by Nikita Singh
Maahi and Laila looked at each other when he stopped talking.
‘You don’t have to decide immediately. Get back to us when you’re ready,’ Mr Jindal said.
‘You can get in touch with me. If this works out, I’ll be your point of contact,’ Harshita said. ‘You can direct all questions and concerns to me too. I’d be happy to answer them.’
‘Thank you,’ Laila said. ‘I think Maahi and I will need a couple of days to think this through, if that’s okay with you?’
‘Sure. Take your time,’ Harshita said.
They thanked everyone for their time and interest, collected their presentation materials and left. As they walked out of the building, Maahi turned to Laila and asked slowly, ‘So … how important is the sit-down space to you?’
‘Honestly?’ Laila said, meeting her eyes. ‘I don’t give a fuck. Like, seriously, I just care about our cookies and cupcakes and people eating them. I don’t care about it looking like a sit- down restaurant. A counter service model serves the purpose perfectly.’
‘Right,’ Maahi said, excitedly. ‘I don’t care about it either. Also, I’m cool with Shahpurjat.’
‘Same. I love that locality—so many young artists and gorgeous boutiques. It’s definitely becoming the new place to be.’
‘I can see Cookies + Cupcakes working there.’
‘For sure,’ Laila was quick to agree. ‘Which leaves moving up website and home delivery on our list of priorities. Fine by me.’
‘Same. But they want me to stay in college,’ Maahi groaned.
‘Big deal. They do have a good point there. You keep seeing the course as a distraction instead of learning.’
‘Because all I want to do is bake.’
‘And to be able to do that, you have to make this compromise.’
Maahi sighed. ‘I guess.’
‘Added advantage: it’ll keep your parents happy.’
‘True. Do you think it’ll look bad if we turned back around and told them we’re in, right now? Why did we ask for time anyway?’ Maahi stopped walking.
‘I didn’t know how you felt about their conditions and we couldn’t possibly discuss in front of them!’
‘Then let’s go back.’
‘Are you serious? Won’t that look unprofessional?’ Laila looked at Maahi.
Maahi’s eyes were wide with excitement. She smiled and shrugged. ‘We’re kind of … enthusiastic. So what? They’re going to find that out sooner or later.’
‘Better sooner! No fucks given.’
‘Exactly! Laila, oh my God, this is finally happening. I can’t believe this is finally happening for us. This is like a dream. Is this for real? For real, for real?’
‘For real, for real,’ Laila repeated, clearly thrilled too. Her dark eyes were shining with happiness. Maahi also detected a tinge of tears.
Maahi jumped on her and pulled her in a hug, tightening her arms around her. ‘This is so so so exciting. I told you it was going to happen. Oh, Laila, I’m so happy.’ Maahi pulled back and looked at her. ‘I can’t tell you how glad I am for that day I walked into Cozy Coffee and saw the help wanted sign. You have no idea how grateful I am to have met you. You literally changed my life.’
Laila grinned. ‘No, I didn’t. You did. You’re here because of everything you have done since that day you saw the wanted sign at Cozy Coffee.’
‘Fine, say whatever you want. I know it was you who made all the difference to me. And I love you, and I can’t imagine my life without you, and I would’ve married you if I hadn’t already said yes to Siddhant.’
‘Umm, that’s quite alright, love. I’m not into you like that.’
‘We’re spending our lives with each other regardless, so deal with it.’ Maahi laughed and cried a little, hugging Laila again, almost suffocating her.
‘Dammit.’
Maahi could barely wait to tell her parents, but she somehow managed to make it home without bursting out of happiness. She didn’t want to do it over the phone. She’d gone to AIIMS first, met Siddhant for a second and shared the good news in person. He told her he was proud of her, and that made Maahi feel proud of herself.
Warm and giddy in exhilaration, Maahi climbed up the stairs. Someone had left an open polythene with fruit peels in the corner, which made the whole staircase smell like bananas. That would’ve annoyed Maahi generally, but she just giggled. It took her a few attempts to insert the key in the lock; her fingers were unsteady with excitement.
