* Quill! * - Page 15

Peach Perfection

She attended Lavanya’s wedding celebration reluctantly. Her mother worried to the point of panicking about her whereabouts when she didn’t call after arriving at the farmhouse where the events were.

She called Tushar to talk about getting Nidhi some help

Her heard and mind were not in the right place, her fiancé Shubham Aggarwal was a really sweet guy. He stayed with her until Lavanya returned from her spa appointment

“I speak Hindi I can take care of my self” she laughed

“Lavanya will kill me”

“She wont” she smiled

“So are you dancing tonight?”

“No Lavanya doesn’t give me such important roles. I just wander around looking pretty”

“That you should he smiled

He noted the sadness in her eyes

“I am sorry about your Dad yaar”

“No worries” her eyes filled with tears

“I heard you are keeping the store open”

“I just want to sell it so I can get money to pay the fee at UMich” she sniffled and smiled

“How is that going?”

“Don’t know… I have a bunch of legal notices and no money”

He scowled “Really?”

“You should go” she pushed him out of the room

“Usko call kar le haa?” he gesticulated with his hand in phone shape

“Jee sir”

Her other best friends returned with Lavanya, Gul, Payal and Gargi

They sat around chatting until 5, Lavanya was whisked away for makeup

Her other friends left for rehearsals

She dressed in a peach salwar suit, her hair down after ages, wearing contacts for the night. She refused professional makeup, just going for peach lipstick and eye makeup by herself

“Harkeerat Uncle, Tushar Bhai kal ki chhutthi kar rahe hain” she texted as the phone slipped from her hand due to the moisturizer

“Lets gooooo” Payal peeked through the door

“Yeah sure, hang on”

She wanted to make sure it was going to be open. He had promised her

She texted Tushar

“Bhai you are opening it right?”

He didn’t respond immediately

If it was not open what if Ajit Singh gave the nod for demolition

Her stomach muscles tighetened

She called her Ma

“Ma Bhai kaha hai?”

“abhi aaya nahi, are you safe?”

“MA I am INSIDE the farm house”

“Don’t go out alone”

“I WONT”

“Call me when you get back to your room”

“MAAA”

“Just promise” her mother wept

“I will… can Bhai call me?”

She made her way downstairs

Crashing completely into a man wearing navy pants and white shirt

“Oh sorry” she muttered carelessly gathering her flowing peacock blue silk dupatta

She didn’t even look carefully at Pradyut Munjal

Let him fall in Love Nisha.

Will he be knight in shinning armour?

She dressed in a peach salwar suit, her hair down after ages, wearing contacts for the night. She refused professional makeup, just going for peach lipstick and eye makeup by herself

One should always do that unless its your own wedding. Have seen beautiful people not look good just coz of makeup.

Will pradyut will come to know her side of the story?

The epic crash but she did not even notice. He is not on her radar yet.

Female pitbull

It didn’t take him more than half a second to recognize her. He froze watching her go down the stairs. She walked away without giving him a second look. He continued to watch her froma distance the rest of the evening, wondering if she was family

His parents were out of town they had sent him instead Pia his sister was not crazy about weddings either. She showed up to hers reluctantly. Gopal and Shubhangi wanted a grand wedding for their only daughter

The son was not budging now

Taruni Bhushan did not seem too crazy about weddings either. She stood in a corner texting and occasionally quite literally shaking a leg

She watched the drinks cart go by multiple times and after much coaxing by a female friend grabbed a glass of wine and made a face after she took the first sip

She coughed and cleared her throat and returned the wine glass to a server

And picked up another one

And rotated the drink in her palm like a sommelier

When she disappeared from sight, he literally scoured the lawns and stage. It didn’t look like she was with family. He later spotted her talking tto the bride’s Mum

He texted his BIL Veer “I see the person of interest over here”

“Who?”

“Taruni Bhushan”

“HOW?”

“I have no idea… bride’s friend? Perhaps?”

“Whoaaa… who is the bride again?”

“Dad owns a BPO”

“Lavanya Nath right?”

“Yep”

“Hmm… how do u think she knows them”

“I plan to find out”

“Don’t get in trouble”

He chuckled

He spotted her texting on her phone worried about something

He was delighted, he hoped Ajit Singh had told her she had a week to produce the conveyance deed

She went up to the bride and groom and relaxed a bit. Her hair was a mass of naturally loose curls, untreated with a curling iron. She took notes on her phone when Shubham Aggarwal said something to her

He found it hard to mingle with his friends, Cyrus and Amaranth. He didn’t drink or like to flirt with strangers. He just wanted to get on with Zenith Astro in Chandigarh.

Taruni Bhushan was a squatter he couldn’t seem to get rid of

Taruni and the bride stepped away with their other girlfriends, he pointedly walked over to Shubham, and made small talk. When the young women approached Shubham, he turned sideways awkwardly hoping Taruni wouldn’t see him

“Dig her?” Shubham laughed

“Who?”

Shubham mentioned a Ritika

He had no idea who that was, he felt a tinge of irritation

Shubham and Lavanya flirted a bit as the female friends scattered

“Where do I know the girl in the peach outfit from?”

“YOU don’t go to bars or pubs… so WHERE do you know her from?” Shubham laughed

“No really!?”

