A Sweet Gesture

"Arjun, you are late." yelled the cameraman, who was pissed with his late arrival and ordered him to change into his costume quickly. In a rush, Arjun entered his changing room to quickly complete his ad shoot and make it to his friend's birthday party. Although everyone is occupied with work, the male crew members are captivated by the beauty of the female model, who like a youthful seductress. Of course, she needs to be as her part is sedating the handsome man dressed in an elegant suit. Her low-neck pink dress with a high side slit caught everyone's attention, causing a smirk to appear on her face as her theory about the man proved true.

Arjun came out quickly from his room wearing a black three-piece suit looking like a true gentleman to the director's eyes, but Aadhya frowned, listening to his statement. Arjun and Aadhya are famous in their respective fields as a supermodel and as an actor; this is the first time they are working, which is for an international men's clothing brand. Unlike everyone else, Aadhya expected Arjun to look at her cleavage first, but Arjun surprised her by introducing himself while maintaining eye contact with her not for a minute yet during the entire talk.

Minor changes and little gestures impact people, and nineteen-year-old Aadhya, then realised not all men are the same. The only pampered princess of one of the most successful businessmen in the country never took a 'no' as an answer and her father fulfilled each wish of her's which also included her condition to make her a supermodel. As silly as it may sound, money can buy everything, and her father has plenty to spend without worrying. Within a year, she was signed as a brand ambassador for top brands and became a hot-selling cake for the media. Her arrogant nature and tantrums made headlines, but her hidden depths remained unknown to the public. Not all glittering things are gold, and it applies to Aadhya also. She might be rich and a spoiled brat, yet she is a victim of sexual abuse. Two days of her weekly schedule are devoted to therapies focused on accepting touch without reacting aggressively.

They told her touch is normal, and she needs to move on from the past and see the bright future but, forgot to say how to differentiate the contact and what makes one wrong and the other good. This is the only answer Aadhya is looking for as she again doesn't want to be a victim. Dressing style, relations and communication never say the proper intentions, but the twenty-three-year-old Arjun changed her mindset. he has brought new hope, not with a gesture of maintaining the eye contact but with his sweet actions. As shooting came to an end, everyone on the set started packing the things and Aadhya, who was in a hurry to leave the location, spotted Arjun speaking with the little girl who seemed to be the director's daughter and picked her up into his arms while adjusting her dress which is out of place. It was a small familiar gesture of humans, but for Aadhya, it brought tears to her eyes; the past again started to haunt her. Because the wounds are deep, and the incidents in her childhood ultimately snatched her peaceful life leaving only the nightmares. It made her not trust anyone, as her maternal uncle, molested her for an year.

Not only Arjun's gesture but his words caught her attention which is like indirectly implying to her. The answer she had sought for years was provided by a seven-year-old girl.

" How would I know uncle? if it is bad or good until I experience it", The little girl answered to Arjun, who stopped her when she was plucking the rose from the thorny bush of shrubs.

Aadhya feared touching someone while growing up and slowly started to show the symptoms of haphephobia, which increased her aggressiveness. But the little girl's words made her question herself as she never again dared to accept a touch from someone and tried to run away even from her father. But the innocent explanation made her realize that she is measuring the depth of ocean just by looking at it.

After a year and half from that thoughtful incident, Aadhya discontinued her modelling career and left the country to pursue higher studies. She never again met Arjun, but he brought a massive change in her unknown to him. In the same way she found Arjun, she began finding the hidden gems around her, which positively influenced her perception of men. She has met many till now, and she still remembered a man who informed her about the period stains on her white pants, is forty years old, the same age as her uncle. And the security guard stopped her from falling by holding her waist, but his touch showed only his concern. While there were creeps out there, she was still not hopeless. Arjun made Adhya look at the positive side in the this world full of negativity.

With time, she made herself a woman that fears nothing in the world. Her nightmares left her the day she started to accept the situations, and her aggressiveness vanished , replacing it with calmness. The smirk on her face turned into a pleasant smile, bringing liveliness to her soul. But her peaceful life again took a drastic turn with the topic of her marriage which bought back the nightmares. Her insecurities resurfaced, and she began to feel her uncle's disturbing touches with thoughts of intimacy, but this time she found the courage to confront her fears by diving into the unknown.

As her grandfather said, "Courage is always be awarded, but it comes with patience" True to his words, Arjun turned out to be the potential groom, whom her father selected with lot of considerations. she knows this is just the beginning but for the fisrt time in her life she is excited to be kissed by a man who truly values her.