Setting himself up
Shubhangi and Gopal Munjal walked briskly around their Golf Links neighborhood
“You can go to Chandigarh for two weeks, Veer and I will go with Pia to her conference” Shubhangi smiled beatifically
“You just want to be with your daughter” he stopped half way and smiled at her
“You love your son let me have my daughter”
“I would like a daughter too” he grumbled
“Well too late now, I am 60” she chuckled
“I am hoping Pradyut will get married soon and we can have a daughter”
“He is not dating anyone, he doesn’t go out, he doesn’t take a vacation I am worried”
“Don’t start” Gopal squeezed Shubhangi’s hand
“Arent you worried?”
“If he doesn’t want to get married, its fine, Pia has two kids, we have grandkids”
“I want to see him married, I may be old fashioned and boring I DO”
“Set him up then” Gopal muttered exhausted
“Do u mean that?” she paused
“Well… do it”
“Are u sure?”
“Try it”
“If he pushes back I am going to arrange a wedding”
Gopal laughed hysterically
Shubhangi texted her closest friends furiously slowing her pace
The help Chander caught up, with the family dog, Julius
“Aap unko de do, main ghar ja rahi hoon” Shubhangi smiled and turned around
Gopal stopped and turned and laughed
That evening, sitting around the dinner table, luckily tonight was a night Pradyut made it home by 9
“Hey can you do me a favor?”
“Yeah?” Pradyut looked up from his plate
“Can you pleeeeez go to Mrs Kohli’s tomorrow and bring back my jewelry”
“Send a driver Mum”
“Umm.. I want you to go”
“WHY?”
“Cant u do this for me”
“I can but I cant show up at midnight right?”
“Can u drop it off at 4, tumhe kal Chandigarh jaana hai, u will come home to pack right?”
“I am not going to Pia’s conference? U didn’t need a baby sitter for her kids?” he laughed
“I do… sorry, but Dad said he wants u inChandigarh”
“Sure”
The men spoke about the meeting, Pradyut was irritated he had to work from home in the morning since going from Golf Links to Gurgaon office and returning to pick up jewelry and then going back to the airport would be a pain
Shubhangi was a general physician until 10 years ago, but had given up work after a back injury
She still visited a clinic few days a week to serve for free, tomorrow was her clinic day and she spun a tale saying the jewelry needed to be given to another friend, who was leaving for a London wedding TOMORROW
“So will u do it?”
“Fiiiine”
The next day around 3:40 he was seated in Kohlis living room
No sign of the beautiful daughter, Shubhangi did not know that
Mrs Kohli kept him engaged in faltu conversation for 40 minutes, her daughter Shruti was stuck in traffic
“You should go to Darjeeling Shruti and her friends are going over”
“Umm… I have work in Chandigarh”
“Just go for a week”
“Ummm… can I have the jewelry?”
“Umm.. I cant find it I texted ur Mum” Mrs Kohli said coolly
Pradyut gave her a really odd look, extremely irritated with his Mum, just took off for the airport without texting her
Arrived in Chandigarh by 8:00 PM
Didn’t check into the hotel, just asked the driver to drive him to Zenith Astro
Got off the car and wandered around………
Found the bookshop corner and approached it
Taruni Bhushan stepped out set her bag down and yanked the shutters, after locking the glass doors meticulously.. one lock, two bolts, 3rd lock, 4th padlock
The steel accordion gates were tight and rusty
He watched her struggle
Her hair coming on to her face, biting on her lower lip
She took a good 10 minutes checking and pulling, and then waved an auto down
She was gone when he came out of hiding
Hello Sudha
I would love to write everyday, sometimes I am unable to get off work late in the evening, so just impossible to write. Will write the next chapter early today
Thanks so much for reading
Hello Sudha
I would love to write everyday, sometimes I am unable to get off work late in the evening, so just impossible to write. Will write the next chapter early today
Thanks so much for reading
[/QUOTE
Thank you so much
Sorry if I disturb you
Price is right
There was no office in Chandigarh yet, he was supposed to meet Ajit Singh from Satnam Builders & Properties the next morning in the hotel lobby at 9 AM
He had slept for a couple hours and read through 10s of Chandigarh real estate market reports by companies like Cushman & Wakefield
He wanted to be prepared
He wasn’t very happy with the lack of enthusiasm from TK Govil, the man was acting like he didn’t give a rip
He had spoken to his Dad, but Veer was more receptive to his opinions
“Just let him not do the repairs for the Gurgaon project man… maybe he feels you are overreacting”
“No I am not…. The buyer backed out Veer, BTW speaking of that, I got two leads from Breeze Realty, lets follow up, I am going to, we might be able to close the deal on most floors with them”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep, whats the full name of the guy that was going to buy the 10th floor at Iris?”
