6| Mukhtalif

🤍 Palkon pe oss sa tera naam saja ke,

Rakhta hu yaar mai tujhe khwaab banake 🤍

"The shot is ready, Kiara. Please come on the set as soon as you're ready." Her manager called for her, peeping through the door of her vanity van.

"I'll be there in a minute." Kiara replied with a small smile.

It has been a month since her and Kabir got secretly engaged. They decided not to announce anything to the media yet. No one from their professional life is aware of this yet. Both of them returned to their respective work life after this mini break. Kiara was currently shooting for an upcoming movie which is to be released in another 6 months after which Kiara is going to go on a break to prepare for their wedding.

She has already started searching for designs for the outfits and saving Pinterest pins for the decor inspiration. She was nervous about how the wedding was gonna go but excited about it at the same time. She had already started to tune into a bit of a control-freak bride.

It's the biggest day of their life and she wanted it to be absolutely magical. It's gonna be that special day when they officially announce their love to the world, concrete their relationship and promise to stay together for the rest of their lives. It simply cannot be anything less than perfect.

She gave herself a final glance in the mirror in front of her and then exited her vanity van.

She was instantly hit by a breeze of cold air. She was currently in Karjat, a small city near Mumbai. It was the later December and it being night, the temperature had dropped down. She was feeling cold due to the sleeveless top she was wearing. The female lead of the film wears tops and shorts throughout the film as it is set in the hotter season but sadly it's to be shot in the colder months. It was a walk of about 15 minutes from the vanity van to the place the shot was prepared to be taken.

"Here are your dialogues for the scene." The assistant director said as he handed her, her script.

She read through the dialogues and set her mind onto them. She recited them in her mind a couple of times and decided on how she wanted to deliver it. She mentally did the whole scene and once she was satisfied, she gave a thumbs up to the director.

"I'm ready. Let's start." She said and looked towards her co-actor. It was a casual scene so it didn't require any dramatic settings or actions. Her and the actress who plays her mother were the only two people in the scene.

"Since it's getting late, we want to wrap this scene as soon as possible. Please avoid any retakes and let's get this done quickly." The director said and both the actresses nodded their head in agreement.

After a tiring shoot which lasted for 1.5 hours, the director finally wrapped up the day's schedule. A round of applause went around for both the actresses and the crew.

Kiara quickly exchanged pleasantries with people on the set and started walking towards her vanity. She was all alone on the way back and since it was so late at night, she didn't feel like asking anyone to accompany her. She made her way towards the vanity van all by herself.

She suddenly felt someone's presence behind her but didn't turn around to see who was it. Assuming it must be a crew member, she quickened her pace and continued walking to the vanity van. She could hear the rustling of leaves as someone with heavy footsteps was walking on them, behind her. She had a sense of being followed and got creeped out a bit. She immediately started sprinting to the van and luckily got in it before anything could happen.

She locked the main door of the vanity and only then did she take a breath of relief. After a moment passed, she unlocked the door and came face-to-face with her assistant.

"Aisha, were you following me here?" Kiara asked in a confused tone.

"No, ma'am. I was here since you left and I just got out of the van 2 minutes ago. Why are you so tensed?" She asked, concerned for Kiara.

"I felt like I was being followed here. Must be all the fatigue. Please call Akshay Bhai. I wanna go home right now." Kiara said and Aisha nodded in agreement.

Brother

Kiara once again locked her vanity van and went towards the small dressing area to change her clothes.

She found an envelope there, neatly placed on the vanity. It contained a letter. She unfolded it and started reading.

Cannot wait to hold you in my arms. Patiently waiting to meet you soon again.

- R

She scrunched her eyebrows and thought about who this 'R' must be. She meets a number of people and there are a lot of fans of her who were here today to see a glimpse of her.

She did get a creepy vibe from the letter but not getting riled up at a small incident like this, she tossed the letter aside and quickly changed her clothes.

As she exited her vanity, she saw Akshay bhai, her driver waiting for her. Akshay bhai took her small duffel bag with him and started walking towards where he had parked the car, Kiara and Aisha following behind.

"Sorry Akshay bhua. Ratri ushira tula trasa dila." Kiara apologised feeling guilty for making him drive at such late hours.

I am troubling you at night.

"Kai harakata nahi." Akshay politely replied. It was his job after all.

No problem.

Kiara's eyes were getting heavy due to lack of sleep. She put some under eye cream and closed her eyes. The thought of that letter was long gone from her mind. She dozed off as soon as the car hit the roads.

.

.

.

