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***
Performance
On a rainy morning in early July, the sets were abuzz with people rushing to finish the wedding preparations. In May of 2016, season two of Dil Dosti Dance was renewed due to popular demand. With the original creative team on board, the story line was shaping up nicely with the characters going through a five year leap. They were supposed to be shooting Nil and Simmi's wedding sequence today, something Maccy was ecstatic about. But it was July, and at the peak of the monsoon season, which meant that outdoor shoots weren't exactly feasible and travelling was quickly becoming an issue too.
So while they waited for the set to be arranged, and their actresses dolled up - most of the men of the D3 gang stood about gossiping. Amar and Bharat were arguing about something inane, while Maccy was busy texting someone. Archie was pestering the directors in a campaign for better food on set, when he noticed a little boy wandering around, staring at the set in curious amazement.
As the boy neared him, Archie gasped loudly. The boy looked ridiculously familiar. In fact, he looked just like...
"Ah! It's Shantanu!" Archie yelped, "He shrunk!"
"Idiot," Maccy scowled, not even bothering to look up from his phone. "How can Shantanu shrink?"
"Well, then how do you explain this?" He almost screamed, and Maccy, Amar and Bharat looked up bewildered. Agitated, they followed his gaze, sure that this was just another one of his melodramas.
Then they actually saw him, and their jaws fell open in shock and horror.
"Holy shit! It's miniature Shantanu." Maccy gasped. There was no explaining the uncanny resemblance. The boy seemed tall for his age, almost lanky with his lean build. His face betrayed his young age. He couldn't be more than five years old, although his longish hair and mischievous eyes spoke volumes of maturity beyond his years. But his most striking feature was his aquiline nose, which was very reminiscent of Shantanu's.
"See, I told you he shrunk!" Archie told them vehemently.
"But that's not possible. How can he just shrink? There's got to be another explanation for this." Maccy tried to remain calm, but this was a really bizarre situation.
"Maybe he's Shantanu's younger brother!" Amar suggested logically.
Maccy shook his head, fervently in denial. "Shantanu's brother is older than him. Even all his cousins are older than him."
Bharat shrugged and without really thinking, he began, "then the only other explanation I can think of..."
"OH MY GOD! HE'S SHANTANU'S SON!" They gasped in unison.
With newfound curiosity, they scrutinized the boy with an astounded silence, watching as the boy walked around the set, carefully observing his surroundings. He seemed to be fascinated with the cameras and the lights, as he cocked his head to the side and tried to understand the mechanics of all the equipment.
"Oh my God," Amar breathed quietly, eyes round. "He even behaves like Shantanu."
By this point, Archie could no longer bear the suspicion. He was itching for a confrontation, and so he resolutely marched up to the unsuspecting boy. Maccy, Amar and Bharat eagerly followed.
"Where's your dad, little boy?" Archie demanded authoritatively. There was no time to exchange pleasantries.
The little boy shrugged, "I think he's outside."
As if on cue, the door burst open and Shantanu hurried inside, holding a child's backpack in one hand and an umbrella in the other. He saw his friends and approached them, looking frazzled. "Hi, sorry I'm late. Something came up,"
"We can see that." Maccy glared at him, fiercely. He gestured at the boy, with a curt nod of his head at Shantanu's confused look.
Shantanu shook his head dismissively, "Oh him? Yeah, he..."
"Yeah, we know exactly who he is," Archie butted in, looking stony.
"You do?" Shantanu was surprised. How could they possibly know?
"How could you do this to us?" Amar demanded, arms crossed and looking indignant.
"Forget about us," Bharat scowled darkly, "how could you do this to Vrushika?"
"What happened to Vrushika?" Shantanu asked, immediately concerned. His mind was already racing, as the panic began to mount. "Is she sick? She was fine last night. What happened?"
"How do you think she'll feel when she finds out you have a son? She'll be crushed," Amar was severely disappointed in his friend.
"What? What son?"
"I mean, we know you're not official, but come on! Everyone knows you have a thing for each other. Her heart will be broken, when she finds out," Bharat ranted angrily. Vrushika was like his sister and if anyone messed with her, they would see the worst of him. Glaring menacingly at Shantanu, Bharat plotted to wreak havoc in retaliation for the tears Vrushika would shed, once she found out.
"Finds out what?" Shantanu was beyond confused. "What have I done?"
"What have you done?" Maccy asked incredulously. "You have the nerve to ask us, what you've done, when your son is standing right in front of us?" He pointed at the oblivious boy angrily.
"How stupid can all of you get? That's my nephew, Adhyan! Bhabhi had a family emergency, so they went upstate. There was no one else to watch him, so I volunteered. Bhaiya, just dropped him off now!" Shantanu told them furiously. "I can't believe you guys!"
