Ranveer knocked on the door of the vanity van. He usually dropped a message before showing up but this time, he didn't. It had been a long time since he had knocked on any door, let alone the vanity of his girlfriend. He didn't want it to become any more awkward.

He was a bit out of himself, probably because he was about to come clean about his behavior the previous day, and although he hadn't prepared what he'd say to her, he was pretty sure he could be spontaneous with Deepika. He reminded himself he has to try to change his ways, not tell Deepika stories that I want the world to believe in, but tell her what he truly believed. But whatever was that, he wondered.

He was almost regretting his decision of showing up without notice when the door opened and he was let in. Sharin received him with a smile, that Ranveer thought was one of her corporate greeting: terse and cordial, he came in and found Deepika surrounded by her sprawling lehenga sipping on juice. Eyes met and smiles were exchanged. Terse and cordial.

Sharin then excused herself and left the two stars with their privacy.

"Hey!" said Ranveer.

"Hi," mouthed Deepika under her breath barely audible.

"You were great, today. Absolutely wonderful."

Ranveer hopped over the giant lehenga and landed on the sofa. Unlike Deepika, he did not have any more scenes today, the set pieces involved in their filming were entirely different, so he was free for the day.

"Thanks," said Deepika. She felt more and more proud of herself, as praise came from the most honest people around her, probably the time had finally come when her model-turned-actress image would shed and she'd be recognized as an actress on her right.

"I saw you on the monitor and my God!!" said Ranveer. "Though the shot is still very crude, you know color correction and other shit, but the emotion is just too clear, too damn clear. You seem too... hopelessly pissed, Shahid literally went back to check if it was there in the script. It was scarily real."

"Real!" said Deepika softly. A thought came to her mind and evaporated, Deepika couldn't zero down on what exactly was the thought, but she had certainly had it before. She let it pass and focus on the praise. She could be scary real!

A smile brewed at the corner of her lips, pride homing into her heart. She had always so respected Ranveer's opinion on acting and could never see herself as an expert even though she was a lot more senior, probably because he had worked with the likes of Vikramaditya Motwane and Zoya Akhtar and they all praised him to no end, something that had eluded her, that is, until now.

"Yeah, too real. Bhansali sir even asked Shahid what he told you yesterday but he kept repeating that it was your own doing. What did he tell you?" Ranveer slowly ventured into what he was here for.

"Huh?" Deepika was taken aback by the sudden snatching away of all the credit for her work. "Well, actually, we did not talk about anything," she snapped.

Ranveer, slightly alarmed by the tone watered down his excitement. "Oh, wow then, that was all of you. Damn! That was awesome. And surprising."

Deepika switched on the lights of the mirror. She removed the nose ring, which was more like a nose bangle, that was hindering her speech, it hung from the support over her ear. With a calm voice, she said, "Oh really! And why exactly was it surprising?"

Ranveer saw himself getting cornered. Deepika was probably pissed because of yesterday's tantrum.

"Look, Deepika," said Ranveer, trying to maneuver out of one argument and unknowingly dashing into another. "About yesterday, I..."

"Yeah you didn't want to talk to me," Deepika cut him. "Because you were thinking according to your character, and all, yeah, yeah, I get it."

"No. Actually yes. I mean I did feel it was necessary, but," he paused. "Er... I think... there might have been a part of me... not wanting to help you with the scene."

Deepika stared at him in the mirror. "Uh-huh? And why is that?"

"I... I don't know, I am just trying to come clean here, you know, 'cause.. 'cause I don't want it to.. affect us."

"Affect us?"

Ranveer couldn't look into her eyes. She was rubbing his mistake in his face. Probably he should confess his love for her, but he wasn't sure about it himself, let alone take this to the next level.

"I mean whatever we have right now," Ranveer said.

"I don't get it," Deepika turned around on the revolving chair. "You say you don't want to affect... this," she moved a finger between Ranveer and herself pointing at him and then herself and then him again. "But you still didn't want to talk to me, yesterday."

"I didn't want to talk to you about work, and I am talking to you now, ain't I?" Ranveer was getting too worked up, he didn't expect it to turn out like this.

"You could have told me that yourself."

"I could... but..."

"But you didn't."

"Er.. yeah.." Ranveer jumped off the sofa towards the door for more space.

"Yeah, and that is what I am asking you. Why?"

"I don't know," Ranveer said a little louder than he should, it was becoming more and more suffocating for him. "But didn't it work? Didn't you just ace that scene?" Ranveer had no idea what he was talking about anymore.

"You still think Shahid helped me in that scene?" Deepika said very slowly, which made Ranveer regret it instantly.

"That is not how I meant," he was exhausted, he didn't think coming out clean would be so difficult. "I don't know what to say, I... I am sorry."

"It's okay," Deepika said flatly like it meant nothing.

"Huh? What?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

Both of them stared into each other's eyes for a few moments.

"Alright," said Ranveer tipping his head. "I'll see you then," Ranveer moved back, slid the door open and came out for fresh air. He drew a long breath and let it out in a slow sigh. "God!!" he said.

Back in the van, Deepika pulled a drawer open and fished out a box of tissues. She dabbed the corner of her moist eyes carefully so that the mascara wasn't ruined.

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