"So dhruv is supposed to confess his feelings to you and after that you're going to cry and run to the storeroom where you'll meet Manik." Shashank sir explained the scene to me while I listened to him intently. I was loving this track, it was different and I was receiving a good amount of positive response for the way I portrayed Nandini and that was it ! I needed nothing more now that I was being appreciated by majority of the viewers.
"So Niti ? Ready ?" Utkarsh asked me and I nodded. It was always fun doing scenes with him. He was a complete comedian and I got along with him really well. Moreover he managed to keep me happy irrespective of anything and everything and I was happy to have him as a very good friend. After sometime, with a couple of retakes we were done with the scene and I asked for a break for about ten minutes. We were shooting back to back for so many days for the entire musicana event and it was taking a toll on my sleep. I was having a headache so I managed to sit on a chair for about 10 minutes with the script in hand. We didn't have enough bank either so we needed to work more..I understood that so didn't bother complaining. I saw Parth walking upto Shashank sir and in a jiffy engrossing him in some serious conversation. I was too tired to even listen to him , my headache mattered more to me. I and Parth had almost stopped talking. We spoke only during or before our scenes. He was mostly reluctant and initially I found it pretty odd but then I stopped thinking much. He wasn't disinterested or anything, he just believed in talking to me more as Nandini and himself as Manik. He wanted to focus more, I had managed to figure this out and keep the two of us in touch only on professional grounds. Great. I was defending his case. "Okay guys ready?" Shashank sir asked and I and Parth magically nodded simultaneously. "Okay, then action !" Right from the beginning, like our any other scene, it went pretty smoothly. Atleast up till the part where I had to go out of the storeroom but before I could, I had to trip over the rope and he was to catch me. I had always liked the way he held me by my waist. I never understood why but I really did. His fingers applied minimal pressure on my waist and wrist yet always made me shudder. I had to stop myself from quivering under his touch. So many scenes, and yet there was not one way to stop my entire self from losing to him. The way this human looks at anyone...no , not anyone, at me, gives me reasons to hope more, every time I look into his eyes, I feel like drowning in them trying to locate answers for so many unanswered questions.. His confusing orbs , dark chocolate coloured ones, the ones which never ever reflected any kinda hatred for me. Did he want to hate me? Did he HATE me? Manik straightened me , making me stand properly. My eyes were already getting moist due to glycerin. He bent down and just looked at my feet , around which the rope was tied. He just looked, and looked, and looked, and carefully began siding the rope near my feet taking care not to place his fingers onto my feet. The script, said otherwise though. Was that all in the script ? "Okay cut." Shashank sir announced and he got up. He straightened his coat while the spot boy came upto me and Shashank sir again announced "action" Will someone tell me what is going on? Spot dada touched the part of the rope that was on my feet and sided it, and automatically a fat teardrop fell on the back of his palm . What the hell ? That's what Parth was supposed to do ! Why was he doing this ? "Okay that's enough." Shashank sir said I passed him a glare. Things made sense to me now. Parth touching the rope on my feet was against his huge fat male ego even if it was for the scene, huh ? Not even for Manik he could do that. He just had to give me reasons to dislike him more and more. It didn't take me long to feel disgusted at him. Wasn't he professional enough ? Did this stupid professional image of his go for a toss when he downright refused lending his hand for the particular scene ? Was it so difficult to do this ? Was this in a way violating his dignity or something ? I did not think so. Why did the ego even exist then? It was just acting for gods sake and nothing else ! I just want to hate him ! I really want to dislike him, hate him, not feel anything for him. He makes me feel so bad about the fact that I have feelings for him and irrespective of anything and everything I just can't hate him ! He's so difficult, so so difficult that it makes me want to bang my head in frustration and after today's incident my self pity was up by 10x. How can I really fall for someone like him ? Ugh Parth !! Later in the day, the girls magically turned up in my part of the vanity and made a group and said in unison that we should forget our differences and let go off the past. On asking, they said that whatever happened was just a blunt misunderstanding from their side and that they now knew the truth. I had absolutely no idea regarding what had gotten into them but their speech seemed pretty honest so I didn't pay much heed to other aspects and agreed to reconcile. It was not just now, even yesterday we were hanging out together. Almost all of us except Ayaz and Parth but we hadn't spoken regarding any particular topic. Things with Parth were on and off...mostly off. On only when we had to shoot MaNan sequences. We were just professionals by now and I honestly had stopped expecting anything from his side, especially after today's incident and surprisingly both my mind and heart had made peace with this. Disha visited sets often