Chapter 8 Chapter-8

"Ana, I'm asking you" Jamie asked me in a upset voice.

"No..No..Jamie, I don't have any secrets to hide" I gulped my saliva trying to smile.

"Tell me honestly, do you like him?"

"What? Absolutely no!" I gave him a confident reply, "I'll tell you what happened yesterday night and then you decide".

I explained everything to him, "See, that's all. You don't have absolutely nothing to worry about".

"Then, why you hid that he was with you?" He crossed his arms.

I sighed, "Look seriously, I don't know why I did that. But something stopped me. To be frank, I was still digesting the news that Christopher Mike Rovan, a famous celebrity of America was in my apartment. So in that rush and tension I blurted out what came in my mouth, I'm sorry".

"I don't know what to say Ana. But, I think he likes you".

"No..he looks me as his friend".

"If he stops with that, you'll be fine. I've heard about him a lot, he is a heartbreaker. He never looked back the girls after a hook up".

"Jamie, when you became so nosy about other's personal life?"

"It was 15 minutes interview, Ana. A big interview for us" his voice raised up, "So, I did a thorough research on him. I'm not nosy it was unavoidable, it came straight on my face".

We remained in silence for a minute. He started with a deep sigh, "Ana! I was just advising you to be careful. I don't wanna see my girl heart broken".

I smiled, "Aww..Again you are taking the father figure".

"Shut up! I'm not your father. Don't repeat that again" he got irked.

"Ok fine" I raised my hands, "Listen, I'm not falling for his charm. My profession is my priority for now. So, you don't worry".

"No, you shouldn't do that. I was saying be careful in selecting the boys".

"Ok, but still no for now".

"Dammit!" He cursed under his breath.

"How about we argue this with smoothie and burgers?"

"I'm in" he smiled, "My evening slot is entirely free for this".

"One quick question, how you'd find that he was here?"

"Well your grandpa's clothes were on your bed and I saw you coming out of his car. Just a guess".

One month after,

Life moved with and without hurdles. This month is no exception for that. Circulation of magazine increased by 5%. Celebrities liked the way we approached as like Chris few of them supported us. We checked each and every article thoroughly before we printed it.

With him, we didn't meet after that. He went outside the city for the shoot. But he messaged here and there when we had time. Two days ago, he came back and messaged me that he'll meet me when he has time.

Now, I was in my cabin typing the article about the Christopher's haven foundation. They gave me approval a week ago. I hope my article may be useful for them.

Jamie knocked my cabin. I looked up from my laptop, "What Jamie?"

"You need to look at this".

I stood up, keeping my notes aside and followed him. He stopped at Nyra's laptop. All were there surrounding it.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"This is about, Mr. Rovan" Nyra pressed enter on her laptop.

It an video on YouTube, just a 2 minutes video. Chris is in his hoodie and sweat pants. It captured his front view. The quality was average and it was shot from distance. I think it was shot in mobile camera, but it focused Chris's face clearly. He was standing under a big tree on a footpath. Near him, a black man was standing. He was short when he compared to Chris and in early twenties. He was asking something to Chris, but he punched him. Screen blackened out.

I was pretty shocked and taken aback. Oh! No! Whether he know about the consequences of this? Again a screen came back to the light. The same black man was talking with his bleeding mouth, "Hi friends, My name is Gerald. That is me on the video" his voice sounded in pain, "Today morning, I accidentally saw Mr. Rovan. I became excited and asked him for a photo. But he..he..punched me cursing to stay away blackie" he moaned in pain, "Why? Because am I black? He is my favourite hero and person. All I wanted is a photo with him, he threatened me not to speak about this. But luckily, this was captured by a passerby and asked me speak about this. So, I'm here now. I'm ashamed of myself for being black" he broke down and cried. Two minutes ended and cried.

"Omg! When..when..and where did this happened?" I asked her.

"Today morning in Houston Street and it is trending everywhere" Nyra said.

"Yeah, hastag Chris apologize Gerald is trending on twitter" Henna said looking at her phone.

"Ana, you think it's true?" Jamie asked.

"No way, no freaking way. I need to talk to him" I ran to my cabin grabbed my phone and came back.

"Jamie, you stay here and Aaron come with me".

We reached his apartment immediately. I rang the doorbell, after a minute I heard Chuck's desperate voice, "Whoever this is, we are not interested to talk to you".

"Chuck, it's me Ana".

"Ana" he replied in his weary voice, "If you are here as a media, you are not welcomed here".

"No..No.. I'm here as Chris's friend".

He didn't reply me.

"Chuck, please trust me".

After few minutes of silence he replied, "Ok, wait" he unlocked the door and allowed me inside. There Chris, his publicist Beth were watching the television. He was in the same hoodie and sweat pants as in the video. His hair was complete mess and his right hand supported his jaw.

The media were completely against him. All were throwing tantrums on him, he clenched his Jaw in anger.

"Chris..."

"Ana" he stopped me raising his hand, "If you are here to yell at me, get out please".

"No..No..I was here to ask what happened".

He raised up and looked me, "Oh! What you gonna do with that? Clearly, everyone us taking that ass's side. They are not even ready to hear my side" he was upset.

