Love Happens: Chapter 7
Singhania House, Mumbai.
Everyone was eating breakfast. They were still talking about yesterday’s party.
“Did you all see the reviews and articles in the papers?” asked Payal.
“Yes, they are all positive reviews. And our PR team is quite happy with us. So all was great” said Lavanya.
“That is wonderful news. I am quite happy with the outcome” said Manyata who looked pleased with the news.
“I met so many stars in the party and everyone complimented my clothes” said Anjali proudly
“Shouldn’t everyone be complimenting ASR and Randeep Suki for your saree?” asked Khushi.
Anjali scowled at her.
“Well, we too got so many compliments thanks to Khush” said Payal.
“That was bound to happen. You three were looking like angels” said Sarita.
“There was this thing where the press asked me about the issues with AR. I seriously don’t know from where they get such accurate information. I denied having any such problems” said Khushi.
“The press asked us about the issue as well. We also said that it was just a rumor” said Akash.
“I am glad we all said the same thing or else the press would have had a good time if our statements didn’t match” said Arnav.
“Don’t worry, we can solve our problems without involving there nosy people” said Khushi.
“I am glad all went well aside from some minor issues” said Manyata.
“Good, so now you can relax a little and let Lavanya, Jay and the rest of staff handle things. You my dear dadi need to sit back and take a break” Manyata went to say something but Khushi stopped her “no do not even think of denying me. You were so restless because of the opening and the reviews that you haven’t been taking care of yourself. And don’t contradict it; ask the others for they feel the same. They are just too cowards to say that to you for the fear of offending you” she glared at Payal, Lavanya and Sarita. They averted their eyes.
“Fine” Manyata said in a defeated voice “but don’t expect me to just at home and do nothing” warned Manyata.
“Never, but you need to take a breather, dadi” said Lavanya.
“You and disa can do so all stuff that you haven’t been able to do due to managing Singhania Hotels. Now you have other people to whom you can delegate responsibilities” said Khushi.
“Do you all always talk like that to your elders?” asked Subhadra to the girls.
Khushi frowned and asked “are you asking us?” she pointed at herself, Lavanya and Payal.
“Yes I am asking you girls. In my house our children won’t dare to talk to the elders like that and order them” said Subhadra proudly.
“I don’t think we ordered dadi. We just persuaded her because we care about her” said Khushi.
“I don’t know what kind of values you have taught to your grandchildren but if they talk back know then what will happen once they marry” said Subhadra to Manyata, and then continued “my children and grandchildren can never think of answering me back”
“Sumi, I think you have said enough” warned Devyani.
But Subhadra ignored her.
“I have given my grandchildren the upbringing they need to become independent and to make their own identity. They know when to speak and they also know to respect their elders” said Manyata with authority.
“I can see that. I can also imagine what kind of daughter in laws they will make” said Subhadra sarcastically.
“Really, if you know so much than according to you what should an ideal daughter in law be like?” asked Sarita.
Subhadra smiled arrogantly and said “an ideal daughter in law should always listen to her in laws. She should be capable of taking over the household responsibilities and should see to it that every member of the family is satisfied with her”
“I think what you described her is the definition of a maid” said Lavanya smirking.
“And the plus point of having a maid instead of a daughter in law is that you can always change the maid if you don’t like her” said Khushi. Payal elbowed her trying to control her smile. Even the Raizadas were trying not to smile.
“Well what do you know about being the perfect daughter in law? I’ll show you what a perfect daughter in law is when I find her for my grandsons” said Subhadra.
“You actually mean Akash, NK and Arnav have no say in who they want to marry” asked Manyata feeling stumped.
“They are my grandchildren. Why will they object to the wife I choose for them?” said Subhadra
“Firstly because you want a daughter in law who can perform the duties of a maid and not a wife who will share her life with them and secondly I don’t think you know your grandchildren that well if you think they will just bow their heads and agree to your choice of a life partner for them” said Khushi.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Subhadra asked sharply
“It’s just that I can see Akash agreeing to marry a girl you choose for he is the ‘I respect my elders and whatever they decide will be the best for me’ type of person but NK I think is ‘if I feel that who my elders have chosen is good for me then only I will marry her or else I will fight to change their decision’ kinda guy and as for Arnav he is ‘I will marry who I see will complete my life and I don’t care what others think, if my family approves I will be happy or else I can’t do much about it’ kinda person. And these three are successful business man for god’s sake. They should marry a girl who will compliment them in all parts of their life and not just some girl who can no doubt take care of the house but has no idea how to take care of her husband” explained Khushi patiently.
