The Promise (12 page)

Love is like a fresh breeze, to the stifled. No wonder he found it impossible to resist.

hat was that?' Shambhavi questioned, a bewildered look on her face and her hair looking equally wild. It only added colour to her cheeks and made her look more adorable. Arjun guessed it was because she travelled in her car, with the windows pulled down, in the hot summer day; it was the middle of July. He knew her car's air conditioner was not working; he remembered her ranting about it on their way back, after lunch the previous day.

'I'm sorry? Can I help you?' he asked, trying to put as less emotion as possible in his tone.

'What is this all about?' Shambhavi repeated, this time, shoving a small card in his face, which read,

Arjun read the note and asked, 'I believe that was the note attached to the flowers I sent you?'

'What do you mean you believe? You sent them, right? Don't you know?' Shambhavi's tone started getting more and more animated.

'Technically ... Faisal sent them, from me,' Arjun dared.

'Don't you get into all that, mister. Do you not know that sending a girl flowers raises expectations? Especially if it is after a first date? How could you do that to me? If you did not want to continue, fair and good, you should have just told me. Why the huge bouquet of flowers? And the box of chocolates?'

'I just thought it was a decent thing to do.'

'Really? That was your idea of putting me down easy? Guess what-it's your loss. I'll get thousands like you, you won't get a girl like me,' Shambhavi said, and with that, she turned to leave. 'I have left the flowers and the chocolates at the reception, you can have this card,' she threw it in the paper basket by his door.

'Shambhavi-' Arjun tried to stop her, but she cut him off.

'Yes, Mr Datta?'

'Nothing,' he said, noticing that they were no longer on first name terms.

'Good. Let's meet at 12:30 pm like planned, then?'

'Sure.'

As she walked out of his office, he glanced at his watch. 12:30 pm was exactly eight minutes away. She did not need to be so overtly theatrical about it. But that was who she was, gregarious drama and all. He was just relieved that it was over.

When Arjun made it to the factory's east end-which was where they kept the first Arjun-made prototypes of all the pieces he had ever made-he saw that Shambhavi and her colleague Tutul were already there, along with Faisal.

To his great relief, Shambhavi did not mention their interaction, or the date the previous day or anything personal at all during the entire time they took to tour the area and select items from it. In fact, she acted like nothing was off, as if nothing out of ordinary had happened. It felt like she had already moved on, like it had not affected her in the least.

For some reason, Arjun did not like the feeling. Maybe because he was still a little disturbed inside, and she seemed to have forgotten all about it. And it had been just eight minutes.

'This is it, I guess?' Shambhavi asked, turning to Faisal.

'Actually, no. This is just one floor; there are three more floors of this,' Arjun replied, before Faisal could say anything.

'I know that, Mr Datta. Faisal here told me about that. But I just wanted to see these pieces in person. I have seen the catalogue of the rest of your pieces,' Shambhavi said.

'Yes, Mr Datta. These are the newest of your designs. We do not have them on the catalogue yet,' Faisal added.

'So, you have already selected whatever you needed?' Arjun asked Shambhavi, ignoring Faisal.

'More or less. I have marked them in the catalogue. We have a few confusions, which we would like to clear with you. Other than that, we are done here.'

'Good. What kind of confusions?'

'I'll have Tutul send them over to you?' Shambhavi asked.

'Sure.'

'Great,' she said and turned to Tutul. 'Add the model numbers of the pieces we selected from here on this list. We'll go through it and finalise the final list tonight, okay?'

'Okay. And Shambhavi, I think I should check out the selected articles in person once?' Tutul suggested.

'Yes, good idea. Go with Faisal and take a look? Fill me in later?'

'Yes, I will. You go now. Take care of him, okay?'

'Of course,' Shambhavi said and turned to the men and bid them goodbye. 'Gentlemen, I will see you later.'

'Later,' Faisal said cheerfully.

Arjun nodded. He wondered whom Tutul was referring to when she asked Shambhavi to take care of him. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. It was none of his business.

As soon as Shambhavi left, Faisal and Tutul also took their leave for the first floor, leaving him standing there alone. For some reason, he felt lost, even though he was standing at the one place which was truly his own-his factory, his office, his home.

The next five weeks went by at an unrealistic pace, or at least that was how Arjun felt. Working with Shambhavi was an overwhelming experience. Even though he had always been good at what he did, he had never been so enthusiastic about his work. That was probably because the money had always mattered more to him than the work he was doing. But with Shambhavi, it was different. Just seeing her work was an experience.

He had gone through her portfolio, the one she had left behind in his office after their first meeting. He had grudgingly admitted to himself that he was impressed by her work. That was partly the reason why he had even looked at the sample designs she prepared for the Ahluwalia mansion. Otherwise, he had planned to brush her off directly, when she called on the personal number he gave her on his visiting card. But her work had not let him do that. On working together, he got to witness the process through which such impeccable designs came into existence.

She got engrossed in whatever she was doing, be it something as important as detailing her designs or as insignificant as taking printouts. She put her heart into everything. He also realized that she had not been faking aloofness and pretending to have got over his decision of not having anything personal between them. She had genuinely forgiven him and moved on. She was not the kind of person to hold grudges. Like a child, she was easy to please and could never stay mad for long. Not once, in the whole time he had worked with her, did he feel like she held something against him. She was back to calling him Arjun and behaving normally around him.

He was grateful to her for that.

That night, they had a housewarming party at the Ahluwalias' mansion to attend. Arjun was against the idea of going there, but changed his mind, when he found out that Shambhavi would be there.

It was probably his last legitimate chance to meet her and he was in no mood to miss it. Over the weeks they had spent working together, she had slowly grown on him. If nothing else, he was just used to having her around. Her laughter, her chirps, her bright eyes and her ... sheer presence had become a part of his routine. He had no idea how she had managed to get under his skin so quickly, but she had. There was no denying that.

'Where are you?' Arjun asked Faisal over phone.

'At my place, sir,' a slightly anxious Faisal replied.

'I'll be getting to the Ahluwalia mansion in an hour. Be there.'

'But, sir ... I was going to go to a movie with friends. The show starts in forty minutes.'

'Then you will just have to miss it, won't you?' Arjun snapped.

'Yes, sir. I will be there,' Faisal changed tracks immediately.

Arjun hung up and turned to the mirror. He was wearing a deep violet shirt under a charcoal suit. He played with a few ties and decided not to bother with any of them. He unbuttoned the first few buttons of his shirt and flicked his fingers through his hair. He needed a haircut, and his stubble was getting out of hand, too, but he didn't have time for that. Trying to manage his hair to make it look presentable, he grabbed his car keys and walked out of his bedroom.

By the time Arjun got to the mansion, his heart was beating rapidly in his chest. He wished he had made some friends over the years, if only to have been able to ask for their help in the situation he was in. He was like a teenager in love, only with a whole lot of baggage and reservations. His mind was in complete chaos. He did not know what to do.