Jhanak: The Story of Us

The meeting

Lassi Tech Solutions

"Gentlemen, please have a seat."

Aniruddh Bose offered them the chairs facing his desk before sitting on his. It was common courtesy - and he was particularly pleased because he knew why these two men in suits came here today.

Of course, he had to act like he didn't.

"Yes, sirs? What can I do for you today? My secretary told me that you waited quite a bit to see me." He took off his dark blue outer jacket as he talked, slowly revealing a rather nice baby blue printed shirt. It had been a gift from Arshi on her trip to Cancun two summers ago.

The younger of the two men cleared his throat and began talking. Ani thought his nervousness was cute. It reminded him of his bumbling self as a newbie in the corporate world...and of course, a particular someone who had such vivid expressions...

"Jhanak."

"Huh?" Thrown off and frankly a tad disturbed, Ani frowned from across the table at the man because of the name that tumbled out of his mouth. How on earth...

The recipient of his glare will quickly rectify his mistake.

"Uh, what I mean is that we are here for her..."

"Yes, yes." his partner chimed in to support, "We saw her at your office event and think she will make a good model for our jewelry line."

"Huh." he licked his lower lip, eyes flickering over their panicked looks before returning his gaze to the catalog on his desk, "Let me see."

Of course, he was Aniruddh Bose. And Aniruddh Bose doesn't say things twice.

They scrambled to hand over the small book and he carefully surveyed the cheap picture quality on the outside and turned the cover, unimpressed, only to quickly change his mind when he saw the products. Ani went on page after page, his face becoming more incredulous at the moment.

His guests smiled as if expecting his action and this time, they didn't flinch when he looked at them again. Their answers are ready.

"Sir, we know you are surprised. But our founder built our company focused on the lost value of inner beauty. We may look small unlike those fancy brands, but we produce carefully crafted and sustainable jewelry..."

"Why do you want Jhanak?" He cut them off, panicked. Now, he knew this was not just some bootleg brand looking for a cheap model. A company that can produce such goods that even his mother or Shristi Mukherjee could buy at a go was not to be messed with. A company that could do that while pretending to be a bootleg was dangerous.

Ani repeated the question when they didn't answer.

"Why do you want Jhanak?" But even when his hostility was so clear, he never let go of the brochure.

The two men looked at each other before the younger one replied. He didn't look like the scaredy-cat that was here just a few minutes ago.

"Mr. Bose," the title had changed, "Our founder saw Jhanak on an Instagram post from your event and flew us in to have her model. He liked what he saw and thought she would be an excellent face of our jewelry...and he is even ready to sign a multi-year contract not only for our jewelry but for our makeup, skincare, and lingerie line. He would have come himself...but PM Modi would have kept him here for weeks."

PM Modi? Multi-year contract? Multiple product lines? 

Aniruddh Bose gripped the catalog harder and asked the real question.

"Who are you? Who is your founder?"

"Pierre Jean. PJ International."

"What?!"

He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth before looking around to see that no one had heard him through the transparent walls of his office. Ani dropped his hands, muttering apologies.

"I am so sorry...I was so rude..."

"No, no. That's okay. Your behavior was perfectly normal. It was our bad for not telling you earlier."

"No, please don't apologize." he quickly stood up, "I think we should take this matter to the president's office, sirs."

The men shot him knowing looks. The older one spoke this time.

"Mr. Bose, do you think if he knows we are here, this deal will still go to Jhanak?"

A chill crept up Ani's spine and he gripped the catalog tighter. If the president, who was good friends with Shristi Mukherjee, found out that the richest fashion designer in the world came for Jhanak...

The man voiced Ani's thoughts. "It will go to Arshi..."

"No!" He didn't even know when he shouted. But he did and it didn't feel wrong. 

"No," he repeated, "We will keep this between us, sirs."

Ani sat back down and placed the catalog before him on the desk. "Please can you keep up the act and come over to my house to sign? Jhanak may not be able to sign here for personal reasons."

"Of course, we would be there. We plan to keep up the act until the pictures are published in every big magazine around the world. Pierre is keeping his launch in India under wraps until after that."

"Okay, thank you so much for this." he smiled, feeling at ease now, "This opportunity will be so great for Jhanak. It will help her life." And maybe, also suffice as a good apology for my gaffe about Dadubhai last night.

The men nodded and they shook hands before standing up.

"See you tomorrow." said the older one, "...and of course, we would see Jhanak too."

Ani nodded yes, but just as they turned to leave, he stopped them.

"Sirs?"

"Yes?" they echoed, confused. Did they miss anything? "Did we miss anything?" the younger one asked.

And Ani replied with a gentle smile on his face. He swore that he didn't mean any malice. He swore that it had not irritated him since they came in and said the first word.

"Please sirs, it's Ms. Jhanak...and she is married," he ground hard on every letter, eyes fixated on the younger one who looked like he saw stars in the sky every time he mentioned her name, "so let's be guided and keep off...any intentions."

He wanted to slap the guy when he promptly looked crestfallen. The cheeky bastard made him so mad. If he put half this effort into his work, he would have been his own boss now!

But he remembered Pierre and Jhanak's future....And then, he missed the way.

"Just to be sure, Pierre isn't single, right?" His frown could kill someone.

"No. He has a wife and two kids."

His frown vanished and the air smelt a bit rosier all of a sudden. Ani smiled and stretched his right hand. 

"That's good. Family men are always honest men and we welcome your partnership."

We really, really do.