Five-Thirty AM - IX

(Author’s Note: 

I had no intention of adding any A/Ns to this story. But I have to write this one. It would be remiss of me to not give credit where credit is due.

In the last chapter, the whole Aman Mathur dialog and conversation is a brainchild of none other than my dear friend and editor - Ritu aka iRitz. It was she who pointed out that Aman Tinde - which was the original name of the fictional actor - should be changed to Aman Mathur. And the name of his biggest hit should be ‘The Invisible Man’, in a nod to our favourite serial ‘Iss Pyaar ko Kya Naam Doon?’ where Aman was always heard, but never seen. Much like Bigfoot in this story. The rest you have read. 

Hope you liked our little tribute to Aman.
Please take a bow for your jalebified thinking, Ritu.)

Toronto was hot. Muggy and hot. A smog warning flashed in amber colors on the highway signs. The roads were clogged. On a good day, the two main arteries leading West out of the city - Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard - creaked with jammed vehicles during rush hour. Today, though, the roads were way past their breaking point. An accident somewhere ahead, possibly. The sun shone down mercilessly on Lake Ontario, reflecting silver into the eyes of the drivers, making the drive hazardous on top of the heat. It was early September, but it felt like July!

Mitul sat in her car, air conditioning on at full blast, yet sweating wherever the sun touched her. Her hair was held back in a high ponytail, looped through the band of her visor, and sunglasses helped keep the worst of the sunlight out of her eyes. She could feel the sweat trickling down between her breasts and on the band of cloth on her forehead.

‘Come on, Parkside,’ she muttered under her breath, taking a pull from the water bottle next to her, as the traffic crawled along, a sea of vehicles and brake lights visible in front of her. Finally she saw the right turn come up, and was able to get into the filter lane, turning thankfully into Parkside Ave. At least the traffic was moving here!

Swiftly driving through the winding inner streets, she made it to her apartment, and parked in the underground lot, before making her way upstairs to the cool confines of her condo. Stripping herself, she walked into the shower, standing under the icy blast for a while, before she adjusted the temperature to a more reasonable lukewarm. Finally, feeling fresh and clean she stepped out of the shower, pulled on a robe and walked into her bedroom. Picking up the dirty clothes, she tossed them into the laundry hamper, along with the visor which was stained with sweat. How she hated sweating! she thought.

In the kitchen, she quickly put together a cold fruit salad and topped it with some yogurt, carrying it with her to the living area, and switched on the TV. She was dog tired. She’d spent the entire day at the Public Library doing research for her new article for India Digest. Then she’d spent an hour in traffic driving twenty kilometers! There was something wrong with that math, she thought. It shouldn’t take that long, but sure enough - it had!

She plowed through the channels on TV, not really paying much attention to what was on. The Hindi channel was showing some sort of gossip magazine covering TV and films. She flipped to another channel, just as her cell phone started ringing. Piya.

She picked up the phone and said, ‘Hi, Piya!’

‘Hey. Are you at home?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, why?’

‘Turn on ABN,’ there was a strange note to her voice.

‘Why?’

‘Just turn it on, Parda Faash is on,’ she said.

She clicked back to the gossip channel. A vista of rolling hills and gently breaking waves came on in clear 1080p HD on her 55” TV screen.

‘What am I looking at?’

‘Location shooting. Noel’s movie,’ replied Piya.

Her eyes shot open, and she turned on the volume. Letters flashed across the bottom of the screen, but she wasn’t paying attention to them. The reporter was interviewing Noel and his leading lady, Aarti. They sat on chairs as the unseen person holding the mike asked them questions, Noel in the middle. He threw back his head and laughed at something Aarti had just said.

The next question hit her in the gut. ‘Noel, there were pictures of you in Toronto. What were you doing there?’

His face sobered all of a sudden. Aarti was turned towards him, watching him reply with a faint smile on her face. ‘I was on vacation,’ he said quietly, but tempered with a smile.

‘There were rumors that you’d been spotted around town with a lady,’ the reporter persisted. ‘In fact, you’d been photographed with her as well,’ she added. ‘Who is she?’ she asked after being faced down with a blank look from him.