All were quiet for a moment and then suddenly Subhadra stood and pointed at Khushi and said “you don’t know what you are talking about girl. I suggest you stay out of my family matter” and stormed off.
“That went well” muttered Payal.
“I am so sorry for Subhadra’s behavior. I agree with what Khushi said but Sumi is set in her ways and it is difficult for her to accept change” apologized Devyani. Even Arnav thought that dadi had overreacted and she shouldn’t have insulted their host.
“No need to apologize Devyani. My girls can hold their own with the best of them” said Manyata proudly.
“Well I had fun, but it’s getting late. I have to get ready and reach the studio in two hours. And dadi remember no over exerting. I have my ways of knowing” Khushi stood and said “see you at lunch Mr. Raizada” and went away.
Everyone watched her go. Sarita said “for a person who denies wanting to marry, she has a pretty good idea of what a life partner should be like”
Manyata looked thoughtful. Then she said “I wouldn’t say that she doesn’t want to marry. I think the person who will capture her heart has yet to come. The person who will win my gudiya’s heart has to be special. You just wait Sarita, one day she will herself come and say she wants us to meet the person she wants to spend the rest of her life”
“I hope you are right jiji” said Sarita.
“And as for these two, I have full faith that when they find their life partners I will be the first to know” Manyata looked at them expectantly
“Don’t worry dadi, the minute I find my future husband, I’ll drag him here for your blessings. And I’ll see to it that Payal does them same” promised Lavanya. Payal shook her head.
“Enough with marriage talks. Let’s go Lavanya we are getting late” said Payal
“We should also go. The sooner we reach the office, the sooner we can start solving the mess we are in” said Arnav.
“We will also take your leave. I have shopping plans with Shyam” said Anjali and she dragged Shyam with her.
“I hope all of our children soon find the happiness they deserve” said Devyani
“All we can do is wait and watch and hope for the best” said Sarita.
*************************************************************************************************************
AR Fashion House, Mumbai Branch
Arnav, Akash and NK reached the office where Mr. Shah was waiting for them.
“Good morning sirs. I have everything ready for all of you. And your cabins are all ready as per your preference. The conference room is also ready and all the department heads are ready and waiting” informed Mr. Shah.
“Good, then let’s get the meeting started” said Arnav.
The meeting ran for two hours in which they addressed the problems the office was facing. Arnav finally decided that all the problems couldn’t be solved in just one day so they finished the meeting. After the entire department heads left NK said “what a mess”. Akash and Arnav agreed.
“I had thought that while we are in Mumbai for the week we’ll sort the matters but looking at the problems I don’t think that’s possible. We’ll have to at least stay a month in Mumbai or else we’ll suffer heavy losses” said Arnav.
“How the hell did it get so bad and why were we not informed?” asked Akash.
Arnav called Aman and said to make a detailed list of all the problems the office was facing. Then he looked at his watch and stood up. “I have to go now. I have a business lunch with Khushi. I hope it goes well. We’ll have a less thing to worry about if she doesn’t cancel her contract with us”
“That will be bad” agreed NK.
“You go and convince her, we’ll handle things here and try to clean up some more mess” said Akash.
Arnav gave a few more instructions to the staff and Aman and left for the meeting.
*******************************************************************************************************************
Arnav was waiting for Khushi at a restaurant in Bandra. She had messaged him the address and said to reach by 12.30 but she was late by 10 minutes and he disliked when people made him wait. He was also eager to see her in spite of having seen her in the morning. He hadn’t had time to fully understand what she had said to dadi in the morning but after a few hours, he understood exactly what she had said. He was surprised when she had perfectly described what Akash and NK’s reaction would be in the matter of their marriage but he was stumped for she had correctly guessed that he wouldn’t just allow anyone to choose his wife and if he felt he wanted to marry someone he wouldn’t ask for permission and hope that his family approved. The thing that made him panic was that despite him keeping his emotions guarded from everyone, Khushi had managed to see the real him. He was surprised that she could guess his reactions when she knew him for only few days whereas his family that had raised him couldn’t predict his reactions. He glanced at his watch and looked up to see Khushi coming towards him. People were staring at her for she looked like a ray of sunshine in a dull, dark place. She hadn’t dressed professional but she still looks like she could take over the world.