‘Yo. You drunk or something?’ Sarthak asked, appearing on the other side of the metal mesh door screen. He opened it for her.
‘Kind of.’ Maahi giggled, walking in. ‘Well, no, not drunk. But I’m definitely in high spirits. We got funding, Sarthak. We did it. We got funding.’
‘WHOA. That’s AWESOME!’ Sarthak turned around immediately and called out, ‘Ma, Papa—MAAHI GOT FUNDING!’
‘Thanks. I wanted you to be the one to tell them. Exactly how I imagined it.’ Maahi glared at him, but followed him inside anyway. Ma was in the kitchen, making dinner, Papa was sitting at the dining table.
‘Oops, sorry,’ Sarthak said sheepishly.
‘What did you say?’ Papa asked when he saw them.
‘They got funding!’ Sarthak said again.
‘Dude. You’ve got to stop doing that! But, yes, Papa—we got funding! We had a second meeting with an investor and they were really impressed with us,’ Maahi said, hopping on her feet, her face lit with joy. She looked from her dad to mom.
‘What did they think of the business plan?’ Papa asked. His moustache rose slightly on one end, suggesting a lopsided smile. That told her that he was happy, probably even proud, but he was never overtly expressive so that was the best she was going to get. She would take that. He wasn’t comfortable with expressing emotions, so he chose to engage her in technicalities, showing interest in the business, which was motivating for Maahi. It made her feel like a grown-up.
‘We’ve made a couple of changes to the business plan—we didn’t have to but they recommended it, and it made total sense, so we agreed. They have agreed to provide us the initial capital and seed fund. We might look into another round of funding after that, if needed,’ Maahi explained.
‘What is their investment against? Ownership percentage?’
‘We’re furnishing the details right now. But yes, they want share in the company. Laila and I will have the higher percentage, but Mr Jindal is also looking for a certain percentage of shares.’
‘What is the next step from here?’ Papa asked. His eyes weren’t in their usual state of silent amusement. Maahi could see that he was enthused too, but not in an obvious way like Maahi and Sarthak.
‘We’re in touch with an accountant, who will review our business plan, dig up more hidden expenses, I’m sure. Once we have the final numbers, we’re ready to go. Mr Jindal is really keen on the website, so we’ll find a developer and get started on that immediately. I’m taking care of the design and pricing and menu, etc. Laila is going to look for a place and pick out appliances and equipment. We need to get a permit, hire a couple of employees, start digital and social media marketing … Oh, there’s so much work to be done!’ Maahi felt nervous just thinking about it.
‘You’ll be fine. You’ve spent time on this plan; I’m sure you know what you’re doing by now,’ Papa said.
Maahi grinned wide. ‘Thank you, Papa. This means so much to me. Thank you for letting me do this.’
‘Must feel like a dream turning into reality, eh?’ Sarthak said, picking up a sliced cucumber from the salad bowl on the dining table.
‘Yep. I’m still quite dazed.’
‘Understandable,’ Sarthak said, looking around. ‘Where’s Ma, though? I’m hungry.’
Just then they heard their mom talk animatedly on the phone ‘… yes, yes. Thank you. It’s all God’s grace. We were worried too, but they worked very hard…’
‘Bragging to the neighbours,’ Papa said, smiling.
&nbs
p; ‘I’ll finish making dinner. What was she cooking?’ Maahi said, going to the kitchen. She checked the pots on the stove. ‘Aloo methi ki sabzi and moong ki daal. The daal is done, sabzi needs a few more minutes. Sarthak, can you set the table? I’ll get started on the rotis.’
When Ma was done calling and telling all the women in the neighbourhood the news, she came back and hugged Maahi. She had tears in her eyes. They sat down and had dinner together, both sniffing their way through it. Maahi looked around the dinner table and felt overjoyed. Getting her parents to believe in her again was a huge load off her shoulders.
Sarthak concentrated mostly on the food. Maahi felt sad when she thought about him leaving for Mumbai in a few weeks. She wondered how many such dinners they would have as a family after that. Would he come back after graduating or move to some other city? If she ever found the courage to tell her parents about Siddhant, they might get married and she would move out. She wanted to hold off on that. She liked when her parents didn’t think of her as a disappointment and wanted to bask in that for as long as she could.
