To Love or Not To Love

Chapter 19

A pebble disturbed the serenity of the pond, sending ripples along its radius. This was more likely a rock. The splash could be heard from a distance, and there were no ripples, just giant spurts of water falling wherever they willed.

That's what AR Designs looked like on the fateful Wednesday morning when ASR returned from Lucknow. Sounds that had been missing from AR for the last three months were all heard within a span of half an hour – the frantic rustling of paper, the urgent clacking of shoes on fiberglass floors, the unending buzz of the coffee machine and swearing – lots and lots of swearing.

ASR was angry. Very angry. Very very angry. Newspapers had been speculating for over a month about the grand entry of AR Designs into the European market. With the launch of their first exclusive retail store opening in Milan, the stock market experts predicted a substantial rise in the AR Corp shareholdings. AR Corp partners and stakeholders were eagerly waiting for the official announcement. ASR was too....until this morning.

The designs AR had been working on, as part of this initial launch collection had all come back – they weren't inspiring enough. The largest chunk of the European market was already owned by Armani, Versace, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein. And currently, AR's design prototypes matched the brand value and haute couture range of the already existing identities. There was no stark difference. As a result, no compelling need for customers to switch!

The stakeholders in the expansion had indicated a design prototype with a flavor of India. That would be different enough and would help them with the branding of their first overseas AR showroom. But so far AR had not come up with anything satisfactory. He had tried everything, from changing the material to cut and design but there still seemed to be nothing unique about the clothes that would make the crème de la crème want to sport an AR outfit over the other already established brands.

Arnav had twelve weeks in hand before he would officially have to call off the expansion. Twelve weeks to make it all work in his favor. And if there was something ASR hated more than losing, it was losing without being able to save face. After having reigned as India's most arrogant businessman for over a decade, ASR was not about to concede defeat to the rest of the world.

*****

As Khushi Gupta took in the décor of her new penthouse apartment, she felt a pang of guilt. Guilt at not being able to share this luxury with the rest of her family.

The apartment was exquisitely decorated – with an open plan living room and kitchen, black granite kitchen countertops, stainless steel appliances and large French windows that overlooked the balcony. The windows were covered with wine-colored satin and velvet interlaced curtains. She moved softly through the apartment, not willing to upset any of the many decorative pieces that were placed on small display shelves randomly through the hallway.

The hallway led to two bedrooms – the bigger was exquisitely furnished, with a four-poster bed, a settee at the foot of the bed, a coffee-table with two arm-chairs and a recliner. One entire wall was a dedicated built-in cupboard with mirrors that replaced the sliding doors. This room too had access to the balcony.

The smaller room was sparsely furnished, just a small double bed, a writing desk, and a chair, with a lamp attached and two old fashioned wooden cupboards. The room had a window that could be left open on a pleasant day to allow some fresh air, but no access to the balcony.

Khushi liked the smaller room, it reminded her of what she had left behind – simplicity. And so, she decided, that the time she had to spend at Rising Stars, she would spend in the smaller room.

She lugged her bags from the living area where Ashok Yadav had left them and began the tedious task of unpacking.

*****

Lavanya Kashyap rarely gave ASR and opportunity to tell her off. And yet, it seemed that unwittingly, she had added to ASR's growing temper by inviting Khushi to AR Designs for a meeting.

"What were you thinking when you invited Khushi to AR?" Arnav hollered.

"Nothing. This is not the first time one of your Business Developers will be visiting the office. And this won't be the last. I thought..."

He didn't let her finish. "Who gave you the right to think?"

Tears pooled in her eyes at this unfair accusation and she stood silent, with her head bowed down, unwilling for ASR to see he had affected her. When she didn't answer, he looked perplexed. Running his fingers through his thick matte of hair, he said: "Since that fateful day, when you decided to invite Khushi to AR, her employee record has been looked into five times, with Anjali having personally asked to see her offer letter."

Lavanya had no idea what Arnav was trying to get at. She didn't have the courage to ask. So she stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

"I don't know what has happened behind my back, but there is a good possibility that Khushi might have run far away from New Delhi and AR, all thanks to your stupidity."

ASR was being unreasonable. Lavanya expected nothing better. So she waited, waited with bated breath for him to pronounce her final verdict.

"You have an hour. Collect your belongings. The car will take you to the airport."

*****

It was 8 pm. Arnav was exhausted from the day's events. Rubbing his temples in slow concentric circles to relieve his stress, he looked around for his secretary to ask her for his fourteenth cup of black coffee.

There was no one around but him, and a few of the designers who were working on the European project. He decided to go back to his apartment. A hot shower might better suit him than black coffee at this hour.

*****

Arnav inserted the key-card to let himself into his apartment that he hadn't used in more than three months. The condition of the apartment didn't allude to that fact. He casually took off his coat and placed it along with his laptop bag on the sofa and made his way to the bathroom. Piping hot water graced his rear. Arnav stood in the shower, unmoving, willing the water to fall on his head and erode the pain. An hour later, the small headache had grown into a full-fledged migraine. The hot shower had not helped. Back to Plan A. His fourteenth cup of black coffee. Except, on looking, he found that there was no coffee in the apartment.

Previously, Lavanya had taken care of his every need, including that of drinking black coffee at ungodly hours. She always had an extra case of his favorite Colombian dark roast in her apartment, in case he ran out of it in the dead of the night. Surely, he could find some there. 

Lavanya. Now that he had considerably calmed down, he didn't know if he'd been unreasonable with her. He didn't care. Lavanya was yesterday's story. And a large corporate advertisement was hogging the front page of today's newspaper, shielding the headline that lay underneath it.

Arnav shook himself out of his reverie. He was losing the plot. He needed coffee. Fishing the keys to Lavanya's apartment from the catch-all, he walked across the connecting corridor, inserted his key and turned the lock, only to come face to face with Khushi Gupta. Clad in the most ordinarily stitched cotton salwar kameez, headphones glued to her ears, eyes closed, waving her spatula like a prop and dancing in the kitchen, Khushi looked as if she had always belonged there!