"Did you see my phone Sharon?" Swayam asked once their dinner finished.
"Ugh actually I did!" She handed him the phone. "I think it fell over the s.w. you were jumping on that photographer.."
"Excuse me?"
"Short for 'stairs while'. S.w. should go back to our rooms.."
"Let me guess.. you meant to say 'so we should go to our rooms' right?. What is going on suddenly you are back to using abbreviations!"
"S. W." She asked.
"Is that short for 'so what'?" He chuckled.
"You got it right there! S. W. A. Y. A. M.!" She said and he stopped in his tracks.
That night four years ago...
The dazzlers team comprising of Sharon, Simmi, Rinni, Vicky, Nil and Rey had packed up to go to the streets dance. Sharon's name was also popular among the street dancers that started being on the day she defeated Visakha by showcasing an amazing face off.
The girls were discussing the issue in the cafeteria earlier that day, in the car. Rey was curious to know who Saraansh was hyping as a competitor.
"...what was his name by the way?" Rey asked.
"Kuch bhi ho I don't care!" Sharon replied but nobody stopped Rinni from saying it.
"Swayam!...uska naam Swayam hein!"
"I have heard that name somewhere!" Sharon shifted in her seat as she scanned through her memory searching a connection to why that name felt familiar to her.
"Woh ek weakling hein Sharon!" Simmi stated.
"Like I said before, I don't care..." She replied instinctively.
"Ki woh weakling hein? That means..."
"Shut up Rimmi!" She said.
"We have reached guys!" Rey said slowing down his car.
They walked towards the sound of music and found people cheering for a particular person. As it came to their visibility, the dancer was wearing a mask like the Jabawokeez and was phenomenally moving his body according to the beats. His Parkour skills on the wall and the brick stand nearby wowed the crowd. As he performed his glove flew off during his spin turn in the air. The glove fell near Rey and he picked it up. Seeing this Sharon snatched the glove from his hand.
"I'll give him!" She said when she understood he was surprisingly staying at her.
"You don't know him!" He replied.
"I'll give him!" She repeated and glared at him. And that shit him up.
Morning.
Swayam was woken up by the sight of two people hugging each other tightly.
"Nil! ..Simmi!"
"SWAYAM!! Bro we are engaged!!!" He said pulling away from a now blushing Simmi and holding her hand out for him to see the ring he put on her finger.
"What?!!" His eyes widened and he jumped up in shock.
"Haan! Simmi mujhse gussa thi kyunki kal raat.. room mein ek simple si misunderstanding ho gayi thi! Actually mein toh usse propose karne keliye leke aaya tha!"
"That's great guys! Now you both are just a step away from marriage!!"
"Daraao mat yaar! Already saansein tez chal rahi hein!" Simmi said.
"Well I think you should tell everyone! Oh aur yeh bhi bataana ki aaj raat streets mein jaana hein! You know.. we need raw talent and kind.." He instructed them and got out of the bed as soon they exited the room.
Nil and Simmi went around the rooms of their friends and woke them up telling about the news of their engagement. Swayam couldn't believe that his friends whom he saw in college and danced with were engaged for marriage. Had they grown up so fast?
Rey and Kria also were excited to see Simmi and Nil holding hands in front of them. Rey even encouraged them to kiss but Kria stopped them from doing so. Apparently she turned out to be a traditional Indian culture follower. No PDA!
"...But yaar! Woh shaitaan ke na aane par streets mein jaana jhod diya tha na!.." Vicky scowled. The team sat around the table for breakfast and that was when this topic of going to streets was announced.
"Vicky! Par aaj toh S.W. aa raha hein performance dene! After a long time!" Sharon said while looking at Swayam.
"Really??" Rey asked and raised his eyebrows looking at Swayam.
"Ek minute... Tumhe kaise pata ki S.W. wahaan hoga? Message toh humaare phone mein aana chaahiye aur abhi tak nahi aaya hein!" Nil asked her.
"Ugh..Swayam.." she started by calling his name.
"Huh?!" Swayam wiped a sweat from his forehead. She giggled and then turned her vision towards Amar and said, "..Amar ne kaha mujhse ki SW aa raha hein karke! Uske phone mein aaya hein message!"
"Meile kab kaha?" Amar asked in surprise.