Her phone rang right when she got into bed. Siddhant was going to be at the hospital till late, and she hadn’t been expecting him to call. Laila, who had exhausted herself with all the excitement and anxiety, had gone to sleep early; and Maahi was home, so it couldn’t be her parents or Sarthak. These were literally the only people who ever called her.
Maahi pushed away the comforter reluctantly and got up. Her phone was plugged in to charge at her desk. It was an unknown number. An unknown number she knew.
She turned her phone on silent and went back to bed. She was about to get under the covers when she paused. She asked herself why, after all these years, she was still so vehemently unwilling to talk to Kishan. Every time she thought of him, she thought about how far back in the past it was, how unaffected she was by his existence. Then what was she afraid of?
She texted Rohit.
Maahi: You home?
Rohit: Just reached. Sup?
Maahi: Want to take a walk?
Rohit: Cool. I’ll meet you outside in 10
Maahi put on jeans and replaced her worn-out T-shirt for one without holes and climbed down the stairs. She saw Rohit’s tall frame making its way towards her five minutes later. He bent down and gave her a hug.
‘Goddammit, why the hell do you look and smell like that in the middle of the night,’ Maahi exclaimed.
‘You’re in a good mood.’
‘I’m just saying—you’re just walking in Vaishali Sector 4 with me. This is no runway.’
‘My hotness is a curse. What can I do?’ Rohit flashed her a perfect smile, displaying his perfect teeth.
‘Shut up and listen to me.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
Under sodium street lamps throwing a dirty yellow light on them, they walked on the deserted roads lined with parked cars serving as roofs for stray dogs. ‘So, Kishan’s been calling me.’
‘What the fuck does he want?’
‘I have no idea. I haven’t taken any of his calls, and I’m trying to figure out why.’
‘Isn’t that clear? Because he’s your ex. Past.’ Rohit looked annoyed, even slightly disgusted. He hated Kishan for what the breakup had done to Maahi.
She was touched. ‘I’m going to call him back,’ she said.
‘What the fuck!’
‘Stop cursing! I had been afraid to talk to him because I didn’t want him to see what a failure I was. I’ve changed a lot and I’m working really hard for something I really wanted to do, but it wasn’t concrete. There was nothing to certify any of this. If I talked to him and he asked about what I was doing, I would have to tell him that I dropped out of college, ran back home, worked at a stupid app developing company and then a coffee shop, joined a college I want to drop out of, a second time, was trying to open a bakery, but nothing had happened. But now it has. There’s evidence now.’
‘So now that you have funding, you just want to show off,’ Rohit said, looking down at her.
‘I wouldn’t put it like that, but yes.’
‘How would you put it?’
‘Umm … well, there exists a constant need to win the breakup, to one-up the ex, and you may argue that it’s childish, but can’t challenge its existence,’ Maahi said wisely, proud of herself.
‘One, that’s ridiculous. And two, do you think you’ve won the breakup? Do you even know what he’s doing?’
‘I’m not saying I’ve won it. But I’m definitely not afraid of talking to him anymore. I don’t know what Kishan is doing, but I’m not doing too bad.’
Rohit thought for a moment. ‘If we have to stick with your stupid theory, yeah, I see it. You’re by no means losing the breakup.’
‘Yep. So can I call him?’
Rohit shrugged. ‘Your mind seems made. Thank you for inviting me to watch though. Thoughtful.’
‘You’re welcome.’ She pulled out her phone. They turned a corner and Maahi stopped under the street lamp. There were two new missed calls from Kishan.
Maahi called the number, looking up at Rohit, who rolled his eyes.
Kishan picked up the call after the second ring. ‘Maahi?’
‘Hi.’
‘Hi. How are you?’
‘I’m good. How are you?’ Maahi asked. Her heart suddenly beat faster and her fingers shook. She didn’t really understand why.
‘I’m fine,’ Kishan said, then paused. ‘I moved back to Delhi recently. Just wanted to touch base and see how you were doing.’
‘I heard. And yeah, I’m doing well.’