“Taruni and Lavanya have known each other years”

“I might have seen her with Lav then” Pradyut nodded

“Or visited her Dad’s bookstore… he has this really cool place in Chandigarh”

Pradyut stared at Shubham “Did he not know Rajesh Bhushan had died?”

“Neat” he nodded as if he was hearing it for the first time

“He was headed to UMich in Fall but didn’t go” Shubham muttered

“Ah”

“She is very ambitious” Shubham smiled “Like someone I know”

“Lav?” he asked cluelessly

“No… YOU…. Lav tells me if Taruni sets her mind to something she usually goes after it, she is a pitbull not sure if they are called something else” he smiled sheepishly

“Ah” he acted disinterested, as his rage boiled up inside

“Cool story” he said casually

“Oh yes… I recall now… she lost her Dad recently, and she is now running his store”

“Oh”

“Lav tells me she told off some attorney recently. Like asked him to f off”

“Nice”

“She doesn’t seem glamorous… does she… but might have an interesting mind”

“U think so” Pradyut nodded blandly still not taking his eyes off her in the crowd

“Let me introduce you”

“Let me take this call” he snuck out

he snuck out 😂😂😂

Kyon Bhai Daar Gaye that she on your face might ask you to .....

Waiting to see what makes them interact, who falls for whom first, how they pursue each other.

Cynical & Identical

He somehow wanted to be in control of her actions and time. He wanted the place demolished. Her being at the wedding was delaying things for Towers Partners

He dodged two more attempts to be introduced to Lavanya’s friends

He was not interested in dating or hook up or friendship. He felt restless and agitated with each passing day. He worked late into the night. He would have skipped wedding day if he hadn’t spotted Taruni Bhushan, now he wanted to go

“Don’t say anything to her” Veer chuckled as the men ate breakfast at Gopal Munjal’s house. That’s the second piece of advice… you think I will be unable to hold myself back?” he questioned

“No… I was kidding” Veer smiled

“I actually want to go tell her “Sell it already, you have 6 days left and if you don’t produce a deed the building is going down”

“That wont go well at a wedding”

“No it wont”

“I meeting with Pavan Brokers the people buying 10th floor at Iris in Gurgaon at 2, I will try and make it to the wedding”

“My day is full I am not going Pia knows”

“I told Dad he owes me 10 weddings for this one”

“You hate it so much huh?”

“Its pointless… 4 out of the 20 that got married in the last 5 years have divorced” he laughed cynically

“That’s a great average, 80% are together”

“who knows for how long”

“Ouch!” “That’s damn cynical”

Pradyut got the joke slowly and laughed

“U and Pia are OK” he nodded smugly

Veer and Pradyut had known each other 10 years before he married Pia

Pradyut liked Veer a lot

“Do u ever see yourself tying the knot”

“No” he said looking straight into Veer’s eyes

“U know what they say” Veer smiled

“Yeah sure!” Pradyut rolled his eyes

That night….

He couldn’t help acknowledge Taruni looked lovely in the pistachio green pearl studded lehenga. He wasn’t knocked out of breath or anything.

“Why would she wear a lehenga that is 6 inches too long?” he wondered as she clutched it in both fists as she walked around

“I am going back after the pheras” he overheard her in a group at the back, he positioned himself strategically to listen in, some words were lost in a cacophony but he got the gist of it

“Hey, Deepak is going to return to Chandigarh in the morning, uske saath chali ja”

“No my (garbled) cant take tomorrow off, I have to open the store”

“Did u open a store?”

“No… Papa’s”

He could hear her voice crack with emotion

A bunch of “I am sorry, how are you holding up, how is aunty, how are you going to run the store if u go to Michigan followed”

“I am not even thinking about –(garbled) right now”

“Why?”

“I just want to find… I mean I have to just keep the store open”

He realized she was being cautious

“When is ur Mum retiring?”

“Abhi hai… 2 ya 3 saal if she doesn’t get an extension”

“Gaurav Bhai wont do it? Its such a cool store”

“I KNOWWWWWW I actually only noticed two months ago, Papa has THIRTY glass cupboards with books… THIRTEEEEEE”

“I wish I was a reader I would buy it from you and turn it into a cool coffee shop bookstore thing”

“Oh I have many plans” Taruni giggled

That irritated Pradyut immensely

“Get married to --- (giggle giggle) you can be a boutique book shop owner

“Hes hot… but I hate men right now”

“Shive is sooooooooo hawt”

“He hates me so I don’t want to hear that”

“Go out with Rishi”

“nah… I am going back to Chandigarh” “Don’t want a boyfriend” she said firmly

She was indeed like himself

Giggle giggle

Chatter… giggle………

“rishi Yadav?” he thought

He knew the guy… Yadav transport… his Dad owned 5000 trucks…

She was gone right after the pheras

He left soon after

Went to the office and worked until 7 AM and crashed on his couch wearing the same, white silk shirt and black pants the bow tie was flung on the floor, some “Yadav Transport Leadership Team” print outs sat by his laptop

Ria Sharma his assistant found him fast asleep when she walked in with her Coffee Day coffee and hit the switch to roll the blinds

Yadav trasports bhi khareedega kya?