Page 22 of Knot So Romantic

Later, I trudge upstairs to my apartment. I occupy myself with a late breakfast, some home cleaning, a long shower, and finally, a late lunch. Still, thoughts of Neel linger in my head as I walk into the boutique’s reception around midday.

Manjula greets me while her son, Rohit, looks up from the set of blocks he’s been playing with and runs toward me, hugging my legs.

“Hi, Didi!” he yells out affectionately.

“Hi, Rohit!” I bend down to his level and give him a tight hug, then hand him the healthy cookies my mother packed for him yesterday.

“Thank you!” He claims his treat with a huge smile on his face and toddles back to his spot to continue playing.

“You’ll spoil him,” Manjula says, smiling. “He expects you to bring him something every week.”

“I only visit Mom once a week, and she loves Rohit,” I say, feeling guilty as charged. “I know I should tell Mom not to, but these are healthy,” I say as I hand over another box of cookies to her. “Some for you too. Mom was trying out ragi cookies.”

“You spoil me as well,” Manjula says, accepting the box with a smile. “I can’t resist your mother’s delicious cookies even if I tried.” A moment later, a flash of worry crosses her face. “There’s something I wanted to show you.”

“What happened? Is everything okay?”

She goes to her desk, pulls out a newspaper clipping, and hands it to me. “Is this about us?”

I scan the article. It discusses a redevelopment project near the park. According to the location mentioned, the corner plot—which is our building—and the park will be affected.

Bile rises in my throat. I don’t want to lose my boutique.

I sink into a nearby chair. “This is about us, and we have to do something about it.”

But I have no idea what to do. My lease will be up in less than two months, and I still haven’t been able to get ahold of our landlord, Venkat. Even if I did, I don’t have the money that I might need to make a good offer on this property so that he’ll sell it to me.

“We have to do something, but I just can’t think right now,” I tell Manjula, who nods her head and astutely leaves me alone with my thoughts.

I text Kiara and Khushi, asking them to meet me at the boutique this evening to help me think about what to do.

Then, I make myself a cup of chamomile tea and settle down with a new wedding dress I’ve been working on.

As I work on the sketch, my thoughts settle, and a sense of peace and calm slowly descends over me. Work is the one thing that brings me peace. I spend several hours scouring magazines for inspiration, laying out different color and fabric choices, and drinking many cups of tea. I finally have something that I think will work.

There are a few finishing touches left, and I’m almost done when Kiara and Khushi arrive.

Rohit charms them with his usual antics, and then Manjula and Rohit leave. As we settle down with cups of tea, Khushi and Kiara look at me expectantly.

“What’s this meeting about?” Khushi asks.

Kiara takes my hands in hers. “Is everything alright?”

I take a deep breath. “Manjula showed me this news article today.” I pull out the paper and hand it to them.

A look of shock crosses their faces as they read the article.

Kiara is the first to recover. “It says you’re about to lose this building to a shopping mall.”

Khushi’s eyes widen. “The park too?”

I nod. “I’m about to lose my boutique. And our park…”

“They can’t do this!” Kiara says.

Khushi frowns. “Looks like they can. How can we stop them?”

“I was thinking about organizing a charity fashion show,” I say, explaining the idea that I’d had while working on my client’s dress earlier. “If I could raise some funds, I could buy this building, and we can save it and the park.”