When Love Calls #Wattys2019

Chapter-19

Next morning I didn't wake up at my usual time since I was not feeling well. I was woken up by a phone call, I picked the call without looking at the number.

"Hello" I said in my groggy voice.

"Hello, am I speaking with Miss Trisha Talwar?" The male voice asked from the other end of the line.

"Yes it is. May I know who am I talking to?" I asked still little sleepy.

"Good Morning Mam, This is Deepak from Daily Times. Mam is it true you are having an affair with the owner of the entertainment company Abhishree?" He asked and that did the trick to completely wake me up from my sleepy state.

"WHAT?" I shouted as I jerked myself and sat on the bed.

Leena woke up due to my sudden shouting and looked at me confused.

"Mam for how long you are having this affair with Mr. Abhijeet Khurana? Did it start after you joined the dance show or it started before? Are you trying to use these means to win the show?" He kept asking and I didn't know what to say to him. To say I was shocked will be understatement.

Not knowing what to do and how to answer him I hung up. I looked at Leena who was still looking at me curiously to know what made me shout so loud in the morning.

"Leena, something happened. It was a call from a reporter from Daily Times and he asked me for how long I am having an affair with Jeet." I told her and her eyes widened and jaw dropped due to shock.

"What, why, I mean How?" She asked trying to consume the fact that some paparazzi got to know about me and Jeet. Although he didn't know the complete truth but he is not far from truth too if he knows I and Jeet have something.

Just then my phone rang again, it was an unknown number.

"Hello Trisha Mam, Are you and Mr. Abhijeet Khurana are dating?" A women asked as soon as I picked up the call and I hung up again. This time I switched off the phone to avoid any more such calls.

I was a little worried since I never dealt with midea and now I am a part of a gossip or scandal whatever they call it.

Now we heard Leena's phone ringing. It was Shreyas.

"Hello, Shreyas" She said as she picked the call and kept it on speaker.

"Hey Leena, Please tell Trisha to not panick after watching the news, our PR team will handle it. Tell her to not answer any calls from unknown numbers and avoid leaving the hotel today. I will arrange for you guys and your team to practice in hotel since we have the shoot in the evening.

Abhi is working on securing the hotel so no midea person can enter hotel premises to harass you guys. We are sorry to cause all this trouble for you guys, if we wouldn't have stayed the night this would have been avoided." He said and Leena was about to respond when I chipped in.

"Hey Shreyas, Thanks for informing us and taking control of the situation. I haven't seen the news yet but woke up with some reporter's call. I have switched off my phone for now. Can you please tell Jeet and Moms to call me on Leena's number or hotel number when they want to reach me.

Also please don't feel guilty, you guys couldn't have avoided it because it is media we are talking about, they make news out of anything and everything. Even if I was seen with someone else in a friendly gesture they would have still made it a scandal. I am glad that whatever information they have and whatever scandal it is becoming, it's with Jeet and nobody else. So please chill and tell Jeet too not to feel guilty about it.

If worse comes I will declare the truth and leave the show if the need be. We were doing pretty well before the show and we got so much publicity that we don't care if we win this or not. If it wasn't for you guys we might not have joined the show in the first place, you know we already rejected once." I said and Leena smiled at me.

"You know what Trisha you are a darling. Abhi is so lucky to have you in his life. Alright you guys take care and don't talk much to any of the participants or crew members. We have a crisis to take care of. Talk to you guys later." He said and hung up.

I switched on the TV and put on a news channel and was shocked to see mine and Jeet's photo standing close to a window snuggling each other and Jeet kissing my head while I kept smiling. The tag lines was the worst.

'Is Miss Trisha Talwar succeeding because she is fooling around with the owner of Abhishree producing the dance show starring Miss Trisha Talwar?'

'The secret affair of the famous Choreographer from Delhi Trisha Talwar with owner of Abhishree Mr. Abhijeet Khurana exposed.'

'Abhijeet Khurana and Trisha Talwar found in compromising positions in her room at the hotel she is staying.'

And there were few more, different channel, different tag lines but all were adamant on damaging our reputation.

I turned the TV off and decided to not think about it until it is required for me to speak or take action.

We got ready and ordered breakfast in our room. We just finished our breakfast when we got a call from Jeet on Leena's phone. Leena gave the phone directly to me without picking the call and left the room to finish her makeup.

"Hello" I heard him say when I picked the call.

"Hi Jeet, its me." I said knowing that he will recognize my voice.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to adjust to being the gossip." I said and he chuckled.

"Don't worry my team is working on minimize the damage and suppress the news. We still have to give a statement out so we are organizing a press conference in the afternoon at 2:00 PM at the company office. We need you to be there so the reporters don't bother you every minute of the day. I will send a car for you and Leena at 11:00 AM so you can be prepared about what to expect and answer in the press conference, just call Anuj and he will get your out of their safely.

Do you think your team can handle tonight's show successfully if you are there in practice session with them?" he asked.

"Yes they can, we have already prepared the final acts for this show in advance and they just need to practice one last time before going on stage, I guess they should be okay without me and Leena." I replied and he hung up the call after giving me few instruction.

I updated Leena about the call and we left our room to meet our team to the temporary rehearsal room arranged by Shreyas for my team. I updated them about me not being there for the final practice but asked them to keep recording the practice sessions and share with us on Leena's phone so we can check if any last minute changes needed.