Raghav was speechless, how did Saree ka Dukaan know Vikram Singh?
Pallavi was shocked as well, how was this man here, how did he know Raghav?
"So sorry let me introduce myself, I'm Vikram Singh Rathore, so how do you know Raghav and his wife, Ms. Deshmukh?"
Raghav found his voice, mainly because hearing Ms. Deshmukh for a second time irritated him for some reason, "She is not Ms. Deshmukh, her name is Pallavi Raghav Rao, my wife."
Pallavi looked at Raghav for a second, why had he introduced her to such an important person if she was just an embarrassment to him.
"Wow, now I have to know the love story of an infamous jeweler and a small-town saree designer. That sounds like the Heer-Ranjha of the twenty-first century!" Vikram laughed.
Raghav clenched his fist as Vikram threw out 'infamous' so casually.
Pallavi noticed the word too, and thought that anyone who knew about Raghav's real character and his way around sarees was a man she wanted to know more about.
"Raghav, I met Pallavi at her store today, though I didn't know it was her father's store at the time, she works like the owns the place. In fact, Pallavi, the sari I bought is actually a wedding gift, for you. Seeing as you designed it, I'm thinking you'll like it."
Vikram's smile was good hearted and Pallavi could sense his kindness behind it.
"Let me just place this bag somewhere and grab a drink, I definitely want to know your story Mr. and Mrs. Rao."
Pallavi could tell that Raghav's anger was bubbling up by the second, and she decided to have a little fun.
"Oh it's not that special, the usual story: kidnapping, betrayal, blackmailing." She smiled at Vikram.
He laughed, "Wow, like I said, a Heer-Ranjha for this century!" As he left to get a drink Farhad approached the two of them.
"Anna, Mr. Singh came, I didn't think he would accept the invite, but this is a perfect time to talk to him about adverts in his magazine—"
"Farhad, shut up, I'm just trying to keep this Saree ka Dukaan from putting me out of business in one day." Raghav growled, glaring at Pallavi.
"I can tell why he doesn't want to do business with you Raghav, he seems like an honest and hardworking man." Pallavi turned on her heel and walked away.
A few minutes later, Vikram found Pallavi again, "So, what's the real story behind this wedding, because in all the years I've known Raghav Rao, he is not the marrying type."
Pallavi laughed, she herself had no idea what Raghav had gotten out of this wedding, and at this moment she didn't care to find out.
Pallavi dodged the question, "I didn't think I was the marrying type either for a while, but here I am."
Vikram noticed her dodge and decided to accept it, "So how long have you been designing sarees?"
"Oh for years now, but I only started working in Baba's shop a couple years ago, after Mand—" Pallavi stopped short.
Vikram handed her a drink, she noticed that it was a neat whiskey, like his, "after what?"
Pallavi looked at Vikram's face, he seemed normal, nice, probably someone who had never even thought of tying up a woman in the middle of the street in front of an oncoming truck, and without thinking she started telling her story. Well, select parts of it.
"Mandaar was my first husband, he died two years ago. Vijay Deshmukh is actually my father-in-law, well former father-in-law now I guess. After Mandaar passed away, I took over the shop because I wanted to fulfill Mandaar's and Baba's dream of opening a showroom for Baba's hand-woven sarees. But now, well, who knows what will happen, right?"
