Off Script Story | ✔

48- Danger Alarm

Maya 

"Congratulations Maya!" Sarah shouted, clapping loudly. We were all sitting together in our house, having a small kind of party to celebrate my decision to sign with the DS agency.

"No doubt, it will be amazing for you, Maya. Even Ajay will also be there," Ayushi said, taking the snacks from the centre. 

"Oh, Maya, did you tell Ajay?" Ishaan asked all of a sudden. His voice felt like he was tense about something. 

I had no idea of what I should say. "No… I couldn't contact him." He must be too busy with his acting workshop. These days, whenever I called him, either his manager would pick up or he would pick up for a second and hang up saying he was busy.

"Don't be upset. He must have a good reason. You can surprise him when he comes back." Ishaan's demeanor changed. His attitude was back to normal. He pushed back and leaned against the wall behind him.

I couldn't help but feel something odd. Something is definitely not right but what is it? 

He chugged down his coke, looking suspicious as ever. I just made a point to ask him later and shrugged this weird feeling off.

"Anyway, it's all going well for everyone. I just hope it stays like this." 

"Right! That reminds me… I heard writer Ishita is going to probably select Ishaan as her choice for the lead. Good for you!" Sarah nudged Ishaan. His face turned dark yet he managed to handle himself.

I opened my mouth wide as my pupil dilated in surprise, getting caught off guard. "Are you talking about Ishita Srinivas who wrote the film 'Sherni'?" Ishita Srinivas, the legendary writer of the film was greatly praised for the plotline. But it almost seemed like no one knew her. She never revealed her identity, at least not to the media. 

"Yeah… it seemed like she wanted Ishaan to play his next hero. I heard from a reliable source," Sarah announced happily. I remembered that she was also the writer of Ajay's new movie, "Not her First." 

"She is writing another film already. She must be pretty fast." 

"Yeah… I found it weird too. Isn't Ajay playing the lead in his recent one? Writing a new film so early is just so… unexpected. I don't know." Sarah shook her head, unaware of what was truly going on.

I was the most confused one but when I thought a little more, I realized that they would not replace Ajay in this same film, would they?

I chugged down the water from the bottle kept aside. For some reason, I couldn't get rid of the suffocating feeling. From the corner of my eyes, I looked at Ishaan. He kept slurping on his drink, avoiding meeting eyes with me. 

He had been doing this for some days now. He would always pick me up on his way to work but recently, it felt like he was avoiding me for some purpose.

Suspicious. So suspicious.

"Ugh, this man! He makes me so sick!" Ayushi gritted her teeth, complaining about someone, looking at her phone. "This guy is too much. He thinks so highly of himself just because he is getting married to the daughter of the boss. Argh!" She fisted her palm, as if ready to throw a punch right into his face. 

"What's wrong? What happened?" I asked as she sighed loudly.

"My team manager. He is not even giving me a break. I am already so done with him." Ayushi stretched her hands, tired of her daily things. 

Even in the morning, as she said earlier, she was running errands for her manager and was busy digging up news on celebrities. "Hey, did you all hear anything spicy going on in the industry? It will be amazing then." She was suddenly energised as she looked forward to some breaking news.