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Chapter 6
‘Men don’t take time before switching gears.’
It was a weird but interesting statement, Niyati thought. Mishti and Ashley’s words rang through her ears once she was alone in her cabin. How easily and casually people labelled ‘all’ men as philanderers. And we say that only women are sufferers of sexism. Men are labelled negatively too. It is so wrong to loosely group all men under one cheap category. She would never do that with Virat, she thought. She had no reason to doubt him and she wasn’t going to lose her mind on a statement that had no legs.
Lost in her thoughts, Niyati grazed the fine tip of her new Blackwing pearl pencil over the blank paper on her sketchpad she had recently bought from the bookstore on her way to the office. The sound of the pencil scratching the paper, in sync with the alternating dark and light strokes creating a pattern was like a balm to her soul. She could go on sketching for hours meditating over the bond her fingers made with the pencil and the paper.
Niyati collected sketchbooks and pencils like her life depended on them and often sat with them, mostly admiring them for their beauty and variety. Sometimes, she sketched human figurines, and sometimes, she made dresses on them, as she would do previously. However, these days, she didn’t bring most of her designs to life as often as she would have preferred to. These days, she had neither time nor opportunity to do so. Malhotras were a huge brand and their Couture wear catered to celebrities and the who’s-who of Paris. The huge number of clients they managed was beyond the capacity of a single designer. So, they had a big team of designers, creators, stylists and fashion influencers to deal with the load of work. The team, headed by Niyati, met twice a week and decided on what was trendy, what was in for the season, what material should be procured from where and how to present their styles in media and their various outlets. Some designs were kept half-made, almost ready-to-wear, to be customized on order, while some were made especially for elite clients like famous personalities who usually specified what style they wanted for their customized gowns. The team had various designers who would then sit with celebrities, listen to the requirements, and then go through the intricate details of rich fabric, fine embroidery, precious embellishments and dramatic silhouettes to create luxurious dresses for special occasions. Niyati had too much on her plate to manage, guide and regulate that she hardly designed anything herself. Her office hours would mostly pass in team meetings, scrutinizing the overall operations of the Couture segment and ensuring that the work ran smoothly. One of the meetings was cancelled today due to heavy snowfall so she got some time for herself and her sketch-pad.
Virat’s phone distracted her from her meditative spell and her fingers stopped moving on the paper.
“Hey!”
“What?” she asked.
“I was just wondering if you wanted a camera in your cabin. You mentioned how you missed being stalked,” he spoke casually.
A subtle smile swam on her lips but she didn’t speak anything. He grinned imagining her face with that statement and he realized how he missed the camera too.
“How come you have so much time to gossip in the office?”
“My meeting was cancelled. And I just remembered that you wanted to talk about something yesterday before Dadu called us.” He reminded her.
Niyati remembered Arpita’s visit and their weird conversation in her cabin that happened a day before, but now she was not sure if she wanted to share it with Virat anymore. He always told her she was an overthinker. Sharing Arpita’s issue would only confirm his opinion of her being an overthinker. She decided she would wait and observe Arpita more before coming to any conclusion. Maybe, she was really overthinking, she wondered.
“Hellooooo!!” Virat softly whispered into the phone, as if to ensure if she was still on the line or disconnected.
Niyati cleared her throat. “Yeah! Nothing much. I just wanted to talk about the new intern, Reva.”
“What about her?” he asked.
“She is a little too excited about our company, even when she is least interested in learning or working. Don’t you think it is very unusual?” she asked seriously.
He sniggered and spoke in a teasing tone, “Veryyyy unusual! The last time we had an intern, she didn’t want to join here and she wasn’t interested, at all. I had to force her to be here.”
She rolled her eyes. He was talking about her. She was glad he wasn’t able to see her blush right now. “The last time, the mighty boss fell in love with the innocent intern. I need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
He laughed. “In that case, please don’t post her anywhere around Yash. He is the only eligible bachelor in the company, right now. Everyone else is taken.”
