[Part 14]
"Legs open, baby!" Zack said.
Manushi groaned inside. This guy had been trying to hit on her for hours now. She was sure he thought he was very charming but she was finding it annoying and creepy. She was only putting up with it because he was the photographer for the Angels magazine and she really needed this break.
Her dress was short, sexy and tight. It fit her slender, sculpted body like a second skin. She was willing to wear anything and pose any way Zack liked because she wanted the photo-feature to be attention-grabbing. But having Zack drooling all over her was not something she was enjoying.
Still, she was thankful that she didn't have to sleep with the photographer like most girls had to do to kick-start their modelling career. She was a Miss World and the title did get her some advantages. Sadly, she had been finding out lately, that the title did not guarantee a career in show business as she had first expected. Her title was just over a year old and already people were beginning to forget who she was.
When she had won the crown she had received so much praise, adulation, awards and fame that she had been floating on cloud nine for quite a while. To her chagrin, all of that tapered off very quickly and the height of that was two months ago when she had to crown her successor with her Miss World crown. As per the tradition they had given her a replacement crown which was hers to keep for life. However it was a sad replica of the original, being smaller in size and without real jewels. The original was valued at $300,000, the replica might not even be worth $1000.
The only major benefit she had managed to get out of it was to sign a big budget film in Bollywood. When that film had suddenly stopped mid-production because of mafia issues, Manushi had realised how close she was to being bankrupt. That had shocked her out of her panties and she had tried to find another film project or TV work. To her dismay she had found that she was considered unlucky in Bollywood. Unlucky? Her? The "daughter of India" that had brought home the Miss World title after 17 years? But such was the nature of the film industry - always fickle, selfish and ungrateful.
She did manage to find some TV spots which had helped her stay afloat for a while and before that money could run out she had decided to try her luck in Fiji. Of late, Fiji had become a secondary Bollywood with more studios, magazines and TV shows willing to work there and create an operating base there because of their tax structure. The Fiji government gave huge tax rebates to the film industry and that was attracting a lot of filmmakers and TV studios there. Manushi was hoping that she would not have the unlucky stigma there and may be more successful.
Fortunately for her, the stigma had not followed her there but neither had her fame. She found that she was practically unknown there and her title meant next to nothing. She would have to start from the ground up and get her break by the normal methods. But what are normal methods? She had no idea. Her money which was not a big amount in India would last her a fair while in Fiji. She set herself up in a mid-range apartment, got a portfolio made and started doing her legwork.
The legwork didn't really land her anything but she kept trying. Then one day just by chance she ran into Neha Sharma who was also a former Miss India. Neha's career story was not much different from Manushi's own and the two bonded over their common troubles. The two beauty queens met several times and shared stories and ideas.
In one such meeting, Neha suggested that they should look for other Indian beauty queens and see if they could help each other. The plan worked after a fashion. They found that Lara Dutta who was a former Miss India and Miss Universe was not only in Fiji but worked in one of the most prestigious Bollywood magazines -- Angels.
Even though they were new friends, the three of them quickly become close friends because of their similar background and needs. Then one day Lara shared an idea that she could get her magazine to run a series of photo features on Indian beauty queen title holders. For Neha and Manushi this was godsend. They jumped at the chance.
Lara told them that a new managing director was going to join the Angels team soon and their best bet was to get the series started quickly before the new MD took control of everything. Once one instalment was published, it would become an established thing and easy to carry out in the following issues. The girls had no objection to that. Both were in dire need of work and money.
The magazine feature would get them some immediate money and the break was likely to help them get noticed. Amongst the three of them, they decided to have Manushi as the subject of the first photo feature because she was a recent title winner and she was a Miss World so would be a more well-known figure. Neha had no objection to that as she knew Manushi would help her as well with the money she got from Angels. Manushi also said that in so many words when they were making all the plans.
Because she was a friend of Lara Dutta, Manushi didn't have to spread her legs for the photographer, but now that she was here, it was quite obvious that Zack did really want it. Manushi could not afford to snub him because he could fuck up the pictures but while she strung him along, she had no intention of fucking him.
While helping her pose, Zack was taking the opportunity to touch her and rub her beautiful body wherever he could. Manushi was not in a position to object verbally but she did try to use body language to convey her displeasure. It didn't work. But Zack being the main photographer had to stay behind the camera most of the time anyway, so Manushi was tolerating his grabby advances in between changes with a restrained annoyance.
================================================
The shoot lasted almost 4 hours and Manushi was fully exhausted. She was also a bit annoyed because Zack asked her number before letting her go and she had to give him her real number. Until the magazine feature came out, she will have to humour him. She would even go on a date with him if she had to. But hopefully, Lara had enough pull in the company that Manushi wouldn't have to sleep with Zack.
She was lost in these thoughts when she rounded a corner and ran into someone. In her high heels, Manushi would have flown into the opposite wall at a hundred miles an hour but the man she had collided with quickly wrapped his arm around her waist and steadied her.
"What the fuck do you mean by grabbing me like that?" Manushi flared "Don't you have any manners? Can't you see where you are going, you fucking idiot?"
"Manushi!"
She ignored whoever was calling her and just gave the suited booted idiot an earful. She had had enough of people copping a feel of her body and she was going to make an example of this moron who could not keep his hands off of pretty girls.
"Just because you wear a suit doesn't mean you fucking own anything and everything in sight. You should have more sense than grabbing girls like that without their permission. I mean what a kind of a pervert are you? Are you just going to stand there and ogle me? I mean really!"
The suit spoke "My apologies for running into you. I am glad to see you are ok. Please take care. Have a nice evening."
With that, he turned on his heel and walked away. His polite behaviour fuelled Manushi's anger even more.
"What a bastard! Can you believe that?" She said to nobody in particular. There were many people in the corridor watching but nobody was saying a word. They looked horrified like they were watching a train run over a bunny.
"Manushi!"
Hearing her name again, Manushi turned her head "I can't even imagine they hire perverts like that...oh, hi, Neha....he looks like someone who.." then really noticing Neha for the first time, she turned to face her "Can you believe this idiot? Did you see what happened? I am going to report that bastard to the management."
Neha Sharma took a deep breath, looked Manushi square in the eyes and told her "Manushi, that was Shartan Silverstar. He IS the management. And YOU ran into HIM!"