Chapter 10
Raashi paced the floor of her office as she ran her hands through her hair again.
Why had she agreed to meet with him? She should have put her foot down and refused to have anything more to do with him.
But instead here she was, waiting for him, looking at her watch every few seconds.
He was late and this feeling of being on the edge was annoying her.
Her cell buzzed and she saw it was Sameer.
“You’re late,” she said.
“Oh! Am I?” Sameer looked at his watch. “Sorry! Five minutes only.”
“Where are you?”
“Come on down, I am waiting in the car for you.”
“For what?”
“For our meeting, remember?” Sameer replied.
“You’re wasting my time, Sameer, please don’t speak in riddles,” Raashi shot out.
“Have you had lunch?” he asked.
“No, but what has that got to do with anything?” Raashi countered, irritably shifting the papers on her desk.
“Come on, Raashi! Don’t lose your cool already. You’ll have ample opportunity to get angry with me at lunch.”
“Sameer, I agreed to have a meeting with you, not to have lunch,” Raashi stated, shifting her cell phone to her other ear.
“Come on! I’m hungry and you’ve not eaten too. Let’s have lunch some place and discuss the land issue. This way we solve two problems in one go.”
Raashi thought for a moment. It was typical of him to maneuver a situation to his convenience. She took a deep calming breath.
“I don’t appreciate being manipulated,” she breathed out.
“Point taken. Are you coming or not?”
She was exasperated with him but she needed to resolve this issue once and for all.
“I’ll be down in five,” she said and cut the call.
It was best to get this over with. She had to get Sameer off her back.
If the only way to do that was to have lunch with him then so be it.
This was her opportunity to convey to him her exact feelings regarding his offer on the land.
She was not going to be a coward about it. She’d face him head on.
Sameer waited for Raashi in his car. He had intentionally cajoled her into lunch.
He wanted to meet her on neutral ground.
Here in her office, on her own terrain, she would obviously have an upper hand and most likely she wouldn’t be willing to listen to anything he said.
He wanted to catch her off guard and this seemed to be the best way to do that.
He watched her descend the stairs and walk towards his car.
Her cream shift dress had flowing sleeves and ended at her knees.
It fitted her just perfectly. Damn those gorgeous legs!
They made his breath catch every single time.
She shifted her head to cross the road and her flowing hair swung with the movement. She looked simple yet elegant.
Raashi got into Sameer’s Mercedes and put on her seat belt all the while ignoring him. When she turned to look at him, she caught him staring. She narrowed her eyes but stayed quiet.
“Hello!” he said.
“I’m here. So what’s the next trick you have up your sleeve?” she asked.
Sameer angled his head to a side. She really did not trust him at all.
He grinned. “Nothing, I swear! It is only lunch. No more tricks!”
“Fine! Let’s get it over with then,” Raashi said rudely as Sameer pulled off.
Within moments he got a phone call and he plugged on his hand free. He was quickly engrossed in the call. Raashi was thankful she didn’t have to indulge in any routine talk with him. It would have been ridiculous. After all, she couldn’t possibly discuss weather patterns with him.
From whatever she could hear at her end, she realized he was talking to one of his managers in Europe.
He seemed to be in complete command, giving instructions carefully and listening keenly.
He was extremely capable and she knew that he had a high sense of responsibility towards his work.
She observed him while he spoke, his hands strong on the steering wheel.
His light blue shirt worn over black trousers was folded at his forearms and his black and blue striped, silk tie was loosened casually at his throat.
On his nose was perched a dark pair of sunglasses.
She was so lost in checking him out that she didn’t realize he had finished talking on his phone.
They were at a signal when Sameer turned and caught her watching him. He returned her stare and she could feel his gaze burning right through her. A horn sounded loudly and Raashi came back to reality with a jolt. Embarrassed, she turned to look outside the window.
Sameer too turned to find the signal green. He was blocking the traffic. Smoothly, he moved the car ahead and continued driving in silence.
