Krish woke up. He groaned while attempting to switch off his phone to stop the annoying sound, planning to sleep in till eleven when he realized with a start that today was when he would start shooting.
He immediately got up and hurried into the bathroom to brush his teeth then shower. He ran a hand through his messy curls, trying to brush it. With no luck, he gave up and decided he'd have to go without breakfast. He scurried down his apartment and got into his car, a black Kia, and started the ignition.
His phone chimed with a text:
'You are picking me up today, right, honey?'
~Tanya
Krish slightly cringed at the honey as he cursed himself. He'd totally forgotten that he needed to drop Tanya at her office, who was, by the way, his current girlfriend. But he decided picking her up could get delayed by a bit. He went into the drive-through of his favorite cafe.
"Ek masala chai," he said, handing a five rupee note.
The worker gave a smile, he knew Krish would come to their cafe at least once in a day for he loved chai, perhaps more than anyone else. The worker gave back two rupees and handed him a large cup of masala chai.
Krish sipped the hot tea as he drove to Tanya's apartment. "Get in, Tanu," he said, hurriedly.
Tanya smiled, clutching her bag and opened the car door. She got in. "How do I look, Krish?" She asked.
"Yeah, pretty," Krish muttered mindlessly as he started the ignition again, thinking of ways to quickly drop Tanya.
"Krish!" Tanya exclaimed irritatedly. "Look at me!"
Krish rolled his eyes. "Look, Tanya, it's my first day of shoot today and I'm already late. I don't have time to compliment your looks. We can just do that when we go out on a date or something, okay?" He snapped.
"Fine then!" Tanya huffed. She pulled out her phone and began to scroll through it.
The rest of the ride was quiet. Krish didn't wish to make any small talk and Tanya wasn't interested either.
"Bye Krish," she said, plopping her phone into her bag, glancing at him.
"Bye."
He drove as fast as he could to the studio where the shooting was taking place. He walked out and ran into the producer.
"Krish!" Saurabh, the producer, exclaimed. "Finally tum aagaya. I thought you wouldn't come."
"Sorry, Saurabh-ji," Krish apologized profusely. "Thoda late hogaya."
"No problem, at least you're here," Saurabh said. "Alright, um." He looked around and called for two or three people. They arrive immediately. "This is your crew, Krish." He introduced then motioned to the crew. "Take him to his room."
The group escorted Krish to his makeup room, hushing excitedly between themselves.
"Kya hua?" Krish asked, wanting to know what they were so excited and enthralled about.
"Umm.." a girl with curly black hair and glasses stuttered. "Woh...you're such a big star, Krish, so um..we are very excited to work with you."
The other two people nodded.
"Oh...dhanyavaad!" Krish said and smiled at his crew. "I'm looking forward to working with you all too."
"Alright, Krish bhaiya—I mean, Krish...you can sit down. Sorry I said bhaiya..." the girl added.
"No, it's completely okay with me if you call me bhaiya."
"Theek hai!" The girl smiled. "By the way, I'm Niranjana, the other two are Siddharth and Maham."
"Nice to meet you."
{ ~ }
When Radhika arrived at the shooting spot, the director noticed her. "Radhika!" He exclaimed and shook her hands. "Glad to see you! May I just say your first movie was amazing?"
Radhika laughed. "Thank you, Loknath-ji," she replied. "I'm excited to work with you on this movie."
"And I'm sure you will do good!" He gave her an infectious smile. "Now, let's meet your makeup crew. We've got Ajinkya, Madhuri and Shraddha."
Radhika looked at the two girls and one boy. She shook all their hands, giving the girls a side hug. "I'm so happy to meet you all."
They walked into her makeup room and Radhika's crew began to do their work. Radhika flipped through her script, surveying the words and dialogues. "Ahh...I wanted to ask, who's the hero? I forgot to check."
"Oh, Radhika," Madhuri began. "It's the famous star, Krish!"
Radhika almost spat out the water she was drinking at the mention of his name. "K-Krish?" She calmed herself down. Why does it need to be that Krish? There are thousands of people named Krish, it doesn't have to be him. "Okay, cool."
