Another Cinderella story- A Varun Dhawan fanfic

Chapter 10

Shraddha Kapoor

He hasn't called me since our movie date which was three days ago.

And now I feel like everything happened was indeed a dream within a dream and I have finally woken up from pleasant state of limbo.

But I wish I could say I got back to my normal life after our brief rendezvous.

Our pictures from our movie outing were there next day on page 3. The only difference from the previous time was I saw my name printed below it. People came to know 'the girl Varun Dhawan kissed' on award night has a proper face and name.

The first one to react to the news in my family was my youngest sister,Aditi. I woke up to her screeching voice inside my eardrum next morning.

"Shraddha is this really you?" she demanded pointing at our picture when it was very much obvious it was me unless there is clone of me somewhere who has same turquoise dress. I nodded at her rubbing my drowsy eyes. 

"YOUR BOYFRIEND IS VARUN DHAWAN!!!!" she squealed excitedly waking up the whole society.

"I want to meet him! I want to meet him! Say you'll take me to meet him. Please. Please please" she jumped on my bed..and out of fear of my croaking bed's fragile life, I said yes.

Soon the news spread like wild fire. The landline phone in our house which was dying a slow death started ringing zealously. People started calling from everywhere.

"For God sake cut that wire off" Mom yelped through kitchen "She is only dating him  not getting married to him. He must have thousands such girlfriends hidden everywhere" she said irritated. I was in the kitchen right there but I was used to getting addressed as third person in my presence.

I chopped the veggies on board without uttering a word.

She was furious with the fact  why I didn't tell her first. She wasn't exactly bestest of my pal with whom I confided everything so what did she expect? Also never before she had bothered to find out about where I work or who do I work with, all she was ever interested in knowing was how much I earned.

"See Ariha. Learn some tips from her" she scowled at her eldest daughter.

Ariha, seated on dining table, was busy texting someone. She was in junior college and I had forgotten what her face looked like as whenever I saw her, her head was always burrowed low typing ferociously on her smart phone.

"Ariha!" Mom smacked her "I'll throw your mobile out one day" she growled at her own daughter for a change.

I secretly enjoyed watching her growing vexed knowing I'm the reason making her pull her hair in madness.

Sitting here in my room it makes me realise that I can laugh while I can but if they found out it was all sham then it will be their turn to laugh at me.

Varun Dhawan

I sit for the hundredth interview of the day.

Okay maybe it's only third but the repetitive questions they are throwing at me makes me want to scoot up and punch on their faces.

And the annoying part is they ask about everything accept the movie.

Although not all of them are as bad but there is this one journalist who irks me more than his contemporaries.

His questions are direct and often shameless.

"Was Sonam Kapoor indeed the reason for you kissing your girlfriend before media?"

"When did Shraddha enter your life? Before Sonam or after Sonam"

"Before Christ" I snap at him with straight face. But he laughs like I was sitting here cracking jokes for his sake.

"Shraddha Kapoor, as we've come to know, is a back dancer. Why would you want to date a commoner?" he asks and I close my fist inside my pocket.

"Why? Aren't they humans? See, when you fall in love at first sight you really don't have time to do background check,  do you?" I ask rhetorically. 

"But don't you think your timing to bring out your girlfriend was bang on right, just when on that day Sonam.."

"Do you have any questions related to the movie?" I interject "or else I'm off" I'm very close to exploding..and I don't want to get in anymore trouble by smashing a reporter's front teeth.

"This is your third movie after a dream debut. Do you think expectations are higher this time around?" he asks in bored voice.

"There is always pressure to consistently perform better than before..." I start modestly controlling my nerve churning out repetitive scorned off answers.

After the interview winds up, I have an appointment with Parimal. 

Parimal is my Dad's manager who has also been managing my career side by side. And yes I have to take an appointment to meet her as she is more busy than me.

In the beginning of my career I was overtly confident, thinking I was smart enough to handle my own schedules. But as the work started flowing in I just couldn't figure things out anymore. I decided to take Parimal's help when I missed my flight for the fourth time in a row.

"Tomorrow at 10 you have an ad shoot in Mehboob studio" she reads from tab as soon as I enter her cabin not even bothering with pleasantries like 'hi' 'hello'

"At afternoon you'll be visiting R-city mall with Ileana, after that you are free till evening. You have couple of reality shows lined up but that will be shot once you are back from your trip. Your flight tomorrow is at 11.20PM. First, you'll be flying to Singapore, then Dubai, Kuwait and finally New York." she finishes and looks up from tab "Ileana will be joining you in Dubai" she informs.

"So you mean I'll be flying to Singapore alone?"

"No. Not alone. You'll be taking your pretty girlfriend with you everywhere" she smiles.

There is hint of 'I-know-what-you-did-last-summer' kind of underlying her smiling face. She has known me for too long so I knew I wasn't fooling her here.

"I had got a call this morning from Karan. He asked me to book..what's her name, Shraddha right? He asked me to book Shraddha's ticket as well" she says narrowing her eyes "I have never before seen a mentor so concerned about his protégé's relationship" she says cheekily. 

"Not everyone is as professional as you want them to be" I say crossly grabbing the envelope containing my passport and plane tickets from desk.

"I would like to meet her" she yowls at my retreating back.

"No you don't" I retaliate as I head out of her cabin.

"Shraddha" I sigh once I'm inside the safe zone of my SUV. I take out my cellphone and scroll down on phonebook stopping on 'Donald duck'.

I swipe on the green side of screen.

~~~