Khushi had messaged the address of the restaurant where they would conduct their meeting to Arnav and had said that she would reach there by 12.30 but she was running late by 10 minutes. She hated being late for it made her look unprofessional. And to add to her misery she wasn’t even dressed formally. But sometimes you just count control things. She reached the restaurant and searched for him. There was Arnav sitting in his signature black three piece suit that made him look like he was the king of the world and the rest were just made to obey him. He also looked annoyed which was probably because she was late. She reached the table and sat down.
“I am so sorry for being late but sometimes you just can’t help it” said Khushi looking apologetic
Arnav had thought she would make excuses. He didn’t like people who couldn’t own up to their mistakes. But she hadn’t made any excuses and blamed others. He admired her for that and thought he could forgive her this time. “It’s OK, you aren’t that late. Let’s order and start the meeting”
They ordered lunch, and then Arnav thought he should start the meeting.
“Let’s start the meeting shall we?” at Khushi’s nod he continued “It has been bought to my attention a few days ago that my staff is not able to deliver the products on time”
“Yes but that’s just one issue. I have some more problems with AR” said Khushi.
“Alright but let’s focus on one problem at a time” suggested Arnav.
“Look, my basic job is that when a client comes to me, they tell me their preference or an occasion according to which they what to dress up but they either don’t have the time to search or they don’t know where to search for the appropriate clothes. I have tie ups with the major and some small fashion houses. Suppose AR has some clothes which I think my client will like, I show them to the clients. If they like it, they order it. But most of the time AR either does not have the item I request or they take time to have it delivered to the branch. Neither of the situations makes me look good in front of my clients. I have to deliver the clothes on the day I told them or else I don’t get my payment and it makes me look bad” explained Khushi.
Arnav heard her patiently and he understood her. If he was in her place he would also have complained. “I understand. I admit that neither Akash, NK nor I have visited Mumbai branch in a long time and it has been neglected. The staff has been running the Mumbai branch without much direction from us. I admit that NK handles the marketing but he is the part owner of AR and has rights to make all the decisions that I and Akash can make. We have been so overwhelmed with Delhi branch that we neglected Mumbai branch. But now that we are here we’ll sort all the problems”
“I hope that it happens because AR has great collections but if it doesn’t have them, it’s of no use. I also get late update on the latest designs. And the site for retailers like me, it’s a disaster. I show my client some clothes and when I inquire about it, it’s out of stock. And you seriously need to regularly update your exclusive section. I can wait till you stock your regular clothes but if I show my client one of the exclusives but it’s already sold it a disaster for me to convince my client to order something else”. Khushi hoped he could work on getting solutions to her problems with AR or else she had no choice but to cancel her contract with them.
Arnav was getting angrier listening to her tell him the problems with AR. No one had bothered him to tell that there were these problems in AR as well. He was going to have a serious talk with his staff and some people were definitely going to be fired. The waiter came with their lunch and they thanked him. He was also thankful for the distraction.
“You’ll love the food. I often bring my clients here for business lunches. It’s just 15 minutes from Belleza so it’s also convenient” said Khushi. She thought it would be good to have small talk for she could fell him getting angry.
“Belleza?” Arnav gave her a confused look.
“It’s the name of my boutique” said Khushi.
“What does it mean?” asked Arnav looking interested.
“Belleza means beauty in Spanish” said Khushi.
“Why this name? I mean it’s a lovely name but it’s different” asked Arnav.
‘Well, it’s a quite boring story behind the naming of my boutique” warned Khushi.
“However boring it may be, I want to know” Arnav wanted to know what made Khushi the way she was. He wanted to discover every little detail of her life. He would contemplate on the reason later.
“Well, when I was studying in Boston, I had a professor named Alvaro Garza…” she couldn’t complete her for Arnav interrupted her
“You have studied under THE ALVARO GARZA, the legend who was the first person who had used curvy models for his fashion shows instead of skinny models?” Arnav was so surprised.
