While rain lashed the city, Rumi and Yohan were oblivious to the downpour; they were too busy discussing the details of their schedule.
"So Rumi, I have asked my lawyer to draw a contract for you to sign. He will contact you in a couple of days."
"What about funds? Have your loans been approved?" Rumi asked Yohan.
"The Bank manager assured me that it would get approved soon. I have also taken loan from private financiers which would be enough for the first schedule of the film," he took out a folder from his bag and extracted some papers from the folder for Rumi to study. Yohan explained the various schedules of their film making. "So Rumi, we would be staying near London during our first schedule and the second shoot will begin after the monsoon in Rajasthan where Mantra, the gypsy will be introduced," Yohan explained.
"We will be doing the scenes of murder and court room drama. I will be appearing in flash backs right? So how long will I have to stay in London? And what about my visa?"
"You do have a passport, don't you?"
When Rumi confirmed with a nod, Yohan continued, "I will be applying for Visa tomorrow. I know an agency that takes care of such things. I need your passport though. Have you brought it?"
"Yeah," Rumi took the passport out from her wallet and gave it to him. He took it and leafed through the pages. The waiter,ogling at both of them, served coffee. When he left, Yohan looked up in surprise and asked her, "You were not born in India?"
"Nope..." she replied but did not go into details and Yohan did not pursue the topic.
"Yohan...." Rumi hesitated and Yohan glanced at her over the coffee cup, waiting for her to speak. "If you need me to pay for my accommodation in London, travel etc, I can do it."
She didn't expect that her suggestion would kindle the warmth in Yohan and his eyes turned soft. His indulgent smile transformed his attractive face into a sensual one. "Rumi, don't insult me by offering to pay. I am not that broke. I may have been irresponsible in my life so far, but when I decided to make the film, I made certain that I have enough to cover the first schedule."
Rumi gave a half-hearted smile and Yohan continued, "I just need you to focus on Mantra. When people flock the theaters to see the gypsy, Rumi and Mantra should not be two personalities. Your portrayal should be such that when they see you they should call you Mantra," he took her hands in his and continued, "Those are the only things I need from you Rumi, your complete focus. I will take care of the rest."
Rumi nodded, mesmerized by the eyes that appealed to her, unable to break the contact. She shivered in pleasure as his thumb stroked her soft inner-wrist in absent mindedness. Rumi tugged her wrist from his and leaned back on the chair, trying to maintain distance between them.
"I will try my best to give authenticity to Mantra. That sheer power and fearlessness that is so inherent in Mantra has to be established. I will work my ass off Yohan ."
"Thanks Rumi. That is what I want right now."
"I am of course nervous,"Rumi added and he gave her a sheepish grin, "Guess what! You are not the only one. I am more nervous than you but I have to start somewhere. I am fed up of doing inane roles in front of the camera and listen to some eccentric fool who thinks he knows the best."
Rumi laughed at his description, not aware that Yohan's breath stuck in his throat at the lovely transformation of her face. She was also unmindful that he hoped to do justice to her and not fail her. With such thoughts running in each others' mind, they did not see Nina and Vasujit who walked into the restaurant and stopped by their table.
"Hello baby," Nina cooed while Vasujit avoided Rumi's eyes.
"Hi Nina, Hello Vasujit," Yohan answered with grace. Nina did not bother to look in her direction. Rumi observed that while Nina held one hand of Vasujit, she stroked Yohan's face with the other.
Yohan stood up abruptly and Nina had to snatch her hand away from his face, "Will you excuse me Nina?" And with a nod at Rumi, Yohan headed to the washroom. Nina directed a killing look at Rumi, took Vasujit's hand and moved to another table. Rumi was not angry with Nina but she was definitely displeased with Vasujit for not having the courtesy to acknowledge her. In spite of his rudeness, Rumi would always be grateful to him for giving her the first break. She would never forget it. Yohan returned and asked her if she was ready to leave.
Leaving some tips for the waiter, Yohan and Rumi left the restaurant without glancing at Nina or Vasujit.
On their drive back home, Yohan asked her, "So do you have any preference for make-up artist or do you have one?"
"No I don't have any preference. I am OK with whoever you arrange."
"Good then, I will go ahead and arrange for all that."
After some moments of quiet contemplation, Yohan asked, "How is your boy friend?"
"I broke up with him," Rumi replied, not bothering to ask how he knew about her boy friend.
"He is not good enough to be your boy friend," Yohan replied in unusual assertiveness.
Rumi turned to him and asked, "Why do you say that?"
"Did you tell him about 'The Gypsy's blood'?"
"No why?"
"He seems to know a lot. He was the one who informed Nina about my project."
"Oh I didn't tell him but yes, he must have assumed that we are making a movie. He saw you on that day you arrived at my house first time."
"Oh yes right! So was he the one who told Nina about your movie with Vasujit?"
Rumi was surprised that Yohan knew about her movie with Vasujit, "How do you know that?"
"Because Nina bragged about it to me and I assume that she snatched the project from you without your knowledge."
