"What's the problem?" asked Shubha.

"Manjula garu is ill." Vikram sounded worried. "I went to visit her in the hospital."

"What happened to her?" Shubha was equally worried. Manjula was the actress playing her aunt in the film.

"Malaria. Her husband said she will be fine soon. She talked to me for few minutes before falling asleep."

"Thank God." Shubha felt relieved. She sat down next to him. "She will be fine sir. She will join us soon."

"Maybe not." He said weakly.

"Why?"

"The production house says we have to cast someone else in her stead. They can't wait for her to return."

"Outrageous!" Shubha exclaimed. "Vikram sir. We have two more months to complete the shooting. She will be back in a month. We can afford to wait."

"She has combination scenes with other actors. If we postpone filming her scenes, then the other artists' time will be wasted. And we can't be sure if they will be available when she returns. I will have to handle scheduling conflicts." He held his head in his hand. 

Shubha, who has always seen a brave and confident Vikram, was surprised to see him so tensed. She hesitated for a while before placing her hand on his shoulder. "Vikram sir. There are two ways of doing this. We can either call Manjula garu's manager and say that she has been replaced or we can call the other artists and discuss the problem in detail."

"What if they refuse? They are all big stars Subbu." 

"In that case we will have the satisfaction that we tried to help her. Vikram sir, she is a great actress. This film is nothing compared to what she achieved in her two-decade-long acting career. If we replace her, it won't affect her stardom but it will affect our relationship with her." Shubha spoke clearly, trying to make him understand the consequences of the decision.

"But the production company needs money. For them, film making is all about making money." Vikram remarked. "Mom will agree with us. But she is not the only one in the production house. How do I convince others?"

"Remind them how they felt when Nisha quit." Shubha said, making him turn towards her so quickly that his neck cricked. 

She continued. "They all felt betrayed when she left. If I am not wrong, some of them even vowed not to give her work in any of the films produced by Latha Productions. It's not like they couldn't find another actress. It's because they were hurt. The person they trusted, left them when they needed her support. So, are they willing to do the same with Manjula garu? Leave her alone when she needs our support? If I were you, I would have asked them this."

He stared at her for a few moments. He met several beautiful, intelligent, brave and kind-hearted women. But he never met a person who had all the qualities. 

He observed few loose strands of her hair fall on her face. He pushed them backwards to view her face clearly. "I never thought I would meet someone like you. You are a perfect blend of beauty, brains, bravery and the most important among all, a good heart. It's very rare to find someone like you."

Had some other man told this to her, she would have been mad at him for flirting with her. But it was Vikram. A perfect gentleman. She knew he meant it. "Thank you sir." She felt her heart pounding. "You know what? People like you are also very rare to find. You are so humble and h--"

"Hot?" He smirked.

"Stop smirking. I hate it when you smirk." She glared at him. "I was going to say handsome."

"Handsome? Just handsome? I am not hot?" He faked hurt. He forgot all his worries for a while ans started teasing her.

"No. A big NO. You are not." She tried and failed to sound angry. Her heart betrayed her. She blushed slightly. She hoped he didn't notice it.

"I challenge you to say it with a straight face without smiling." 

"I am not smiling. I am angry." She felt her cheeks turn pink.

"Strange. I never met a girl who blushes when she is angry." He smirked again.

"I don't know what you are talking about." She stood up. "For the record, Chris garu is hot. Not you." She left for her room.

That night he lay awake for a long time. Strangely, he didn't feel the need to sleep. The past four months have brought a lot of changes in his life. It gave him a lot of problems. Yet he found a reason for being happy. The presence of Shubha. His Subbu. 'Why am I even trying to control? Let me admit it to myself at least. I am falling for her.'

---***---

"What the hell are you saying? Shubha Narayan hacked our confidential data and posted it i our website?" Vikram yelled in a meeting with the board members. "Why on earth will she do that?"

"Calm down Vikram" said one of the members named Keshav. "It's the script of our new film which will be started next month. An entire page of the script is posted in our website. Who else could have done that except Shubha? She is an intelligent scientist."

"She is an intelligent scientist. But she is not a criminal." Vikram defended Shubha. He was glad she wasn't there to witness the argument.

"We saw her do that earlier. She hacked into our system in your presence saying this is not safe and we need an upgrade. Remember? She is the only one capable of doing this" said Keshav. He was one of the best friends of Vikram's father. He was close to their family.

"That's my point. If she really had the intention of stealing our data, why would she give a demo of how she is going to do it. 'Hey! Look at me. I am an awesome hacker. I am going to hack your data in future. Don't believe me? Let me show you how I am going to do it.' Are you serious?" Vikram stood up.

