Page 52 of Okay Boss
“BREAKING: Superstar Vikram Khanna Secretly Weds Assistant in Private Ceremony!”
Midnight
The phone tore through silence.
Vikram jolted awake, hand sweeping across silk sheets. The screen flared. Rahul.
“The sindoor photo. It’s gone viral.”
Vikram sat up so fast the sheets twisted. “Who released it?”
“The production team, as BTS.”
“How bad?”
“Everywhere. Trending number one. They’ve got her name, Vikram. Her full name.”
His fingers moved, opening apps he normally left to his team. There it was. The mandap. The fire. His hand at her hairline. His face captured mid-moment, intense, stripped bare.
It looked real. Because it had been.
Shares climbed as he watched. Comments multiplied like something living and ugly.
He switched to Twitter.
“Bollywood Bachelor No More: Vikram’s Hidden Marriage Exposed!”
Then he saw it. Her name.
Divya Mathur.
Not just her name. Her college. Her degree program. A blurred photo of her building. Threads speculating about “the affair.” People who’d never met her speaking with authority about her intentions, her character, her place in his life.
The air in his chest turned cold.
Three calls flashed, publicist, agent, studio head. He ignored them. His thumb kept moving, each new article tightening something inside him.
A message cut across the screen: “Emergency team call. Five minutes. Containment level five.”
He rose and crossed to the bathroom. Cold water ran over his hands as he splashed it on his face. He gripped the sink and lifted his head.
The mirror reflected someone unfamiliar. Hair rumpled. Eyes dark, stripped of charm. Jaw set tight with anger he rarely allowed.
And the anger wasn’t about the rumor.
It was about her name being dragged into it. Her privacy shattered. Her ordinary life invaded because he’d lost control for one unguarded moment.
???
The laptop chimed. Faces filled the screen, publicist pale, legal counsel scanning notes, manager tense, Rahul tight-lipped.
“Give me numbers,” Vikram demanded.
“1.7 million interactions. Every major site is running it as breaking news. Lead story on morning television.”
“How did they get her information?”
Uncomfortable silence.