"Oh." Archie said quietly.
"We knew that," Maccy laughed sheepishly. "We were just testing you."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence guys," Shantanu snapped sarcastically. "Nice to see you know me so well, after all these years."
"Hey, can you blame us?" Amar demanded. "He looked like you, and he talked like you. What else were we supposed to think?"
Bharat chimed in supportively, "Yeah, come on, no one would have guessed that he's your nephew."
They were spared Shantanu's verbal lashing, when a disgruntled Samentha found them. "Shoot's been cancelled," Sam announced as she sidled up in her lacy white wedding dress, looking stunning but absolutely frustrated. "It's pouring outside and we can't shoot a garden wedding sequence in the rain." Then she noticed the miniature Shantanu staring at her from the side. "Oh hi sweetheart," Sam cooed at the boy. "You must be Shantanu's nephew! You look just like him."
Shantanu glared pointedly at his friends, who all looked terribly guilty. He had a few choice words for them, but they were saved again, when he was distracted by the side door opening.
For a moment, he forgot how to breathe. The woman standing in the doorway was breathtaking. It didn't occur to him then that everyone else was captivated by her too. He only ever had eyes for her, although he didn't really know why.
In a plain butter yellow chiffon saree, Vrushika was aiming for subtle elegance, and yet with the way everyone was gaping at her, she felt like she had upstaged the bride. "Why are they all staring at me?" She whispered anxiously to Sam.
"Because you look like a total babe," Sam gushed, awestruck by how beautiful her best friend looked without any make up or even any jewellery.
"You think?" Vrushika smiled, surprised and yet pleased. She twirled around for Sam's benefit. "I was going for a simple look. I didn't even have time to put on any make up. Danish stopped by to say that shoot's been cancelled. Do I look weird without make up?"
Sam snorted, "You could wear a potato sack and still look amazing."
Vrushika beamed at her best friend, not noticing the way Shantanu stood rooted in front of her, still gaping at her.
Not too subtly, Bharat nudged him, scowling. "Close your mouth, you'll catch flies."
It took him a while to process that too. Shantanu couldn't help it. Vrushika was wearing a tiny yellow bindi and just a plain, yellow saree and yet, she had never looked more attractive to him. Her skin seemed to be glowing without any make up, and she looked so pure and beautiful, that he could barely keep his eyes off of her.
When she caught him staring, Vrushika offered him a vibrant smile. Mentally cursing himself for being so obvious, he nodded awkwardly in acknowledgement before checking on his suddenly too quiet nephew. Adhyan stood between him and Vrushika, and the little boy looked more than besotted. In fact, Shantanu was sure that if Adhyan was a cartoon character, he would have hearts in his eyes. "Stop drooling," he told his nephew crossly.
"Oh hello," Vrushika had finally taken notice of the small boy. "Who might you be?"
"He's my nephew, Adhyan," Shantanu offered, before turning to his awestruck nephew. "Why don't you take a picture, Adhyan? It'll last longer."
"Stop being mean to him, Shantanu," Vrushika swatted him on the arm. Then she turned to the little boy with a radiant smile, "Hi Adhyan, I'm..."
"I know exactly who you are," Adhyan cut in, staring at her dreamily. "You're Chachi!"
There was a moment of silence as Shantanu and Vrushika exchanged bewildered glances.
"I'm not Chachi," she stated simply, blinking at the little boy with wide, unsure eyes. "I'm Vrushika."
"So you're Vrushika Chachi," Adhyan concluded with confidence. He seemed pleased with her response, like she had clarified all his doubts.
"No, just Vrushika." She didn't hesitate to answer, because she wasn't married and she wasn't anyone's chachi.
Adhyan looked confused. He turned to Shantanu with a pout forming, "Chachu, why is Chachi saying that she's not my Chachi?"
Shantanu's head was spinning, "because she's not."
Adhyan was distressed at the news. He stamped his feet in anger. "What do you mean she's not my Chachi? Of course, she's my Chachi!"
"Why do you think that she's your Chachi?" Sam questioned the precocious little boy patiently.
"Because Chachu's always kissing her!" Adhyan exclaimed, exasperated now.
"What?!" The boys all gaped at him. With gobsmacked expressions, they stared at Shantanu, then Vrushika and back to Adhyan, who looked extremely displeased for having to explain himself.
Shantanu wished for the ground to split, so that he could be swallowed into the earth. This had to be the single most embarrassing moment of his life. He didn't dare to look up at Vrushika; he was too mortified to even imagine what she must be thinking.
"I always see him kissing her on TV, and you can only kiss someone if you're married, so they must be married and that means that she's my Chachi," Adhyan insisted. Why could no one see his logic?
Smiling sympathetically, Vrushika kneeled down in front of him. "Who told you that?"
