The Devil's Harem

“Is this for real?” Alex slumped back into his chair and asked, rubbing his temples hard. There was visible frustration and exhaustion on his face.

“I told you not to go after him. But you were so adamant,” Rebecca walked in from behind and handed him over a can, “Here, drink it.”

“You never told me the reason,” Alex took the can and said, putting the onus on Rebecca.

“As if you would have listened to me,” Rebecca was not angry this time. Instead, she felt a certain degree of pity for him. Today was only the second day into the schedule, and Alex was already like a dog, running around like a spot boy. After all, Brad won’t just take anybody to run his errands.

But what was hilarious was that Veronica went on with the flow. While Brad made Alex run a hundred errands, Veronica did have her pretty good share among them. As she won’t just ask directly for Alex to do something when a small gesture of hers can make Brad torment Alex. She exploited the situation very cleverly.

“... You were pretty adamant to have him on the project, weren’t you? You even agreed to him bypassing the audition process,” Rebecca raised her eyebrow. She still did not know why? He could be a fan of that guy but to this extent?

.....

“... And now look at you,” Rebecca continued and pointed at the others present, “Even these guys are faring better than you.”

“Hmmm...” Alex took a deep breath, “I was wrong... I thought of him as that great actor, a humble man he showed himself to be in all those media reports and what not?”

“... But all it took me was two days to understand how flawed and shallow my understanding was.”

“Is that so? Tell me more,” Rebecca asked, interested in details.

“What’s to say?” Alex shook his head, “If I were to donate a dollar for every retake we had to shoot because of him, I am sure by the time we are done, I can sufficiently help third-rate... I mean third world countries like Porkistan to pay off their debt,” Alex said, but added further, “Not that I want to, obviously.”

But Rebecca found it odd. And this has been a habit of Alex. While having a normal conversation, and out of nowhere, either unintentionally or to sound intellectual, he would bring out stuff which would be totally out of context.

“... Is there any sense to your words?” Rebecca asked, making faces.

“Of course, there is,” Alex nodded, “You may not know what Porkistan is, but...”

“I know what you mean by Porkistan,” Rebecca interrupted Alex, “I was a student of Political Science, and that too, focusing my thesis on Eurasia... But wait, that’s not the point.”

“Exactly, the point is his bad acting,” Alex said, “I was just saying how much money I would lose because of his bad acting, comparing it to one of the countries I don’t really like. But that aside, you are a student of political science? You must be the nerdy one in your family, unlike your sister. But then what are you doing, joining your sister in her business? Shouldn’t you try and carve out your own path?”

“Are you indirectly saying my sister is dumb? And I am smarter than her?” As a frown appeared on her face, Rebecca asked.

“No... Well, not entirely...” Alex got on the defence seeing her face.

“No... No... No... Don’t stop. I like it. You are the first person to say that,” But soon, Rebecca had a smile on her face, “Otherwise, everyone would be busy blowing the horn for my sister. Well, I don’t want you to bitch her, but you can praise me.”

“... I might not like you that much, and you are kind of annoying, but the fact that you can identify a diamond makes you worth keeping around.” Rebecca took the empty can off his hands and walked away.

“You were supposed to hear me pour my heart out,” Finally, Alex said.

“Cut...” Mr Lulu cried out in frustration.

“Alex...” As soon as the shot was cut, Brad called out for him.

“Coming...” And Alex was back to running errands.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

‘We will be off by tomorrow,’ Alex stepped out of the taxi and thought as he looked around, ‘You were good, but I really did not enjoy my time here.’ Alex thought about his time in Thar.

“Let’s go,” while Alex was musing over the three-plus months he spent here, Abir also stepped out of the taxi.

They were finally done with the principal shooting in Thar yesterday, and they were all set to leave for their new location tomorrow. e.co

And to mark the end of their schedule in Thar, today everyone was asked to go and enjoy in their own way while the important figures were to gather here in this restaurant. Alex was the buck spender, and because Abir was the second male lead in the project, both of them were qualified enough to be called important people in the circle.

