be thinking about me? Will I be perceived as someone who's arrogant, who doesn't want to talk to people and lacks basic social skills or as someone who has an insane crush on him and was at loss of words when she met him. It was hard to decide which one was worse.
I'm just a person who's socially awkward but trust me, I'm good at communication and also a very sweet person. It's just that my behaviour doesn't do justice to my character.
'Hey Nisha, great to see you here.' someone screamed in my ear, almost blasting it, in an attempt to greet a woman who was standing next to them.
For the second time of the day, I noticed how out of the place I was. Firstly I was being ignored and then I ruined my conversation with the only person who spoke to me. Had I not fucked it up, by then I'd be standing next to him, acting as if I was very interested in the discussion he was having with a bunch of people by the door.
'I'm bored of travelling in First class. Maybe I should buy a private jet.' I heard one of them saying, or I'd rather say showing off and immediately turned to Ruhan to see his reaction, he had no expression on his face.
Does that means he's bored? Or he doesn't care? Or he's jealous of the other guy's money and doesn't want to show it out?
Wait how much is Ruhan's net worth?
I decided to Google that.
345 crores
Holy crap, that's hundreds times my net worth!
Just when I realised I've spent too much time obsessing over him, I received a message from Meera
M: Tell me your body measurements.
M: your waist size is 28, I know that based on the jeans you buy
M: I need the rest.
A: Excuse me?
M: Hurry up, I've got an entire Wikipedia page to fill.
A: Firstly I don't want a Wikipedia page.
A: Even if I do, I'd definitely not put my measurements over there.
A: That's gross fyi.
M: No it's not.
M: Now if you won't lmk, I'll be forced to buy a tape on my way home.
A: YOU ARE A CREEP.
A: Listen, I fucked up my conversation with Ruhan ( he came and talked to me first)
M: WHAT THE HECK!
M: We got to talk about this
M: 🔪🔪
M: Gotta go, my manager is calling me.
To get some fresh air ( to stop feeling alone in a room containing hundred people) I stepped outside and sat on a bench.
I unstrapped my heels and placed my toes on the grass, allowing the water drizzler to do it's job.
'Toilet water is used for the plants! You are getting drenched by toilet water of the whole community.' my mom's voice played in my head.
According to her, the plants in the gated community they live are watered by recycling the water used in washrooms. Not sure if she says that to stop me from getting fully drenched by the sprinklers or if it's actually ture but that doesn't really have an effect on me.
I suddenly started coughing due to what I'm sure was a cigrette smoke.
'I'm sorry.' I turned to my right to see a guy drop the cigerette on the floor and puffing the smoke out of his mouth.
I looked around to see if there were any boards saying smoking was prohibited there before starting to lecture him, to be on the safe side. And I find no such boards, do these film people not get cancer from cigerettes?
'It's ok.' I told him.
'What are you doing here?' he asked me. I wanted to tell him to mind his own business, well not me, just one of my personalities. Another personality of mine told me to have a conversation with him.
'I'm the screen writer for this film.' I stated.
'Cool! I've never seen you around. Is this your first film?' he asked.
'Yeah. What are you?'
'I'm the dance choreographer.' he stated and I began enving him. Not just him, I'm jealous of every single person on the planet who can swing their bodies to the beat, while I on the other side lose all my flexibility and become a stiff bamboo log each time I hear music.
I wanted to dance, but I'm so bad at it. But what's worse than my moves is my confidence.
'Now this is the actual cool job.' I said.
'Why? What is it with dancing?' he asked, his amber coloured eyes making a contact with mine as he waited for my response.
'I can't dance so I find those who can dance lucky. ' I shrugged as if it was no big deal for me.
'I find story telling quite fascinating. That's like a superpower.'
'I do agree on that part. '
'Well what are you doing here alone?' he asked.
'I don't know a single soul back in there and I'm someone who finds it hard to mingle with people fast. So here I am.' I added a short laugh, to sound unbothered by it.
'Now that we are talking, I think you can head in back with me. Rajesh sir is gonna be here in a while. We wouldn't want to be late, right?'
'I've never met film stars. This is gonna be too much for me for a single day.' I confessed.
'You'll get used to it in no time, -' he paused as if he missed something.
'Do you realise something?' he asked.
'What?'
'We've been speaking for a while but don't know each other's names.'
'Oh right. How dumb of us! Hey, this is Aashna.' I forwarded my hand to shake hands.
'And this is Sid. Nice meeting you Aashna.'
.
.
Looks like we may have a second male lead here 😌
Also how's the chapter?