“Yup, the one and only. He was a guest lecturer. He only taught me for one semester but he took a liking towards me. He is such an eccentric, colorful and different personality. He does things that people frown upon. Or else who had the guts to go against the set rules of using skinny models for curvy and voluptuous models. After the semester was over he told me he was going to go to Spain to look for inspiration for 2 months for his upcoming collections. He offered me an internship and I spend 2 months visiting and exploring the deepest parts of Spain for inspiration. Just the two of us. I had so much fun that I actually went off the gird with no contact with my family and friends besides the pictures I uploaded. That’s how my family kept track of me. Those were one of the best months of my life. At the end of 2 months he said to me ‘Tiene un ojo para ver la belleza en el mundo’ which means ‘you have an eye to see beauty in the world’ and it just stuck with me. Hence when the time came to mane my boutique I thought of Belleza” said Khushi. She had a faraway look and a small smile on her face. It looked like she was remembering those days.
“That isn’t a boring story, it’s a really interesting story” said Arnav.
“Well you are the first person who I told why I kept the name Belleza. I haven’t even told my family. I don’t know why I told you. Well now that I have told you, don’t you repeat it to anyone” warned Khushi.
It warmed his heart that she had shared something this personal to him. He nodded and changed the topic he asked “do you still talk to Mr. Alvaro Garza?”
“Of course, I talk to him at least twice a month. And he sometimes just calls me to tell me something he saw or did” Khushi had a look of admiration while talking about Alvaro.
“You really respect him” stated Arnav.
“He is my mentor” stated Khushi.
“So do you have any other problems with AR?” inquired Arnav. He felt he could continue talking about it without losing his temper.
“Not a problem but a really good and helpful suggestion. It would be good if you have at least samples of you designs for me to show my clients. All the major fashion houses have their clothes available or at least samples ready. The clients prefer to see the actual thing rather than pictures. But AR usually does not have samples; the ready item is out of question. So that’s something to look into” said Khushi.
Khushi looked at the time and noted that it was time to meet Yuvi. She needed to finish the meeting.
“That’s about it. I hope you will look into the things I told you about. It would be good for both of us. Now if you excuse me I really have to go. Yuvi is probably on the way to pick me” said Khushi apologetically.
Arnav’s face tightened at the thought of Khushi and Yuvraj spending time together. He wanted to know if they were friends or something more but he couldn’t ask without looking rude for they didn’t know each other well to answer a personal question.
“I am glad that you listened to my complaints patiently. And if you have time in the coming days then do visit my boutique. And be home before 8. We are going out tonight” said Khushi.
“Where?” asked Arnav
“Have some patience. It’s a surprise. You’ll like it” said Khushi excitedly.
They both shook hands and parted ways. Arnav went to office and Khushi went with Yuvraj.
“Well, we too got so many compliments thanks to Khush” said Payal.
“That was bound to happen. You three were looking like angels” said Sarita.
“There was this thing where the press asked me about the issues with AR. I seriously don’t know from where they get such accurate information. I denied having any such problems” said Khushi.
“The press asked us about the issue as well. We also said that it was just a rumor” said Akash.
“I am glad we all said the same thing or else the press would have had a good time if our statements didn’t match” said Arnav.
“Don’t worry, we can solve our problems without involving there nosy people” said Khushi.
“I am glad all went well aside from some minor issues” said Manyata.
“Good, so now you can relax a little and let Lavanya, Jay and the rest of staff handle things. You my dear dadi need to sit back and take a break” Manyata went to say something but Khushi stopped her “no do not even think of denying me. You were so restless because of the opening and the reviews that you haven’t been taking care of yourself. And don’t contradict it; ask the others for they feel the same. They are just too cowards to say that to you for the fear of offending you” she glared at Payal, Lavanya and Sarita. They averted their eyes.
“Fine” Manyata said in a defeated voice “but don’t expect me to just at home and do nothing” warned Manyata.
“Never, but you need to take a breather, dadi” said Lavanya.
“You and disa can do so all stuff that you haven’t been able to do due to managing Singhania Hotels. Now you have other people to whom you can delegate responsibilities” said Khushi.
“Do you all always talk like that to your elders?” asked Subhadra to the girls.
Khushi frowned and asked “are you asking us?” she pointed at herself, Lavanya and Payal.
“Yes I am asking you girls. In my house our children won’t dare to talk to the elders like that and order them” said Subhadra proudly.
“I don’t think we ordered dadi. We just persuaded her because we care about her” said Khushi.
“I don’t know what kind of values you have taught to your grandchildren but if they talk back know then what will happen once they marry” said Subhadra to Manyata, and then continued “my children and grandchildren can never think of answering me back”
“Sumi, I think you have said enough” warned Devyani.
