Book of Love

NIKITA’S mistake

Billionaire Romance Saga 4

BY

CHETNA KHANNA

By the same author

The Edge of Ecstasy Series

#1. Sanjana’s Seduction

#2. Aditi’s Game

#3. Sonal’s Adventure

#4. Tanvi’s Party

#5. Smriti’s First

#6. Anisha’s Wedding

#7. Pooja’s Passion

#8. Namrata’s Thirst

#9. Varsha’s Wedding Night

#10. Amreen’s Lover

#11. Amreen’s Boyfriend

Billionaire Romance Saga series

#1. Rashmi’s Affair

#2. Rashmi’s Lover

#3. Rashmi’s Billionaire Boyfriend

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First digitally published by

Srishti Publishers & Distributors in 2020

Copyright © Chetna Khanna, 2020

This is a work of fiction. The characters, places, organisations and events described in this book are either a work of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to people, living or dead, places, events, communities or organizations is purely coincidental.

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

You don’t look good like this, he had said.

Nikita thought back to his words, when she saw him reading the script with concentration.

Raghav was now a veritable Telugu superstar, his thirteenth movie had recently gotten released to both critical and commercial acclaim. They had last met at the premiere of his last movie – a movie which trade analysts were already calling the biggest hit since Bahubali.

She had fumed silently at his comment, though he had tried to soften it later by adding, You looked like an angel when you wear your hair long. Post that interaction, she had made a conscious attempt to avoid him throughout the premiere. To her consternation, he clearly hadn’t seemed to care about his next co-star ignoring him.

But now, here they were, about to shoot the ‘muhurat’ or the first shot of their movie – a relatively easy shot of him staring at her from a distance, love-struck. Nikita had no idea why Raghav had requested a script read at all: he should have read the script at home and there was no interaction planned between the two actors in the shot. They could have shot a few takes in thirty minutes and gone home for the day.

Vijay, Raghav said, speaking to the director seated between them, I want to understand this look… Does he look at her like he has seen something really pretty? Or is he attracted to her, drawn to her?

He looked up from the script and looked at Nikita distractedly, as if he was calibrating the way he would look at her. Nikita tapped her feet impatiently. She wanted to go home, workout and sleep. But here he was, making something as small as a glance a matter of debate.

Vijay closed his eyes and considered his question for a minute before speaking. As if he is looking at… his would-be wife, he replied finally.

Yes, but my original question still applies, Vijay, Raghav asked. Help me a little here.

Vijay closed his eyes again in response, ruminating. Raghav didn’t seem to mind as Vijay stepped into his long reveries, waiting patiently for him to re-emerge. Nikita suppressed a frustrated sigh.

He is drawn to her like a magnet is to iron, he looks at her with love, nurturing her with his gaze – dazed but awestruck, shocked but aware of everything, Vijay replied, speaking with his eyes still closed, as if he was communicating from another time and place.

Raghav nodded before he spoke. Got it, he said, OK! Let’s shoot the scene!

The next shoot wasn’t scheduled for another week and Nikita spent the week fasting and exercising, getting into shape for the role. Vijay had been clear he wanted her to lose a couple more kilos before the film went on floors.

On the day the shooting was to officially begin, Nikita went to a temple, seeking the blessings of various Gods. She had done a few item numbers and cameos before, and most of them had been received well by critics and the audience. But this was her first major role. It had to work if she wanted to make a career in movies. Her agreement with her father had been that if her movie career didn’t take off in the three years after her twelfth standard, she would go to college. It was now the third year of the three-year reprieve.

Making it a point to reach early to impress Vijay, she started off earlier than she had planned. However, when she reached the studio, she found Raghav was already there. He was chatting, barefoot, with a couple of spot boys and they were all laughing when her car stopped. There were white hair in his sideburns and he looked extremely ordinary, not really like a Telugu superstar. He looked surprisingly like the boy next door. To Nikita, he looked far more handsome today than he had looked in his polished, manicured avatar on the day of the muhurat shot.

