In the World of Variables You are my Constant

8. Will You Join Us?

KARTHIK:

I entered the office to see Cherry already waiting for me in my cabin to read my schedule. We have back to back meetings all day. To say it was hectic is an understatement. Since it's the Friday everyone wants to wrap up before the weekend. Who would blame them for wanting a relaxed time from a mechanical life?!

After getting back from a meeting Cherry headed straight to her cabin. I thought of asking her plans for the weekend and followed her. She was placing some bottles on the small shelf next to her table.

"What are those?" I asked seeing her. "Gosh Karthik you scared me..!" She exclaimed. "These are eye drops." She said arranging them.

"But why so many? Hey wait don't you have glasses? I mean you used to wear them during our college days. I haven't seen you with glasses all these days..!" I asked remembering her image of wearing glasses.

Her expression changed to a hard look. "I had few laser treatments for my eyes. That's why these drops." She said slowly.

"Oh. But you had some internal problem right?" I asked further.
"Yup retinal hemorrhage. Few of the laser treatments were for that problem only. And after that sight rectification two more. So my eyes became a little sensitive because of the amount of lasers I had to go through. Thats why the eye drops. I kind of use them on a daily basis." She explained.

When I was about to reply someone knocked on the door. Saara entered saying everything is ready for the next meeting.
We left the conversation there and headed to the conference room where the meeting will be held.

Three people entered the conference shortly after us. They are the fashion designers who design the baby clothes for my company.

"Yes guys. What is that you wanted to discuss." I said coming straight to the point.

One of them spoke showing some designs of baby dresses. "We are thinking to add a layer of another material along with cotton to these designs. With this we can reduce the cost of production. And more over, customers cannot see the difference as we are adding this in the borders and the joints."

" Which material?" I asked taking the designs. "We are thinking to add polyester fibre sir."

I was checking the designs when Cherry spoke "you guys want to make mixed cotton clothes, as in adding polyester fibre in baby dresses? Are you guys really that dumb? Do you really think the customers won't notice the change in the material? Forget the customers. Babies can feel minute changes in their clothing. You guys know that polyester create heat, it's rough in texture. And on top of that you want to add that to borders and edges. Means near the underarms. And all the designs you presented here have the major polyester near underarms only. Babies won't stop wailing with irritation they get because of these designs when they wear them." She turned to me and said "they really want to play with the brand. If we go with this, it's just a matter of months, the business will come down."

My brand is famous for the cotton clothes we make for babies.

"And who are you to tell this? You are just a PA. You don't have the right to criticize us. Mind your limits." The first one spoke and was about to continue when I interrupted them.

"Enough. Yes she is a PA. My PA. So she knows more about my business than you. Mind your words before speaking. You are the one at wrong, coming to me with this absurd idea of decreasing the quality of the fabric."

"We are not going to change the fabric. The designs look good. Go with these designs but maintain the quality. You can go now." I said dismissing them.

AAKANKSHA:

"Wow that was great." Karthik said smiling. "Thanks. I just said what I felt at that moment. It's just that, I usually hate flashy and very good looking dresses which actually look good from outside but very uncomfortable to wear. Some brands do that, changing the quality of the fabric. So it just came out of impulse when I heard their idea."

"So what are your plans for the weekend" he asked while we were walking back to his cabin.

Just then my phone beeped showing a text message from an unknown number.

"You have a beautiful smile. I love you." I frowned seeing the message.

"Is everything ok?" Karthik asked seeing me, still frowning at the phone.

"Yea, yea. Everything's ok. Rohit came back from London today. We were planning to go on a road trip. Rahul wanted to show me some place." I said smiling remembering how excited Rahul was to know about some place. "He is so sure that I will like that place."

"You guys are really close." I said it as a statement. "Yea. Bonded for life. They were with me through my thick and thin. I can't imagine my life without those two idiots."

That's true. They were with me literally my entire life. During my saddest days and my happiest moments.

"That's nice to hear." He said with a small smile.

"So, do you want to join us for the trip?" I asked him hoping he would join us. "I could? That's great. I would love to join you guys." He said getting excited.

"Superb! We will come and pick you. Be ready by 7 am tomorrow." I said to him. Smiling he left to his cabin. I am super excited for this trip than before.

"If I could make you this happy, I would do anything to see that smile you have now on your face. BTW you look very hot in this dress." Another message from the same unknown number.

What the hell?! I turned to this side and that, checking if there's anyone seeing me. But I couldn't see anyone observing me. All the employees on this floor are working too seriously to finish their work for today. It's just a few people here and I don't feel suspicious of anyone.

"Is everything alright? Why are you frowning so much?" Goutam asked coming to me. (The guy that asked about the movie the other day.)
"It's nothing. Some stupid messages. I have some work to finish. I will meet later." I left for my cabin after a small talk.