Two Sides Of A Coin

Side One - Tails

It is a truth universally acknowledged. Every coin has two sides and every human has two faces. What would you do if both the sides came face to face? What would you do if the mirror reflected the very face that you wanted hidden from the world? It's not a situation for the faint at heart. But then life is all about facing situations you are least prepared for.

Mumbai – Rhea's Place - Present Day

It was a flashy, jazzy place and from one look at it you could tell something was off about it. But natural, it was what was called the viewing deck. The girls were all lined up in a row, each wearing cheap imitations of famous designer's runway designs, their makeup garish, screaming for attention. The client though was on the other side of the glass pane, invisible to the girls, but viewing all of them clearly. The handler was by the client's side, explaining, like a car showroom salesman, about the attributes of the girl and if the girl was a fresher or senior (in terms of virginity).

Rhea came to her all excited. "Congratulations Mythu... this is your first assignment, I am so happy for you girl," she hugged Mythu close. Yes, that's the word they used. It was the first time she was being assigned to a man.

One might think girls like Mythili are forced into flesh trade. Kidnapped by a trafficking gang, drugged, sold off, abused and what not. But it is much more sophisticated than that. Much more civilized and polished. See a beautiful girl and they mark her out, do in depth profiling. She was a student pursuing her PhD in Statics but her family needed her to earn, to support her 2 brothers, living it up. Her meagre stipend was not enough to get her through the month in a cosmopolitan like Mumbai. She needed money and that too without disrupting her demanding research schedule. With her mother diagnosed of ovarian cancer, the need became more urgent. There were only two options left – to beg (like they did on social media these days) or to die.

Both were not acceptable to her. If she had fought all circumstances to make this PhD possible, she could fight this too. She looked all around for a job and giving up her on the ambition of a lifetime, the PhD was not an option. That was when Rhea came into her life. She introduced herself as a Model Coordinator. Mythili had caught her eyes from Day 1

The doe eyed beauty was a head turner. What beautiful eyes those were. There was also a carriage about her, a poise so unusual in all the wannabe girls these days. From freshers to even some professors in the University, Rhea knew they could pay any prize for this beauty. But Rhea also knew Mythili was a prize catch and would have to be coaxed gently into the business of trading pleasures. And Rhea had already taken the first step in that direction.

It was after a few modelling assignments, when enquires for Mythili really become difficult to ignore any more. "Do you know how much that producer was pestering me for an evening with you? But I refused. I told him you are not that kind of a girl... he nearly offered 7.5 lakhs for just one evening with you," she said.

Mythili looked at Rhea with her usual poker face. You could never tell what was going on in her mind from looking at her face. NEVER. The silence and the look weighed on Rhea. Finally, Mythili smiled a helpless smile. "What a tragedy," she said, her eyes like frozen lakes. "They all tell you how beautiful you are... that God must've spent such time and effort crafting this beauty, while their eyes are roving all over your body. They think you can't tell. But a woman knows exactly what is going on in a man's mind, from the way his eyes move to the way he stands or sits. She knows exactly what is going on in his mind," said Mythili with steady eyes. She spoke only a few words but when she did speak, her words could silence you with their intensity and wisdom.

Rhea observed as Mythili went back to her books. There have been many girls before, who she gently nudged into the flesh trade, but this girl was different from all of them. Rhea felt a sudden surge of protectiveness towards Mythili. She was human too, you know!