A new world and a new adventure along with a few unwanted memories...such was the journey destiny had paved for her...
I gazed at the tidy, clean streets, people in all sorts of vibrant clothes covering the empty gaps like vegetables covering a ‘pulav’. I lowered the window as I looked out of the car. The London atmosphere smelt of a mixture of branded perfumes along with the odor of delectable pizzas.
“You like the place, Roshni?” Noor di tried to lighten the tensed mood that surrounded us.
“Hmm..” I nodded, absentmindedly.
“Roshni…” Noor di squeezed my hand, assuring me that everything would be okay. Many times, my sister and I did not need words to convey, our eyes spoke on their own. I had experienced this with Jannat whenever we were in a grave situation and had recently felt the same with…Faisal. Not only during shooting scenes, but in normal conversations as well. We would gaze at each other at times, until Vishal or Yash would snap their fingers in front of our faces. My mind floated to one recent memory.
“Earth to RoSal!” Vishal teased, breaking us from the ‘eye-lock’. We both looked away to which he gave a suspicious look.
“What?” I asked hesitantly. “We were just…” I began to reason.
“Practicing for our upcoming scenes.” Yash completed for me to which Faisal gave a death stare.
“Wh-hat Faisal?” he wavered, signaling Vishal to defend him.
“We were actually practicing for our upcoming scenes… as we do not want to disappoint our viewers.” Faisal justified.
“You have ran out of excuses.” Vishal shook his head, not seeming convinced at all.
“No…we were…” I started till Yash interrupted me.
“You can’t lie Roshni, so don’t try to.” He reminded to which I looked away, embarrassed.
“Yash… go and get something to eat.” Vishal ordered.
“Why am I always the one….you go this time!” Yash argued.
“Yash, RoSal and I have a serious matter to talk on.. so you go.” Vishal stated emphasizing on the word ‘RoSal’.
“No!”
“Please?”
“No!’
“Please please!”
“Okay, but only this time..” Yash agreed.
“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Vishal brushed it off.
“So… where was I…. yes.. so what’s going on?” He turned to us as soon as our other best friend was out of sight.
“When will you stop using ‘RoSal’?” I demanded irritatedly.
“Well, this is not the exact answer to my question….but because I am a good friend, I will answer your question. I will never stop calling you RoSal because of two reasons. One, that you both are always seen together, so it takes less energy to pronounce ‘RoSal’ than ‘Roshni and Faisal’. And two, that’s your name we came up with. The name suits you both perfectly. So… now back to my question?” Vishal started again. I liked how everyone called us RoSal or PrAja on sets, and Vishal’s explanation made me smile. But this wasn’t the time to think on this.
“There is nothing between us!” Faisal and I said in unison, immediately startled at each other, eyes wide with surprise.
“Well, your answer doesn’t quite match your actions here.” My third best friend commented.
“Seriously, Vishal!” Faisal said.
“You really want me to believe that?” Vishal said in disbelief. “You both hang out with each other the whole time; from 9:00 am till 9:00 pm, whether it be during shoot or off-screen. You became best friends the second you met each other, and your friendship has grown stronger day by day. You guys are never tired of each other, and you want me to believe that all this is nothing?”
Silence. Faisal and I had nothing to rebut his observations.
“Vishal, I totally agree to whatever you have said till now, but we are not what you think we are.” Faisal explained.
“Do you agree with this too, Roshni?” Vishal asked a clueless me.
“Ye-yes, I agree to what Faisal just said right now. Vishal, I do not want to go in such things, at least not now. I know that Faisal and I, both need to focus on our careers and our future.”
“Yeah, we have a lot of time to think this over, bro.” Faisal added.
Before he could argue, the director called for him. I gave a huge sigh, Faisal and I had been saved from further inquiries.
There were innumerable memories attached to him, it was impossible to forget. Sometimes I wished I were a computer, so I could easily select all these moments and delete them at once.
“Roshni, you there?” Noor di grew concerned, with a hint of laughter.
“Yeah di, just revisited some unwanted memories.” I finally spoke.
“Don’t say that, Roshni! All these memories are beautiful instants of your biggest show till now. Think of the brighter side.” Noor di insisted.
“Have we reached?” I asked, changing the topic. Her face grew grim again before she asked the driver.
“We have reached Roshni…”
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