The next morning, Akshara pulled up along the elevated, circular driveway of Anisha’s parents’ home and parked her vehicle to one side at the top of the driveway. She was glad Anisha was free to meet with her that morning, and she smiled at the young woman who came to the door.
She was led to the home office where she waited for Anisha. Akshara placed her computer, purse, and the tote with the catalogue from her friend who was an upcoming designer on the table and looked around the large space. The home office was a large open space with glass walls on three sides of the room. One wall had the beautiful view of the garden in the front yard of the house, one showed the formal living through the open door, and the other wall a central focal point of the house that had natural sunlight streaming from the ceiling and a large tree that added a sense of calm to the perfectly decorated home.
She walked over to the last wall that had wooden shelves built out with pictures and mementos, arranged well on the shelves. She stopped when she saw a picture of a young boy holding an electronic circuit in his hands and the words on the award read
Abhimanyu Birla, Genius – Under 10 Categories…
Her eyes swept over to the next set of mementos that filled the rest of the shelves and realized Anisha’s brother was a prodigy. As a businessman, he is extremely successful and yet a caring brother, just not a reasonable client.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Akshara turned when she heard Anisha behind her. “No problem. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me on such short notice.”
“Not a problem. What’s up?” Anisha gestured her to be seated at the set of couches that were to one side of the study.
“I wanted to discuss a couple of things with you, one about your outfits and the other the venue for the bachelorette weekend.”
Anisha let out a sigh. “I haven’t selected my outfits, and I know you need to know the colour palette, but—”
“Anisha, I’m not here to rush you but to show you some options.”
“I have been to every one of the boutiques in the city, and I know what you are going to say about considering someone from another city or going international, but no. I am going to stick to my theme of choosing everything from my hometown. I love this city too much.”
“Are you open to a new designer?” Akshara asked as she pulled out the folder with the catalogue and the swatches.
“I don’t care if the designer is new, I want something I like, and you know it has to be unique.”
Akshara placed the catalogue on the small coffee table in front of the couch where Anisha was seated and flipped to the page she had marked as the outfit that Anisha might like. She pointed at the beautiful traditional saree decked with beautiful handwork and said,
“I think this style will suit you well.”
Anisha’s eyes widened. “Wow, that’s beautiful, and I could use the saree Mom bought me.”
“Yes. And here are some swatches with the kind of handwork the designer creates. Each design is unique as it is hand stitched. He is a good friend of mine, and I will make sure he works on your outfits exclusively until the wedding. And everything he makes for you will not be made for anyone else. He is a local upcoming designer who can use your endorsement.”
“This is genius. I love the designs. I can’t wait to try them on.” Anisha let out a squeal of joy. “Thank you, Akshara. You are the best.”
“I am so happy you liked the designs. I can leave the catalogue and the swatches for you to look through.”
“Oh my God, yes. I am so happy, I want to scream.”
Akshara smiled. “I don’t know if you would feel the same way when I tell you about the bachelorette event.”
Anisha laughed. “Bring it on. I feel on the top of the world now that I see hope for having wedding outfits.”
“The venue we chose for the bachelorette weekend, The Royal
Hotel, we might have to change the venue due to a political party procession.”
“Oh, okay.” Anisha shrugged.
“Anisha, you are the best client. Thank you for being—”
Her voice was lost when the glass door to the office opened loudly, and Anisha’s brother stepped in wearing a t-shirt and shorts.
“There you are, Anisha. Hello, Ms Sharma.”
Anisha laughed as she took the mug of coffee from her brother. “Who the heck is Ms Sharma?”
“Ms Akshara Sharma, would you like some coffee?”
Akshara shook her head as Anisha continued to laugh at the way her brother addressed her.
“I’m fine. Thank you.”
“What’s with the early morning meeting?” He sat next to his sister on the couch.
“Akshara found me an amazing designer. Look at these outfits.”
He looked at the catalogue and scrunched his nose.
“Nice sarees.”
“Abhimanyu, look closely at the handwork on the silk.” Anisha laughed.
“Sure. It is nice.”
He seemed uninterested as he sipped his coffee.
Akshara looked at Anisha and said, “Let me know when you are ready to meet Neeraj to get the outfits planned, and I can set up the time for you.”