But Subhadra ignored her.
“I have given my grandchildren the upbringing they need to become independent and to make their own identity. They know when to speak and they also know to respect their elders” said Manyata with authority.
“I can see that. I can also imagine what kind of daughter in laws they will make” said Subhadra sarcastically.
“Really, if you know so much than according to you what should an ideal daughter in law be like?” asked Sarita.
Subhadra smiled arrogantly and said “an ideal daughter in law should always listen to her in laws. She should be capable of taking over the household responsibilities and should see to it that every member of the family is satisfied with her”
“I think what you described her is the definition of a maid” said Lavanya smirking.
“And the plus point of having a maid instead of a daughter in law is that you can always change the maid if you don’t like her” said Khushi. Payal elbowed her trying to control her smile. Even the Raizadas were trying not to smile.
“Well what do you know about being the perfect daughter in law? I’ll show you what a perfect daughter in law is when I find her for my grandsons” said Subhadra.
“You actually mean Akash, NK and Arnav have no say in who they want to marry” asked Manyata feeling stumped.
“They are my grandchildren. Why will they object to the wife I choose for them?” said Subhadra
“Firstly because you want a daughter in law who can perform the duties of a maid and not a wife who will share her life with them and secondly I don’t think you know your grandchildren that well if you think they will just bow their heads and agree to your choice of a life partner for them” said Khushi.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Subhadra asked sharply
“It’s just that I can see Akash agreeing to marry a girl you choose for he is the ‘I respect my elders and whatever they decide will be the best for me’ type of person but NK I think is ‘if I feel that who my elders have chosen is good for me then only I will marry her or else I will fight to change their decision’ kinda guy and as for Arnav he is ‘I will marry who I see will complete my life and I don’t care what others think, if my family approves I will be happy or else I can’t do much about it’ kinda person. And these three are successful business man for god’s sake. They should marry a girl who will compliment them in all parts of their life and not just some girl who can no doubt take care of the house but has no idea how to take care of her husband” explained Khushi patiently.
All were quiet for a moment and then suddenly Subhadra stood and pointed at Khushi and said “you don’t know what you are talking about girl. I suggest you stay out of my family matter” and stormed off.
“That went well” muttered Payal.
“I am so sorry for Subhadra’s behavior. I agree with what Khushi said but Sumi is set in her ways and it is difficult for her to accept change” apologized Devyani. Even Arnav thought that dadi had overreacted and she shouldn’t have insulted their host.
“No need to apologize Devyani. My girls can hold their own with the best of them” said Manyata proudly.
“Well I had fun, but it’s getting late. I have to get ready and reach the studio in two hours. And dadi remember no over exerting. I have my ways of knowing” Khushi stood and said “see you at lunch Mr. Raizada” and went away.
Everyone watched her go. Sarita said “for a person who denies wanting to marry, she has a pretty good idea of what a life partner should be like”
Manyata looked thoughtful. Then she said “I wouldn’t say that she doesn’t want to marry. I think the person who will capture her heart has yet to come. The person who will win my gudiya’s heart has to be special. You just wait Sarita, one day she will herself come and say she wants us to meet the person she wants to spend the rest of her life”
“I hope you are right jiji” said Sarita.
“And as for these two, I have full faith that when they find their life partners I will be the first to know” Manyata looked at them expectantly
“Don’t worry dadi, the minute I find my future husband, I’ll drag him here for your blessings. And I’ll see to it that Payal does them same” promised Lavanya. Payal shook her head.
“Enough with marriage talks. Let’s go Lavanya we are getting late” said Payal
“We should also go. The sooner we reach the office, the sooner we can start solving the mess we are in” said Arnav.
“We will also take your leave. I have shopping plans with Shyam” said Anjali and she dragged Shyam with her.
“I hope all of our children soon find the happiness they deserve” said Devyani
“All we can do is wait and watch and hope for the best” said Sarita.
*************************************************************************************************************
AR Fashion House, Mumbai Branch
Arnav, Akash and NK reached the office where Mr. Shah was waiting for them.
“Good morning sirs. I have everything ready for all of you. And your cabins are all ready as per your preference. The conference room is also ready and all the department heads are ready and waiting” informed Mr. Shah.
“Good, then let’s get the meeting started” said Arnav.
