The Superstar

07

Nia walked confidently and did a little twirl infront of the mirror while Pari looked at all her antics. It was the weekend and Nia was almost ready for her date. Today, even Pari agreed that Nia looked decent, unlike when her hair is in a bun and all she wears is oversized T-shirt or tanks and shorts.

"P, can I borrow your studs for today please. The design is very pretty, where can I get it from? You know a fun fact? These are Luna 2005's first copy." Nia said looking at the studs kept on the dressing table. The studs were in a delicate infinity symbol. And yes, at times Nia called her P instead of Pari.

"Umm, you can borrow them and these are Luna 2005 original." Pari replied.

If Nia had water in her mouth, she'd definitely spit it out!

"These are real? And you keep them on the dressing table, like they are fake studs bought from local shop?! Common, you need to be careful with these!" It was the first time Pari had seen Nia almost scold her. Usually, Nia is the one who is careless about her things.

Though she asked her to be careful with the studs, Pari noticed that Nia didn't want to wear it anymore. Pari insisted her to wear it but Nia refused.

"Think again Nia, I rarely allow others to use my things." Pari jokingly warned Nia but it was indeed true.

Often during her college days, Priya used to request Pari to borrow her kurti set or salwar and she would blatantly deny. She hated sharing her stuff, be it clothes, jewellery or food with anyone.

"When I have a whole lot of money and many things that I own, that is the day I will let you borrow my things. Already what we have is so less and idiot wants me to share things with her." Pari had said to Priya once.

"Ta-da, I am ready! How do I look? Will he be impressed?" Nia asked Pari curiously, her eyes seemed to sparkle hoping for a positive reply. Pari nodded and wished her luck as well as asked her to be careful as Nia left for the evening.

Oh! To experience dates and those jitters.

"Pari, you want me to take you to the fair nearby?" Aunty asked her with concern as Pari hardly steps out of the house.

"No aunty and don't worry, I am used to being indoors." Pari knew aunty's concern, in fact these days even Nia insists that Pari should step out of the house.

"For this long? It is not healthy for you. You need to breathe in the fresh air and take a walk in nature, beta."
It's been a month she had come here and the times Pari had gone out were very few.

"Yes, Salem hardly let me step out and even on days when he let me, I never felt like going out. Trust me, I am okay here." Pari replied with a sad smile on her face. She felt weird to say his name out loud. It's been long since she has said his name out loud, or spoke to him.

When she escaped, he had his guards lowered and one of the reasons was that she had never shown interest in going out much. All she wanted was to meet her parents and go to their place. She had always denied accompanying him to any function.

She came back to her room and started writing her diary for the day. Today, she wrote to Priya that Priya would have been proud of Pari if she knew about Pari offering her things to Nia voluntarily.

**

At night, when Nia came back, Pari had to listen to her date story for two hours!

"He is soo handsome! He ticks all the boxes - handsome, funny and biggest is that he is from Mumbai - your city." Nia squealed, then she went on to tell her more about the date and repeat the same things she had told her....it was as if Nia was on a replay. She just couldn't stop about him.