Page 55 of Reckless Dare

“Abhiram Simha, welcome to our cast,” the director said with a warm smile.

Her tormentor’s mouth twisted into a small smile. “Glad to be here, sir. My grandmother is an admirer of your work.”

The director beamed proudly. “It's quite an honor to hear that the great Sukanya Devi admires my work.”

Ava was still in shock as the conversation continued between her tormentor and the director.

But a few moments later, the director’s attention turned towards her.

“Avantika is our leading lady opposite to you, Abhi. She is a natural like you. I hope you both can work your magic together to make this drama a success.”

The director addressed her next. “Ava, Abhi will need some of your time to bring him up to speed for tonight’s scenes and the ones you practiced already.”

She slowly nodded, deliberately keeping her eyes away from her tormentor. “Sure, sir.”

“Wonderful,” the director said before addressing the rest of the cast.

While the director was busy with others, Ava finally turned to her tormentor.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, unable to contain her anger and frustration.

Her tormentor’s mouth twisted. “I’m taking part in a play. The same as you.”

She felt like screaming in response to his smart ass answer, but bit back the need. She didn’t want to bring attention to the director that she hated the new male lead and wanted him gone. If a choice had to be made right then, she was sure she would be kicked out of the play rather than her tormentor who apparently had a famous actress as a grandmother.

Ugh. I hate him.

She was sure he sucked at acting, but managed to get the role only through the famous association. She hoped that the director would realize that during the initial scenes and got her tormentor replaced.

But until then, she would have to tolerate him.

“Fine,” she gritted out.

She then pulled out her phone and scrolled through the script and shared it to his number.

She looked up at him, her chin raised mutinously. “We have fifteen minutes before the session. If you can memorize the script for today’s scene, we can enact the scene for practice.”

His eyes swept over her angry face and a small smile twisted his mouth. “Okay,” he said.

Then his eyes lowered to his phone screen and he scrolled through the script.

Feeling angry and aware of his presence, she wanted to get away from him. She only gave him a few moments before saying, “I’ll be in the auditorium. When you are done memorizing—”

He looked up. “I’m ready.”

“What?” How could he have memorized the lines that took her almost an evening to memorize?

“Are you ready? Or do you need some time to revise?” His voice was casual, and she couldn't tell if he was mocking her or was serious.

“Of course I’m ready!” She glared at him.

“Okay, then let’s start.” He put his phone away and folded his arms in front of him.

She ignored the intimidating stance of his and took a deep breath, recollecting her lines. The scene she was supposed to be in was that of a young woman who was angry with her lover for not coming to see her in a long time. She was thankful it wasn't one of the earlier parts where she had to smile at the male lead and act coy as she fell in love.

Ava didn't want to think about how she was going to practice those scenes with her tormentor.

Don’t think of it. He would be long gone by then.

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