They both went to work with a purpose. He wanted to just be friends and she wanted to avoid him other than for when they're working. And as if it wasn't enough, their first scene was with each other. So even if they wanted to pretend like the other doesn't exist, they couldn't. They would have to face each other.
After finishing her morning routine of hair and makeup, she went to her shot. He was already sitting there ready and he looked handsome than ever. He smiled at her and somehow, she couldn't smile back. She was too busy trying to compose herself. Usually she would go and sit next to him but today she decided against it. Instead, she went to where the director was and pretended to talk to him about the shot.
He didn't know why she avoided him. He thought it was probably for the best. And while it was the best thing, he didn't like it. He had become used to her and seeing her smile the first thing he sees when he looks at her. He hoped she isn't angry with him or something. He thought he would talk to her after the shoot. It was probably nothing and her being the lead of the show, it's not unusual that she would be busy with the director.
She went back to her room as soon as the shot was over because 1) she had to get ready for her next shot and 2) she didn't want to have contact with him. The scene today was unusually awkward and she was afraid it was because she had made it awkward. Usually she is a pro when it comes to acting but she couldn't do it today. She could cut the tension between them with a knife and she was worried it wouldn't improve. She was no stranger to mixing business with pleasure, she's done it before but she has never let the pleasure affect the business. She has always managed to keep the two separate. Somehow, she's finding it particularly hard to do it now.
Her mother has been pressurizing her to get married like any typical mother would and she did too. She wanted to settle down and have a nice family. A good family life has always been her goal and she knew she wanted to settle down soon. Her mother kept constantly sending her profiles of eligible men and today she finally decided to have a look at it. No more procrastination. Maybe by the time she finds someone, Vivek would also be gone onto doing another show and whatever was happening would be history. She liked the thought of it.
She looked at the profiles sent by her mother through WhatsApp and one particular profile caught her attention. He was in his mid-thirties and a businessman. She read his profile and liked whatever was written. She decided to tell her mother to set her up with him.
To say her mother was overjoyed would be an underestimation. She was happy that her daughter has finally decided to meet potential 'damaads'. Within an hour, her mother got back to her with a date. So this is it. She was going to finally meet someone who could become her life partner. She was nervous. Strike that, she was nervous as hell. She's never done this before, never gone on a date with a total stranger. But it couldn't have been that hard, right? So many go on blind dates and this just that. She didn't know what to do, what to wear, how to behave. What he will be expecting of her, whether she should behave like The Divyanka Tripathi or whether she should behave like Divyanka. She needed help because she couldn't figure this out alone. She decided she would take help from Shireen, and she trusted this would not spread if she did. She anyway had a scene with her next...along with Vivek. She was always feeling good about the Vivek situation because she had stopped thinking about him for the past one hour and according to her, that was progress.
As usual, she went to her shot early and saw Shireen sitting there and looked around to see if Vivek was there. Having not had found him, she thought this was the perfect opportunity and decided to go talk to Shireen.
"Hey Shireen," she said, sitting down.
"Hey babe."
"Listen...I need your help."
"With what?"
"Don't tell this to anyone but I have a date."
Shireen spit out the water she was drinking. "A date!?" she yelled.
"Oh my God, shhh! You're announcing it to the world!"
"Sorry," Shireen came closer to her. "Did you say a date?" she whispered.
"Yes."
" With whom?"
"With someone my mother introduced."
"Oh."
"Why do you have that face?"
"What face?"
"The blank face."
"Nothing."
"Shireen," she said sternly. "Tell me."
"It's just that...I thought you and Vivek were having a thing."
"What?" WHAT?! "Why would you think that?"
"We all have eyes, you know. We can see."
"Well, you all are mistaken. He is just a friend. Nothing more."
"If you say so. Anyway, what help did you need?"
"I don't know what to wear."
"Really? You're Divyanka Tripathi. You can wear anything and the guy will fall in love with you."
"I don't think that works, Shireen. I need to at least dress to impress."
"Well, it depends."
"On?"
"On how you want to portray yourself. Wear what you normally wear if you want to show him your girl next door side. Wear something glam if you want to show him Divyanka Tripathi."
"Hmm." She got to thinking now. Shireen only made it harder on her. She had no clue who she wanted to go as. No clue whatsoever.
She hadn't seen him but he was right there and he had heard their entire conversation.
