The day was young and so was the woman sitting in her own living room all decked up in a satin saree with a cup of coffee in her hand while she was talking to the number one journalist in town.

“So, Liza, within such a short span of time, you wrote a script, turned it into a film, directed said film and turned it into the biggest hit of the century, even your lead actors are going around collecting awards for best couple. Not only are you the youngest person to receive these honors, you are also the first Queer woman to receive said honors and even though the nuptials were kept top secret, you did recently get married to who I am assuming is someone out of your dreams so how does it feel being a star”

Liza softly laughed in an attempt to dodge the question, and also slightly trying to hide the blush on her face that crept up at the mere mention of her spouse.

“Would you like some more coffee, mam?” Liza asked.

“Oh Liza!. Don’t dodge the question, you know I am going to get it out of you eventually, I am that good at my job.”

“Star……. That’s the one thing I am not, and I never want to be, because being a star would mean that there is a pile of fame that I need to maintain. For now, I am just an artist, just who was I was even when I was 16 and getting ready, listening to Gulabi Aankhen student of the year, version, while I burned my curls with a hair straightener, wore the most uncomfortable western outfits, a tacky lip gloss, while I went upon the stage in my school to say ‘Hey guys Good Morning this is Liza’ and that’s all I ever intend to be”

“Except for the fact that now neither is your hair straight nor are you……off the record, of course, tell me more about this mysterious relationship of yours.”

“There is no mystery, trust me, I am a very proud Bisexual woman and the one thing I am prouder of than my identity is my women. Every day, all I do is find more and more reasons to brag about my spouse, trust me, but unfortunately, our political climate is such that we are forced to keep it private until it is permeant, a rule that does not apply. As of now, an official announcement is also in the works”, Liza said as she flashed her wedding ring.

“That’s amazing. Let’s take a step back and talk about your movie for a second. It is being called ‘the greatest love story ever told’. How did you even come up with the concept?”

“Well, like most great works, even this was inspired by real life.”

“Can you tell me the real-life version of the story?”

“Well, it’s pretty long. You might need to print two whole magazines to fit something like that.”

“I don’t care, I just want to know.”

“Okay then get comfortable. I am going to tell you 'the greatest love story ever told'”

***

The story starts a while ago when the world was relishing their better access to the private life of fame and celebrity, feeling like they were part of something greater than themselves, but little did they know that it was all just an illusion, and nobody owned them anything. It was around this time things were looking up for one younger actress who was accurately dubbed as ‘the rich heiress who chose the path of art’. Calling her family rich was an understatement, so was calling Aliza gorgeous. She was way more than that. She was one hell of a woman who could make people want to drop on their knees with just one look. She was short and stacked with her perfect curves, long straight brown hair, her deep brown eyes which were always filled with so many emotions, her round plum lips could take anyone’s breath away…..she looked like she belonged on the big screen but not everyone felt the same way.

As Aliza Khan sat in her office watching the CCTV footage from her house watching her boyfriend hooking up with one of her best friends, she just had one thought in her mind……. Revenge.

“How long have you known about this?” Her manager, Parth, asked her.

“I felt a weird vibe when we hung out last time, so just to check, I invited both of them to hang out again and called and said I was running late, and surprisingly that’s all it took.”

“So, what’s the plan now?”

Parth asked, even as Aliza ignored him as she called someone.

“Well, I already had someone send out their pictures together, and now I am calling the media” she said finally.

“What??”

“What about this for your next headline ‘Bollywood’s Princess Aliza Khan’s boyfriend caught on camera getting cozy with her best friend’ Ya sure have fun with it, no I will not be giving a statement” Aliza said as she cut the phone.

“You are exposing him? You can’t do that.”

“No, my dear, tell me what I can and cannot do. You can’t do that,” Aliza said with a smirk.

“You are diabolical” Parth said, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, then I am off. I have my break-up party to attend. Please kick them out of my damn house before I get back”, Aliza said as she grabbed her bag and walked out.

“Have fun”, Parth said.

***

“Common if you were going to sit in the corner just staring at your phone, why did we even come to the club?”

Rayan asked his snooty girlfriend who had her nose on her phone unbothered, to lift her head and even look up at him.

“Would you please just look at me at least?” Rayan asked.

“What do you want me to do? I had a long day at work today. The last thing I want to do is get up and dance with you”

“I told you we could just stay in, I cooked you dinner and everything” Rayan said, getting annoyed at that point.

“Look, if you really want to dance, go dance with someone else.”

“I can’t dance with someone else when you are here now, can I?”

“Well, I am telling you to go so it’s fine. Go. See Taylor Swift is playing have fun” she said, throwing her hands up in the air.

“You know what? Fine, I am going.”

Rayan said as he walked up to the dance floor even though he had no intention of dancing with anyone. But then across the room he spotted Aliza Khan, she was just there dancing with a group of girls swaying her hips to Shake it off by Taylor Swift. Even as he repeated to himself that he was not going to dance with someone else, Aliza turned towards him and looked straight at him and, while the lyrics of the song said:

‘And to the fella over there with the hella good hair

Won't you come on over, baby? We can shake, shake, shake’

She signaled him to come dance with her and after a minute of wondering if she was actually talking to him, he couldn’t help it, but he went for it. He stepped forward and gave her his and twirled her around, and they basically set the dance floor on fire. For two complete strangers who had just met each other, they had too much chemistry for their own good. As for Aliza, it was hard to say what was going through her head during that moment. Maybe she just wanted to dance the night away with a handsome stranger and Rayan’s straight out of a romance novel look was just perfect for the occasion. After they thoroughly made sure to make the heads turn at the club, the song finally came to an end, and in between laughing and catching their breaths “Thank you” Aliza said, leaning into his ear, and just like how she came into his life she walked away too. Just leaving him wondering who she was. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t have been said for Aliza as the first question she got as she sat down with her friends after that was “Where are you just dancing with Rayan?”

“Who is Rayan?” Was her reply and little did she know that she was going to find out soon enough.

***

Where was I during all this you ask? Probably in my bedroom inventing new sex positions. No, I am not a porn-star, you perves I am more classy- I am a smut writer, to be more specific, Dark Romance with a hint of old school rom-com tropes. And how did a nobody like me get involved in the most talked-about love story of our generation to know that you need to keep on reading.