"Kiara, where are you?" Kiara woke up from her nap with a jolt upon hearing the voice. It was Kabir.

She checked the time on her phone screen, it was 4:27 pm on a Wednesday. She had no idea Kabir was visiting.

She quickly got up from the bed and headed outside to see an extremely worried Kabir standing impatiently in her living room.

"Hello, baby. What are you doing here? I had no idea you were visiting." Kiara said as she moved towards where Kabir was standing.

Kabir immediately gathered her in his hands and hugged her tightly. He took a deep breath of relief when he felt her hands in his hair. She was here. She was alright. Nothing's wrong with her.

"Why didn't you tell me about the attack on you?" Kabir asked as he let go of her and grabbed her by her shoulders. He was trying really hard not to scream at her right now.

"What? 'Attack'?! That's a pretty big word for what has happened." Kiara said as she kept her hands on her biceps.

"Kiara it was an attempt to kidnap. The man followed you for the whole day and even tried to pass a glass of spiked juice to you. It was nothing less than an attack." Kabir said not believing how casually she was taking this.

She had been on the sets of her movie yesterday and some crew members noticed a man in suspicious clothes hovering around Kiara the whole day. When he tried to pass a glass of juice to her, the guards didn't let Kiara drink it and started finding the man for interrogation but he had already escaped by then.

"Who told you this?" Kiara asked Kabir.

"There's something you need to know. A man tried to attack me. He tried to hit me on my head, maybe an attempt to make me unconscious but my guards and I tackled him. I just got minor scratches on my back and arm." Kabir pulled his half sleeve t-shirt up and showed Kiara the injuries he had on his left arm. Kiara's eyes widened and welled up as she observed the minor cuts and scars there.

"I called Aisha just to confirm your well-being last night and it was then when she informed me about all that happened." Kabir continued as he cupped her face, silently asking her to not cry.

"I'm pushed to think both men who tried this on us were sent by the same person. Maybe a business rival of mine." Kabir said as he took a seat on the sofa.

"I've already hired a private investigator and he's looking into every business associate of mine. We'll get to the person as soon as possible." He said as Kiara took the seat next to him. He kept a hand on her knee and she covered his with her own.

"I'm sorry but I beg to differ. It can be a stalker fan of mine." Kiara said, calculating her words.

"What? Why would you think so?" Kabir questioned.

"There's another incident I didn't tell you about." Kiara said.

"Which is?" He asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Wait." Kiara said and left to her room. She came out shortly with a white envelope in her hand.

"Someone left this in my vanity van last week when I was in Karjat, shooting for a movie." Kiara said as she handed him the envelope. After yesterday's incident, she asked someone to find the letter for her.

"When were you going to tell me about this Kiara? How can you keep this from me?" Kabir almost shouted as he got up from his seat.

"I didn't take it seriously. It happens to a lot to people in my industry, especially when we shoot in remote locations." Kiara said, trying to give an explanation to him. Tears had once again filled the back of her eyes. She was gonna break down at any moment now. It was a big foolery on her end to ignore this thing.

"I cannot believe you Kiara." He said as he massaged his temples. A headache had started to grow there.

"I didn't realise it was this serious. I didn't..." She was cut off by Kabir.

"You really should not have taken this lightly." Kabir replied.

"My profession is such, Kabir." Kiara said with a sad smile on her face.

"I completely understand. I'm not blaming you for this, at all." Kabir said as he paced around the living room, a worried expression etched on his face.

"I thought to myself, these things happen; It's okay. Don't worry so much. But now this isn't so simple. What can we do about it?" Kiara said as she held both his hands and tried to give him an assuring smile.

"That's the spirit. What can we do about it?" Kabir said.

"You know that's not what I meant." Kiara said with a small eye roll.

"I'll increase your security. Double up the number of your bodyguards. Maybe get a licensed gun?" Kabir said, trying to find a solution to their latest problem.

"You can't be serious." Kiara said with wide eyes.

"Oh, I am very serious." Kabir replied.

"That a bit extreme, don't you think?" She tried reasoning with him.

"That's extreme? You have no idea the things I'd do for you, baby." Kabir said, keeping his hands on her waist, pulling her to him. Her hands rested on his chest, their breaths mingling and bodies touching each other.

Kabir cupped her face with his hand and stroke her cheek, lovingly.

"Sari duniya jala dunga tumhare ek aasu pe." Kabir said in a rough voice as he rested his forehead against hers.

I'll burn the whole world if you shed a single tear.

~ x ~

Ohhh there's a stalker on the loose... Who do you think is this Mr. R?