Silent Whispers

Chapter 43: Change in Currents

"See? I told you Lavs – all you had to do was just talk to Uncle."

Lavanya rolled her eyes. "Okay fine. You were right, happy? But to be honest, it wasn't the talking that did it."

"Say whatever you want, but I know that's what changed his mind."

It was a sunny Saturday morning in Delhi, where Khushi was out for brunch with her best friend on the excuse of finally meeting Aman. While Khushi was excited to see the boyfriend Lavanya was madly in love with, she was happier to notice the changes the latter seemed to have undergone. Again.

Lavanya was back to her ostentatious outfits and dolled-up looks. Except for the black-rimmed glasses still adorning her eyes, there wasn't even a shred of evidence that she was the same dejected, but still determined woman Khushi had met in the mall six months ago.

It seemed Lavanya had come a long way from being at the brink of losing everything she held dear.

"No Khush, Aman changed his mind."

Khushi paused. Despite the prospect of meeting the still-yet-to-arrive Aman, the topic of their discussion was about something else entirely. As surprising as it sounded, they had actually spent the last half hour talking about Anand Kashyap, Lavanya's stern father who was strongly against her relationship, until two days ago when he had finally consented.

Of course when Khushi first heard the news, she was sure Lavanya was joking, but now seeing the absolute joy in her best friend's face, she knew it was nothing less than the truth.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Remember my show last week?"

Khushi nodded. It was Lavanya's first big break. The fashion designer she had been working with for the past six months decided to include some of Lavanya's own designs in the show, a feat that was nothing less than remarkable.

"Well, it was an eventful day. Armaan, my boss, had to take care of some personal things –which I personally think was just an excuse for him to sneak off to his girlfriend– so he dumped all the work on my head. I had to get up at four in the morning to get everything ready–"

Khushi's eyes widened. "Princess Lavanya woke up before sunrise?"

"Shut-up," she muttered. "But yes! Before sunrise! Can you believe it?! And obviously everything that could go wrong, went wrong. The stupid event manager mixed up the hall we booked, the stage had all the wrong decor and the models... urgh! Don't even get me started on them!"

Khushi snorted. "Of course you would have a problem with the models."

"Hilarious. But for your kind information, one of those stuck up snobs actually ripped one of the dresses! I panicked so much that I fainted right before the show."

"What?!"

Lavanya nodded. "I was running around on an empty stomach all day. And with all the chaos backstage, I didn't even get two minutes to grab a bite. You can hardly blame me consi–"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Khushi asked, livid. While she had attended the show, and congratulated her on its success, she was unaware of this particular detail. 

"Because it was nothing. And more than that, Aman already did both his and your share of yelling, so I didn't see the point of telling you."

"Aman? He was there at the show?"

Lavanya nodded. "Apparently when I told him Armaan made me in charge of everything, he was confident that something like this would happen, so he was there backstage the whole day, watching me."