"Thank God. Someone's finally back from their ego trip." Vikram entered the house and closed the door. He winked at Shubha.

Rukhsar dropped the glass of water. "Oh my God! Vikram Varma?"

"Yes"

"Vikram Varma is in my house."

"Yes"

"Vikram Varma is talking to me."

"Yes"

"Vikram Varma winked at my friend."

"No. I just blinked."

Shubha turned her laugh into cough with great difficulty. It didn't go unnoticed by Vikram. He ignored it. "This good-natured lady must be Rukhsar." He smiled at her. "Nice to meet you ma'am."

"You are my favourite actor. I am your biggest fan." Rukhsar couldn't believe that her favourite star was in her house.

"Stop it Rukhsar. He is a human being. Not some Demigod." Shubha remarked.

"Ignore her Rukhsar garu. Haters gonna hate. You have a very good taste. Would you like a selfie?" 

"What's that supposed to mean? My taste is bad?" asked Shubha. 

Vikram ignored her again and took a picture with her friend. "I made a simple statement Shubha garu. You may assume whatever you want." He sat down facing her and gave her the intense gaze he reserved for her.

She looked away. "You are so mean. You are talking about my ego trip? You live on a planet named Ego."

"Don't fight again" said Rukhsar.

"But he said my career as a scientist is over."

"Isn't that what you said this afternoon? You said there is no hope and the report will be against you." Rukhsar reminded her.

"Yes. I remember what I said. I know I can never be a scientist again. But hearing it from others hurts more. Why did he have to say that?" Shubha looked like she would burst into tears.

Vikram avoided all pretense and moved closer to her. "Subbu." He held her hand and squeezed it.

"Wait a minute. How did you know that my uncle is involved?" She demanded explanation.

"Well, I wanted to know what's bothering you. I wanted to fix it if I can. I asked Naresh to find out. After hearing your story, I realized that I can't help you prove your innocence. That's why I never mentioned it to you. I didn't want to see you hurt." Vikram answered honestly. He hoped she won't get mad at him for hiding it. To his surprise, she seemed to be okay with it. 

"If you don't mind, please tell us what happened." He requested her. "Only if you are okay with it."

Rukhsar started the story. "When we started our research no one was interested in the subject. One day Dr. Gupta made a surprise visit. He looked very interested in our work and decided to provide more funds. That's when Ramesh uncle came into the picture. He said Shubha needed some experienced physicist to handle this. It's a coincidence that I got an offer in another department on the same day."

"It's not a coincidence. He did this to get you away from her" said Vikram.

"Such things happen only in the films. Not in real life." Shubha retorted.

"You don't know what these evil-minded people are capable of." 

Rukhsar sensed another round of fight about to begin. She started speaking quickly. "He convinced Shubha to let him join her. She didn't suspect anything. He was her uncle after all. Few months later, my new supervisor Dr. Vidya noticed Shubha's research. She was so impressed that she offered Shubha to work in her lab. She even said that she won't require credit for helping her, unlike her uncle."

"Her lab is so advanced. Like Tony Stark's lab in Iron Man" said Shubha. Vikram cleared his throat loudly.

"Okay. Maybe not that advanced. But really advanced than other labs." She said making others chuckle.

Rukhsar continued. "When she told her uncle about this, he was scared that everything will slip out of his hands. He betrayed her by making it look like she tried to steal his work, when in reality he is the thief. He also bribed the enquiry committee to write the report in his favour."

"You can approach the court." Vikram suggested.

"It will take years" said Shubha. She rubbed her eyes with her hands. "There is no way. I have to accept the truth." She was visibly distressed. 

Vikram desperately tried to come up with a solution. He felt a rush of hatred towards her uncle. He hoped for a miracle that would help her prove her innocence.

Naveen offered the remaining two cheeseburgers to her. Chris and Vikram glared at him. "What? Sharing is caring." He winked at them.

"Shubha. You have to sleep. You are tired." Rukhsar suggested again.

"No. Shubha please come home." Vikram requested her. Shubha looked like she would refuse. "Wait. Before you refuse, listen to what I've got to say." He asked Rukhsar for permission to talk to Shubha in the kitchen.

"Yes?" Shubha asked him once they reached the kitchen.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I have absolutely no right to say anything about your career. It's just that I was worried for you. I had so many disturbing thoughts when Rukhsar garu said that you started from lab long ago. I won't make any excuses for my behavior. I accept that I was rude. Please forgive me." His apology was sincere and honest. 

"Forget it Vikram sir."

"I know you are still hurt. I will never repeat it again." He apologized again. "I promise."

"It's okay." She accepted his apology. "But I can't come home."

"Why?"

"It's not my home. You may have treated me like a member of your family. But I have to go away someday. I have decided to stay here for a few days before renting a house. Don't worry about me."

Vikram struggled to find a reason to stop her. "You still have a few scenes left in the film. If you stay here, I will have to send a car everyday. This place is too far."

"Are you serious? If that is the case I will arrange my own transportation."

