Junoon - Chapter Six

At last, shooting had been successfully concluded, and a party was thrown to celebrate! At first Madhu didn't intend on going, but the other makeup artists had managed to convince her, so she eventually ended up agreeing. Music played as food and drinks went around. While Madhu socialized with her colleagues on the side, RK mainly kept himself at the bar. Him, his heroine, the director, as well as the producer cheered together and tossed back their drinks in celebration.

Hours passed on by and alcohol began to take more over of the room. Madhu decided that she had been there long enough, and decided that she would head home. She made her way through the thick crowd, taking her stuff along with her, as she headed towards the exit. RK was in the middle of conversation with Mr. Mishra, both slightly intoxicated, when he had noticed Madhu, watching her leave.

"Director saab, there is one thing I want to know," he said as he watched her leave.

"What would that be my hero," the tipsy director replied.

"Where did you find that girl with such a filmy name?"

"Filmy name? What- ooooh," he exclaimed, and he picked up and tossed back another shot of vodka.

RK turned his gaze to the director, Madhu being out of sight. "Well?"

"I saw her while they were doing the auditions the other day. We needed makeup artists and luckily she just came like that! How lucky for us that she's agreed to work on our next film as well! Cheers," and he grabbed another shot and drank it.

"People say I'm too much, that I'm filmy! And yet look at her name!"

"You know her?"

"No! I yelled at her once, but that was it."

Mishra started to laugh and RK scowled, grabbing a shot for himself and downing it.

"Stop laughing," RK huffed.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry," the man chuckled. "You and your anger," he continued to chuckle.

RK ignored him, grabbing another shot.

"So then how do you know her name if you've only yelled at her," the man wondered with a frown.

"I overheard you two earlier."

"Oh!!! I see!!! Yes, she does have a very interesting name, huh?"

"Very interesting," RK agreed.

At that moment, Bittuji came over.

"Chief, it's time we head back, you've got your trainer coming in early tomorrow morning," Bittuji said.

"Hmm, of course," RK huffed, and he slowly got up, slightly wobbling. "Boxing," he exclaimed, thrusting his fist up in the air.

"Yes chief, your boxing trainer. Shall we get going?"

"We shall," he exclaimed, holding his arms out.

Bittuji smiled sheepishly and helped his boss out, the two bidding the others goodnight, then heading to the car. He made sure to carefully seat RK before getting in the car himself, and the driver pulled off towards the penthouse. It wasn't long before they arrived, and Bittuji helped his chief out of the car, and led him upstairs. He took him straight to his room, helping RK into his bed.

"Chief-"

"Goodnight Bittuji," he slurred. "Pack up!"

"Goodnight chief," Bittuji smiled sheepishly, and headed off to leave, positive that he was going to deal with slight yelling the following morning from his hungover chief.

It's not like he's never tried to reason him into not drinking too much alcohol. But his chief continued to do as he wished, drinking away. Given that he's been working with him for years now, RK's past was no mystery to him. He knew what his chief had gone through, of the emotional turmoil he's faced. There was no love in his life, only his passion for filming. But Bittuji really hoped that despite his chief's past, that someday, real love would appear in RK's life.

Bittuji quickly headed down and dismissed the staff for the night, then left.

RK tossed and turned for a moment, before he laid completely flat on the bed, his arms spread out. He stared up at the ceiling above him, and for whatever reason he didn't understand, the brunette woman came back to mind. He remembered their first encounter, remembering the look in her eyes, as well as moments from earlier in the day.

"Maaaadhu," and he shook his head to the righ side, "baaaala," and he shook it to the other side before straightening himself. "Madhubala... ahaan...."

*~*

Life had somewhat resumed to normalcy, Madhubala resuming her work at the beauty parlor. She told her coworkers of the opportunity she had received, as well as the one she experienced, and everyone told her that she was lucky. In fact, everyone was in full support of her doing the job, even her boss. Of course, since nothing was finalized yet with dates, Madhu really couldn't say when it is that she would be working for the film. But until that was the case, Madhu would continue on to solely focus on her work here, at the parlor.

On one of her days, she came around to learn that one of her clients, Mrs. Rukmini Mishra, was none other than the wife of Mr. Mishra the director. As soon as the woman had arrived, she had squealed with delight, having learned from her husband prior that Madhu had taken the job of being a makeup artist for his movies. Rukmini quite loved Madhubala, not just because of her elegant name, but because of the elegant looks she created. In fact, any time she had a huge party, she always came into Mystique, specifically booking Madhu to have her do her full glam.

"Honestly Madhu, you should've started an online profile on social media and share your looks," Rukmini said as she looked at herself in the mirror. "You could become quite famous among the stars!"

"Maybe, but I have no interest in that," Madhu smiled softly as she finished up with Rukmini's hair. "There, all done!"

Rukmini let out a small squeal and stood up, admiring herself in the mirror. "My husband has no idea how lucky he is to have actually caught you on set. I'm positive that once he sees me today, he'll have you doing the heroine's makeup for sure!"