“To be honest, I don’t want to go in there. I am sick and tired of seeing that guy’s face,” Alex helplessly lamented over his misfortune, “To have a man come even to your dreams when you are straight as an arrow is a clear indication that you are leaning the wrong way.”

Hearing Alex, Abir chuckled, “You have come a long way, haven’t you?” Abir asked, “From being one of his crazy fans to hating even seeing his face. That’s some serious transformation. Is the feeling mutual or one-sided?”

“It’s one-sided, obviously. Because that sadistic brute won’t even take a leak without me,” Alex smirked, “You, on the other hand, are enjoying it, aren’t you? Isn’t your sister one of the reasons behind my misery?”

“Well, it’s you who is always at their back and call. You can’t blame anyone for taking advantage of you.” Abir shrugged, and by now, the two of them had entered the restaurant.

“There is a booking in the name of Alex Rutherford, please,” Alex asked the guy, who was standing right by the desk which was there as they entered.

“... Just a moment, sir,” the man said and turned his attention towards the tab in front of him.

Alex also looked toward Abir, “You know what? I am kind of regretting taking you under my wing now.”

And from the conversation, it was evident why. Abir was still afraid of his sister and shy around other people, but with Alex, he would open up his true self. The sarcastic rascal had a counter for everything.

“Why?” Abir asked innocently, “Don’t tell me you like being under?” Abir could barely hold himself from laughing while Alex looked annoyed. It was not the first time, yet he had not gotten used to these remarks.

“For now, you are getting under my skin,” Alex pushed the overreaching Abir away from himself before turning towards the guy at the reception, “Can you please hurry it up?” Alex asked.

“Sir, it’s room number 007,” the guy said, “Let me have someone lead the way for you,” the guy told Alex and Abir as he stopped one of the waiters going by them and whispered something into his ears.

“Sir, please follow him, and he will lead you to your reserved room,” the guy at the reception courteously gestured for Alex and Abir to follow the young boy waiting on them.

“At least something is good,” Alex sighed as the two of them followed the young boy.

“Oh... What is it? Tell me?” Abir got curious when he heard Alex and asked.

“The room number. It’s kind of auspicious, as well as popular,” Alex said, “I hope this last night goes on without any trouble.”

“Oh...” Abir had no idea what Alex was talking about. His words went two inches over his head.

“Hey, what’s with this weird numbering of the floors?” Alex, when saw the waiter press the button with zero on the panel inside the elevator and felt them go up, asked.

“The big boss is kind of a superstitious guy. He wasn’t before, but he is now,” As if he was waiting to narrate the tale, the waiter spoke up, “Not long back, this restaurant was on the brink of closing down. Everything was top notch from food to service, but for some reason, there were not enough guests to keep the restaurant going, and for months, the book was in red.”

“... The boss worked like a trojan. We were diligent as well, but nothing worked. Everyone was having a hard time. And at last, the boss had lost hope as well. But then, he was told by someone to visit this saint.” the waiter said, “I don’t know his name, only the boss does.”

“... My boss did not believe in such stuff at that time, and was not willing to make the trip. But we all asked him to at least try it out,” the waiter smiled, “It was hard, but we managed to convince him.”

And at that very moment, the elevator stopped. The three of them stepped out of the elevator.

“And the rest is history,” the waiter was ecstatic as he concluded, “All we did was reverse the order of the floors, and our fortune took a one-eighty turn. So that’s how the top floor became zero, and the ground floor became five,” and with the end of the story, the three of them stopped in front of a room.

“Sir, this is your room,” the young waiter said.

“It was such a nice story,” Alex said as he pulled out his wallet. From his wallet, he further pulled out a fifty-dollar note, “Nice work.”

The waiter wasn’t courteous as well. He took the fifty dollar bill and, bowing slightly towards Alex and Abir, walked away from there.

“Such a nice boy he is,” Alex commented after the young boy had stepped into the elevator, “You should learn a thing or two from him and be a bit more respectful,” Alex said, taunting Abir.

“What’s so great about the respect you had to ask for,” Abir shrugged, “Right, sir?”

And saying so, Abir walked into the room, leaving a stumped Alex behind at a loss of words.

* * * * *