The meeting ran for two hours in which they addressed the problems the office was facing. Arnav finally decided that all the problems couldn’t be solved in just one day so they finished the meeting. After the entire department heads left NK said “what a mess”. Akash and Arnav agreed.
“I had thought that while we are in Mumbai for the week we’ll sort the matters but looking at the problems I don’t think that’s possible. We’ll have to at least stay a month in Mumbai or else we’ll suffer heavy losses” said Arnav.
“How the hell did it get so bad and why were we not informed?” asked Akash.
Arnav called Aman and said to make a detailed list of all the problems the office was facing. Then he looked at his watch and stood up. “I have to go now. I have a business lunch with Khushi. I hope it goes well. We’ll have a less thing to worry about if she doesn’t cancel her contract with us”
“That will be bad” agreed NK.
“You go and convince her, we’ll handle things here and try to clean up some more mess” said Akash.
Arnav gave a few more instructions to the staff and Aman and left for the meeting.
*******************************************************************************************************************
Arnav was waiting for Khushi at a restaurant in Bandra. She had messaged him the address and said to reach by 12.30 but she was late by 10 minutes and he disliked when people made him wait. He was also eager to see her in spite of having seen her in the morning. He hadn’t had time to fully understand what she had said to dadi in the morning but after a few hours, he understood exactly what she had said. He was surprised when she had perfectly described what Akash and NK’s reaction would be in the matter of their marriage but he was stumped for she had correctly guessed that he wouldn’t just allow anyone to choose his wife and if he felt he wanted to marry someone he wouldn’t ask for permission and hope that his family approved. The thing that made him panic was that despite him keeping his emotions guarded from everyone, Khushi had managed to see the real him. He was surprised that she could guess his reactions when she knew him for only few days whereas his family that had raised him couldn’t predict his reactions. He glanced at his watch and looked up to see Khushi coming towards him. People were staring at her for she looked like a ray of sunshine in a dull, dark place. She hadn’t dressed professional but she still looks like she could take over the world.
Khushi had messaged the address of the restaurant where they would conduct their meeting to Arnav and had said that she would reach there by 12.30 but she was running late by 10 minutes. She hated being late for it made her look unprofessional. And to add to her misery she wasn’t even dressed formally. But sometimes you just count control things. She reached the restaurant and searched for him. There was Arnav sitting in his signature black three piece suit that made him look like he was the king of the world and the rest were just made to obey him. He also looked annoyed which was probably because she was late. She reached the table and sat down.
“I am so sorry for being late but sometimes you just can’t help it” said Khushi looking apologetic
Arnav had thought she would make excuses. He didn’t like people who couldn’t own up to their mistakes. But she hadn’t made any excuses and blamed others. He admired her for that and thought he could forgive her this time. “It’s OK, you aren’t that late. Let’s order and start the meeting”
They ordered lunch, and then Arnav thought he should start the meeting.
“Let’s start the meeting shall we?” at Khushi’s nod he continued “It has been bought to my attention a few days ago that my staff is not able to deliver the products on time”
“Yes but that’s just one issue. I have some more problems with AR” said Khushi.
“Alright but let’s focus on one problem at a time” suggested Arnav.
“Look, my basic job is that when a client comes to me, they tell me their preference or an occasion according to which they what to dress up but they either don’t have the time to search or they don’t know where to search for the appropriate clothes. I have tie ups with the major and some small fashion houses. Suppose AR has some clothes which I think my client will like, I show them to the clients. If they like it, they order it. But most of the time AR either does not have the item I request or they take time to have it delivered to the branch. Neither of the situations makes me look good in front of my clients. I have to deliver the clothes on the day I told them or else I don’t get my payment and it makes me look bad” explained Khushi.
Arnav heard her patiently and he understood her. If he was in her place he would also have complained. “I understand. I admit that neither Akash, NK nor I have visited Mumbai branch in a long time and it has been neglected. The staff has been running the Mumbai branch without much direction from us. I admit that NK handles the marketing but he is the part owner of AR and has rights to make all the decisions that I and Akash can make. We have been so overwhelmed with Delhi branch that we neglected Mumbai branch. But now that we are here we’ll sort all the problems”
“I hope that it happens because AR has great collections but if it doesn’t have them, it’s of no use. I also get late update on the latest designs. And the site for retailers like me, it’s a disaster. I show my client some clothes and when I inquire about it, it’s out of stock. And you seriously need to regularly update your exclusive section. I can wait till you stock your regular clothes but if I show my client one of the exclusives but it’s already sold it a disaster for me to convince my client to order something else”. Khushi hoped he could work on getting solutions to her problems with AR or else she had no choice but to cancel her contract with them.