She got out of the car and Hyderabad’s oppressive summer heat hit her like a shock, taking her breath away. Raghav spotted her and waved to her.

She smiled back, waving politely. He started walking towards her and Nikita waited for him to reach her.

You look frail, Nikita, he said, matter-of-factly. Nikita noticed his feet were black with mud and dust from walking barefoot, but he didn’t seem to care.

‘Why did he have to begin all their conversations with his opinions on her looks!’ – Nikita wondered.

Maintaining a polite smile on her face, she replied, Yes, my contract said I needed to weigh fifty-five, she replied. I have been working hard this week.

Boy, that’s crazy! he replied. I’ll have a chat with Vijay about that.

Nikita smiled, this time not out of politeness, but of her own volition. It’s OK, it’s a fairly standard clause, she said.

No, Nikita, he replied, enunciating her name in a soft and respectful kind of tone. It is downright cruel. I don’t want youngsters to kill themselves going after an unnecessary level of perfection.

Nikita shrugged slightly. What’s done is done, Raghav, she said. She had been advised to call him sir, given their decade long age gap, but she just couldn’t bring herself to call him ’sir’ ever. Vijay looked like one but Raghav looked so approachable, so human that it was hard to revere him, in a way.

Raghav smiled. OK, now that you are here, let’s see if we can inspire the lazy-boned people on the set to start working.

By the third day of the shoot, Nikita knew she was falling in love with Raghav. He would slip her something sweet at the end of every meal, making sure to be discreet so that no one came to know of their shared secret. She would consume them all secretly, each bite overwhelming her beyond reason, beyond logic.

It didn’t help that the movie was a romantic story, and Vijay had front-loaded the shooting of all the romantic scenes. Beyond the love their characters were supposed to feel for each other, Raghav was a dream co-actor. He would encourage her when Vijay or Keerat or one of the assistant producers shouted at her, and sometimes even defend her, calling for a break. In scenes in which he wasn’t even required, he would stand beside her, emoting, giving her cues and at times, he would even mouth her lines making it easy for her to remember them.

The first sign of the fact that Raghav felt what she was feeling too came on day twenty-one of the shoot, with a seemingly off-hand remark he made. They had been sitting behind the camera checking out a shot when Vjiay and Keerat and the cinematographer disappeared somewhere, trying to fix the lights.

We’ll have to shoot all over again, Nikita said irately. They should have checked the lights before the shot no?

Raghav shrugged. It’s hard to shoot a movie, he said. These things happen, Nikita. Relax.

Nikita nodded. OK, tell me one thing, Raghav, she said. Would you do another movie with me? Her voice was playful, teasing.

Raghav thought about her question and looked at her wistfully for half a minute before he spoke. Then suddenly, he laughed. With laughter on his face, he said, seemingly jokingly, No… If I do another movie with you, I will fall in love with you. Having said this, he laughed loudly, clapping his hands at his own joke, uncharacteristically boisterous.

At the same moment, Vijay and Keerat rejoined them, and began discussing the scene again.

Nikita listened to them distractedly.

‘Did he mean it?’ – she asked herself.

He was looking intently at Vijay and seemed to be shying away from her gaze.

She looked at his lips, surrounded by light stubble, wanting nothing more in the world to walk up to him, wrap her legs around him even as he sat in his plastic chair and running her hands through his hair, kiss him.

Nikita? Vijay said. Is that OK with you?

She returned to the real world, abandoning her fantasy, and nodded. Her crotch felt wet and sticky, and she drew in a deep breath to try and calm herself.

The second phase of the movie shoot was in Ooty where Vijay and team had invaded and annexed a large resort. The resort was surrounded by an orchard on one side, a gently inclined hill on one side and a garden with flowers on another, making it a dream location to shoot songs economically.