‘A family friend,’ his answer was short, and didn’t encourage a follow-up, the smile obviously strained.

‘But then you disappeared. Where did you go to?’

He frowned and snapped, ‘Like I said, I was on vacation with family friends.’

‘Your fans would like to know,’ the reporter persisted.

He looked over his shoulder, and then turned around, ‘sorry, I have to go. The shot is ready.’ He walked over to the camera and winked, before striding away.

Mitul turned the TV off.

‘Isn’t that cute of him?’ asked Piya. ‘I saw the segment this morning but I couldn’t get hold of you,’ she was laughing as she spoke. ‘Have you talked to him?’

‘No,’ said Mitul softly. ‘I guess he’s been busy.’

‘Well, they are there for only a week, so I guess he must be busting his ass,’ the ever sensible Piya offered an excuse for him.

‘I guess,’ she agreed, before ending the call.

She sat there staring at the blank screen of the TV. It had been five days since she’d dropped him off at the Intercontinental. They hadn’t spoke since. She’d felt lost and out of sorts without him around, but then she’d at least had his voice to keep her company.

The hours of conversation she’d had with him were all recorded, and she’d transcribed everything. She was reading through it these days, the book finally taking shape in her head and under her fingers.

He’d also sent her emails and texts, so it wasn’t like they were completely out of touch. She smiled. He’d really understood her need for space, and given it to her and she truly appreciated it. They’d been living in a bubble, completely isolated from the outside world, with a mythical creature that only let its presence be felt and heard, but never seen. Real life was far away from that.

Something struck her, and she hurried to turn on her laptop. She searched through the internet until she found it. The same segment that they had broadcast earlier. She looked at him, drinking in her fill of his beauty. He was wearing a pale cream, thin cardigan, that barely hid the muscles flexing underneath, with black pants. And he still had the five-o-clock shadow! He’d kept it. She smiled at him, and watched the segment till the end, where he winked at the camera. She laughed out loud. She’d forgotten what a great sense of humor he had! He looked great on camera!

She took out her phone and texted, ‘saw PF 2day. u lkd grt. ty.’

She knew he’d understand what she was thanking him for. Sure enough, ten minutes later she got a text. ‘no. ty. u noticed :o !’

Fifteen seconds later, a follow up text. ‘miss u.’

Her heart jumped, almost choking her. She drew in a deep breath. She missed him too. A lot. She wasn’t going to admit that even to herself, but now he had pre-empted her! ‘miss u 2’ she typed back.

****

The tones of Verdi’s Spring chimed through the layers of sleep. She came awake in a hurry, gasping for breath, groping for her phone, thankfully visible because of the lighted screen in the dark room.

‘Hello?’ she slid the lock open and breathed into the mouthpiece.

Her heart was slamming against her ribs, trying to gather her thoughts as she still fought the deep veils of sleep.

‘Good morning, Mitul,’ the deep, husky voice sent frissons down her spine.

‘Good morning,’ she gasped.

‘It’s Noel,’ she could hear the smile in his voice.

‘Noel?’ she looked at the clock. ‘It’s five-thiry a.m.!’ she said. Deja vu, she thought.

‘I know, I know and I woke you up. I’m sorry.’ He sounded contrite. ‘It’s six-thirty here, by the way. I’m sitting here, getting ready for my shot. They wanted the early morning sunlight.’

She could hear the smile in his voice, as she sat up in bed, pushing the pillows behind her and leaning against the headboard.

‘And what is the shot of the day?’ she smiled back.

‘The whole thing is a song sequence,’ he said.

‘Are you dancing to it?’ she teased.

He chuckled. ‘I work in Bollywood, babe,’ the endearment just slipped out reflexively, he didn’t even notice it! ‘I have to sing and dance for my supper!’

‘And fight the big, bad villains, ten of them, all at the same time,’ she added. Her heart had jumped at ‘babe’, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it. It was just a figure of speech, she told herself. ‘I should go check out your dance moves,’ she teased instead. ‘Get some DVDs, maybe.’