…………………………………..
Virat was on a row of phone calls walking inside his office space before he stood at his favourite spot in the office – the tall window facing the Tour d’eiffel. It was still snowing hard; half of the office was working from home and Virat wondered if he should call it a day too. There were too many things going in his mind.
On his last phone call, Dadu had asked Virat to send a staff boy with some books and new merger documents to his personal lounge in the Paris Club. Virat wondered if Niyati was rightly worrying about Dadu’s behaviour. He was taking this lounge pretty seriously and requested it to be strictly confidential. Initially, he had taken it lightly, but now he was in a dilemma. Was he betraying Dadi by not telling her? Or will he betray Dadu by revealing his secret? Did he have any place in this issue or should he let it pass to settle down on its own?
Niyati knocked at the door and slightly opened the door to check if someone was inside the cabin with Virat. She was leaving for home and she had taken a chance by checking on him. She had decided, that if a meeting was on or if Virat was talking to someone, she would slowly move away. Seeing him alone, she opened the door fully and entered inside. Virat turned around, suddenly drawn out of his contemplations, and smiled. He, standing near the tall window, and his faint smile was enough to tell her that his mind was somewhere else.
“Did I disturb you?”
“Wow! You don’t have to be this formal.” He quipped, coming back to face her.
“Not my fault. You seem so distant when you are thinking something deeply, I feel as if I am intruding.” She sighed.
He smiled more. “Some intruders are always welcome. Even in the most personal spaces.”
“Well! Thank you,” She grinned, sitting down on one of the chairs. “So, tell me what were you thinking?”
He shrugged cluelessly and sat facing her. He didn’t know how to frame his thoughts in words, as eloquently as she did. She was much sorted when it came to wording her feelings. She wasn’t a great communicator either but at least she thought clearly and spoke her mind in better words. His thoughts were neither streamlined nor in order. They were a jumble of chaotic noises all over his mind. Thankfully, he felt lost only on personal matters. When it was about office or business, no one could be as sharp and sorted as him.
Niyati snapped her fingers before his eyes to distract him, once again. “What are you thinking? About business? About us? Or Dadu?”
Virat took a deep breath and joined the tips of fingers of both his hands, before he sat comfortably in his seat, one leg over the other. “I have decided something.”
“Very good. Go on,” she said.
“We have too much on our plate to think about why Dadu is doing what he is doing. He will turn eighty next year. This business has been his hard work for years. I don’t understand him but I don’t consider myself in a position to question him. He has always been wiser and smarter than all of us. We should give him time.”
“So, you decide to observe more before you think it is time to do something?” she asked.
“Maybe!” he said. “Is it wrong?”
She thought for a moment and nodded to refuse. It was not wrong. She had decided to do the same with Arpita. She hoped to observe more before it was time to do something. The only thing that worried her was what defined ‘the right time’ and when it was too late to do something before things went out of hand. She had no clue about that.
“No, it’s not wrong. It might be the correct thing to wait and watch,” she said. Then, slowly, she asked, “And what about us?”
He opened his hands and moved them sideways in the air, “I leave that to you. Tell me whatever you want and I’ll go with your decision.”
She frowned. “Don’t do that, please. What if I spoil everything we have?”
“I will not let you!”
***
[ PS. Thank you for reading and for all the love and support. My winter break is over so I might not be able to write as fast as I would love to. I plan to update on Saturdays.
Take care 🍁]
Part 6 – As far now Reva doesn’t seem to be threat to ViNi. Let’s see what happens next.
Both took the decision about wait & watch about immediate issues of Dadu & Arpita. Hope they will not be too late.
Ohhhh…. Virat gave her full power to decide about them. I wonder what will she do now, how she will bring spark & spice bet them? And as he said he will always protect their relationship. Now I am eager to know what Ni will do.
Hello Madhuri,
Thanks for reading and sharing your views. I’m writing this story after 2 years. So, I hope I do justice to them and make this season as memorable as the first and second part 😊
Take care ♥️