Madhu couldn't help but to blush. "I'm fine with doing anyone's makeup, to be quite honest."

Rukmini turned around to her with a dramatic gasp. "Absolutely not! Madhu, you are absolutely talented! And I mean it, really! How many times have I come to you for functions?"

"More than I can count, to be honest," she chuckled lightly.

"Exactly! I've gone to red carpets and because you don't like attention nor seeking credit, I never tell anyone when they ask me who did my look."

"I greatly appreciate that, Mrs. Mishra."

"Of course! But don't sell yourself short! You're talented, and you deserve it. When I get home, I'll definitely talk to my husband about having you do the heroine's look."

"But-"

"Not to worry dear! Don't you worry about a thing! I've got it all handled, hmm? Well I better be off now, it's date night," and Rukmini headed off to the reception desk to make her payment.

Madhu tried calling out to her, but her phone started ringing. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her new phone - having quickly replaced the damaged one - and saw that it was her mother calling.

"Hi Ma."

"Madhu, could you make a quick stop on your way home? Malik's back is acting up again ever since his last stunt."

"Don't you worry about a thing, Ma. How is my favorite stuntman doing by the way? Is he feeling a little old?"

"You know how he is," Padmini chuckled. "He'll never accept the fact that he's starting to get old for this stuff."

"That's for sure. I'll get the relieving cream on my way back. Do you need anything else?"

"No- Roma-!"

"Hi Glycerin!"

Madhu's face filled with confusion. "Roma, what are you doing home so early? Didn't you have a shoot today?"

"Arre yaar! Don't even get me started on that, Glycerin-! Oh! By the way, could you get me some pink nail polish on your way home? I'm going to need it for tomorrow's shoot and I've ran out of my favorite one."

"Not a problem, I know which one you're talking about. Anything else?"

"That's all my lovely Glycerin! Thank you!"

"Not a problem at all," and the two hung up.

The rest of the day went by, and finally, Madhu's shift had come to an end. She headed on out to the store, buying the relieving cream for Malik's backache, as well as the pink nail polish for Roma. As she walked through the store, she noticed the variety of magazines, taking up most of the aisle. Unsurprisingly, many of them dawned the face of none other than RK the Superstar.

He's honestly just everywhere, Madhu frowned.

Except for one, the rest of the magazine covers containing RK was of just him, alone. The one exception had not only him, but his heroine for the new film that would be releasing soon. 

"Well isn't this a shocker," she muttered to herself, and she picked up the magazine. "RK was actually okay with his heroine being on the cover with him? That too not as a tiny person in the corner," she scoffed, remembering the poster she had seen by the bus stop the other day.

Opening it up, she went through its pages and saw the variety of articles and ads, until she finally reached the middle, getting to the article of RK and his heroine. There were a number of photos of them, clearly done from a promotional shoot.

"Hmm... so her name is Sunithi Roy," Madhu muttered as she skimmed through the article. "And she's making her debut.... Well it's no wonder why they would have her so tiny on the posters! How unfair! Not to mention how egoistic is her costar, with his full face on blast!"

Madhu twitched her lips and put the magazine back.

"Hopefully Hero will do something good for her though," and Madhu headed off to the register to make her payment.

With that done, Madhu headed outside to make her way home. As she waited at the corner for the light to change, hoping that she wouldn't end up missing her bus, Madhu didn't end up noticing the sleek black Bentley that was only a few feet behind her, waiting for the traffic light to change. Not only that, but she was unaware of its owner as well, who happened to be the very one that she had just claimed to be egoistic only a few minutes ago.

RK glanced at his phone, having noticed that he had gotten a text. He quickly responded to it and then set his phone aside on the passenger's seat, despite it starting to ring due to Bittuji calling. He tried ignoring it, but it rang once more, so he took the call via bluetooth, connected to his car.

"What is it Bittuji?"

"Chief, I just wanted to let you know that your photoshoot and interview with The Spotlight has been changed-"

"Bittuji, these things can also be spoken about when I get home."

"Sure chief, but-"

You're starting to mess with my vibe, Bittuji. I've got an energetic flow ready for the gym, don't-"

For whatever reason, RK had simply turned his chin to glance out the window, and lo and behold, he caught sight of that very same brunette with the very filmy name.

"Chief?"

"Later," and RK ended the call.

He couldn't move his gaze away whatsoever, watching the woman stand at the corner, glancing at her phone now and then. The walk sign then changed, allowing for her to go, the traffic signal changing to green as well, allowing for RK to move forward. He slowly moved forward, unaware of his own actions, and he watched as the woman turned at the corner. RK turned at the corner as well, but had to quickly come to a halt at the red light. His eyes remained focused on the woman, watching her as she crossed the street, going past his car, completely unaware of him. Even though her figure was getting smaller and smaller, eventually completely gone, RK still could not drop his gaze... that is until everyone started honking behind him. He quickly snapped back to reality, noticing the green light, and drove forward.

Huh... well that was weird.