And then her heart did a somersault at his chuckle.

‘I’ll take you dancing next time,’ he said easily. ‘You can check out my dancing skills first hand then.’

She shut up! There was nothing she could say to that.

‘Hello? Mitul?’ he sounded concerned.

‘I’m here,’ she said. There were people’s voices in the background. Then she heard him say, ‘yeah. I’ll be right there.’

‘I gotta go, Mitul,’ he said.

‘I heard.’

He was quiet for a bit and then said, ‘I miss you,’ in a very low, very husky voice.

‘I miss you, too.’ she replied equally low, closing her eyes, allowing herself that much honesty.

‘Bye,’ he whispered.

‘Bye.’

He disconnected the call, and gazed at the phone, not really seeing it. He’d purposely called her this early. He knew he was being selfish. He had needed to hear her voice - especially the way she sounded first thing in the morning - deep and raspy, gliding over his skin like rough velvet. His eyes crinkled up as he remembered the rest of the conversation. He wasn’t lying. Not to himself and not to her. He did miss her. He just hadn’t been prepared for how much he would miss her.

‘Noel!’ the director called again.

‘Coming!’ he yelled back, tucking the phone into his pocket and walking over.

****

It was just after nine in the morning, the next day. Mitul was waiting for the clock to strike nine-thirty. She had a conference call scheduled and truth be told, she was a little nervous about it.

She was sitting at her desk, having typed up a rough draft of the first chapter of Noel’s biography. The words were coming easily to her. The way he’d described himself and his life, clearly articulated and without frills, was a big help. But then, it had to read like a story as well, enough to grip the reader and make them want to know about this man. Writing a biography is easy. It’s putting it together so that it does justice to the subject, as well as to those around the subject, that’s the difficult part. She was just discovering this.

One of the first things that came up was his last name. Should they or shouldn’t they include it? And this was why she was waiting for the conference call. Dev and Joyce would be there to talk her through it.

At exactly nine-thirty she dialed in, speaking her name when prompted.

‘Mitul, Hi. Nice to hear you, finally,’ Dev began.

‘Hi, Dev. Heard a lot about you from Noel,’ she responded formally.

‘Hi Mitul, Dev. It’s Joyce here,’ no one could mistake that nasally voice of hers for anyone else’s! thought Mitul. But Joyce was good at what she did and that more than compensated for the nasal voice.

‘So Mitul, exactly what is the issue?’ asked Dev.

She plunged right into it. Noel had been very careful to leave his family private so far. If they used Noel’s last name, his family would now be exposed. However without the last name, the story would not read so well, nor would it be complete. Were he and his family ready for that?

They went around the pros and cons and finally came to a conclusion. Noel’s last name had never been a big secret. He had dropped it when he had started modeling and he’d never used it again. That was it. Most people had forgotten that his last name wasn’t James!

What was really private, though, were his relationships - especially those with his brothers and his father. Naveen was already well known in his own circles. Same with Naval. Noel never really publicized these relationships, because it didn’t serve any purpose. He preferred to be able to get away from the spotlight when he was with family.

Dev proposed talking to Noel, ensuring that he was okay with making this information public. That should take care of that issue!

After about an hour of discussions, and promises to send out the first draft to Joyce by the end of the day, they finally hung up.

Dev was going through the notes he’d taken during the call. It was late for him, but Noel would be up and about. As a matter of fact, Noel should be heading out to the US today, he realized. He himself was flying out in a matter of days to join him. He picked up the phone and placed the call.

‘Hey, Noel, it’s Dave,’ he said when Noel answered.

‘How’s things?’ Noel asked.

‘Good. Things are good. Did you go through the script I’d sent you?’ he asked.

‘Yeah - it’s pretty good,’ Noel absently scratched his eyebrow as he spoke, his concentration fully on the conversation. ‘Do you wanna talk about this now, or wait till you’re here?’ he asked. ‘I presume you’re still coming over next week?’