“Oh… hang on…. Joe Rathore”
“Oh yeah Rathore Real Estate” Pradyut nodded “I just texted you the two new leads
“Oh I see it now… Pavan Brokers Inc. Viman Leasing?”
Yep…. Joe Rathore is in the books for floor 3-5 at Iris, already I want to close the deal with Pavan Brokers and sell them the whole goddamn building and stuff Joe Rathore” Pradyut smiled gleefully
“You want your pound of flesh?”
“I do… I came clean and promised to fix 10th floor, he bailed, now he gets NOTHING”
Veer sighed
Pradyut was ruthless for sure
“Have you met Ajit Singh?”
“Now… I see him” Pradyut whispered ending the call
“hello sir”
The pleasantries over, Ajit explained he was on the fence about tearing down the newly renovated Zenith Astro. He wanted to understand why Towers Partners was so hellbent on always building from scratch
Ajit shared the numbers with him, what it cost to repair renovate and lease out
Pradyut stared at it intently
“Bhushanji ki dukaan hai he is family…. He died young…. I cannot support demolishment”
“Umm… have you talked to his wife?”
“Ajee who job karti hain, she didn’t involve much, bete dono service karte hain, they don’t know much”
“So it should be easy to buy out”
“Aapne suna nahi?”
“I heard… the owner died… I am sorry, but how can we help? We can pay well above market rate”
“Arey they don’t want to sell” Ajit Singh lied… he was beginning to be intimidated by Pradyut
“Everyone does… Mr Singh if the price is right”
“Arey she wont sell beta”
“Umm.. I can talk to her”
“To force her to sell her father’s shop?” Ajit singh was a bit upset now
“Maybe not today… in a week?” Pradyut insisted
“Sorry I cannot support such an idea” Ajit got up
“Sir, Towers Partners can offer you 23% more than what the structure is worth” he said as Ajit Singh started ambling off
Ajit paused and turned in shock…
Ruthless business man 👌.
Nice 😊
Mazza ayega. From what we have read until now.
I guess buying shop would be easy as she is more that willing to sell.
But with Nisha you never know. She definitely has something else in her mind. waiting to find out.
Faux Victory
Ajit Singh called her after two days, he had done the math he was clearly going to rake in over Rs.54 crores for the lot that did not have good approach or good drainage. The offices on the 3rd 4th and 5th floors constantly complained of seepage
Towers Partners and Pradyut Munjal were bailing him out and offeringa bonus to leave
“Jee?” Taruni tied her long hair in a top knot
“Main beta Ajit Singh Satnam Properties se…”
“Kaun?”
“Jo Papa ki shop hai na… I own the building… I mean I own portions of it”
“Oh”
“I am sorry puttar”
“Thanks” she found herself tearing up
She was trying to do OK but the daily hourly calls with “Beta I am sorry” was beginning to irritate her
At least she will have a US phone number no one will know her
Cant wait to get out of this shit hole she muttered inaudibly as power went out and the inverter clicked away trying to turn on
She went to the annexe to punch and power off and power it on, checked for coolant… and went back to her room and sat down
“Sorry batayen” she mumbled
“Aap shop par ho?”