"You promised to help the twins with their studies until Sandhya akka returns. You can't break your promise now. And you haven't told mom about your decision. If she knows what I have done, she will kick me out. Tell me Subbu. Do you want to see your Vikram sir homeless?" Vikram spoke in the most innocent tone possible.

Shubha eyed him suspiciously. "Sometimes you act so innocent that I feel like believing you despite knowing you."

"Please Subbu. It's just a matter of one month before your scenes end." Vikram requested repeatedly.

"Is this why you are asking me to stay? Is there, you know, is there some other reason?"

Every bit of him wanted to say 'Yes. Because I love you'. But he couldn't say that. She was still angry. He was sure she would punch him. He shook his head. "Nothing else. Let's leave now."

She was disappointed. She agreed to go with him. "It's raining heavily. Let's leave in the morning. Rukhsar does't mind if we stay here."

"Sure." Vikram nodded. 'I am going to set everything right soon and win her heart.' He decided.  

---***---

"You came back?" asked Latha. 

"Her friend had to go somewhere." Vikram lied.

"Okay. Vicky, your trainer is here." Latha pointed at Arun, Vikram's trainer.

"Bro you are not concentrating on your training these days. You need to maintain consistency. I have made a few changes in your workout schedule." Arun handed over the new schedule to Vikram.

"One hour of extra workout? I already work so hard. This is too much." Vikram complained.

"Cut down few hours of sleep." Latha said sternly. 

"Mom, please." Vikram pouted like a child. His mother glared at him. He accepted defeat and agreed for the new training schedule. Arun shook hands with him and left.

"Latha aunty, why doesn't Vikram sir allow anyone inside his gym?" asked Shubha.

"The equipment in his gym is very rare. He cleans them himself. He even has a password for his gym." Latha explained.

"What if others want to use the gym?"

"Use the basic equipment in the other room. Leave my gym alone" said Vikram. "Other than my trainer only Chris and Naveen are allowed there."

"I will know the password someday and open it" said Shubha after Latha left from the room.

"I challenge you. Do it if you can." Vikram knew she would be successful.

"Why so much secrecy for this? What you boys do over there?" Shubha raised an eyebrow. 

"Not at all funny." Vikram tried to look stern before laughing along. He spent an hour working out. He looked at the time. It was 9.30 in the morning. He took bath and went into the dining hall to have breakfast.

Shubha was nowhere to be seen. Latha told him that she was in the library. He quickly finished his breakfast and went to meet her.

He saw Shubha keenly observing the shelves with books on film making and famous film stars. "Do you like my collection?" He asked her. "Please tell me if you need any physics related books. I will order them."

She nodded. "May I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What are you hiding from Latha aunty?" 

Vikram was taken aback. "What?"

"I know you are keeping secrets from her. At times you feel suffocated because of this." She said without looking at him. 

"It's possible that you are wrong." He tried to make his voice sound as normal as possible.

"Vikram sir, I know many things about you. You have occasional nightmares, you were left-handed before someone forced you to convert and you sneak out of the house to spend entire night on the roof sometimes. No. I am not stalking you. Don't give me that look."

Vikram understood that there's no point denying. "How did you know?"

"It has been five months since I have met you. Whenever you receive a call from a particular number, your smile disappears. You walk out of the room. You return only after the call ends. At first I thought you were planning a surprise for Latha aunty. But five months and no surprise yet. The only other conclusion is a secret. If you would like to share it with me please go ahead."

"I'm not doing anything wrong Subbu. Please trust me." His voice carried a plea for her to understand. "I would love to share it with you. But I can't. I'm really sorry." He felt exhausted carrying the burden. As if all the energy has been drained out of him. He sighed. He was badly in need of a friendly advice. What increased his misery was the fact that a friend, his Subbu, offered help. Yet he could not accept it.

She didn't question him further. "Vikram sir, can you please show me your awards?"

"Sure" He felt a lot better. It was one of the wonderful things of being with her. She always knew what helps him feel good. 

He took her to the room where all the awards the family had ever won were kept. He took her to a corner where his best actor awards were placed. "That one is for my fourth film, this is for the fifth. I won them for two consecutive years. This is for the eight film."

Shubha was impressed. "You really are a great actor."

"Thank you. But my favourite among all is this. The award for best debut performance. This will always be special for me." He looked at it with pride and happiness in his eyes.

"Can I hold it?"

"No." He pushed it out of her reach. "You can't hold it. I want you to hold your own best debut award. That feeling when you touch it for the first time, amid applause and cheers, can't be described in words. I want you to experience it."

"Do you think I can?" She closed her eyes. "I stopped dreaming long ago. I'm not sure if I can afford to dream again." 

"Don't know about you. But it is my new dream." 

She opened her eyes and looked at him. He continued. "You think I only dream about the Best Director award? No. I want to give every single person who has ever worked for this film, the love and recognition they deserve. We are a family. And that includes you." He pushed back few loose strands of her hair and looked at her. Her eyes twinkled.

"Come. Let me show you my award for essay writing competition in 4th standard." He moved to a corner, excitedly. She followed him, with a smile on her face. 

---***---

Don't forget to vote and comment. Thank you.