Raashi had expected him to take her to some ritzy restaurant in one of his own hotels for lunch, but instead she was pleasantly surprised when he took her to a small seaside cafe?.
He led her to a corner table. She looked around at the intimately placed tables, the huge umbrellas shading each table and the sea rumbling in the distance.
“It’s certainly not what I expected,” she said looking intently at him. “I didn’t think you would ever come to a place like this.”
Sameer took off his sunglasses and placed them on the table in front of him.
“I am sure it’s not what you’re used to but...”
“And how would you know what I am used to or not,” Raashi interrupted him coldly. “You know nothing about me.”
Annoyed with her rude attitude, Sameer pinned her with a look that roved her face, stayed on her lips and then down to her chest and then back up to her lips. Finally, he looked into her eyes.
“I agree. There is a lot I don’t know about you. But then again there is a lot that only I will ever know of.”
The last bit, he added indelicately and recklessly. It was a cruel thing to say, considering he had been the first one to know her in the most intimate way possible. He was human after all and her constant anger and rudeness was aggravating him.
Raashi felt the color rise to her cheeks, as she understood the implication in his words. She got up to leave.
“I should never have agreed to come. You’re despicable!”
Sameer caught her wrist as she stood up and held tight when she tried to pull away. He shouldn’t have said that to her. It was uncalled for and he had to apologize.
“Look, Raashi. I’m sorry! Really, I shouldn’t have said that. Please can we call a truce right now, for this afternoon? We have to talk about the land. So please stay.”
Raashi looked at him without a word. He was right. They needed to discuss things in a calm and collected way. They wouldn’t get anywhere if they started a war of words.
She resumed her seat. “OK. A truce it is then.”
“Great! I hope you like the food here, it’s super.”
They ordered their food, vegetable pasta for Raashi and a club sandwich for Sameer. As he had predicted, the food was indeed delicious and Raashi dug into it with gusto.
“This is delicious. I’m really surprised, Sameer. You own some of the best restaurants in the finest hotels in the country and here you are at a sea side cafe? in a corner of Mumbai eating simple food like a regular person.”
Sameer shrugged. “It’s not a big deal for me. I like trying out new places. As long as the food is good and the place is hygienic, it works for me.”
At the end of the meal Sameer pushed his plate aside. “I always work better after a good meal. Shall we get back to business?”
“By all means,” Raashi replied, wiping her mouth with a paper napkin.
“Let’s lay all our cards on the table. You have my land...”
“Just to be clear, it’s mine now, so can we at least get the facts straight?”
He put his hands up in defense.
“Alright. I’ll start again. Since a long time I have been planning to extend The Marquis and build a spa resort in its new wing.
I want to make a magnificent city spa, a resort, right in the middle of Mumbai that would be an ideal place for unwinding and de-stressing.
Yoga, massages, whirlpools and all sorts of therapy programs, organic restaurants, even vegan food and the works will be on the offer.
I want to create an environment of indoor and outdoor treatment rooms. Lush greenery, tropical flowers, I want to make an oasis of leisure and luxury in the middle of this city.
I want to make The Marquis one of the most sought after hotels in this country. ”
Raashi heard him describe his dream project. He was painting a picture of the spa with words and she could clearly visualize it in her mind’s eye.
When he finished, she said, “That’s fantastic, Sameer. But I don’t understand what all this has got to do with me.”
“I wanted to use my grandmother’s heritage villa and the land around it to build this spa. It’s adjacent to The Marquis and I can easily extend a wing there. This is my dream project, Raashi and that’s why I want that land back.”
She sighed. He was passionate about this project. It was his dream, but she had one too.
She leaned forward and began to explain her side to him.
“Two months ago, I met Janak for lunch at The Marquis. While driving back together after our lunch, we crossed the villa. He stopped to show it to me. I never even knew he owned it. But as I wandered through it, I fell in love with it. I know it’s dilapidated and old but I could see it had so much potential. I could totally visualize it.”
Raashi smiled in the distance, remembering that day.