Arnav was getting angrier listening to her tell him the problems with AR. No one had bothered him to tell that there were these problems in AR as well. He was going to have a serious talk with his staff and some people were definitely going to be fired. The waiter came with their lunch and they thanked him. He was also thankful for the distraction.
“You’ll love the food. I often bring my clients here for business lunches. It’s just 15 minutes from Belleza so it’s also convenient” said Khushi. She thought it would be good to have small talk for she could fell him getting angry.
“Belleza?” Arnav gave her a confused look.
“It’s the name of my boutique” said Khushi.
“What does it mean?” asked Arnav looking interested.
“Belleza means beauty in Spanish” said Khushi.
“Why this name? I mean it’s a lovely name but it’s different” asked Arnav.
‘Well, it’s a quite boring story behind the naming of my boutique” warned Khushi.
“However boring it may be, I want to know” Arnav wanted to know what made Khushi the way she was. He wanted to discover every little detail of her life. He would contemplate on the reason later.
“Well, when I was studying in Boston, I had a professor named Alvaro Garza…” she couldn’t complete her for Arnav interrupted her
“You have studied under THE ALVARO GARZA, the legend who was the first person who had used curvy models for his fashion shows instead of skinny models?” Arnav was so surprised.
“Yup, the one and only. He was a guest lecturer. He only taught me for one semester but he took a liking towards me. He is such an eccentric, colorful and different personality. He does things that people frown upon. Or else who had the guts to go against the set rules of using skinny models for curvy and voluptuous models. After the semester was over he told me he was going to go to Spain to look for inspiration for 2 months for his upcoming collections. He offered me an internship and I spend 2 months visiting and exploring the deepest parts of Spain for inspiration. Just the two of us. I had so much fun that I actually went off the gird with no contact with my family and friends besides the pictures I uploaded. That’s how my family kept track of me. Those were one of the best months of my life. At the end of 2 months he said to me ‘Tiene un ojo para ver la belleza en el mundo’ which means ‘you have an eye to see beauty in the world’ and it just stuck with me. Hence when the time came to mane my boutique I thought of Belleza” said Khushi. She had a faraway look and a small smile on her face. It looked like she was remembering those days.
“That isn’t a boring story, it’s a really interesting story” said Arnav.
“Well you are the first person who I told why I kept the name Belleza. I haven’t even told my family. I don’t know why I told you. Well now that I have told you, don’t you repeat it to anyone” warned Khushi.
It warmed his heart that she had shared something this personal to him. He nodded and changed the topic he asked “do you still talk to Mr. Alvaro Garza?”
“Of course, I talk to him at least twice a month. And he sometimes just calls me to tell me something he saw or did” Khushi had a look of admiration while talking about Alvaro.
“You really respect him” stated Arnav.
“He is my mentor” stated Khushi.
“So do you have any other problems with AR?” inquired Arnav. He felt he could continue talking about it without losing his temper.
“Not a problem but a really good and helpful suggestion. It would be good if you have at least samples of you designs for me to show my clients. All the major fashion houses have their clothes available or at least samples ready. The clients prefer to see the actual thing rather than pictures. But AR usually does not have samples; the ready item is out of question. So that’s something to look into” said Khushi.
Khushi looked at the time and noted that it was time to meet Yuvi. She needed to finish the meeting.
“That’s about it. I hope you will look into the things I told you about. It would be good for both of us. Now if you excuse me I really have to go. Yuvi is probably on the way to pick me” said Khushi apologetically.
Arnav’s face tightened at the thought of Khushi and Yuvraj spending time together. He wanted to know if they were friends or something more but he couldn’t ask without looking rude for they didn’t know each other well to answer a personal question.
“I am glad that you listened to my complaints patiently. And if you have time in the coming days then do visit my boutique. And be home before 8. We are going out tonight” said Khushi.
“Where?” asked Arnav
“Have some patience. It’s a surprise. You’ll like it” said Khushi excitedly.
They both shook hands and parted ways. Arnav went to office and Khushi went with Yuvraj.
***Picture credit- Google
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