“I will. It would have to be after the family meet and greet. I have too much going on before that.”
“That works. And I will send you the details of the new location for the bachelorette party and send out the location change notifications.”
“What location change?” His tone was curt at best.
Anisha turned to look at her brother.
“For the bachelorette weekend.”
Her brother looked straight at Akshara.
“You agreed to discuss all changes with me.”
“Abhimanyu, stop it. We just discussed it, and I’m good with it.”
“Okay, but why are you changing venues? Didn’t you spend weeks choosing the right location for each event? Why do you want to change it?”
“Oh, it’s no big deal.” Anisha tried to brush it away, but her brother was not ready to let go.
“Yes, it is, especially when you spent so much time choosing them.”
His eyes bore into Akshara’s as he asked, “Why the change in location?”
“Sir, the Janatha Seva Party has their rally planned for the same day at the bachelorette party, and the police will be blocking off the roads for the day. It will be hard for the guests to get to the hotel for the weekend.”
“How do you know they are blocking the roads?”
“My team checked with the local police station, and the route will be blocked for the rally.” Akshara maintained a calm tone in spite of the way the man was glaring at her like she was making up stories.
He let out a huffed breath and looked at Anisha.
“Which hotel did you choose for that weekend?”
“The Royal Hotel.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why? I like the hotel. That’s why.” Anisha laughed.
He shook his head.
“Why not the Taj or the Novatel? Why did you choose Royal which is a much smaller hotel compared to the others?”
Anisha thought for a moment.
“Oh, I know. I chose that hotel for the weekend, so we could take up the entire hotel. I know we are going to be loud, so I didn’t want other guests complaining about the noise.”
Abhimanyu looked at Akshara like she had kicked a puppy.
“Figure out a way to keep the party at that hotel.”
“Mr Birla, it is too risky. The guests will not be able to make it in time if the roads are blocked.”
“If the roads are not blocked? Do you not know for certain?”
Akshara shook her head. “We won’t know for sure until that day, and we cannot wait.”
He looked at Akshara for a long time before he pulled out his phone and started searching for something. Anisha placed her hand on her brother’s shoulder and said, “Abhimanyu, relax. It’s okay. Having fun is more important.”
But he wasn’t listening as he put his phone to his ear like he was calling someone.
Who was he calling?
Akshara and Anisha exchanged looks as they heard the sound of a phone ringing as he switched his phone to speaker and placed it on the coffee table in front of him.
“Who are you calling?” Anisha whispered.
“The party office contact number from the internet.”
“And why—” Anisha’s words were lost when the ringing stopped, and someone answered the phone.
“Janatha Seva Party office, how can I help you?” A man’s voice came through the phone.
Abhimanyu cleared his voice.
“Hello, my name is Abhimanyu, and I would like to join Mr Goenka for the rally. Can you please tell me if I can join the procession from the Royal Hotel? The route from the party office to the auditorium takes the route by the hotel.”
“Mr Abhimanyu, the rally starts on the south side of the city and not from the party office. Mr Goenka wants to cover the older part of the city.”
“That’s good to know. Thank you!”
“You are welcome. Hope to see you at the rally. Come by the party office sometime and ask for Nayan. I am leading the campaign, and I could use the help of enthusiasts like you.”
“Sure, Nayan. Hope to meet you soon.” Abhimanyu ended the call and gave Akshara a death stare.
“Ms Akshara Sharma, I already told you that I will not tolerate such an oversight.”
“But it is still risky to keep the venue for the event. They can change the route anytime because when we checked yesterday, they were going to start from the party office.”
“I don’t care. The Royal Hotel is the venue. No changes.” He sounded adamant.
“What if the roads are blocked and no one can get to the hotel?”
Akshara challenged.
“I will have my chopper make trips to bring the guests to the hotel.
I’m sure the hotel has a helipad.”
Akshara was dumbfounded. The man was arrogantly smart. His determination to keep the venue because his sister chose it was commendable, but the way he was behaving, she wanted to scream at him and tell him to stop being a bully. But instead, she managed to smile and nod in agreement.
“Okay.”