She continued reading the script. She personally adored her character. It was someone of the shy and reserved type, the hero being an extrovert. The character suited Radhika a lot for she was more introverted in life too.
But once she was done, her mind wondered on the name: Krish. Krish. Krish. Krish. Krish.
Snap out of it! she chided herself. It won't be him. There are many people out there named Krish. There's no need it has to be him.
She tried to push away the thoughts as she picked up her phone. Texts from her mother and Revati were the only ones there.
'Did you reach?'
~Mumma
'Haan, ma,' Radhika replied then clicked on Revati's message.
'Look at this cat! 😍 I found it on the street and immediately took it to Advitya! Let's just say he's practically our pet... 😉'
~Revati
Radhika grinned at the message. Revati was known to be a lover of all animals. She loved to support the local Red Cross whenever animals were found struggling and she had an extremely kind hear.
'That's great! Can't wait to meet him! What did you name him?' She typed back.
Revati was online and immediately replied.
'Doris! There's absolutely no backstory to this whatsoever, just thought the name was cute 😘'
~Revati
'It is cute!'
~Radhika
'😄❤️💕'
~Revati
'Alright! We're gonna start the shoot, I have to go! See you later, Revati ❤️'
~Radhika
'Bye Radhi!'
~Revati
(seen)
Radhika picked up her script and put her phone on silent as she gave her crew a smile. Then she walked out of her makeup room.
"Saurabh ji!" She called out to the man in front of her and waved.
"Radhika!" The producer, Saurabh, smiled and walked towards her. He looked a lot like Radhika's father and she'd met him at an award show before, therefore they already knew each other. He treated her like his own daughter. "How are you? Theek hai na?"
"Bilkul!" Radhika replied and smiled. "Aur tum?"
"Amazing! And now the great star Radhika is acting in my production!" He waved his arms. "I'm the happiest man in the world!"
"Arey, I've only acted in one movie," Radhika said, waving her hands dismissively.
"And you will act in so much more!" He held his hands up, as if envisioning another universe. "Just imagine: Radhika Sharma back with her 8th blockbuster! Directors and producers vying for Radhika's call sheet! Amazing, right?"
Radhika laughed. "Haan, haan, now I have to go. See you later, Saurabh ji!" She said, waving at him.
"Bye, Radhika!"
She walked towards the shooting area, looking at the many technicians who were setting up props, cameras and whatnot. She began to walk a bit faster, hoping she wouldn't end up late. She didn't want to have a bad impression in front of whoever this "Krish" was, hopefully not him though.
While walking hurriedly, she didn't notice the spilt oil. She tripped and gave a shriek, expecting for the impact of the hard ground on her cheek. Instead, a strong arm curled around her waist, securing her.
"You're still clumsy, huh, Radha?"
That voice...! No...
Radhika opened her eyes and found herself staring into all too familiar grey eyes. It was him. "K-Krish!" She stuttered, thrown off guard.
"The one and only, Radha."
Radha. Their stupid nicknames they had for each other. He called her Radha and she called him...no, she didn't even want to think about.
"Leave me," she said, stepping away from him, pushing his hand away.
"What are you doing here?" He asked her.
"I should be asking that," she huffed, placing her hands on her hip. "I'm the heroine of this movie—!"
They looked at each other with wide eyes and shocked expressions as realization dawned on both of them.
"You're the heroine–?" Krish began.
"And you're the hero–!" Radhika finished.
Krish looked at her for a few seconds. Then he let out a laugh. "See?" He looked at her with those endearing eyes which once were her favorite, which she used to wish she could stare at all day. "Even fate doesn't want us to leave each other."
Radhika narrowed her eyes at him. "There is no way that this is happening."
"Oh, it is very much happening, Radha."
{ ~ }
First meet! Ahhhh!
Also, this chapter was much longer. You're probably wondering why I'm being so jobless and published two chapters, one in a day.
I know! I'm on my holidays so I have nothing to do 🙈🙈
Thoughts?