“Umm nahi… Harkeerat ji aa nahi pa rahe so its hard for me”
“sale ho rahi hai?”
“Abhi kaha aapko maine zyaada open nahi ki”
“Kitne din ho gaye?”
“Main (bataoon aapko?”) she was furious… 2 mahiney”
“Aap to US jaane lage ho na?”
“Hmm…”
Congrats beta, your Papa was very proud”
“Proud yet didn’t leave me anything
She was mad at her papa for not sharing everything with his wife, she had found his accountant last night, A Mr. Sudhir Grover
She was going to go to the shop and then call him
“Shop to rakhoge na?” Ajit Singh threw the dice
“Umm.. abhi socha nahi”
“Nahi… dono bhai ki job hai aap bahar ja rahe ho Mamma to baithegi nahi shop par…”
“Umm”
Everything hurt her, every word
“Umm”
“I know I know sensitive hai… I am there for you puttar… sorry”
“Hmm…” she sniffled
“I will be with you… bata do aap hamey…”
“Koi employee mil jaayega kya?”
Ajit became irritated
That meant she was not going to sell
“Ajee aajkal to sab fraud hain… Mummy job karti hain she cant sit in the shop… soch lo” he misled her again
“You have employees na?”
“I do I do… mere construction ka kaam hai chaar chaar bete hain”
“Papa has two boys too”
“Haa haa… kaise hain Gaurav?”
He sounded like he knew about the friction
That irritated her more
“He is great, aa rahe hain Hyderabad se next week”
“Changa jee”
“Why did u call”
“bas I was worried, Bhushanji ki shop band padi hai I wanted to offer help”
“Can I get one employee?” she wanted to doa fire sale and wrap up she couldn’t do it alone
Nope!
Subodh the customer attendant was not returning her calls the last couple days
She had talked to him he wanted to know how he could withdraw his savings etc
Suodh jo shop mein tha aap unko jaante ho?” she asked naively
Ajit Singh had an office on the 5th floor, he knew everyone and everyone knew him. Bhushan was his close friend
He had attended the wedding of both boys…
“Nahi” Ajit lied
“He has been working for Dad for 20 years”
“Dekha ho shaayad” Ajit was evasive
Subodh would run to get chai in winter and lassi in summer… Ajit knew him really well
“Main newspaper mein advertise kar loongi, ya online”
“Shop KHOL rahe ho aap?”
“Umm.. abhi pata nahi” she sighed hanging up
Pradyut had offered him a rider, a supplement to the contract. If he got Bhushan Books to close, and be sold Satnam would get an additional 13.33%
She called Sudhir Grover
He sounded genuine and gave her an appointment for next week
She dusted the book cases, lit an agarbathi, and stared at University of Michigan for hours online
She looked up comparable prices in the neighborhood in Sector 40, and priced out how much she might get, it made her happy and excited
She prayed Sudhir Grover had a copy of the will and her father had left everything to her
She went online and posted an ad for an employee
Pradyut sipped his coffee and searched online sites for properties around Chandigarh, he was obsessed with this site the last couple days now
A popup appeared “Customer attendant at Bhushan Books & Stationery”
His heart skipped a beat
He noted the phone number down
He went to his notes from TK Govil
“taruni Bhushan”
He looked her up on LinkedIn……. Nanyang University in Singapore… enrolled for M.S. in Electrical from UMich Ann Arbor AUGUST 20222
In FOUR WEEKS?
He quickly texted Veer, looks like she is headed to Ann Arbor
“Who?”
“The daughter of the man who owns the bookstore”
“Does that mean she is selling?”
“I hope so”
“That was quick… what did you do?” Veer laughed
“Nothing… I just got here… haven’t met her yet”
“Looks like you don’t have to”
“Gimme a virtual hifive
“Yep”
“You didn’t have to unleash your charm”
“Ha” Pradyut leaned back and savored the faux victory
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