The Business Trip (Arshi FF)

Hasty decisions

As he contemplated texting Khushi, wondering what he'd say to her, he got a call from Sheetal that distracted him from his thoughts.

"Are you already at breakfast? Put down whatever you're eating or drinking and listen to this. Rohan Sen wants to do a collab on one of our summer lines!", Sheetal exclaimed, not stopping to catch her breath.

"Are you serious, Sheetal?! Don't mess with me, you know I don't like such jokes.", Arnav warned her.

"Hand on heart Arnav, I'm not kidding. I bumped in to Siya at the business dinner we had last week with the Malhotras. We booked in lunch and she seemed really interested in our summer line, especially after I showed her what we were doing with the pastels. You know she's dating Rohan Sen right? The same Rohan Sen that now wants to do a collab piece with you!", Sheetal said excitedly.

Arnav was taken aback by the proposal. This would be HUGE for Blue Velvet. He knew how the likes of Rohan Sen worked. Arnav and his team would put in the time, effort and money to produce the collab product, and Rohan Sen would still demand 70% of profits on the product. It's just how he worked, no matter how hard you negotiated. As frustrating as that was, the PR would still work wonders for the rest of his line and he knew his investors wouldn't let him say no to the proposal once they found out.

"I've arranged a call for you with Rohan at 2pm today where you can both talk details. But Arnav? Rohan wants the launch ahead of Milan fashion week so you don't have long at all. It's next month but he'll want a final draft ready by the end of next week", Sheetal informed him.

"End of next week? Sheetal c'mon! We've got to manage his expectations. I could be working 20 hour days and I'd still struggle to meet that deadline!", he exclaimed.

"Ball's in your court, Arnav. All I'm saying is, you've got to find a way to thank me for this. You can start with dinner at Kimchee, followed by clubbing at Levant once you're done with this project", she said cheekily.

"Anything you want, Sheetal! I owe you big time if we secure this.", he responded excitedly, completely forgetting about the text he was supposed to send earlier, immersing himself in preparation for the 2pm meeting with Rohan.

A few thousand miles away in Delhi, Khushi had spent her only day off in the week doing her finances. She had her Excel spreadsheet open and a detailed list of all the household expenses and all future expenses to be incurred offset against her income. Even if she made changes like going from brand milk to supermarket's own brand, she'd still struggle to make ends meet.

Khushi had already found a place to rent close to the factory in Swaroop Nagar. It wasn't anything like their place in South Delhi, in fact it was a pretty run down one bed flat (if you can even call it that) and not in the safest of localities either. However it was within her budget, walking distance to work and would do for now while she saves up and can afford a bigger place. The landlord had told her she'd have to pay two months worth of rent in advance, hence why she was spending her only day off staring at a spreadsheet trying to get the numbers to balance.

While Khushi played out her options, she decided there was one last option that would work. She sighed thinking about it. Her local mall was recruiting for customer assistants. They'd filled out most spaces with fresh out of college students, eager to earn some money. However, they were struggling to fill the roles for the later shifts from 6pm to 11pm. She'd have to work on her one day off. After six consecutive days of working insane hours at the factory. She grumbled to herself as she sent off her online application, trying to convince herself she's doing the right thing and for the right reasons.

Following the phone call with Rohan in the afternoon, Arnav had been given a long list of requirements for the collab piece. Cartier diamonds for the model showcasing the piece, Jimmy Choo heels and the materials for the dress itself would cost him an arm and a leg! He sure hoped it would all be worth it. The phone call had been a relatively successful one. Arnav negotiated as best as he could but he was still conscious that he'd agreed to providing the final draft of the product by next week and he wasn't sure how he'd do it.

Post the meeting, Arnav had put everything in to getting the process going for the deadline. He'd been on calls with the fabric suppliers, in back to back meetings with the designers and simultaneously managing all the other ad hoc queries and hiccups that came up regarding the summer line. He was beyond shattered by the time he got back to his hotel room and lay flat on his bed. It was nice of Sheetal to keep him company till late but he had sent her back to her hotel room, not wanting to overwork his staff on just day one of the project. Plus, she had done enough for him bagging this project as it is.

While he sat lying on his bed, his thoughts went back to Khushi. He still wanted to talk to her. But after the day he'd just had, honestly, he had no energy for much else. He wanted to speak with her but he wanted to do it properly. Not when he was rushing in between meetings and being pulled from every corner, or with no energy to hold a conversation. He knew it would serve no purpose and strain their relationship further if it wasn't done properly. So he promised himself he'd call her the same day the final draft gets approved. Just a few more days, he told himself as the exhaustion caught up with him and he fell right asleep, blissfully unaware that Khushi had already started making plans to move out of their family home.