VOID

Chapter 07: Genesis

11:05 a.m.

Prabhas woke up with a yawn, yesterday's events playing in his mind.

He wondered if this smile was going to stick to his face everyday from now on.

"Grow up, you" he told his reflection in the mirror, while brushing his teeth, "stop giggling like a child and get a life! You are forty two for god's sake!"

Shaking his head at his own stupidity, he dressed up and ran downstairs, he had to talk to his mother, gobble up his food and leave for Mumbai.

It was gonna be a long schedule, so he was prepared to stay at his place in Mumbai itself. He wouldn't be getting much time to travel back and forth.

As soon as he went down, he saw his mother waiting for him anxiously, and he knew why, he hadn't told her how the meeting with Apsara went.

He thought of calling it a date for the umpteenth time, but no, let time decide.

His mom looked up at him, subtly searching for hints in his body language. Knowing her well, he casually strode in and sat on the table. Two could play that game. Ha.

He was an actor after all, he finished his breakfast and headed out to his car, leaving his mother behind in utmost confusion.

Prabhas laughed and went back, hugged her and said, "Amma, she's a nice person" softly.

He looked down to see that his mother had happy tears in her eyes. Gently wiping them off, he said, "Give it some time Amma, I'll tell you when I feel that this is meant to be."

She smiled at him with relief, she would see him having his own family after all.

"God bless you son" she patted his hair, to which he grinned.

And when he turned to leave, "Was it her? Whom you were talking to, early in the morning?" she asked him, trying to tease.

Prabhas furrowed his eyebrows, he couldn't grasp what she was asking.

"Huh?" He asked back.

"You were talking to someone at about 3, I heard you laughing and all" she clarified.

"Oh no no no, that was Sweety, I was telling her about Apsara" he answered, understanding the question now.

"Oh okay" his mother paused, and then suddenly looked at him incredulously, "don't tell me you didn't text Apsara yet!" she exclaimed.

Prabhas stood at the same spot, nodding no.

"How clueless are you son?" His mother started laughing, "you should text her to let her know that you had a good time!"

He face palmed, he had to accept the dumbest human being award by then. 

He made a mental note to kick himself later, and hugged his mom again, smiling sheepishly.

She was still laughing at his stupidity, when his car left for the airport.

*

06th September 2021; Woods Apartments, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.

12:47 p.m.

Sweety was going through a selection of outfits her stylist had sent her, Kajal's reception was nearing, and she found this an excuse to get some shopping done.

She knew it was a big affair, almost everyone in the industry would turn up, given that Kajal was the favorite party animal in the state.

Smiling at her own thoughts, she texted Kajal, asking if she preferred any color code or theme.

She went on with selecting outfits and by second thought, she actually wondered if she could gift something to Apsara.

They hadn't met yet, but by the way Pubsu had been excited, it looked a lot like it was going to last. Maybe she could just order something and save it for later, until they made it official.

She smiled subconsciously, Prabhas getting interested in marriage had given her an unknown boost of energy.

She texted her mom to ask her out for dinner, and headed to the kitchen, to fix herself a sandwich.

A while later, as she munched on her sandwich, she watched a rerun of Oh My Kadavule on her TV, deeply attracted to the storyline.

*

07th September 2021; Mumbai, Maharashtra.

07:22 p.m.

Prabhas was cackling at his phone, Apsara was straight up hilarious.

He had texted her right after arriving in Mumbai, and to his relief, she had texted back almost immediately, letting him know that she had enjoyed his company too.

They took off there, and now he was on the receiving end of her roasting.

She was a live wire too, she resembled Rana a lot, he noticed. She talked about multiple diverse topics at the same time, which made you wonder if she was actually human or not.

Such people were rare and fucking brilliant.

He still couldn't believe this was the woman he was getting married to!

No, he couldn't get used to that fact. His subconscious refused to believe something so huge, on such a short span of time.

He was surely going to give it time.

Another text pinged, Bunny had texted him something. It read, 'are you gonna be there at Kajal's reception?'

He replied 'yes', without hesitation and switched back to Apsara's texts. 

Prabhas knew why Bunny had sent him that text.

He thought for a second and sent a text to Apsara, 'should we meet again?'

She replied within seconds, 'why not?' with the smirk emoji.

He smiled and flopped on his bed, his eyes were droopy already. 

He had to be on set at 2 a.m. in the morning.

Excuse the dull, long updates, and the direction this story is headed, I'm finding it hard to pen down exactly what I visualize in my mind :/

A very big thank you to all regular readers, and my friends, for motivating me to go ahead with this story <3