"Yes..." and before she knew it, Rumi blurted everything to Yohan; about her conversation with Vasujit, his earlier offer and his off-hand reply over the phone, "I fought at the agency for him. Since he gave me the first film, I told the agency that I will not raise the remuneration for his film. And now see, I am not even doing the film."
"Rumi, you were cast in the movie because of your talent. Vasujit did not do you any favour but recognized your talent. So you don't have to be obliged to him or for that matter to me also. "
Rumi glanced at him and wondered why he displayed a different side to the world. He was down to earth, mature and quite humble. Why then show the world a bratty side of the personality? She sighed unable to understand the quirky side of the glamour world.
When Yohan dropped her at her house, she did not expect Ujjwal to come visiting. When he rang the bell, Rumi assumed that Yohan had remembered something but when she saw that it was Ujjwal, she was disappointed and certainly anxious, especially when there was no one at home.
"Hey Rumi, what is up?"
Rumi let him inside hesitatingly and a peculiar instinct urged her not to close the door. She couldn't stop him from entering just because they had broken up. After all he had stood by her when she had nothing, to quote his words.
"Hi Ujjwal, how are you?"
"I am great. How is your new boyfriend?"
Rumi checked her rising temper with difficulty, "Who are you talking about Ujjwal? And if you are talking about Yohan, no, he is not my boy friend."
"Seriously Rumi, why don't you accept that you slept with him to get that role?"
The pent up fury provoked Rumi to slap Ujjwal and he stumbled back a few steps from the impact. In a daze, Ujjwal touched his cheek and glanced at her with consuming rage, "How dare you?" He lunged forward to grab her but she escaped his grasp and headed to the front door colliding into some one.
Strong arms caught her shoulders and she looked up at the face. It was Yohan. He pushed her gently into the house and closed the door.
"Well well look who is here?" Ujjwal drawled, coming face to face with Yohan.
"What do you want Ujjwal? I heard that you have broken up with Rumi so what are you doing here?" Yohan asked him.
"Oh so she said that to you, is it? B****...." Ujjwal swore and Rumi flinched in disgust.
"You abuse her one more time and ..."
"What will you do Yohan? Go to your dear uncles? For your information, she was the one who slapped me first."
"And I bet you deserved that! Well done Rumi..." Yohan smirked at him.
"You b******, I will tell everyone how you dumped Nina..."
"And I will tell the press how you helped Nina snatch the project from Rumi," Yohan snarled and Ujjwal glanced at Rumi with uncertainty. Rumi realized that he did not deny the accusation. She felt pained and humiliated at his betrayal. How could Ujjwal do this to her after all the good times that they had spent with each other? She would never forgive him for this. Yohan glanced at her, "Are you alright?"
She nodded but she had nothing to say to Ujjwal. She felt deceived but somewhere deep in her heart she knew that she did not feel any pain. It was as if she had expected something like this from him. There was only the self-condemnation for not anticipating something like this. She had been trusting the man naively.
"And Ujjwal, if you go to press, I will retaliate by exposing your relationship with Ziva. So be careful of what you are inviting..." Yohan's warning accelerated Ujjwal's exit from the house. He did not even have the courtesy to apologize to Rumi. He fled with no word or glance at either of them. But Rumi's ears resonated with Yohan's threat. Ziva and Ujjwal? How could that be? She stared at Yohan and asked, "What you said about Ujjwal and Ziva? Is it true?"
Yohan's eyes flared with sympathetic understanding and he nodded, "Don't ask me for the details Rumi. It is better if you know less about their sordid relationship."
Not just deceived, Rumi also felt cheated.
"Did he try to assault you?" Yohan asked her with concern and she shook her head. She couldn't repeat Ujjwal's accusations. It was all so ugly.
"Anyway, I came to remind you that a lawyer would be arriving tomorrow morning here to get your signatures. Read the documents properly and put your signature," after a pause he added, "You left that in the car," he went to the door and picked the wet umbrella. Leaving it near the mat, he went out, "Don't open the door if Ujjwal comes again."
Rumi nodded and after studying her for a moment, Yohan left. Rumi closed the door and latched it. She went to her room and stumbled on the bed. She burst out crying at the unfairness of life.
*************
Two weeks later, fifteen of the film crew left for London. Rumi was one of them. Yohan had left a week earlier to make necessary arrangements. She had confessed the entire truth about Ujjwal and his betrayal to Parth and Ritika. They had taken her out and cheered her. They advised her to break all ties with him. Parth told her that men like Ujjwal were a shame. They also took her for shopping and helped her to pack. With her battered ego salvaged a bit and anger subdued, she left for London on a warm night when the monsoon had taken a break in Mumbai.
With check-in complete, she strode across the lounge towards the departure gate.
While at the same time and in the same airport, someone else was arriving from London in search of Rumi Chaudhary....
Award-winning director Alec Koshal's long legs took him quicker than his fellow passengers to the baggage claim area. He was in a tearing hurry for the meeting with his director who was going to introduce him to Rumi Chaudhary.
************************
End of Part-I
Note: The next part of the story will resume after a break. I will make an announcement when I begin with Part –II
Thanks guys for your enthusiastic response to "Stars & Dreams". The second part of the story will have more characters and different backdrop. So keep watching this space for it.
#Stay safe and #stay home.