"But, I'm on your side. Tell me how this happened, I'll try to help".

He sighed, "Ok, this is what happened. I was jogging, he came out of nowhere and started to praise me and my acting. He followed me upto 2 blocks. He was so creepy and thought he was stalking me. I finally asked him what he want, he said that I need to punch him and it'll make him happy. I don't know what to do escape from him. So, I punched him and he thanked me. Even I asked him if he was okay, he said great. I swear that he made himself bleeding".

"Are you fool Chris?" Beth asked angrily, "You are a dick. This is a setup. Dammit! You fell so easily for this. I don't even know how to clear this mess" she slapped her forehead, "He completely changed into racist issue".

"I just thought him as a weird fan...never excepted this coming".

Chuck raised the TV volume, there some reporters interviewing Chris's father, Kevin. Chris is a complete xerox copy of him.

"Mr. Rovan, what do you think about the issue? Your son is racist?"

He was trying to get inside the car, "No comments, today evening he'll give interview about that. You can ask whatever you want, now leave me alone".

After that he got inside and flewed away. That reporter continued, "Well, his Father is not helping him much. Let's see what Christopher Rovan have to say about this".

I looked him, he looked me, "He came here, yelled at me before I can explain my side, he thinks that I'm guilty here. He asked me to apologise".

Beth's phone rang. She moved away to attend that.

"You don't have to do that, we can prove that you are victim in this" I replied with a concern.

His eyes thanked me, "What makes you think that I'm saying truth? I don't even have anything to prove myself".

"No, Chris. That what friends to do, you don't need to have any evidence to prove yourself. Because, you are one of the finest gentleman I met. There is no controversy on you before this. This is clearly a setup, I'll definitely prove that".

His eyes thanked me and interlocked my fingers, "Thanks for staying with me".

Beth came back, "Okay, look my people contacted that Gerald. They spoke with his lawyer. They won't press any charge, if you apologize publically".

"What?" I interrupted her, "Are you crazy to suggest that? He didn't do anything wrong. If he apologize, everyone will think him as a racist and think about his future".

"Shut up!" She silenced me, "You media people don't know nothing about this. Okay tell me what will you say to people? That he asked Chris to punch him. Wow! Everyone will suddenly take his side. If that Gerald presses charges, we have nothing from our side to prove that Chris is innocent. He may get jail for this. Is that what you want? I can handle this. If he apologize calmly and do some services, definitely people will forget about that and will appreciate you. So, let me handle this" she snapped her fingers, "You stay away from this".

"Chris, please don't do this" I begged him, "It'll spoil your entire career".

"Chris, it's your Dad's order" Beth shouted.

He replied half heartedly, "I'm sorry..I don't have a choice".

Beth headed to his office. Chris and Chuck followed her helplessly.

"Aaron he should not do that".

He nodded, "You're right. But, he clearly follows her order".

"The reason why I called you is, your uncle is sergeant in that area, right?"

"Yeah..so what?"

"I don't think Gerald is doing for publicity. He is doing this for money".

"Come on Ana! If he is doing this for money, he would come to Chris not to Media. Definitely, he is doing this for Publicity".

"No...I mean..he is doing it for some other person".

"How do you say so?"

"He chased him more than two blocks and stopped him at a place where there is no camera. He clearly knows that there will be no guard around him" I played that video, "Look at him, when Chris punches him".

He squinted his eyes and focused him, "Omg!" He got stunned, "He is signalling someone while he is punching..that means..." He looked me.

"Yes, he is asking it to record".

"You are correct. We definitely need to do something" he dialled his number.

Later that evening,

I wore my grey blazer underneath my white shirt and a grey pant. I adjusted my tie and came down.

Beth and Chuck raised from their seat, "You ready?"

I nodded, we came down and hopped inside the car. What did I ever do apologise him, so much hate in one day. Even my Dad is not taking my side..oh..who am I kidding! He is a selfish jerk. Even Ana is missing, it's okay my fault, I pushed her away. We reached the Venue.

"You remember everything?" She asked.

Yeah..yeah..I was drunk and I'm not conscious and sorry with puppy eyes.

I nodded with an irritation. We walked towards the stage, Camera flashed everywhere. Me and she took the seat on the stage. Immediately questions popped out.

"Mr. Rovan..what you have to say about this issue? Are you a racist? You don't like black people? That's the reason why no celebrity supported you?"

I took a deep breath and controlled my anger, "Listen..I'm not..."

"Chris stop it!" A voice echoed at the entrance of the room.

We all glanced there. Ana and her friend was standing with that boy, Gerald. His hands were cuffed. I stood up, she looked at his friend. He nodded and came near to me with that guy.

"Listen respected Gentleman and women's. Mr. Rovan is not guilty" he spoke on the mic, "This Gerald, he is actually guilty. He brought 50 grand from someone to frame him. Here the statement from the bank" he showed them all, "Tell them".

He lowered his head in shame, "Yeah..I was given money to frame him..he have nothing to do with this".

I couldn't believe what I heard, they proved me I'm not wrong. I looked Beth with pride, she just turned her face away.

"Who asked you to do this?" I asked him with my adrenaline rush.

He replied in a small voice, "Your friend....Janice".