but I never spoke to her. She used to spend time in Parth's vanity and at other times used to watch our scenes. Why she was so reluctant in watching Parth do scenes with me, I had no idea. At the end of the day, he was her boyfriend , who had by now turned very cold towards me, although not fully, and she should have known that the guy is going to come back to her no matter what. Yet she couldn't help but pass me snooty looks as if I was stealing Parth from her. Apparently she even kept a tab on Parth's WhatsApp messages while he was shooting. ---The Manik pushing Nandini away for Dhruv track was about to get over. We had to shoot just the last scene which had Nandini seducing Manik in the jungle so we were taken to a location that was little far from the city and thankfully Disha hadn't accompanied us. Surprisingly Parth and I struck a brief conversation, a really really brief conversation after what seemed like ages just before we were handed over the script for the day. Whatever it was, it was just regarding the show and how we could improvise with the scenes, that's it. Maybe he was tired playing the zombie to me. He was becoming more and more indifferent towards me, with each passing day and I didn't like it.. But I wasn't expecting anything better of him either so I let him do whatever he wanted to without making any attempt to sort stuff out. I wanted to stop caring entirely. After we were done with the first round of shooting, we were told that we had to give an interview to wassup tv people so the two of us went to the vanity for the same. It went good. For a change Parth decided to step out of his monster Manik zone and behave like a human. He looked sleep deprived though. I tried my best to stay active and super happy and hopefully succeeded. Towards the end , Parth mentioned that once , one of his friend's girlfriend had taken the show so seriously that she had asked his friend if he was getting married to me. Lol. This made me laugh too. We were actually creating quite an impact especially during the last few scenes and people loved us. There were people flooding me with questions on my Instagram asking why I didn't post selfies with Parth anymore and I had no option but to ignore these comments. No way could I even mention about our drifting ways. Later in the day, we were told about the seduction sequence , not literally, but Nandini had to arouse Manik and nothing in particular was described in the scene, so we had to do this on our own. Nandini was to drive Manik to that point to blurt out the truth. As soon as, we got the cue, we began. We were in our respective characters, and were going to be in our respective characters only, with each other. He began rubbing the two stones against each other to produce friction.Friction. Friction between two stones always lights up fire... That day, that time, that instant . Him, I and the storeroom.. The eye contact that was worth everything that I had wished for . As indicated ahead, I was to portray , as Nandini, that I was feeling cold, and immediately enough Manik threw his shirt on me . How did he manage such a perfect placement is still unknown to me but the next thing I knew was his shirt right on top of my head. His shirt sans the sweat, only and only with the scent of his no less than intoxicating cologne. I pulled the shirt off myself and threw it in a corner. His subtle glare after this act of mine told me that he wasn't expecting anything further from Nandini either. "Woh animals naa aaye, isliye jala raha hu." He said taking breaks in between his sentence."Haan..tumhe kaha andher se darr lagta hai?" I mocked. Manik wasn't even supposed to accomplish in his task of lighting up fire so I, as Nandini was supposed to go and help him. I knelt next to him and continued rubbing the two stones against each other, before we were indicated to stop. A spot dada came to us and lit up fire using the match box, and then we resumed. I looked at him immediately afterwards. His face shone 10x brighter than before due to the heat radiating from the fire. His face devoid of any egoistic expression at that particular moment."Brace yourself Niti !" I thought after a brief gap, while the Zehnaseeb tune started playing. My lips curled into a witty smile because Nandini had thought of a very witty plan that could 100% work and make Manik blurt out the truth. I touched his wrist gently, further, tracing my fingers upwards to his upper arm and then finally to his shoulder. A smile played on my lips, while I shifted a little bit towards him. He didn't budge, rather seemed a little taken aback when I placed my head on his shoulder and then looked at him to see his reaction. He didn't know what to do probably, so the next thing he did was to get up and went a few steps forward, only to return back to me. I got up as I saw him coming back towards myself and he reduced the distance between the two of us until we were dangerously close. He traced the tip of a wild leaf along the length of my right arm, from shoulder to my neck and to my chin ! God ! I felt ticklish coupled with all kinds of jitters that he was making me experience. The tip of the leaf touched my chin and he made me face him, while his hands began a story of their own. He encircled one of his hands around me and pulled me closer so that now I was a little more towards him and only him whilst my eyes continued staring deep into his. Even in the dead of his night, his eyes conveyed a million emotions, yet it was difficult for me to even fathom how he was playing Manik with so much of conviction, whereas in reality he almost