As the glass slipper found its righteous owner, the prince's heart did a back flip! He had finally found out who was his dream girl. Cinderella readily agreed to be his bride. She was ready to enter into her new life.

"Psst.. Sonakshi" Mr. Mehta The producer of the play being staged, called the writer Sonakshi Bose. She joined him back stage.

"Yes Sir" She stood next to him but couldn't keep her eyes off the stage

"You said the play is Cinderella with a twist" He tried grabbing her attention

"Yes it is sir" She chimed

"Where is the twist?" The producer began twisting his waist. Sonakshi's mouth opened in shock.

"That twist ..." She pointed to her boss' waist " ....that twist never existed sir but yes there is a change of plot coming up. Wait for it"

"Well I hope its here before the audience sleeps" The producer said but Sonakshi ignored his impatient remarks. She knew what she was doing. She was the writer of the play after all.

Cinderella rested her head on the Prince's shoulder as their wedding carriage drifted into the woods. The Prince was in his la-la land when suddenly he heard a gun shot.

"Stay close Cinderella. I'll protect you" He got up with a dramatic accent

"Really?" The innocent look on Cinderella's face was gone. She smirked as their carriage got surrounded by men on horses. They carried rifles on their shoulders and greed in their eyes.

"Happy Wedding Prince" Cinderella got up from her seat and took a gun out from the folds of her gown.

"You betrayed me!" The prince cried

"Happy Realisation" Cinderella spoke in a calm tone "Now, we're gonna hold you captive here till your father shows up with some gold to set his dear son free. What an idiot you are to fall for someone whom you randomly met on a ball!"

"This is the twist!?!" Mr. Mehta's mouth was open in horror "Now who'll save the prince?"

"No one" Sonakshi shrugged her shoulders "The gang takes the money and flees. Happy Ending?"

"Happy Ending? Are you kidding me?" Mr. Mehta was on his toes

"Atleast your audience seems interested. They're out of their sleeps and won't complain for the rupees they shoved in your pocket and you won't hesitate in giving me my pay this time" Sonakshi winked

"Making crime patrol out of a simple fairy tale! You evil genius" Mr. Mehta's voice was shrill thanks to the excitement

Every story has two sides. The side of the protagonist and the side of the antagonist. That's how stories go on . The protagonist's point of view becomes THE GOOD and the antagonist's the BAD one.

Cinderella took her share of gold from the money the gang collected and rode on her horse to a different direction from which she came. The house, her evil step mom and sisters were all a hoax. Cinderella reached her actual home. A broken, shabby wooden hut standing alone in the middle of the woods. She came back home and opened the door. She wanted to be embraced by her ill sister fighting from typhoid. She finally had the money to tend to her disease.

"Angela" She called out once, twice and many times but no one came to meet her. Fearing what lay ahead, she took baby steps towards her sister's room.

She opened the door, and on her bed lay Angela, the reason behind Cinderella's actions, she lay lifeless and cold on the bed.

"You have a twisted mind for story plots Ms. Bose" Mr Mehta blew his overflowing nose in the stage's curtains

"Yeah" Sonakshi made a disgusted face at what she saw

Judgements.
Conclusions.
I the narrator, leave them up to you, for some stories have no good or bad people. They contain humans with different ways to react to different situations and the fruits they get from what they sow.

Sonakshi waited for the audience's response with baited breath as the curtains closed over her play. There were random claps from corners of the theatre but then everybody joined in the applause and she released a long breath. The cast assembled on the stage to thank the audience and Sonakshi joined her team.

She was busy in embracing the response when her eyes caught Mr. Mehta talking to an old man. He signalled her to join him.

"Is there a problem sir?" Sonakshi asked

"Meet Arun Juneja from Jyotsna Aneesh Productions Sonakshi" Mr Mehta introduced the stranger. "He has seen your work and wants to hire you as the creative head for their next project"

"I don't write TV shows Sir. They are baseless with over the top drama" Sonakshi was always clear about what she wanted in life

"Well, Ms. Bose that is a straight jump to conclusions quite unlike the message you gave through your story" Arun said "This show will be a path breaker on the Indian Television. It is set in the 90s"

He looked for something in his pocket

"... Here is my card. I'll fix you a meeting with the Malanis tomorrow. I guess you are just the person we are looking for" He completed

Sonakshi hesitantly took the card

"If things don't go well then you can still have free food in our cateen. They serve uh-mazing dishes. The treat will be on me" He smiled and walked away

"That's a big break little genius" Mr. Mehta smiled proudly.