"Calm down Vikram" said Latha, in a composed tone.

"No producer garu. My artists are being insulted here. I can't stay calm." Vikram was furious. "Instead of blaming someone why don't you run an official enquiry?" He challenged everyone.

"Excuse me? I have been told to come and meet you." Shubha emerged from the door. Vikram looked at his mother trying to communicate with his eyes to stop it.

Latha was helpless. She had to do it. "Shubha garu. Please come in. We need to ask you a few questions. Hope you don't mind."

"I do mind" said Vikram, before Shubha could speak. "Leave. We don't need you here." He told Shubha.

"But--"

"It's okay. Leave."

"Vicky. We will just ask a few questions" said one of them.

"Shubha garu. Please sit down" said another.

"I SAID NO!" Vikram yelled. Everyone in the hall was startled. They have known him since his childhood. They never saw him lose control like that. 

"Shubha. Please. Trust me. I will talk to you later." He desperately hoped she would listen.

She looked at everyone else in the hall. She felt Latha give her a tiny nod. "Okay. I will meet you all again. Have a nice day." She closed the door and left.

"What was that Vikram?"

"To accuse someone you need to have evidence. Here you don't have any. I demand an enquiry." Vikram said calmly. Yet he was furious. He shuddered to think what Shubha would have felt if they told her that they suspected her.

"It's not up to you to decide what we should do" said Keshav.

"Producer garu. You are the boss." Vikram looked at Latha.

Latha thought for a while and answered carefully. "Vikram is right. Let's see if the fault lies with us. It could have been a mistake too." She called her assistant Sumanth who was on leave. He wasn't interested to return. 

Vikram took the phone from her. "Sumanth garu. Please. It's about Shubha Narayan." He gave him all the details and requested him until he agreed to come.

Within a few hours it was revealed that the person who posted the data on their website was not Shubha. It was their employee who pasted it there by mistake. He tried to hide his mistake by erasing everything from the log. But Sumanth found out. He was punished.

Vikram gave an I-warned-you-before kind of look to everyone else. "There is something else I need to discuss with you all. Manjula garu will join us next month. I have spoken to other actors. Everything is set."

"I guess not." Keshav objected again. "If we keep delaying the film for the sake of artists then we will have to shut down the production house someday."

"It's better to shut down the production house rather than running it without any ethics and moral values" said Vikram. Latha's lips curved into a smile. 

"Manjula garu is our friend. She has worked in many films under this banner. If we can't support an actor when she needs us, then we don't have a right to expect actors to support us when we need them. When Nisha left, we vowed not to collaborate with her again. We expected her to stay with us as if she owed us a debt. My question is, why should she or anyone else stay here, if this is how we treat our actors?" Vikram gazed at everyone in the hall as if challenging them to contradict him.

Latha stood up. "After due consideration, I have decided that Manjula garu won't be replaced."

Everyone else nodded except Keshav. "But--"

Vikram interrupted him. "And there is one more thing I would like you all to understand clearly. The actors working in my film are not slaves. They should be respected. If they are disrespected in any way, I will have to end my association with your production company. This is not a threat. It's a fact." He joined his hands in a formal namaste before leaving.

"Latha garu. You have to talk to your son. He will never be a good businessman with this attitude." Keshav warned her.

"Don't worry about my son. He may not be a good businessman. But he is a good man." Latha answered with pride in her voice.

---***---

"Vikram sir. I demand to know what's going on." Shubha was waiting for him in his cabin.

"Nothing that concerns you." He lied.

"Don't lie to me."

"Not very noble, accusing your director of lying." He tried to look stern.

"Let's see." She pretended to think. "The director in question, lied to me about my first shot, lied to all artists that we have permission for only five days when we were clearly allowed to shoot there for seven days, and..."

"You forgot the hospital part where I lied to the nurse about being your fiance." He helped her recollect.

"That's my fault. My point is--"

"I thought you liked it." He flirted with her. 

"Okay. That's enough." She couldn't understand why she stood there smiling, when she was supposed to be angry. "My point is, you are a liar. Now. Tell the truth. I know they are angry. I want to know what I did that offended them."

"Subbu" He held her hand. "We shouldn't be worried about things that don't concern us. If I can solve the problem without your help I will definitely do that. I don't want you to get hurt by involving in unnecessary issues. I am not saying that you are not important enough to be involved. I am saying this because I care. I can't see you hurt. All I ask of you is to forget everything and be happy."

She didn't speak for a while. She finally looked at him and said, "You know what? You are a great actor. Not many actors can make such an emotional speech in a single take."

"You are impossible." He grinned.

---***---