Chapter 10
Ten
RAASHI
The room erupted into noise and chaos the minute they entered. Everyone was shouting, asking questions, demanding answers, making threats…Everyone but Harsh who stared at her like he was looking at a ghost.
Raashi sank into a seat in the corner of the room, her hands wrapped around the steaming hot mug of tea someone thrust at her. The door banged open making her flinch and her brother and father walked through. The noise levels were climbing to levels that would have glass shattering soon. Raashi pulled her legs up, her knees to her chest as she tried to make herself as small as possible.
Someone pushed the door open again and this time, Harsh’s father, Suryakanth Kodela, walked into the room. The room went silent as the older man came to a halt in the middle of it, his hands crossed at his back, a ferocious frown on his face. A frown that was directed at Harsh, Raashi noticed.
“What have you done now?” Suryakanth Garu asked Harsh, his Telugu flawless but lined with utter contempt.
Surprised, Raashi glanced at her archenemy. Harsh’s face was a smooth, blank mask. As she watched, a small sneer tipped his lips up. A strange disquiet settled inside her at the sight. What had he done? Raashi was the one who’d set this chain of events off.
“You’ll have to be more specific Nanna. I’ve done a lot. What exactly are you referring to?” Harsh’s laconic drawl was the same one that usually had her hackles rising. But this time, she felt like a spectator about to watch a show unfold.
“It’s not enough that you prance around half naked on the screen, you have to shame us off screen also?”
“Nanna.” Agastya intervened, stepping between his father and brother. “What are you going on about?”
“Ask him!” Their father snarled, pointing a finger at Harsh. Agastya glanced at Harsh, but he only shrugged in response, clearly having no clue what he’d done to enrage their father.
“I don’t know what he’s frothing at the mouth about. I promise I haven’t pranced around half naked off screen.”
“Put on the news,” Kodela Uncle snapped.
As one, everyone’s heads snapped towards Raashi’s father. He put his hands up in the air, palms out and shook his head. “Whatever this is, it’s not us. My team has not flagged anything with me.”
“Not City News.” Kodela Uncle picked up the remote himself and turned the television on, navigating to a local channel.
A second later, Raashi’s face filled the screen. The strange cloud of disassociation she’d been floating in started to lift as she watched the video clip of the girl flinging the ridiculous high heeled blingy sandal at her face. Someone had gotten hold of the store’s CCTV footage.
Harshians, Harsh Kodela’s fans, are claiming to be proud of the girl’s actions.
“Anyone who says anything about Harsh Anna is our enemy. And we will not allow them to live in peace,” a young boy with a straggly moustache proclaimed.
We have received an anonymous tip that claims that Harsh Kodela is behind all of this, that he is encouraging the Harshians to defend his reputation. For those of you who don’t already know the latest news, Raashi Gadde, daughter of City News Founder, Chaitanya Gadde, called Harsh Kodela a ‘manwhore’ at the glittering premiere of Maa Pranam, his latest release.
While Kodela is known for never being seen with the same girl twice, it’s to be noted that several of those girls have now come forward to talk about his mistreatment of them. Manwhore is one thing but is Harsh Kodela also an abuser? Stay tuned for more details as we break this story.
“What rubbish!” Veda’s voice broke the stunned silence, as she grabbed the remote and hit pause. “What utter rubbish.”
Harsh stared at the screen, a muscle ticking in his jaw. He didn’t say a word. Raashi’s heart cringed in her chest at the mess her thoughtless words had caused.
“Is it true?” Suryakanth uncle demanded.
“Nanna!” Agastya’s shock was obvious. “How can you even ask that? Of course it’s not true.”
Harsh still didn’t say anything. He just kept staring at the television with the news anchor’s face frozen on it.
“I am asking you a question, Harsh! ANSWER ME!”
“He shouldn’t have to.” It took a moment for her to realise that the words came from her. Raashi wanted to shrink back in her chair as everyone stared at her, but she forced herself to her feet and met Suryakanth Kodela’s furious glare. She’d made this mess; it was but right that she clean it up. She may not like Harsh, but she liked to be fair. And this moment stank of being unfair.
“Surely Uncle,” she said. “Surely you know your son better than that.”
“You obviously know him better than me. You only called him a manwhore, no?” Suryakanth Uncle taunted, slipping back into Telugu.
“I did,” she answered in the same language. “But knowing he’ll sleep with anything that moves doesn’t mean he’s a toxic abuser who’s setting the rabid mob of his fans on me. Even I know that much about Harsh. How come you don’t?”
