Birds of a Feather

Chapter 62: Immeasurable

"Yes of course," Arnav answered, accepting the drink and waving goodbye to the last of the wait staff as they left. "But to you for doing such a fantastic job – I owe you a signing bonus."

Saket chuckled. "For now, this drink will do."

Tinkling their glasses with a quiet 'cheers', the two of them sipped their champagne, enjoying, perhaps, the first silence they were allowed to have in the last month. It was very rewarding, but as expected, didn't last very long.

"That critic from the New Delhi Times seemed pretty pissed as he left," Saket muttered. "Apparently he had specifically asked for a vegan main course, but there was no such request in his RSVP."

"So, what did you do?"

"Apologized profusely for starters, even gave him extra dessert, but he was acting so entitled... I kinda wanted to punch him in the face."

Arnav chuckled. "Sucking up doesn't suit you, Saket."

"It suits nobody if you ask me," he grumbled. "Maybe if he opened a restaurant of his own, he would see how friggin' hard it is to keep track of everything. Besides, I'm very sure he made up that vegan crap just to find an excuse to give us a bad review."

"It's fine," Arnav said calmly. "Bad reviews are a part of the deal."

"I know, but we wasted a whole meal on this guy... that's just unhealthy for the bank account."

Arnav snorted. "Not more than the people who came here to eat for free and won't even mention us on their websites tomorrow morning."

Saket sighed. "True."

"So, where's your wife?" Arnav asked, trying to change the topic. He had worried enough for an evening; it was time to make peace and move on. "Why didn't you bring her?"

"Oh, she would have been bored, especially with me running around... plus, it's probably a good idea to keep her away when my BP is about to go through the roof."

Arnav frowned. "Wait until Khushi hears that."

Saket laughed. "Your Khushi is exceptionally kind... which I'm assuming you already know since you married her."

"I do," Arnav answered, feeling his heart swell. "But how so?"

"She found me once every hour all evening, took me outside for five minutes and made me drink a glass of glucose."

That was, indeed, a very 'Khushi' thing to do.

"You're a lucky man," Saket finished.

"I am," Arnav admitted without hesitation, glancing at Khushi.

"Do you finally have time for me now?" came a twinkling voice.

Arnav took a deep breath and turned to find Lavanya, dressed exquisitely in a low-cut black dress, smiling at him from ear to ear, holding up a gift-wrapped rectangular box.

"What's this?" He asked, looking at the present, realizing it was a stupid question the minute it slipped out of his mouth.

"A gift," Lavanya replied. "For such a successful opening... although after that little taunt in your speech, I'm not sure whether you deserve it anymore."

Arnav excitedly took the package out of her hands. "Oh, lighten up. You know I love you."

Lavanya rolled her eyes and waited for him to unwrap the box.

Arnav tore through the gold colored wrapping to find a white satin ribbon inside –a tie – with the name of the restaurant Keyes printed in black numerous times over, forming an abstract print. It was dainty and alluring and oddly, very familiar.