Complicated Romance

Rain on my parade

(Rom-com is a genre that can lift up my mood no matter what. But what will happen if a day in our lead's life turns out to be an episode from a romcom. )

I entered the elevator feeling a bit fatigued from the lack of a decent sleep schedule. My head was hanging low from all the stress and exhaustion so I couldn't even bother to press the buttons on the elevator and just stood in front of it.
After a decent amount of inner conflict, I finally raised my hands to press the button for the ground floor when suddenly another hand swiped just right beside me to press it. Our hands brushed against each other, and a spark was felt in the atmosphere. I jumped back with a loud gasp in shock as I thought I was alone in the elevator. But to my surprise, it was Dev. He was standing behind me with a guilty and confused smile.

I was in shock and out of words to even say something. But we both managed to over-apologize.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, I didn't know you were standing. I thought I was alone. I was feeling sleepy." I repeated my words like a parrot.

"No, no, I am sorry. I should have told you I am also here. I'm sorry" He apologized again and again.

"No, I am sorry."

"No, I am sorry."
..
.
.
It went on a few more times before Araav started to interrupt.
"If you guys are done with the sorry session. May I enter? "
He was standing in front of the elevator door with a sarcastic face.
I didn't realize that I was standing in his way. I soon pulled out of the way and started to apologize to him, and soon dev joined me on the trail out of guilt.

"Are you guys dating or what? Apologizing on each other's behalf and wearing the same clothes. What's going on? " He asked with a raised eyebrow.

Only then I realized we were almost twinning. He also wore his black hoodie, which made me blush as he looked fricking handsome. Without even realizing, a smile curled up on my face. I wanted to do that nazar utarun hand gesture but could not as that would be so obvious.

He smiled at Araav before turning my way, making me stop breathing for a second.

"Yeah, it seems like we are twinning today. Haha, same pinch. Btw you look cute in this. " He said while smiling, making his eyes squirm and look even cuter.

(Fuck... I can feel a whole zoo in my stomach. Is this what getting complimented by your crush feels like? I felt like jumping off a cliff while screaming top of my lungs. Really. Ahhhhh)

[() means thoughts, and "" Means dialogue]

Before I could react, we reached the ground floor. We then headed to the lounge area for the discussion. Where all the briefing was done. Then we headed to dine in the area for breakfast. I had a fruit bowl with yogurt since I was not feeling like eating anything. Aarav got his protein pancakes with a smoothie, as usual. Dev was busy with a call, so he didn't join us for breakfast.

After breakfast, we went for the briefing and then for the shoot. It was a poolside shot, so everything was arranged near the pool area. It was a pretty hot day, so some additional tents were arranged for shade. The shoot began, and the first sequence was a couple of close-up shots of Dev. Those shots turned out great, and he looked exquisitely handsome as I could hear the girls in the crew gasping for air and giggling among them. 

I was deprived of witnessing such a glorious moment by my sweet friend Araav as he went out for the fashion week briefing, and I had to stay back for the background setup near the fountain. When my phone rang, I was talking with the set designer about the next changes. It was a call from Mrs. Sherry. 

"Hello, Sherry Good Aftern-"

Without letting me finish the sentence, she asked, "Where is Mr. Nathan?"

Mr. Nathan is the director of the Ad film.

"He is filming. Is there anything wrong?" I asked with a tense tone. Usually, Sherry doesn't ask for a particular person; if she asks, something big will happen. 

"Not yet. Get him on the phone. He is not answering."

"Sure, Is everything okay?" I nearly ran to the director's chair.

She answered lowly, "Yes. As of now". She paused before finishing her sentence. "Smriti will replace Harnaaz Sandhu. She got injured while filming a movie, so she will not be shooting for a few months now."

I was crossing the shooting area when I froze. I was standing in the middle of the frame. I could hear someone yelling at me, but I could not care less. My eyes started to tear up. I was about to take another step when someone pulled me in. I felt a tall wide embrace around me. 

"Are you okay?" I looked up to see the source of the sweet husky voice. It was dev. He maybe saw the tears in my eyes, which made his face look concerned. 

"Yeah," I said with a low voice. "What happened?"

"You were about to fall in the pool. You should be mindf-"He was about to complete his sentence when he got cut off by Sherry, who was still on call.

"Hello, Gayatri. Are you there?" 

"Yes. Sorry." I ran over to the director to give him the phone.

I mouthed sorry with a guilty look while handing him the phone.

He announced a break in the meanwhile before going over to the other side to talk on the phone. 

"Is everything okay?" A tall figure appeared behind me. 

It was Arav his face was full of concern. 

"Nothing. Just stay here and check on everything. I will go to talk to runway PR." I rushed out as fast as I can.

I went to the fashion event venue to meet Subhra. She already knew about the replacement. 

We talked with PR and discussed everything regarding the changes. I did not even realize that we have been in the meeting for this long, It's almost dark now.

I headed back to hotel to freshen up and eat something.

It took me over an hour to get back to hotel because of traffic.

(Finally....) I let out a sigh of relief on the sight of the hotel door.

As I was about to leave my car I saw someone approaching.

"Hi! Thank god you're here!!!" 

"Dev? What happened?"

"Can you please do me a favor?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I have to go to Wankhede stadium and there's no one available. Mr Sahani went to hospital because of a family emergency and Arav went with the director for some changes in post production. Can you please help?..."