They were to shoot two songs at the resort and rehearsals for the songs began as soon as they reached the resort. As good as he was at acting, Raghav was bad at dancing. It was now Nikita’s time to calm down their choreographers and her gaggle of assistants when they gave him murderous looks, or at times, shouted at him.

Finally, Vijay took an executive call to prioritize shooting some serious scenes as Raghav’s performance seemed to be deteriorating with more choreographic inputs. To his credit, he was trying his best but the choreographer of the movie, Rajamma, clearly had some moderately complex steps in mind – her eye possibly on a Filmfare Award for best choreography.

On their third day of the resort, Nikita found Vijay and Raghav deep in discussion when she came down from her room. As the actress of the movie, she (like Raghav) got a room to herself and she was thankful for small luxuries. In the past when she had done smaller roles, she had had to share a room during outstation shoots – sometimes with up to two more people.

She was basking in the glory of the morning – absolutely relaxed and feeling fresh and fragrant after a long hot shower – when a set of words spoken by Raghav caught her attention.

He and Vijay were conversing rapidly in Telugu. Telugu wasn’t Nikita’s mother tongue and it took her a few seconds to process what they were saying.

No, no, don’t do it that way… Raghav said.

Nikita moved closer to them. They were too engrossed in their conversation to notice her.

I can’t substitute your lips with a green ball, Vijay replied in rapid Telugu.

She’s just twenty-one, Vijay, Raghav said. Do you think she is mature enough to know what a kiss of love is?

Good morning, Nikita said quickly. The import of Raghav’s words hit her even as she greeted them, dampening her smile.

Vijay jumped, not having noticed her slowly sidle up to them. Raghav merely nodded at her.

After the scenes slotted for the day were shot, Nikita rushed back to her room in a huff. She was sort of hoping that Raghav noticed her leave, but he seemed to be chatting with Keerat when she left, seemingly immersed in some kind of deep meaningful conversation about the fate of the universe.

She opened her room’s mini-bar immediately upon entering it, opening a bottle of beer.

It was stale and flat, and thirsty and angry as she was, she finished it in one large gulp, feeling even angrier at its staleness. Next, she tore open a packet of crisps and a series of small liqueur bottles, making quick work of them.

Hoping to be calmed and numbed by the alcohol, she pushed herself on to the bed, lying down, her arms and legs spread-eagled. To her consternation, the alcohol in her bloodstream seemed to be making her more agitated versus calm and numb.

She reached a decision: she had to confront that immature bastard, who seemed to want to be in control of what she could and could not do or what she should look like.

Getting up from her bed, her heartbeat ringing in her ears, she bolted out of her room.

She took two rounds of Raghav’s floor before being able to locate his room. The alcohol in her veins seemed to be driving up her adrenaline making it hard for her to focus, to read room numbers. Raghav had gotten the top floor – a relatively posher floor with fewer and larger rooms. For some reason that made her angry as well.

Finding his room finally, she knocked on it. Then, hearing no response, she banged her fists on it hard.

She heard some movement inside and then telltale noise of the door being unlocked.

Raghav’s figure appeared in the doorway.

We need to talk, Nikita hissed.

Raghav stood by the side of the door, gesturing for her to enter.

Nikita entered the room in a huff, her arms swinging wildly. She found the room was much nicer and larger than she had imagined. She heard the door close behind her.

Turning to face the approaching figure of Raghav, she surprised herself by yelling, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!

Raghav folded his arms, looking at her calmly.

Please sit, he said.

You with all your niceness and politeness and all your… your talking of talks… she said, slurring her words a bit towards the end, wagging her finger at him.

Raghav just looked at her calmly. His calmness irritated her.

She moved up to him and swinging her right arm slapped him.

To her surprise, he made no attempt to stop her. Her slap hit him on his face with more of a glancing blow as alcohol had turned down her ability to aim.

It’s OK, Nikita, he said. He was enunciating her name with softness and a type of kindness, as it were a thing of delicate glass. "You’ll be