“Next time you decide to make a change, please make sure you have all the facts before jumping the gun.” He stood up and started walking away, making Akshara feel like shit. He stopped at the door and looked at Anisha.
“I’m cooking today. What do you want for lunch?”
“Surprise me!” Anisha laughed.
“Ms Akshara Sharma, you should join us for lunch.” His tone was surprisingly casual in spite of chastising her a few moments ago.
“Thank you, but I cannot. I have prior plans.” She managed to smile as he left. She turned to look at Anisha and said, “I’m really sorry I didn’t understand the real reason why you chose the Royal Hotel.”
“It’s no big deal. Abhimanyu is not a fan of last-minute changes and needs to exhaust all options before we switch.”
“He is right about not changing. I should have double-checked. We were pretty positive the rally would start from the party office.” Akshara felt pathetic.
“Akshara, its fine. I want to see his face when he finds out he needs to use his precious office helicopter for personal use.” Anisha laughed.
“Let’s hope everything goes as planned. I’ll get going, then.” Akshara gathered her items and stood up as Anisha’s phone started to ring.
“I got to take this call, Akshara. Sorry, I can’t walk with you.”
Akshara smiled. “No problem. I’ll talk to you later.”
Akshara left the home office and stopped outside the room to text Aarohi. She typed the message as she walked and let out a gasp when she felt movement in front of her. She stopped abruptly, her phone slipping off her hands as she walked into what initially seemed like a wall.
She looked up to find Anisha’s brother catch het phone mid-air and hold it in his hand.
“Eyes up, Ms Akshara Sharma.”
“Thank you, Mr Birla.” She made sure to stress on his last name as she took the phone from him.
“You are very welcome, Ms Akshara Sharma.”
Wow, he knew how to annoy her.
“Have a good day, Mr Birla. Thank you for helping with the route confirmation for the rally.”
“Anytime, Ms Akshara Sharma.”
Don’t let him get under your skin.
Abhimanyu watched her as she walked away from him. He knew he was going out of his way to give her a taste of her own medicine with the formalities. But she seemed to be holding her ground, and he found that amusing.
“I thought you were making lunch for all of us.”
He turned to find his sister walking toward him. “I was and then I came to give Ms Akshara Sharma a send-off.”
Anisha let out a laugh.
“Why are you being so weird with her name?”
“And you don’t find it weird that she is so formal with me?” he grumbled.
“That’s how she is. I cringed when she said Ms Birla, and I had to get very creative to get her to call me Anisha.” His sister chuckled.
“Yeah, she mentioned. I don’t know why she has to be so formal.”
“It’s okay. She is the best.”
Abhimanyu let out a sigh and said, “Listen, Anisha, I know you like
Akshara, but you can’t let her push you over with her plans.”
Anisha narrowed her eyes. “Who are you calling a pushover?”
He shook his head.
“You hired her to make your events memorable and not stressful.”
“She doesn’t stress me out.” Anisha shrugged.
“What about the engagement party? What was that drama about her not letting you change into another dress of your liking.”
Anisha took a deep breath.
“It was not about the dress so don’t blame Akshara.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was nothing, Abhimanyu.”
“Anisha, I’m not asking again.” He folded his arms looking at his sister.
Anisha rolled her eyes.
“I had a classic case of cold feet. I was suddenly overwhelmed and got emotional about being a part of another family and all that stuff, and she was there for me. She made up this dress story, so I could openly be upset.”
“Do you not want to get married? Why didn’t you tell me? We can call the wedding off.”
Anisha slapped her palm on her forehead.
“This is why I didn’t tell you. I was overwhelmed and… don’t go imagining anything. I love Deepak, and I want to marry him.”
“Anisha?”
“That’s it. Get back to cooking. I need to go checkout a new boutique.”
“Fine. You can come help me or join Mom and Dad by the pool.”
Anisha thought for a moment.
“You might need some rescuing in the kitchen, so I’ll hang out in the kitchen.”
Abhimanyu laughed, following his sister to the kitchen as his thoughts wandered to the woman who insisted on addressing him as Mr Birla. He was surprised that the woman who was so formal cared for her clients’ feelings and was protective of his sister.
He liked that about her.
Love
Janus