The Superstar

08

On aunty's insistence, Nia convinced Pari to come to the mall with her. It was the first and only mall of this town. Nia told Pari to wait for her at the hotel she works, so that after her shift is over, they both can go together to the mall. Even though Pari told aunty about her habit of staying indoors, Mrs.Sharma was having none of it. She believed a pregnant woman needed a healthy and fresh environment, which Pari was not getting due to being locked in the house all day.

Pari was a bit excited to see the hotel Nia works at. Pari always loved hotels, resorts and it was one of the reasons she chose to work in the hospitality industry. She was attracted to the opulence and luxury of the hotels.

She was waiting near the lobby when Nia met her and told her how she needed to extend her shift a bit more due to some important guests.

As Pari sat there reading a random Hindi magazine, she saw feet of a man approaching her, she looked up to see a well dressed man, who was most likely a hotel employee say "Hi" to her. She smiled a bit uncomfortably and resumed reading. She was used to interacting with Nia and aunty, a total stranger approaching her alarmed her. But this man was not backing out.

He extended his hand and said, "My name is Raj....naam toh Suna hi hoga."
He joked. It was a famous Bollywood dialogue. He hoped to bring a smile and familiarity with this line but the beautiful woman infront of him didn't smile.

"Okay, I am not so filmy...but I love movies, so I thought you know this line....I don't mean to make you uncomfortable with this...I am actually a -" Raj rambled, being nervous. He was always professional at his workplace and had often frowned on his colleagues flirting with guests but this woman infront of him had pulled him to her, like a magnet. He couldn't resist what he felt and started the conversation.

"Hey Raj! I will be leaving now ....Oh you already met Pari?" Nia interrupted Raj's nervous talks as Nia introduced them to each other.

"Must say, your name suits you." Rah shyly mumbled to Pari as Nia looked shocked to see Raj flirting with her roommate.

"Must say, you are not so professional at work." Pari replied as Nia glared and pinched Pari lightly, asking her to control her rude remarks.

"Hahahha...Pari has this dry humour, don't mind her!" Nia fake laughed and hit Pari lightly on her shoulder and pulled her away from there.

"What was that?" Nia was visibly angry at Pari for her behaviour, "he is my senior. What if he gets angry for your behaviour and takes it out on me?"

"He should have stayed in his lane by being professional and avoiding flirting with me." Pari grumpily replied.

"He doesn't know you have a knife like tongue! And by the way, I have never seen or heard Raj behaving like this with anyone ...so most likely, he really liked you...you could have just been nicer with him. He is a nice guy." Raj was a genuine guy who mind his business, as far as Nia knew.

"You know what? If you want to keep doing this, we will just go home. Okay? I don't need anyone to tell me how I should behave!" Pari rolled her eyes. Seeing this, Nia rolled her eyes too at Pari's behaviour. Seeing how things upset Pari quickly, Nia was sure that Pari was quite literally a "daddy's spoilt princess."

"You are such a brat!" Nia mumbled.

"Not more than you." Pari fired back.

"So, are we going home?" Pari asked.

"No!" Nia replied. She knew how much aunty insisted for her to take Pari out. And may be, Pari needs an outing to vent out her feelings. "We will go to the mall. Please, smile a little. I am saying sorry, okay princess?" The last part was definitely laced with sarcasm but Nia apologised fo Pari as she didn't want her in sour mood.