.

***

"No mummy Ji! Please understand, why will I mix poison in your chai?" Priya cried desperately, catching her mother-in-law's feet.

The mother-in-law gritted her teeth and placed the hot bubbling teacup in her daughter-in-law's palm making her cry due to hotness.

"Then drink this and prove that you are innocent."

Her words came out loud and harsh with a huge thunder sound flashing in the background making her bahu; Priya wailed in sadness and pain.

Her bahu was now holding the cup with both of her hands, tears were streaming down her cheeks as she placed it near her lips to prove her innocence, to tell her mother-in-law that she never mixed any poison.

Right when she opened her mouth to take a sip her husband came running.

"Nahi!" Screaming loudly, he pushed the cup from his wife's hands, making it crash to the marbled floor.

"Vihaan!" The mother-in-law whispered in shock which almost shook the whole house. "How did you come back from death?"

"Ha ma, it was me who poisoned your chai, not Priya." He said, taking his wife's face in his palms and looked straight in her eyes as his eyes twinkled.

" A large voice made the actors drop the play and relax.

Of course, an emotional and pathetic daughter-in-law, a cruel blood-sucking mother-in-law with a huge Nahi dialogue can only happen in Indian Television dramas.

This is Riya's life. She was a popular television soap opera actress a.k.a Priya Roy, the serial in which she has been starred was a huge hit and was running successfully for almost two years now.

The show was called, Bahu Rani. An innocent girl is married to a billionaire and her mother-in-law turns out to hate her and the rest of the story, well, it will be dragged to the extent of their grandchildren's lives.

Despite being a popular actress, Riya herself was sick of this dramatic show but her father will kill her if she steps out of this serial.

Her father aspired to be a Bollywood star but his dreams remained as just dreams, so in return, he wanted to see his dream alive in the form of his one and only daughter, so he did everything in and beyond his reach to make Riya an actor.

Life was tough for Riya. In her teenage, while all her friends were struggling to top the board exams she would just laze around practicing her lines for Drama auditions.

Her aim and goal for life were already fixed by her father.

When she finally made into her first serial her father was ecstatic, he was over the moon praising her and Riya was extremely happy, but only for that moment.

Not only her father but every human on this planet would also say that Riya is an exceptional actress however being extremely good at something necessarily need not be your favorite thing to do.

For screaming out loud, Riya doesn't even know what she might love to do or what she likes but she was hopeful, she believes in a statement that everything happens for a reason, so she was waiting for such a moment to fill her life with excitement and love.

* * *

Riya was dressed in a bright orange silk lehenga while her soft brown hair was straightened and left free with few curls at the end. She was practicing her lines for a new serial audition, her father had finally accepted to let her audition for a new serial so here she was, at the city outskirts.

Usually, huge studios were hired for such auditions but the director is crazy enough, he wanted the environment to be natural for the audition.

"Oh look, who is here." Riya could hear a high pitched voice of Piyali.

Piyali is a co-star, she was also equally famous for her television serials just like Riya was but Piyali was competitive in each and every aspect. She tries to dominate Riya so much that right now leaving her brother's engagement she is here, auditioning for the same serial she has applied for.

"Hello to you too, Piyali," Riya replied with a fake smile as she observed her costume for the day, she wore a pearl white lehenga which reminded Riya of a wedding gown.

The auditioning scene was that the heroine will be up at the forest near a small Durga ma's temple praying for her husband's life who was bitten by a snake. Riya felt an immediate churn in her stomach the moment she read the scene, which lunatic woman will sit praying to a god instead of finding help when her husband was spitting out poison, dying?

But whatever, if she gets casted in this show her pay will be increased and the fame too, so then after this serial she might take a break from acting, she will convince her father and take a tour of this mysterious world.

Piyali smirked as she walked by Riya, rubbing her shoulder to Riya's in arrogance. Of course, she was insecure. The required age group for the lead actress is around twenty-four or twenty-five but not more than that. Whereas Piyali was little over twenty-seven.

The rest of the day passed in a haze, memorizing lines and reactions, handling the heavy lehenga, and an always slipping dupatta was a little irritating.

Her audition went good as always, Riya was known for her soulful acting and fortunately, she got the role but she knows that Piyali was badly upset.

All the crew was packing up their instruments and cameras, walking down the hill to the travel van. Right when she was about to go with her manager Nirmal, she could see Piyali standing by a tree crying all by herself.

"Nirmal. Here take my bag." Handing him her pouch she said.

Nirmal knew what she was about to do, Riya would go and console that woman. Shaking his head in annoyance, he took her bag and left to the van settling inside.

Riya slowly walked towards Piyali and placed her hand on her shoulder trying to console her but Riya was shocked beyond words when she saw Piyali pull out a small knife and slash her hand.

"What the hell, Piyali!" Riya screamed in pain, holding her blood dripping palm crying but Piyali took no name to stop, and soon Riya was running for her life, all she had to do is run down to the travel van and the ready could be handed.

But after running for a few minutes Riya realized that she was running in circles and right behind her was Piyali with a knife in her hand. What is wrong with her!

When Riya saw a small muddy path beside a tree she ran not caring about her bleeding palm, she should have just gone along with Nirmal but no, she had to play a good girl, going around consoling a psycho.

Her run came to an end as she stood by the forest cliff, she turned behind and luckily there was no trace of Piyali and just before she could breathe in relief, Riya felt an intense pull near her feet forcing her to trip behind, she tried to scream for help but somehow her throat felt paralyzed, her ears felt blocked and slowly Riya fell down into an unknown pit of darkness.

***

Bahu - Daughter-in-law

•Mummy Ji - Mother-in-law

•Nahi (Hindi ) - No

•Chai - Tea