"My mummy," he told her honestly. "She says that you're my Chachi." He was being honest. He remembered it clearly. There was that one time, he had seen them showering together on TV and his mother (who had turned extremely red), had explained that this was his Vrushika Chachi.
"But when I'm on TV, I'm not Vrushika. I'm Sharon and your Chachu isn't my husband. He's Swayum, Sharon's boyfriend." Vrushika tried to explain patiently.
But he wasn't paying attention. He had thrown his arms around Vrushika's neck and was hugging her tightly, "You can't be two people at the same time, Chachi." He looked at her affectionately, almost as if she was being silly and he found it adorable.
Shantanu ignored the sniggering, and gently grabbed his nephew by the shoulders, pulling him away from Vrushika. "Okay, I'll explain it to you. I'm an actor, Adhyan. So is Vrushika. We get paid to pretend to be married."
He tried to simplify it in the easiest way that he could, but was alarmed when Adhyan looked even more worried.
First his lower lip started quivering, and soon his wide eyes were welling up with unshed tears. "But Chachu, if you're pretending then you're lying and if you're lying then it's really naughty. Mummy says that naughty boys get put in jail!" He cried hysterically. By now, Adhyan was really anxious. "Chachu they're going to take you to jail!"
With Adhyan sobbing miserably and the gang howling with laughter, both Shantanu and Vrushika were both stumped with how to deal with this situation. Shantanu looked at Vrushika nervously, while she only watched his nephew with an expression of concern. His entire body seemed to be shaking with the force of his terrified sobs.
Not bearing to see the sweet little boy in tears, Vrushika swiftly took charge. She wrapped her arms around him and wiped his tears away. "No one is going to take your Chachu to jail. I won't let them. Now, stop crying and the we can have some chocolate!"
"Chocolate?" He instantly perked up at the mention of chocolate. The tears seemed to disappear in an instant, and Shantanu stared doubtfully at his nephew. Adhyan was too excited to notice. "You're the best Chachi in the world." He grinned, almost skipping to the door.
Vrushika grinned, ruffling his hair, "that I am."
As she passed by him, Shantanu seized her by the wrist and yanked her back towards him. "What the hell are you doing?" He hissed. "You're misleading the child."
"Tell me something Shantanu," Vrushika regarded him coolly. "Did you see the way he reacted when we told him the truth?"
"Yes, but he's young. We should explain it to him." He argued logically.
"He's a child," she stressed, crossing her arms over her chest and jutting her hip out to one side. "He didn't believe us then and he's not going to believe us now."
"So what, we're just going to let him think that we're married?" He asked furiously, flailing his arms around. "That we're in love!"
Vrushika raised an eyebrow at him. "It's going to be a whole lot more awkward if we have to explain why we keep kissing."
"Point," Shantanu admitted grudgingly. He didn't even want to broach that topic ever again. Especially not with Adhyan around.
Vrushika rolled her eyes and went after Adhyan. "Now, are you coming, or am I going to handle this by myself?"
Like a henpecked husband, Shantanu left hastily after her, ignoring the wolf whistles and cat calls at their exit.
***
To be continued...
😛😆Originally posted by: ..MiStLeToE..
Reserved.
^Unreserve^
OH MY GOD!!!! My Day couldn't have get started any better. . .Like I am literally rolling on floor laughing 🤣 🤣 🤣
Adhyan is a bunch of cuteness!!! When the whole thing started I literally thought Shantanu has shrunk like the movie 😛 But then the D3 boys always have some different wierd tangent to everything! And By God what 'Logical' explaintaion they come up with SHANTANU'S SON 🤣 The way they all reacted I could totally imagine Shan giving those wierd looks 🤣
And then Vrushika came and I couldn't have imagined that it will go the way it did. . .
"Take a picture. . .It will last longer!" Hahaha Shantanu! This was hillarious!
The way Adhyan was convinced that Vrushika is her Chachi because his Chachu keeps kissing her
was so damn funny. VruShan could actually dig the earth to get swallowed if something like this happens in reality 😛
Oh Lord!This whole thing was so crazy and I absolutely loved it!You made my day! I guess I will be reading this over and over again!
Plz do continue it sooner se bhi sooner!
Chitra :)
Word Count: 1
Originally posted by: --lavanya--
How do manage to bring a big stupid idiotic smile on my face every freaking time ? 😃
Omg ! Now that's a one shot ! I'm feeling so happy ! 😃Wow 👏At times I was rofling 🤣 But I was surely smiling throughout ! 😃Love you so much for writing this 🤗Here , Adhyan represents every hopeless VruShan fan like me 😆I so loved it ! Now gonna read for the second time ! 😃You made my day !! 😃Love ,Lavanya 😳
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