Page 33 of Maid for Advertising
Urvi
It happened on a random Saturday night during a break in The X Factor at my brother’s house.
Over the last few months I’d started seeing more of my family and had finally met Rahul’s fiancée Meera. That day had been filled with cake-tasting, menu-choosing, invitation-deciding. So not my ideal day, or Rahul’s for that matter, but it made Meera and Mum happy, and I was seeing that for Rahul, Meera’s happiness was more important than his own. She was sweet and they were so much in love I almost cried when he choked down a piece of fruit cake, agreeing with her that it was ‘perfect’ when I knew for a fact sultanas made him want to vomit.
Afterwards Mum and Dad had come back to Rahul’s house along with assorted cousins, aunties and uncles – all sorts of relatives. In the Radia family the organisation of a wedding tended to become an actual event in itself. By the end if another Auntie kissed Rahul on the cheek I thought he would probably explode.
“Oh!” one of the aunties cried. “Here it is! I love these things. Come watch everyone.”
I froze. There was still a fair bit of information I’d withheld from my family.
“Why is there so much fuss about this stupid advert every year?” Rahul grumbled. It’s not like . . .” he broke off and his eyes went wide. “Oh my God.” I followed Rahul’s shocked gaze to the TV.Myface lit up the fifty-inch plasma screen and silence fell over my family as the first few notes of my song filled the space.
“I thought you said she was still in medical school?” Uncle Sanjit said as they all stared up in shock at the screen.
“She . . .” Mum’s eyes went wide and then they filled with tears.
“She’s a composer,” Dad said and it was my turn to blink. “A talented one. Justlookat her.”
I let out a long breath and watched the latest John Lewis advert take everyone’s breath away.
“Bugger me,” breathed Rahul. His face had paled as he sat down heavily on the sofa next to me. “Urvi . . . I . . .” His voice trailed off but to my shock he reached over and took my hand to give it a squeeze. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and I closed my eyes as I let that wash over me.
The last real conversation we’d had was after Rahul had found out that I had diabetes. He was worried and angry that I never told the family and told me that maybe now I should consider pursuing a more stable career; that clinging onto a dream wasn’t going to be good for me or my health. I’d looked at him for a long moment then smiled, but I was sure it hadn’t reached my eyes.
“I’ll take that on board,” I’d told him before walking away. That was a month ago and I hadn’t heard from him since, until today. The song I was singing was about letting someone chase their dream. About being there for them, loving them, being their safe place to fall. I looked at Mum and saw tears streaming down her face.
“Do you remember what you said to me before I went off to my university interview?” Rahul asked me in a low voice which cracked at the end with emotion. I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath, feeling my nose sting.
“You can do anything you set your mind to, Rahul,” I replied in tremulous whisper. “I believe in you.” His breath hitched and when I turned to him I was shocked to see his cheeks wet with tears. I hadn’t seen my brother cry in over two decades.
“Rahul I –” I was cut off as he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.
“Don’t you listen to another stupidfuckingword that comes out of my mouth, ever again,” he said fiercely. “Don’t youeverlet me put you down again.”
Five years later . . .
Jack
“Will you stop fussing about the security, Jack?” Urvi pleaded as she sat on a hay bale tuning her guitar. “This is a tiny festival and we’ve turned it into Fort Knox. Kira had it under control.”
I sighed. “I hardly think that the level of security Kira thought appropriate for the Ferret’s Testicles is the same as we need for you. Their body odour alone would keep any would-be attacker at a comfortable ten metre distance.”
Urvi’s lips twitched and she put her guitar to the side so she could stand and step towards me. Her hands went up into my hair and she pulled my forehead down to hers. I slipped my arms around her and held her close.
“I’ll be fine,” she said softly, and I moved my head back to roll my eyes, but her hands took either side of my face and held it steady. She looked into my eyes. Her face was almost completely free of makeup and her hair was wild down her back. She had denim cut-off shorts on, sandals and a loose fitting white shirt, which fell off the shoulder on one side. She looked utterly gorgeous and completely content, and in that moment I was glad we were here doing Bunt Fest again. It was one of the only performances I ever saw Urvi give that was largely stress-free.
At the O2 Arena, at Glastonbury, at Wembley she had to go through hours of makeup and styling. By the time she made it onto the stage she was usually a bag of nerves. It was only when she lost herself in her music that she would relax again. But here at the small festival that Kira organised every year for charity, Urvi could relax. Here it was all about the music – no stylists, no makeup artists and, in my opinion, not enough bloody security. That was why I’d put a ring of guards around the perimeter of the private property the festival was held at, replacing Kira’smate(a scruffy, skinny bloke with a man bun and a questionable beard) who’d been her solution to ticket checking and security for the event. Two other close protection officers stood just outside the tent we were in now, and there was another a row of them below the front of the stage (Urvi wouldnotbe happy about this addition but I had discussed it with Rahul and we’d decided there was no other way around it).
“Why don’t you go out there and save Ben from my family,” she said, touching her lips to mine and moving back to grab her guitar.
“They’re fine,” I lied. Last I saw, Urvi’s dad had received a “glitter blessing” from a lady in a cleavage-revealing catsuit on stilts, followed by a clip round the ear from Urvi’s mum. After getting her husband in line Mrs Radia had started on Ben about the myriad of potential Radia ladies she could line up for him, while Urvi’s nephews began using him as some sort of human climbing frame. “I’m staying with you until it’s time.”
“The Ferret’s Testicles will meet me backstage and I have Beefcake One and Two just out there.”
“It’s the Ferret’s Testicles I’m protecting you from,” I muttered and she smacked my arm.
“They’re nice guys,” she said through a smile.