‘Yeah, I am,’ Dev confirmed. ‘And okay, let’s talk next week about the new script.’

‘Sounds good.’

‘What time do you leave?’

‘In about 2 hours.’

‘Right.’ Dev paused and added, ‘oh, by the way, I spoke to your biographer today.’

Noel stilled. He closed his eyes as Mitul’s face swam into his vision. He swallowed and said, ‘really? What about?’

‘She was concerned about using your family’s name in the biography. Told her I would speak to you. She was wondering how it would affect your family.’

A reluctant smile came over his face. So she was thinking about protecting him and his family. Just that thought was enough to make him smile.

Why didn’t she ask me herself? he wondered.

‘It’s an editorial and legal issue, Noel, that’s why I guess she didn’t ask you herself. Wanted to go through the proper channels,’ Dev continued, unknowingly answering his question.

He thought for a minute and said, ‘tell her it’s all right, Dev. I already talked to Dad and they are fine with it.’

‘Okay, I’ll let her know,’ Dev grinned. Let’s go for it, he thought. ‘She’s got an unusual voice, by the way, all deep and sexy, and an amazing accent. Does she sound like that all the time?’

He felt a slow flush rising up his neck, just thinking about the call he’d had with her the day before. Now Dev liked her voice, too? ‘I don’t know,’ he parried. ‘Yeah, her voice is kind of deep, I guess, for a woman. I didn’t pay much attention.’

For the first time, he was finding it hard to open up to Dev. They’d never hidden anything from each other, especially when it came to girls. But, for some reason, he felt the need to keep his feelings about Mitul to himself. And Dev was being Dev - a persistent jerk!

‘You didn’t notice?’ Dev was having a hard time keeping from laughing. He knew. The fact that he was evading his questions was enough to tell him that Noel was seriously interested in Mitul Imani. Ah well, time to find all that out when they met in the US.

‘No, I didn’t,’ Noel bit out.

‘Ah. Well. I should go. It’s getting late here,’ he concluded the conversation. ‘Let’s talk after you get to the US.’

‘Sure. Bye now,’ Noel said.

‘Bye.’

*****

Mitul pulled up at the Puri’s house, parking on street. Their drive was already occupied by other cars she didn’t recognize. She got out of the car and straightened her clothes. A pair of white straight cut pants encased her legs, ending in a pair of high-heeled slippers that added a few needed inches to her frame. She had topped it off with a block printed fuchsia and white sleeveless kurti leaving her arms bare. A chunky metal bracelet adorned her right hand, and a wristwatch sat on her left. She raked her fingers through her newly set hair and, checked that her cell phone was in her back pocket and walked in through the door.

The party was already in full swing. Neighbors, friends had all come to wish the twins on their birthday. Rajan and Anuj were of course, fully in attendance on their ladies. She hugged Piya and Jiya, before being hugged by the two men. Picking up a glass of juice, she mingled with the crowd, greeting old friends and picking on the hors d'oeuvres.

She stepped into the kitchen to find her aunt busily preparing some trays.

‘Let me help, maasi,’ she said, taking the heavy tray from her.

‘Thank you, beta. Can you circulate it?’ her aunt asked.

‘Sure.’ She took the tray out and offered it around, before leaving it on a coffee table and heading back to the kitchen again.

‘Maasi, this food is delicious!’ she exclaimed, popping a shrimp into her mouth.

‘We got it catered. Much easier for me,’ her aunt said. ‘By the way, Anuj is going to ask Piya the question tonight,’ she leaned over and said conspiratorially.

‘Really?!’ She was thrilled! Seeing as they had already taken their relationship to the next level - at least, she assumed they had - it was only a matter of time. ‘Maasi, I’m so glad for her. This is amazing news,’ she effused.

‘But she doesn’t know about it,’ her aunt went on.

‘Oh! Nice work, Anuj,’ she said.

Her aunt nodded. And then out of the blue asked her, ‘any news of Noel?’

Mitul put a bite-sized piece of mushroom pizza in her mouth, chewing on it to give herself time. She swallowed and said, ‘I spoke to him a couple of days ago. He should be in the US, now.’

