The Bond Of Threads

7. Disturbed

The dance practice tired Nakul to no end.

While Vijay and Nakul both got selected as background dancers, they were not aware that the work could be this tiring. The amount was really tempting and it was the only motivation for all the hard work.
Vijay and Nakul gave their complete dedication and Nakul found his love for dance. He did not know that he could dance so well. When he successfully copied the complex steps in first attempt, he was soon dancing in the front row, just behind the male lead.

The practice went on for three weeks and the final steps were in place. Everyone had rehearsed well and it was finally the day for shoot in front of the camera. All the dancers and everyone in the crew was paid for the week on the weekends.
Since the song was planned to be in three different setups, the shoot too would go up to three days.

It was the last day of rehearsal and all the backdancers were given out the final payments of the week. Nakul was happy that day. Only last payment of the final shoot was pending and he would have a good amount in his account. He had successfully saved the payments that he received in last three weeks and he was happy with the savings he had. He could finally get a few good dresses and a pair of shoes for Rishinn.
That evening he took her out and had treated her with some roadside snacks and a cup of vanilla ice-cream.

He had seen the wonder in her eyes when all the flavours and colourful creamy pots of the ice-cream were opened and people took the cups and cones of their requested flavors. She had smiled and settled on the simple Vanilla. How he wished he could make her eat every flavor, but that was all he could afford at the moment. He was glad that he could at least give her simple joys of life. He had promised himself that he would buy her all the flavors one by one.

It was day one of the shoot and the the dancers were set to face the camera.

The producer of the movie, Mr. Jayant Oswal, was an old man on his late sixties. He had taken some time out that day to see the shoot of the movie.
He took the seat in front of the setup and soon the shoot started. A young, tall and fair-skinned handsome boy caught his attention. He could not make himself tear his eyes from the young boy. The way his body moved to the beats of the music, turned the old man on and his hidden demons surfaced slowly.
Nakul was completly unaware of how he was being observed.
His every movement was being noticed. Nakul was unknowingly bringing out an hidden animal that Mr. Oswal had secretly buried from the world.

In an attempt to fit in the cultures of the world, Mr. Oswal had successfully hidden that he was interested in males. Upon seeing Nakul, he could no longer hide the fact and decided to give it a chance. He made it a point to come to the shooting every single day until the song was complete. He would put his chair in such a way that he could see Nakul very clearly. He had taken few clips of the recording and would play them at night and fantasize about Nakul.

After the three day shoot was over, all the dancers were called up to give away the final payments. Nakul, along with Vijay was excited to get over with it and start looking for a better job. The amount could easily pay for his college fees and he had decided to continue with his studies.

But to his disappointment, all the dancers were given the payments and Nakul was asked to meet the producer in his cabin.

He asked Vijay to go home and assured him that he would be back home once the payment is done.

With a skeptical mind, Nakul knocked on the door of the cabin and waited patiently for the response.

Rishu waited for her brother and continued to study. Rohini had seen Vijay come back some time ago and wondered where Nakul was. She patiently waited for him to come back home until late evening and finally decided to enquire about him.