"Yaa.... Hopefully" Sonakshi sighed
________________________________

That night had been oddly nervous for Sonakshi. She couldn't sleep for a second. She was stressed for no reason. This could be her big break but did she want it to be her big break? Did she want to move away from writing in theatre? Didn't she just love writing scripts for her plays?  She always liked taking the story in the direction she wanted. Serials involve interference and direction from the producers and channel heads. Did she want that? She knew she could never write under pressure. She closed her eyes shut forcefully. She had to give it a shot anyway.

She got up early and left for the production house's office. She waited at the reception till she was called. She was perspiring out of stress.

She knocked the door.

"May I come in?" She asked

Thak thak

A pen tapped twice and Jyotsna Malani looked up at once, as if her senses had become prone for immediate response to that signal. She looked at her husband Mr. Aneesh Malani who was also her partner in running Jyotsna Aneesh Productions. He pointed towards the door where Sonakshi stood hesistantly.

She grew conscious of her looks. Her worn out yellow kurta was clinging close to her petite frame as if she was born with it, her flip flops weren't in shape any more. She was fidgeting, which was clearly giving away her nervousness even though she was trying hard to hold a calm and confident air around her.

Jyotsna smiled and pointed towards the chair on the other side of the desk. She took baby steps and sat reluctantly.

"So Ms Sonakshi Bose..." Aneesh said "You must be well aware of the reason why we have called you here."

"Y..yes sir but I" She tried speaking but ...

"No, no ifs and no buts Ms. Bose. We are well aware about your hesitations in taking up this project" Jyotsna interrupted

"D..Don't take this in the wrong way ma'am ... Sir ... But you want me to join as a creative head of your show which is set in the 90s. I am a 90s born but till the time I got hold of my senses it was 2000 already! I don't know ... I.. I just can't figure out how will I take up this story" She put her point forward

"This story is loosely based on our real life story. We will be there to guide you throughout because you will be recreating some of our real life incidents" Jyotsna blushed slightly as she eyed her husband and continued "Besides we are providing you with a team of exceptionally talented people, right Aneesh?"

"Yes. Absolutely. And isme kya hai yaar? Watch some 90s movies you'll be able to get a grip on the essence of that era. You know what's the plus point we have R&K- Radha and Khatri in your team to help you, along with Sourabh and Nikki"

She was more confused than ever. Jyotsna read her expressions and said, "Sourabh Bose? You know him right. He is the best in the business and he grew up in the 90s so he'll know how and when to guide you. You have Nikki to add to the comic factor and R & K are veterans. What else do you need?"

"R & K were the writers of Saath Nibhana Humsafar. Typical Saas Bahu stuff ... and you want this show to be a path breaking show, right? How will their presence help?" She was, by now, frustrated of being pushed into a project she didn't want to take up.

"Let's just say they want to show their real side" Aneesh jumped in defense

"You'll be paid 7 lakhs per month Ms. Bose" Jyotsna threw her final card and Sonakshi's jaw dropped without her permission. Jyotsna raised her brows and she realised what just  happened. She could feel her head spinning with just the mention of her salary.

Jyotsna hid her sly smile.

Aneesh continued the meeting "So should I take it as a yes?" He pointed to her still-open-Ajanta-Cave size mouth.

She gulped some saliva to drain her dry throat. She could literally see paisa paisa floating in the air. She  could see herself buying stuff she always wanted. That Titan watch, that Nia collection diamond jewellery for her mom, a new coat of paint in their house, the latest BMW, ... a nippo battery, a flora pencil, 4 kg aloo, free dhania. Oh!  Her mother's shopping list inter-mingled with her dreamy list and she came flying back to Earth

"Sonakshi?" Jyotsna asked

"Ji! Bilkul! I am on'' She was almost screaming with excitement. Then realising her position she quickly calmed her tone. "What are your character requirements?"

"Now you're talking business" Jyotsna winked

"Zaid, the head of Set India wanted to create a 90s show and we told him that we could help. We want traces of our love story to be recreated on screen" Aneesh explained

"Recreate. That is the key word Sonakshi. We would just like you to re create our scenes. Seeing your previous work I can observe that you are exemplary at your job. I want you to weave the characters. We have a storyline in our head but the characters are all yours.  We have come up with a basic storyline of two people meeting in college in early 90s. Give birth to two characters. Make them yours and we'll add our flavour to them. Your team will help you." Jyotsna smiled "Write from your heart Sonakshi. The head is not meant for these professions"

But Sonakshi's head was already doing various dance forms.

7 Lakhs per month her entire life could change!

1 decision

4 lives

It was a matter of yes or no for Sonakshi but the future has loads in store for our leads.

Join the journey that this decision will make the leads of the story go through!

Update schedule - Every FRIDAY till the end of May (coz utne hi bank episodes hai) and regularly from June

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