"Tu ne bola.. mujhse bola!" He jerked and caught him by his shoulders and fed him the signal to lie. "..ki Visakha ne tujhe message kiya ki aaj streets hein aur SW aayega! Aur meine Sharon se kaha.."
"Oohh!!" The team said.
"Swayam par is it necessary?" Kria asked.
"Wha-what do you mean???" He asked feeling something hard fall inside his stomach. Did she know too?
"Humaare jaana wahaan? I mean isn't it a little too wild there? Kya woh log tumhaare show mein bhaag lena chaahenge?"
"Haan Kria! It is necessary! Wahaan log untrained hein.. par passion unn logon mein humse zyaada hein! Woh log dance show off ke liye nahi balki apni talent celebrate karne keliye karte hein! So why not we have some of them in our show! Baaki logon ko bhi pata chale ki dance ki passion kya hota hein!"
"Wow! What a thought!" Sharon clapped in sarcasm. Swayam looked at her and decoded her fake smile as if something was wrong. She knew something. Did she see the texts from his phone? No way! She doesn't know the password!
"Swayam! Meri letter kahaan hein?"
"K-kaunsi?"
"Tumhaari company mein sign karne keliye.."
"Oh ya.. I'll print it out soon!"
"Haan aur S.W..." she called out and everyone's attention turned towards the pair.
"Haan aayega! Woh aayega! Aur hum dekhenge!" Swayam said and left the table before anything more could go wrong.
S.W. That word was his title of freedom. Freedom of speech. Freedom of carrying out justice. Like a superhero. Nobody could catch him. He was invincible in that avatar. But could he bring that same intensity as that young blooded version of himself brought? He remembered those days when anybody who insulted Swayam Shekhawat turning a victim of S.W.
The performance was over and the lights were cut. S.W. made his way out of the crowd and that's when the lights came on. Sharon and the entire team and audience witnessed s.w. running to a car parked on the road. Opening up the trunk he ran through the street to a parked bike and got on.
As the crowd walked towards the trunk of the car they saw somebody wearing a purple and green saree tied with rope around the body. That was when some guy came forward from the crowd and identified the car as his. "Hey yeh toh mera car hein! Isko isee mein daalna tha?"
The person moved and everybody saw who the tied up saree wearing person was.
"Saraansh?" Vicky identifed the person even with all the make up and lipstick. The girls of their same college laughed at him. There was a letter on his forehead that said "saare bharatwaasi meri bhai behen hein!"
"Woh! S.W. ne sahi kiya! Chalo isko jhuda dete hein! Bechara behosh hein aur saza milke buri haalath mein bhi hein!" Rey said as he felt bad for the guy.
"Bechara??? Dude iska photo lo sab aur agar isne firse humaare liye taqleef khadi ki toh viral kara denge iska yeh photos!" Some girl said from behind. Everyone agreed and clicked his photos. That was when Harry the Singh turned up in the crowd.
"Paaji! Humaare performance baki hein! Punjabi rap sun lo bande! Oye khaike paan bana ras waala!!" Harry started singing.
"Bas aur program nahi! Isko jhuda doh aur sab chale jaao ghar! Police ko pata chal toh sab andar!" That was when they heard police siren closing in. The crowd applied and ran towards their respective vehicles.
While Sharon's friends ran towards the car she stood there and saw a guy wearing towel around his head and lots of chains on his neck approaching the trunk and offering the owner of the car to put down the unconscious guy from the truck on the road.
The car speed away as the saree wearing Saraansh slowly came to consciousness and Sharon saw the chains guy throwing some cash on Saraansh's face. "Mauja kar saale!" Saying this he disappeared into the shadows and she heard the sound of a speeding bike. She moved into the shadows as the cops car approached. She saw it all.
The police van came and two police officers rushed out to help Saraansh up on his feet. Picking him up they placed him inside the van. The police officer with long curly hair picked up the cash from the road and placed in the brazier of Saraansh. The other shorter cop closed the door and without any delay they find the front seats. Sharon saw the police officer with long hair wearing the glove identical to the one she had.
The van sped away and Rey brought in his car in front of Sharon and pleased her to get in. They drove away from the site but she never spoke of about the cops to her friends. Even though Saraansh returned to the college after three days but neither did he spoke about that night nor did he involve himself behind checking out girls and hitting on them. That was the S.W. effect.
(Saraansh was the guy Sharon found with Rinni during Shivam's party.)