The Start Of Something New - Part I

Glitz, Glam & Grime

'My mouth hung agape still not able to process what I was seeing. Well barely seeing since the filth got in my eyes as well and I'm pretty sure I stood stinking like a fish.'

"Holy sh-" someone, a tall man in a blue suit and dark brown hair said, not daring to complete the word when she looked him in the eye, shooting daggers at him.

Before she could make up a disgusting line or curse word to throw at his face the window on the backside of the car, rolled down and there he was, that arrogant fucker dressed in a black and white stripped t-shirt, blue Ray-ban glares covering his eyes.

He was looking at her from beneath those glasses, fixatedly (Atleast that's what she could make of, from his face not moving at all) and she could swear he was amusing himself at her expense, what with her being all soaked up in mud water and all and him sitting cosily in his car, wearing clean clothes.

"Vardhan Uncle" he called out, to that dark haired man, gesturing him to come towards himself.

"Yeah" he said and he walked towards him, not without taking a look back at her however, which she found to be highly infuriating, and put his head through the open window to let that asshole (which Niti thought was absolutely gracious of her to call him then; he deserved worse) whisper something in his ears.

She bit down on her lip harshly, barely resisting her urge to go and throw a punch on his face. She couldn't care less about what he was saying, to who was presumably his manager. At the moment, she had other things to worry about.

She saw that man walk towards her in precisely, three big steps as the window of Manik's car promtly went up and he drove further inside in his flashy vehicle.

"Shit! You're all wet and dirty" he said, nose scrunching up his face in disgust.

"Really?!" Niti said, widening her eyes in mock excitement "that sure is great news. I hadn't realised" she added with a smile that spelt sarcasm in capital letters.

"I'm really sorry ma'am, our driver didn't mean to" 'Vardhan Uncle' was quick to apologise, very much unlike the guy he worked for.

"Seriously?! Does it look like I give a damn whether he meant to or not? You think it's funny to purposely drive around a ditch and throw mudwater on people who are standing close by, who haven't the least idea of your bunkum driving skills or your silly ideas? And don't you dare deny anything I said cause I damn well know that this exactly the kind of thing you sleazeballs do to amuse yourself" she said with a finality and aggression that challenged him to differ from her opinion.

"I'm in no position to deny anything" he said and Niti huffed in annoyance. "It was certainly our fault and all I can do is offer my apologies so, I'm sorry" he said yet again.

"You can keep your sorry to yourself" Niti replied harshly, deciding she would not drop it with a mere apology. She was going to give this guy a piece of her mind today. "I'm sure your employer wouldn't be to pleased to hear you apologise to commoners like myself-"

"Actually he-" the man began saying but she put up a hand, stopping him midway.

"Please don't defend him or say something unlikely to cover up his faults" she snapped, her voice heavy with criticism and disbelief. "There are enough people to do that already. Besides I don't think that a guy who can't stop and apologise can be defended anyway! His arrogance will take him nowhere just make sure doesn't end up in a ditch with muddy water" she said and finally felt like she had finally done what she intended to do.

"I'm... let's not talk about Manik alright. You're not in a very... decent condition" he said a bit hesitantly fearing her response "You can't go to the concert like this."

"I don't intend to stay here anyway" Niti said in the same annoyed tone.

"You will need to change even to as much as get out of here. It's nothing ma'am. Consider this an apology from our side" he said politely. Niti considered the situation for a moment. She wasn't really in a state to go back home- nobody was going to give her lift looking like this and she wasn't carrying a bag so she had no money. Refusing this proposal at a time like this would be sheer stupidity and besides Niti felt bad for unloading her shit on this guy when he was just trying to be polite, throughout. Her anger wasn't even meant for him so she decided it wouldn't be so bad to take his help. She nodded in affirmation.

"Come let's get you a change of clothes" as he said turned back and started walking and asking her to follow him.

They went through a long hallway, which was, by the way dully lit, I'm contrast to the flashlights on the front areas of a concert. When they ultimately reached the backstage she noticed it was filled with people moving around in all possible directions making sure the working was right or carrying the changes of their lead singer as opposed to the image in her mind where she thought it would be empty and isolated. She suddenly felt concious of the state she was in.

Niti audibly hissed in anger, feeling gross as the mud water dripped behind her making a trail as she walked in an awkward posture. She couldn't even close her fist to calm herself down as moving her fingers were made impossible by the fact that there were mud grains under them which made them feel coarse.

She still tried to walk with restraint. One side of her hair was soaking wet and by the way she smelt she felt like a participant on those stupid stunt shows where they put you in among dead squid and fish dung and what not?! She shrugged off her thoughts knowing well enough that exaggerating this, whatever it could be called was not her priority now.

"Pam get her change of clothes" the manager said and added a "quick" for emphasis.

"Yes... I will" she said faltering at first, when she took in her appearance but that was quickly replaced with a helpful smile. Niti didn't really mind, maybe she too would be surprised if she was a stranger standing in the middle of her workplace like this. But what did annoy her was, what she saw next.

"Do you really think I look good?" A girl who was standing there with Manik, right between his legs and he had his hand wrapped around her waist lightly, asked.

"You look great babe!" He said as if that was as obvious as gravity and Niti couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. 'Babe!...What the fuck?!' She thought. Who the hell called any random girl babe? She assumed he looked at her, but she wasn't going to hide her disdain because if that.

"How is your show gonna be? Tell me something about it" she said leaning closer into his embrace.

"It's going to be mesmerizing like always" he said and she noticed how he trickily avoided a part of her question. But then Pam came in with her change and she couldn't bother to stick around and listen to their conversation.

#ManiNi or #MalhoLor ??