Chapter 07 - The Road Less Taken
Arnav cleared his throat audibly, making Khushi look up from her book. She lowered her sunglasses almost in slow motion and moved her handbag from the vacant wicker chair in front of her. Arnav nodded and sat down, taking his sunglasses off. This was their first… non-work kind of meeting. And somehow looking at Khushi dressed in a summer dress with a handful of beads around her wrist and flip flops made her a bit… unrecognizable. He was perhaps too used tot he Sridevi vibes she gave around in the workplace with her saris and an occasional pantsuit. After careful consideration last week, he had decided thatKhushi’s dressing was fascinating and intimidating in equal parts as it reminded him of his adolescent 90’s actresses. After all, every guy of his age would testify to the charms of saris and rains. But he was also extremely uncomfortable about how much attention he paid to her clothes. And her perfumes. And her earrings. And the way she crinkled her nose or her animated hand gesturing. God, this was a one-way slide.
She handed him the menu with a half-smile and closed her book.
“So how much of your weekend did you have to move around for this meeting?” she asked, reaching back to tie her long locks into a bun.
“Just an early morning tennis match, nothing overly important.What about you?” Arnav lied and smiled. He had planned to sleep in for most of the afternoon and put his phone on do not disturb. But Khushi didn’t need to know that.
“Oh wow. I can hardly make it out of bed on Saturdays. Need to catch up on sleep and sometimes yoga.” She replied, instantly making him feel like a pretentious idiot. He ordered a flat white instead of the fancy coffee he had initially thought of to avoid further embarrassment.
Rishabh arrived as if on cue and settled down after initial greetings. He opened his bag and handed out copies of what seemed like a fundraising proposal to both Khushi and Arnav.
“I’ll get straight to the point – I’m planning to quit and start a fund of my own with a couple of friends. And I’d like you guys to be my first employees. We’ve been going around forming a thesis around the fund for about three months now and I’m ready to put down my papers. For you Khushi, I wanted this to come from me before you heard it in the market, though I am sure Arnavhere might have already heard some whispers.”
Arnav nodded with a smile as he flipped through the pages lazily. The document was a nice neat piece of work, which was expected from Rishabh. He was a smart guy with a pretty enviable network and an uncanny acumen for the job, He had often wondered why he hadn’t moved to a bigger place, but now it made sense. The underemployment probably gave him time to conceive the idea and float it around.
“So in what capacity would you want me – us – to start off as?” Khushi was still absorbing the news as she went through the profiles of the other partners. Arnav waited for her to make the first move.
“Junior Partners, one step above your current title. We’ll be based out of here, in Mumbai and expect to get the fund incorporated in about two weeks and get the first round of soft commitments within 6 months. If you decided to come in early, within this stage, I’ll give you a higher portion of the bonus pool for fundraising.” Rishabh explained.
“And why me.. and us in particular?” Arnav finally spoke up.
“You guys make a pretty complementary set as a team. You both have worked for rival funds of different sizes, which helps us to get through the growth phase into the maturity pretty well. Khushi is a tech sector expert and you have considerable experience in healthcare and consumer businesses, something that I’m very bullish on. Finally, I saw how well you work as negotiators together – you balance each other out and don’t let the offer become too aggressive or lopsided. I think that’s something as a new fund we can make very good use of. Also, Khushi is interested in making the move to Hong Kong in the near future and we expect China to be a very important part of our strategy. Once the fundraising is complete, I plan for her to set up a team there whileArnav will manage the operations from Mumbai”
Arnav glanced at Khushi who had pursed her lips. Her expression was unreadable.
“Hong Kong?” he finally blurted, looking at her
“My boyfriend… fiancé… is based out of there.” She replied. “Well, that’s all very flattering Rishab, thanks!” she beamed a little now. “ But I’ll need to sleep over this.” She looked at Arnav who nodded in agreement. Of course, she had a boyfriend, a voice muttered in the back of his head. Why did this even matter right now?
“That’s absolutely fine. Take your time and give me a yes or not interested in a week? I can then introduce you guys to my partners and we will run a formal process?”
He got up to leave and straightened his jacket. Arnav stared at Khushi blankly and was rewarded with a scowl.
“What Raizada? I’m not dying to see your face every day either if that’s what you’re thinking. But the offer looks good.”
“Of course Khushi, I know I’m hard to keep up with.” He retorted and put his sunglasses back on. He felt a weird elation inside him as he watched her pack her book and phone into the bag. Maybe his general sense of stagnation was about to end.
Anupamaa
317