‘Great. That’s great. I heard you dropped out of college?’
‘Yep,’ Maahi said shortly. She was surprised to find that she didn’t feel the need to defend herself in front of him. Her success would speak for itself.
Kishan waited for a moment, then said, ‘I quit Accenture too. It got too stressful for me. I mean, it was stressful to begin with, as you know. But then it got worse. I also wanted to come back to Delhi, so I started looking for something else. I’m with Bank of America now, in Gurgaon.’
‘Oh, nice. Good for you.’
‘Yeah, I’m liking it. It’s great to be home and around people I’ve known all my life. How is everything with you—how’s your family?’
‘Everyone’s good. Sarthak got into IIT Bombay. He starts soon,’ Maahi said proudly. She knew she didn’t have the skillset it took to crack JEE, but her brother doing it was as good as she herself doing it. It gave her bragging rights.
‘Oh, that’s great!’ Kishan said.
They both became quiet.
‘What?’ Rohit mouthed.
Maahi shrugged. She tried to figure out why he had called her, what he wanted from her, but came up with nothing. A part of her needed an apology from him, for what he had done years ago. She knew it was irrational, but it infuriated her that he hadn’t said a simple sorry in all these years.
‘What’s he saying?’ Rohit whispered.
Maahi placed her hand over the speaker and said, ‘Awkward silence.’
Kishan spoke just then. ‘So, listen. Let’s catch up properly?’
‘Umm…’
‘Would you like to meet for coffee sometime?’
Maahi took a minute, looked away from Rohit, and then said, ‘Sure. Why not?’
Part Five
17
‘But why?’ Laila asked. Maahi was sitting with her in her study. They were looking over their options of website developers they were considering. She pointed to the screen and said, ‘Ooh, I like their work. Did you see the health and beauty website they created? That was cute.’
‘A bit too white and pink, but we can brief them. Which reminds me, I’m working on the brief right now. Could you check out a few websites and let me know if you have any ideas, something specific you’d like to have on our site? Email me your notes,’ Maahi said. She opened a few other tabs. ‘I like this guy too. He’s only done a couple of sites, but he’s talented. Ca
n we trust that he’d be able to handle our project though?’
‘If he has talent, why not? We could give him a chance. We’re only just starting out too, but someone believed in us.’
‘True. Okay, I’m putting him on our list. Let’s look for one or two more and we can start talking to them and see what works out.’
‘Cool,’ Laila said, opening more links from the list Maahi had researched and put together. ‘You didn’t answer my question—why did you say yes to meeting him?’
Maahi sighed. ‘Let’s just let this go, please? It’s not like we made any solid plans. I didn’t want to say no, because then he would’ve thought I’m not over him, or I would’ve had to make an excuse and all that’s just too messy.’
‘Also, you wanted to see him.’
‘No!’
‘Fool yourself, don’t try to fool me.’ Laila glared at Maahi.
‘Fine. I do, a little bit. But it’s only because I want to get it out of the way. He’s back here, so it’s inevitable that we’ll bump into each other, somewhere, sometime, so—’
‘Not true. You have zero mutual friends.’
Maahi resumed, ignoring Laila’s interruption, ‘—why not just do it and move on? That way, it’ll be less awkward when we bump into each other.’
‘You mean if. The chances are very slim. Also, you just want to see him because you want to see him—you’re curious. Hey, I’m not judging you. It’s normal and completely fine. But stop making excuses,’ Laila said. She pointed at the screen. ‘This one’s not bad.’
‘I like it too. And I guess I do want to see him…’ Maahi admitted slowly. ‘Is that bad? Does that make me a bad person? What with things going so well with Siddhant and all.’
‘Oh, relax. You’re probably just going to meet for coffee or something. That’s hardly cheating.’
‘It’s because I haven’t seen him since the night we broke up, and we haven’t talked about the breakup—not that I want to—but, I don’t know. I don’t know why I want to see him. I just do.’
‘That’s alright. These things are twisted and complicated and we can’t really rationalize them. There’s no simple explanation. Don’t overthink it,’ Laila said. ‘Maybe you just want him to see how awesome you are.’