‘Does he plan on returning to Toronto, or is he going straight back from there?’ Mrs. Puri had thankfully turned away as she asked, and missed the swift flash of pain on her face.

‘He’s going straight back,’ she said in an even tone.

‘And when do you go back to India?’ her aunt turned around, her keen eyes not missing the pinched look around her niece’s eyes.

‘Next month, maasi,’ she said. ‘But I might have to go back sooner, because I still have to finish interviewing him.’

Her aunt subjected her to a keen gaze, before giving her another platter and saying, ‘take this outside, please?’

‘Sure,’ she took the platter and headed out. Just as she placed the platter on a table, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She pulled it out, and a smile lit up her face as she saw ‘Noel’ on the caller id.

‘Hey,’ she said, smiling happily.

‘Hi,’ he said huskily. The frisson was back in place. ‘What’s that noise behind you?’

‘It’s Piya-Jiya’s birthday party and I’m at their place.’

‘Oh. Can I wish them?’ he asked.

‘Sure,’ she said, looking around for the twins. She made her way towards them.

‘Piya, Jiya, someone wants to talk to you guys,’ she held out the phone to them.

She watched as first Jiya and then Piya happily thanked him for his wishes. He seemed to be saying something to Piya who looked at her, smiled and nodded as she listened. Then she said, ‘no worries, I got you ... sure ... okay,’ and then handed the phone back to Mitul.

‘Hey,’ he said, and she could hear the smile in her voice.

‘Hey,’ she said back.

‘Can you find a quieter place?’ he said.

‘Sure,’ she let herself out of the front door and walked out to her car. ‘Okay. I’m outside.’

He sighed and stayed quiet for a minute. ‘How are you?’ his voice was low, tender.

‘I’m good. You?’ She couldn’t help the giddy feeling of joy that was enveloping her, just by listening to his voice.

‘Tired,’ he said. ‘It’s been stressful. Things are not going well.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ she said softly.

‘I ..,’ he took a deep breath and said, ‘yeah.’

‘Where are you now?’ she asked.

‘El Paso. We’re shooting all over the place and at odd hours. Early mornings, late evenings. It’s very hot here, almost like Delhi and dry. We’re shooting in the desert a lot.’

‘You’re not enjoying yourself,’ she stated.

‘No.’ He frowned. He didn’t know why for the first time in a long time, he felt frustrated with the completely chaotic yet ordered life of an actor. He’d taken it in his stride before, why not now?

‘Why not?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know,’ he said slowly. ‘Just frustrated, I guess.’

They stayed quiet for some time, unwilling to let the tenuous link go.

‘Are you enjoying yourself?’ the smile was back in his voice.

‘Yes. Anuj is going to propose to Piya, today,’ she informed him.

‘Hey! convey my congratulations to them!’ he exclaimed.

‘I will,’ she promised.

‘Mitul,’ he stopped.

‘What?’

‘When can you come to El Paso?’ his voice was very low.

She thought for a minute and said, ‘any time.’ Closing her eyes and wondering what she was doing, but unable to stop herself. ‘I’ll book the tickets and let you know.’

‘I’ll arrange for you to stay here as well,’ he said.

‘Okay.’ She felt a huge sense of relief, and was about to say something when Piya came out. ‘Gotta go,’ she said, and ended the call.

‘Mitul,’ Piya came over. ‘Done with your call?’

Mitul nodded.

‘Can I have your phone?’ Piya asked.

‘Why?’ Mitul asked, handing it over, all the same.

Piya quickly scrolled through the icons, tapped and held it up. Before Mitul could say cheese, she’d clicked a picture and sent it.

‘Piya! What are you doing?’ she asked.

‘He wanted to know what you were wearing, so I promised to take a pic and send it to him,’ Piya said cheekily.

Mitul blushed and just said, ‘let’s go inside, shall we?’

The two girls went inside arm-in-arm.

Noel heard the message arrive and opened the file. He smiled at it. She looked beautiful. His mood lifted in an instant. He was all better now.

*****