Chapter 35
Thirty-Five
HARSH
“You’re getting married tomorrow.”
Harsh rolled his eyes at his sister. “Talk about stating the obvious. What are you doing here anyway?”
“You know what’s not obvious?” Priyanka made herself comfortable in the dirty, plastic chair in the corner of the outdoor set. He noticed she didn’t answer his question.
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.” Harsh checked his reflection out in the mirror an Assistant Director held up for him and held his hand out, asking for a hairbrush.
“You’re working.” Priyanka shifted uncomfortably in the chair.
“Again, with the obvious,” Harsh murmured, brushing his hair and watching his director make his way across the cluttered set to him. The man did not look to be in a good mood.
“Why are you shooting the night before the wedding?” Priyanka pressed, a frown beetling her brows.
“The shoot was planned,” he told her repressively. “The wedding was not.”
Priyanka rolled her eyes this time. “You could have rescheduled the shoot.”
His director, Venkat Garu, had reached them at this time. “Welcome Andi,” he told Priyanka before turning to Harsh. “The scene isn’t working.”
“Would it help if we tried it by the bench on that side?” he asked, knowing in his gut that a change in setting wasn’t going to help anything.
“Harsh,” the other man’s voice was gentle. “You’re exhausted. It shows. Go home.”
“I can do better,” Harsh argued stubbornly. “If you just-“
“I’ve been told there’s a wedding you have to attend tomorrow.”
Harsh glared at Priyanka who studiously ignored him, acting like she couldn’t hear the conversation swirling around her.
“Let’s wrap up for now.” Venkat Garu put his hand on Harsh’s shoulder and squeezed. “Go home, get married. We’ll set another day to nail this scene.”
Harsh ran a hand through his hair, tugging at it to help clear his head. “Ten more minutes. I can-“
“Harsh.” Priyanka stood up, discreetly dusting off the back of her pants. “It’s time to go home. Come on.”
“I’m not a fucking child with a curfew.” He rounded on her furiously. “You guys interfere with my personal life all the time and I allow it, but you don’t get to fuck around with my work.”
Priyanka flushed but she held her ground. “I’m not here to police your work. I’m here to spend some time with my brother the night before he gets married.”
“I also need to get home and get some rest, no?” Venkat Garu interrupted. “You will look good anytime but I need my beauty sleep, so I can look good for your wedding.”
They’d decided on a small, intimate ceremony but even small and intimate in the Gadde and Kodela world was about five hundred people. Harsh sighed, the knots of tension in his shoulders feeling like they were made of concrete.
“Okay Andi,” Harsh conceded defeat. “See you tomorrow.”
With a genial smile, Venkat Garu shouted, “Pack up.”
Frantic activity erupted from all sides as everyone rushed to wrap up for the day so they could get home to their families. Everyone but Harsh. He stood stock still in the middle of all the activity wishing he could go anywhere but home.
“Shall we go then?” Priyanka asked, coming to stand by his side.
An irrational, unbearable pressure built in his chest as he watched the world he’d built for himself be packed away because the world he frequently tried to escape demanded his return.
“Harsh.” Priyanka put a hand on his arm.
He shrugged out of her grasp and strode towards the exit, leaving her to follow him.
“Harsh!” Priyanka scurried after him, irritation and frustration warring for dominance in her voice. Their respective security teams snapped to attention the minute they came into view.
“Sir.” Harsh’s lead bodyguard stepped forward. “We should wait a little before we leave. We heard that there is a massive traffic jam on Road no 36.”
“Why?” Harsh asked sardonically. “Is my father out for a drive?”
Sunil, the guard, smiled slightly. “No Sir. There was a bad accident. It’s taking the police time to clear the roads. It’s also peak office commute time so it’s just a big mess.”
Priyanka sighed. “Let’s get something to eat close by while we wait it out. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.”
Harsh was just going to pretend she was an annoying hallucination sent from the depths of hell to plague him.
“We’ll wait in the car,” he decided, just to be contrary. He could feel Priyanka’s eyes boring holes into the back of his head, but he’d decided to ignore Lucifer’s minion.
She got in beside him, slamming the door of his beloved Lexus LM.
“Cut it out,” he growled. “You damage my car and I will make you buy me a new one tomorrow.”
“What the hell is your problem?” Priyanka demanded. “What fucking bug crawled up your arse? You agreed to this marriage, didn’t you?”
“You agreed to yours as well,” he snapped back. “I don’t remember you being a fucking ray of sunshine the day of it.”
“But that’s me. You, on the other hand, are always a fucking ray of sunshine,” Priyanka shot back. “So why are you being a storm cloud of gloom and doom suddenly?”
The pressure in his chest expanded, making his breath shorten and the fuse of his temper flare brighter.
“Akka, not today,” he said tersely, staring out of the car window.
“If not today, then when? In case you haven’t realised, you’re getting married tomorrow. We have only today, or tonight rather.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tough luck. You’re still going to have to.” Priyanka rolled right over his objection.
And Harsh was just done with it. Done with being treated like the baby in the family, the immature one who constantly needed to be kept in line. Done with being counselled, warned, scolded, taunted…Done with all of it. Mostly, he was done with people thinking they could bulldoze right over him and his wishes.
Sunil knocked on the car window and Harsh rolled it down. “Sir, we can leave now.”
“Goodnight,” Harsh told Priyanka pleasantly, wiggling his fingers at her in goodbye. “Go away now.”
“What?” Her mouth dropped open in shock.
“Get back in your car and go home to your adoring husband.” He looked away from her, anger making it hard to see anything clearly. “I want to be alone.”
“Harsh,” her voice softened. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be pushy but – “
“You don’t get it, do you?” He turned to face her. “None of you do. I don’t want to be coddled, cosseted, cared for. I want to be left alone to find my way. And my way isn’t your way, Akka. And it never will be.”
“Does your way lead to Raashi?” she asked, perceptively, hearing things he wasn’t saying.
Harsh leaned back against the headrest, his eyes shutting in defeat. “I thought it did. Now, I’m not so sure.”
“You have feelings for her,” Priyanka said quietly, a wealth of worry in her voice, the words a statement, not a question.
Harsh didn’t answer. A response wasn’t necessary. His silence was damning enough.
“Have dinner with me, Harsh. You may not want company, but family isn’t always company. Sometimes, family is the therapy you need.”
“I need therapy because of my family,” he muttered.
“True,” Priyanka acknowledged. “But this time, just for tonight, give me the chance to be there for you. As opposed to, just being there with you.”
He rolled his head to the side, looking at her. “I pick the cuisine.”
Priyanka grimaced. “Just don’t say-“
“Sushi,” he finished for her, giving her a triumphant grin. “I want sushi.”
Her answering groan made him laugh, his first laugh of the day. Feeling lighter already, he signaled to the driver to get in and start driving. He knew just the place to ensure Priyanka suffered sufficiently for traumatising him with her sisterly love and concern.