hated me. Manik sided a bunch of my hair that almost covered the side of my forehead and I couldn't help but blush. I walked to the opposite direction, but he didn't let me and tugged at my stole. He pulled my stole towards himself, once I faced him and didn't lend it to me. He forwarded his hand to which I replied by wholeheartedly placing my palm into his. He clutched it as gently as he could and I inched closer to him. My palm banged against his chest and he pulled me further almost bridging the gap between the two of us. I clutched him tight . He further bent towards me, while his nose touched mine. He almost bent a little more towards me and kissed on the back of one of my palms which were now free and not holding onto him anymore. I felt butterflies in my stomach, when his lips touched my skin. He slowly held my other palm and kissed on the back of it as well. He entwined his fingers along mine and kissed them one by one. Slowly, I freed my fingers from his grip and he started tracing his fingers along my arm. He cupped my face in the most delicate way possible, while his intense eyes didn't leave staring deep into mine for even a nano second. This time, I could really see zero confusion and there was only one thing that he needed at that moment. The need to be really close. For a moment, I was again having these thoughts of how I actually saw Parth in Manik at times and not Manik as a whole. For a second, the coldness that was there from his side seemed to disappear away and I could see , him and only him, without any bars, without any external factors influencing his thoughts. He caressed my cheeks one by one and inched a little closer preparing to lay his lips on top of mine, from what it seemed like, but before he could even do that I jerked away, with that smile of mine still intact . Yet, fast as he was, he pulled me back and made me land against his chest with a thud. He caressed my arms smoothly making adrenaline rush through my whole self and sided the bunch of hair that were settled appropriately on my shoulder. He bent down and placed a gentle kiss on my nape first and then on my shoulder next. Twirling me towards himself , and looking at me with all the love in his eyes, he cupped my face yet again while my hands were again on his chest and kissed on both my shoulders one by one as if he was waiting to do that since eternity. He placed a series of kisses from my shoulder , then upwards to both my cheeks, finally terminating at the corner of my lips. Maybe he wasn't really losing it, maybe it was just me who was losing my sanity with each passing second, for the next second I heard him responding to the voices that belonged to the director asking both of us to stop because we had done enough of submitting ourselves and the mission seduction scene seemed to be pretty much complete by now. He inched backwards and passed me an awkward look . Seriously ! After being so damn close to me for the last five minutes he had the audacity to make that face at me and then get away with these stupid acts of his. I had no clue as to why I was losing so much to him inspite of having made peace with the fact that he was already too far away from me. Seemed like Niti was having a tough time too, but maybe he didn't. He jerked away as soon as he heard cut ! Argh ! Can he stop irritating me like this? The next shot had me clutching his wrist with my tiny fingers shaking my head into a big fat no. Don't know what and how it happened next, but the next thing I saw was him nearing me, while in reality, it was actually supposed to be a cut , and the next shot was to be done again after a break. Instead, he actually walked over towards me like a lost soul and clutched my waist tightly pulling me almost so close that it was almost impossible for air to even pass from in between. He didn't flinch and left me after probably realizing the state we were in and I started trailing my palms along both his arms and then finally to his face. I traced my palms all along his face and tried standing on my toes to prepare myself to be a victim of probably another of his heavenly kisses for he seemed still lost and needed a moment to get himself back to the world. He clutched my waist yet again and I kissed on both his cheeks. We heard the sound of the director saying cut and that was cue for us. HE STILL WAS IN CONTROL? Either, he's a very good actor or maybe its too difficult for me to understand this person's dynamics. If he was in control from where did those emotions come on his face? From where did that egoistic look of his change into that of a free one without almost any inhibitions ? So many questions but not even one answer to satisfy my queries. Parth was making it increasingly difficult for me to stay sane. With him around, emotions automatically came out, whether of hatred or a feeling that closely resembled the word love. Not that I was in love with him or something, but it was a little difficult to describe what it was . I was just fighting with my own feelings for him at that moment, I wanted to let go off any such thoughts that had made my heart incline towards him. What was I even thinking ? He was the human who showed all possible signs of hating me and surely my self respect was way more greater than any of his hatred emotions .Yeah right, my alter ego shouted at me. Shows signs of hating but loses it entirely and does stuff that the script doesn't even command him to when he's around you ! Just like Manik claimed to use Nandini for his mission on the exterior but gave up on every goddamn lir of his once she came close to him ? Hmm ? Rings a bell , maybe ?Whatever. He still made me feel like a complete jerk with a total one sided attraction capable of having no future from his side and showing all signs of developing further feelings from mine. -- Around fifteen days after this jungle track , we were shooting at Manik's place for the after party of the Manik-Harshad fight sequence and that's when I saw Disha storming into the sets like an agitated human. She was literally burning. Yeah, maybe she was missing keeping an eye on Parth . Anyway, thankfully she didn't interrupt our shot and waited for it to get over and once it did, Parth automatically walked over to her. She passed me the cruelest glance ever after which Parth gave me an... Empathetic look ?????!! Seriously. If there's someone who deserves empathy its him, for having a girlfriend who did everything and anything to keep him in control and not me. Sometimes I really thought she didn't trust him enough, maybe she thought that any moment he could ditch her and start dating some other hot-shot model. I never felt that way about him because he seemed to be too high in love with her to even let go off her for anyone else. She mattered more to him than anyone else did, and when it came to me I didn't need any empathy especially not his. Disha pulled him to the vanity and closed the door behind and then after some two hours walked out with Parth. He looked more sorry than ever but that rude, arrogant look of his was gone. He carried a more subtle expression on his face and Disha walked without a care in the world , directly to her car and then to outside the sets. Parth, then went over to Richa ma'am's room and sat there for god knows how long, doing god knows what ? All I remember is Vikas Gupta marching into the sets after sometime and then going straight to Richa ma'am's cabin. What was going on ? I had no idea and no one was going to tell me either. Ugh . I felt disgusted. Set was pretty chaotic post that little conversation which the three super busy people had and I was standing in one corner feeling totally wasted. I'm the goddamn female lead of the show and I don't know what's going on ? The girls weren't around either, and Utkarsh was busy with something else. My patience was crossing its limits. Later, without feeling the need to let me know anything at all, Parth did one final shot with me and left after the pack up. Things got cleared the next day when Richa ma'am proposed to have a conversation with me. "What's up Niti ?" She asked once we sat facing each other over a cup of coffee. "Umm I'm fine." I answered politely. Richa ma'am and I conversed little together. She mostly spoke to Parth and was very very focused towards work so we didn't interact much apart from on professional basis. I knew she adored me because that was something she had declared the day she selected me for Nandini. Yet, It was a little surprising as to how and why she wanted to talk to me on one of the normal working days of December. "MaNan, is creating quite an impact. Day by day. " She affirmed. Yes, I was very well aware and was very proud of Parth and myself regarding this. "And, I'm extremely happy for Parth and you. You guys are doing really good, better as a matter of fact, day by day." She seemed pretty happy. Manan had been her baby since day one and I knew how much the story mattered to her. She had always been so engrossed in narrating the story line to the two of us, her dedication and excitement oozed out . "Credit goes to you , more than either of us !" Her lips curved into a heartfelt smile momentarily and then parted ways to utter the first word of one of the most dreaded things I had heard. "Niti, see I don't know what happened between you and Parth and honestly I don't want to know either. It's your personal life, you should live it the way you want to but tell me honestly does it bother you when you play Nandini ?" I have feelings for that human. Some stupid feelings which find their way back to me no matter what happens. I have cut down on it up to a great extent, however, but it still hurts. He just makes me lose myself bit by bit, each time I'm close to him, but that will never be a reason for me to feel awkward playing Nandini because I enjoy doing that, and not for anyone, am I ever going to let go off his show because it's important to me. Yes, and that applies even if he shows zero signs of acknowledgement. I really never felt the need to be in a mood to give him any pleasure of him affecting me or anything. He clearly didn't deserve it and I meant it wholeheartedly even if I had a dozen voices inside me saying otherwise thanks to the unsaid feelings I was slowly developing ! I shook my head in a big fat NO . She analyzed my reply for a second and then nodded her head affirmatively. Why out of all the days was she asking this today? "Do you mind me asking you why this sudden question today?" I hesitantly asked her. Her eyes shot up with a questioning look and she vehemently uttered the sentence I never wanted to listen to. "Parth..he wants to leave the show.."
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The scenes that you find in episode 87 might not resemble the part I wrote that's because of professionalism and the kharab si editing that was done for the scene so I added a little more from my side. xD
And yeah , abhi toh drama shuru hua hai :P 😈 😈
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Parth And Niti (PaNi FF): Professionals At Work
FanfictionPrequel of PaNi FF- Finally found you PS: This story is totally imaginary. Any resemblance to anything is coincidental. :)