Her sister’s sharp intake of breath told her she might have gone too far. But Raashi didn’t care. Too far was exactly where she needed to go right now. There was nothing to be gained by half measures.
“Raashi.” Her father’s voice was quiet but firm. “Enough.”
“Nanna, this is stupid,” she told him, refusing to be cowed. “And no, it’s not enough.”
“Yes,” Suryakanth Kodela agreed with her. “It is stupid. But it is stupidity that both of you have created, no? So now what are you going to do about it? How will you fix it?”
Feeling a little outmaneuvered, Raashi stumbled over her answer. “We just need to wait for it die down.”
“That’s not going to happen Chinna,” her brother Ram said gently. “Not on its own. The situation needs to be managed.”
“How?” Veda asked. “Should we call Virat?”
Virat Jha was Agastya Kodela’s best friend and, his fixer. If they thought he was needed, Raashi was in real trouble.
Agastya didn’t answer his wife. He was staring at Harsh who was looking at his phone, a pained expression on his face. “What is it?”
“My PR team is here. They want to talk to us about damage control.”
“The same team who didn’t even know you needed damage control?” Agastya asked acidly.
“That was my shithead of a manager who thought he was using this to my advantage,” Harsh replied quietly. “Ex-manager now.”
Raashi’s father nodded approvingly at him. “Good for you. No point in having incompetent idiots working for you.”
Raashi rolled her eyes. Of course, her father had time to dole out business advice at a time like this. His priorities had always been crystal clear.
“Bring them in,” Agastya told Harsh now. “Let’s hear what they have to say.”
“No!” Harsh sounded panicked.
“Why not?” Ram asked, suspicion darkening his face. “You don’t want us to hear what they have to say?”
From Harsh’s expression, Raashi knew Ram Anna had hit the nail on the head. Perversely, now she had to know what it was that he was hiding. Maybe that damn slipper had given her a concussion. What did she care about Harsh Kodela’s alpha asshole image issues?
The already crowded room’s door opened and a couple of terrified looking people entered. The PR team, she supposed.
Suryakanth Kodela folded his arms over his chest and lowered his chin like a bull getting ready to charge.
“Well,” he barked. “Let’s hear it. What’s the idea?”
The older man out of the two took a deep breath and seemed to find some semblance of a spine. “Sir, given the current situation and its impact on both parties, Mr. Harsh Kodela and Ms. Raashi Gadde-“
“Faster,” Raashi’s father snapped, interrupting the other man. “And use smaller sentences. We don’t have the whole year to listen to your speech.”
“We think we should pitch it as a lover’s quarrel,” the man squeaked, the words erupting in short bursts.
A lover’s quarrel? That would mean…Raashi pivoted to look at Harsh who was staring at her, a similar look of horror on his face.
“Noooooo!” she screeched.
Harsh winced. “Want to pitch your voice a little higher? The bats in Warangal haven’t taken flight yet.”
“I am not your lover!” Her voice was high and strident, her cheeks flushing uncomfortably hot. “I never will be.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart,” Harsh told her. “Praying Mantises are not my style.”
She was about to launch herself at him when Agastya spoke up. “I assume you mean they fake a relationship.”
The terrified publicist nodded. “We can then pitch what happened as a lover’s spat and it brings a whole different slant to the argument.”
“A different slant?” Ram queried.
“It could be considered banter rather than abuse. A relationship between the two would have the Harshians backing off from their hate campaign and it also makes Harsh Sir look respectable.”
Suryakanth Uncle snorted. “Respectable.”
“You need that for the new role,” Agastya told Harsh.
“No. No. No.” Harsh backed away from his brother, his hands running through his hair and tugging at it painfully. “NO.”
“It’s fake Harsh,” Agastya said. “It’s acting, something you do for a living. And it’s temporary. Once things settle, you can fake a breakup, and everyone can move on with their lives.”
“What is to stop his Harshians from attacking her when they break up?” Ram asked, forever in Big Brother mode.
“Harshians,” Raashi scoffed under her breath. “A stupid name for stupid fans.”
“Raashi?” Veda said mildly.
“Yes?”
“Shut up.”
Raashi’s mouth opened and shut a couple of times, but no sound came out.
“You’ve said enough,” her sister informed her. “Now sit down and let us figure this out.”
Raashi sat.
“Harsh,” Agastya spoke into the silence that followed. “Do you have any other ideas? Anything that could work for both of you?”
Raashi watched Harsh shut his eyes tight, his shoulders bowing in defeat as he shook his head.
“No,” he said, resignation lining the word. “I don’t.”