Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: A Father’s Rage Wins**

That night, in the Deshmukh house, no matter how much Nikhil tried to convince Baba of the truth, Vijay didn’t seem to care.

“Nikhil, if Pallavi hadn’t been so careless with the store for so long, you would never have had to take that job, and then you would have never been arrested. I don’t give a damn why Raghav wanted to marry Pallavi. I don’t care—“

“But you’re letting her work in the store.” Nikhil started.

“Only because that thug of her husband threatened me, god knows why he cares.” Baba retorted.

After the fight, Vijay was even more sure of his decision. Even it meant his shop had to be shuttered, he would tell Pallavi tomorrow that she wasn’t welcome anywhere near the Deshmukhs anymore.

The next morning, Pallavi was in good spirits again. Vikram had messaged her that he might be able to drop by the shop today to see her work. She was making breakfast when Keerthi walked in the kitchen.

“Pallavi Di, kya baath hai? You look cheerful today? Did Raghav fall down or hurt himself shaving this morning? Keerthi giggled.

Pallavi smiled, “No, nothing like that. One of the guests last night, Vikram Singh something— he was the guy who came to the shop yesterday— he wants to take a look at my designs today. If he comes today, I might be able to convince Baba to forgive me.”

“Wow, that’s great, I think I know that name, Farhad’s mentioned him before. Isn’t he the guy who owns the magazines that Raghav is desperate to get Jayathi Jewels into? Did you snake a business deal from *The Raghav Rao* already?” Keerthi knew she shouldn’t be happy at he brother’s misfortune, but she didn’t have the blind trust in Raghav that Amma had.

“No, nothing like that, he wants to meet with Raghav too.”

Raghav, in the dining room, overheard this whole conversation. This Saree ka Dukaan was exceptionally happy today, but it didn’t matter. The key was meeting with Rathore and convincing him that Jayathi Jewels was a good investment

When Pallavi walked into Deshmukh Saree Emporium later that morning, she almost dropped her bag. In front of her was Baba.

“Baba, how are you, did the doctor—“

Baba raised his hand and Pallavi stopped speaking, “I don’t care that your thug of a husband threatened his way into keeping you working here. I don’t care if it means closing the store. You no longer are needed here.”

Pallavi’s eyes filled with tears, she started to explain, “Baba, Nikhil was in trouble and I—“

“I know the whole story, Pallavi, but it doesn’t matter. Because the root of all our troubles are Raghav Rao, and now, you. I spent my whole life gaining respect and respecting others in this town, and in the span of a couple weeks, you destroyed everything. I can’t trust you to—”

Right then there was a knock on the wall behind them, “Knock knock, can I come in?”

It was Vikram. Pallavi smiled weakly, hoping that he hadn’t heard any of what Baba had said. Pallavi needed Vikram’s interest in her designs, in Baba’s work, to convince Baba to forgive her, to help Baba see that he could trust her.

Vikram had heard everything, and the mystery of Pallavi’s and Raghav’s wedding became a little less foggy.

“You must be Mr. Deshmukh, pleasure to meet you, I’m Vikram Singh Rathore.”

Baba didn’t react to the name, mainly because, unlike his children, he didn’t pay attention to business or fashion news outside of Hyderabad. “Nice to meet you, can we— I mean can I help you with anything?”

“Actually, I’m here to meet with your daughter, I met her yesterday when I was buying a saree for a new friend, and as someone who works in the fashion industry, I immediately fell in love with her designs.” Vikram smiled jovially, hoping that this man, who seemed to be the opposite of fatherly or intelligent, wouldn’t try to embarrass Pallavi further.

“I see, well Pallavi, why don’t you take your new *friend* out and show him all your designs, have fun. I can tell from looking at you Mr. Rathore that you don’t really know what it means to appreciate true craftsmanship.” Vijay didn’t know why he was being rude to this man, but if this man was anything like Pallavi’s other *friends* or business partners, he wanted nothing to do with him.

Vikram laughed, and paused for a while, surveying the shop and Vijay before responding, “Sir, you don’t know anything about me, what I can or can’t do, and it also seems that you’re not a good judge of character, especially if you don’t consider the work your daughter does as ‘craftsmanship.’” Vikram’s voice was cold, and Pallavi felt like the temperature in the shop had dropped ten degrees.

Baba looked at Pallavi, “I think it’s best if you leave, Pallavi Rao.” The words hit Pallavi like a knife wound to the gut.

Pallavi picked up her bag and backed out of the store, unaware that Vikram was following her.

“Hey, Pallavi, wait,” Vikram caught up with her, “it seems I came to your shop at a bad time, I’m sorry if I made the situation any worse.”

“It’s not my shop, you heard, so no, I’m sorry, for wasting your time.” Pallavi rushed to the main road and tried to call an auto.

“No, you didn’t waste my time at all. Don’t judge me, but I caught a little of your conversation with your father, it confirmed my belief that yours and Raghav’s story is more complicated than I first thought.”

Pallavi smiled, “Yes. Yes it is, but it might be too complicated to tell.”

“So don’t tell me. There’s a coffee shop just by Raghav’s shop, my meeting with him is in a couple hours, how about we forget this morning happened, and we can talk about the wonder that is the saree.”

Pallavi wasn’t in the mood, but looking at Vikram’s generous face and the kindness behind his eyes, she decided not to refuse. “Ok, sure.”

When they reached the coffee shop, Pallavi looked across the street to Jayathi Jewels. It seemed like ages ago now when she had went there in the hopes of getting a contract with Raghav and instead ended up in a cage, hiding her face as Raghav took a necklace that had gotten stuck to her blouse off. Why had he let her go that day?

“So, was it love at first sight?” Vikram asked.

“What?” Pallavi looked back to him, “was love at first sight with what?”

“With Raghav Rao?” Vikram grinned.

Pallavi looked at her coffee cup, “It was something at first sight.” She remembered that night vividly, the way Raghav had insulted her, her work, her existence. The way the sparks from the fire that burned her saris ignited a hatred within her she never knew existed before.

“You know, the more you try to hide this story, the more curious I get.” Vikram responded, taking a sip of her coffee, “but do try to forget the love story of the century for now, and let’s see some of your work.”

Pallavi reluctantly took her sketchpad out of her bag, and started to explain the different designs she had spent the past couple years developing. Some of which had been produced, others which were too expensive to make and Pallavi had saved for another day.

Vikram was enthralled, not just with Pallavi’s work, but the passion with which she talked. She was confident, funny, intelligent. Now more than ever, he couldn’t understand why she had married Raghav Rao.

“Ok, you’ve convinced me.”

Pallavi stopped talking and looked at Vikram, “convinced you of what?”

“That my boutique in Hyderabad, which is opening in a couple weeks, needs a new saree section, and you are going to be my designer.”

Pallavi was not just taken aback, but after spending the past couple months with Raghav Rao, she was suspicious, “You barely know anything about me, why would you possibly want to hire me?”

“Well firstly, I’m not just hiring you, I’m giving both of us an opportunity to grow, to reach our potential, your work will be an important part of my boutique, my brand. And with this part, you’ll write your own story. Secondly, everything I needed to know about you I found out when you sold me that saree yesterday. Even though I was acting like a picky jerk, you knew what questions to ask to get me to  the saree I wanted. No surprise it was one of your own designs.”

“Are you for real?”

“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you.” Vikram laughed, “Sorry, bad joke.”

“Okay, tell me more about this boutique.” Pallavi was intrigued, and despite everything that had happened this morning, her good mood was returning.

Chapter 16