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I’m feeling utterly at peace as I navigate my way into the Mumbai traffic that is all too common and recognizable now.
My excitement builds with each minute as we near the store. Aaliya’s lilting voice as she chats with Rian and keeps him entertained fills the silence in the car.
A mere half an hour later, we reach our destination.
“Here we are.” I halt the car in the porch in front of the store and climb out.
I lower my sunglasses and peer at the wood and glass façade of our store, Aaliya Singh Designs—ASD. The letters ASD are written in big bold shiny black and placed in a tiny little grassy knoll right in front of the store.
I laugh—I can’t help it. After having no memory of my time here to suddenly recall everything in startling clarity feels liberating.
Aaliya steps out with Rian in her arms and I go to her and put an arm around her shoulders.
“This is wonderful, really!” I exclaim. “I mean, I’m seeing it from a fresh perspective now and I’m so proud of what we’ve built here.”
Mike and Leo too get off the other car and stand at a distance taking everything in.
From behind us, there is a loud screech of tires and a black Maserati comes zipping inside and stops right behind us.
I squint to see who is stepping out of the car and my lips quirk as I recognize my friend, Rishi Sehgal.
He gives me a naughty salute as he spots Aaliya and me standing with Rian.
God! I had a great life here, which was filled with family and friends and had been utterly fulfilling. And now as I see one of my dearest friends here, walking towards me, I realize how much I had forgotten and would have missed out on, had Aaliya not made it her mission to make me remember.
“Hey, man!” Rishi bumps fists with me as soon as he stands in front of me. “Or should I say Your Grace?”
My face scrunches. “Wait, how do you know that...”
“That you’re a lofty Duke, too high up in the ranks for the rest of us mortals?” Rishi finishes. “I eventually find out everything, you know.” He glances at Mike and Leo, who are standing at attention behind Aaliya and me. “Hmm, security guards, nice.”
Rishi is too observant for his own good and doesn’t missing anything. He wraps an arm around Aaliya’s shoulders and tweaks my son’s nose. “Hey, Aaliya, good to see you.”
She gives him a warm smile.
“So, you guys owe me an explanation,” he insists, raising his chin and looking straight at me.
“Come on, let’s all go inside and talk more,” Aaliya suggests, leading the way inside to the room we use as office space here at ASD.
The staff greets me as we enter the store and I smile as I recognize them all now. I catch some of the female staff twittering and giggling as we move along and chuckle when I note that all their attention and concentration is fixed on Rishi.
“Ladies!” he greets them all with a quick tilt of his chin and a naughty smile, adding to the flurry of giggles.
I raise a brow at him and he shrugs, totally at ease with all the attention he garners wherever he goes.
With that mischievous glint in his eyes, those high cheekbones and that dimple in his right cheek, there is no doubt as to why he is called the heart-wrecker amongst our circle of friends. God! I am so ecstatic that I now remember them all.
Aaliya parks Rian on a mat in the corner of our office here, which was specially put there for him. He picks his toys from a small shelf on the wall and begins to play with them.
Leo and Mike choose to wait outside in the store as Mike insists on checking the security of the place, paranoid as ever. But I accept and let him do as he wishes because I understand his concerns.
Once we are all seated on the couches in the room and sipping coffee, Aaliya explains whatever has happened so far with me filling in the spaces in between. We tell Rishi everything and he listens bewildered.
“Wow! I’m just so glad you both are here and okay now,” he remarks in the end.
“And safe, so far,” I add.
“Yeah, that too,” he agrees. He sips his coffee before continuing, “You see, Damien, you both disappeared without a word and were unavailable for months. I wondered what was wrong and I was worried too. And then during my last trip to London, I spotted a news article with a picture, of you two entering a fancy restaurant, with the title ‘The Devil Duke has a new girlfriend.’ Imagine my surprise to learn that not only were you an aristocrat, but that you’d also lost your memory. And I had to find out via social media! Imagine that! So I began to dig and Wikipedia has been very helpful.”
I look heavenwards before shaking my head. “I’m sure it has.”
He twitches his eyebrows. “Well, it’s not like I could call you two and ask, is it? Neither of your Indian numbers were working. I tried and many of the others did too.”
“Well, sorry about that,” Aaliya grimaces. “But it’s been a rather tough time, actually.”
I squeeze her hand as she leans back against couch.
“But the good news is,” I assert, “that I remember most of the past now. There are some gaps, but it’s a huge relief to get most of my memories back.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear that,” Rishi accepts, before asking, “What do you plan to tell the others? Everyone has been asking about you and so far, I’ve just told them you both had an important project in London.”
He’s referring to our common friends here in Mumbai.
Aaliya and I exchange a glance; we both know what’s at stake and though we can absolutely trust our friends to remain quiet, it’s better that fewer people know my truth right now. Hence, I answer, “Then let’s just stick to that for the time being.”
He nods before facing Aaliya. He angles his head and grins at her. “So, everything went well with the room you requested last night? Had fun, you two?”
She blushes and I clear my throat. Rishi is as incorrigible as ever.
Of course, it was because of him that Mike had access to the security of the hotel last night, as Rishi’s family owns that property. Rishi belongs to one of the biggest business families in India. We’d met during the initial months I’d landed here in Mumbai. I’d attended a business conference where he was a speaker. We got talking post the conference and became friends soon. In fact, his elder brother and cousin too are friends along with several others from his circle. In the past, Aaliya and I often met up with them at parties and dinners.
And before Rishi can ask anything else that would embarrass Aaliya more, I divert him.
“So, you’re looking for new furniture?” I query.
“Actually, I’m moving homes.”
“You’re moving out of the family house?!” Aaliya exclaims. “Why?”
“You know my brother Sameer’s wife delivered twins about six months ago, right?”
“Of course,” Aaliya smiles. “We met Raashi and her baby boy and girl, before everything went crazy and Damien had to leave. How are they?”
“They’re delightful and adorable!” Rishi beams. “But they are a handful, which means plenty of sleepless nights for all of us. Though, we all give them a hand whenever they need it.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, that’s not the point. The thing is, Raashi and Sameer will need more space soon for their kids and my two twin sisters have returned to India after finishing their studies in London. The family house is thus a mad house right now. So, I bought an apartment nearby to the family home.” He sighs. “My mom’s livid with me because I’m insisting on moving out, but I need the space, not to mention the peace. So, I need you both to make my apartment into a perfect home for me and I don’t have a lot of time—I want to move in there around Diwali.”
“Diwali is in two weeks!” Aaliya gasps. “You want us to complete your house in a mere two weeks? Are you serious?”
“Yes, Aaliya. Just work your magic, you two, please,” he requests. “Besides the kitchen is already fitted. I just need furniture, accessories, rugs, lights, curtains and whatever else you think. And I’ll take all the ready stuff you have at the store. But I need to move in there soon, before my mother changes her mind and creates havoc at my moving out.”
“How...” Aaliya starts to argue, but I cut her off.
“Aaliya, if anyone can achieve the impossible, then it is you,” I tell her.
Facing Rishi, I say. “We’ll do it. But you will have to remove time to work with Aaliya to decide what suits you from the store. And whatever else you need, she will help acquire. Agreed?”
He puts his hand out. “Done! And two weeks later we will celebrate Diwali with champagne in my new home. Oh, and incidentally I offered to host this year’s gathering.”
Aaliya folds her arms on her chest and levels him with a dirty look.
“Very presumptuous of you,” she chides.
“Oh, you know me!” Rishi grins. “I get my way, every time. So, Diwali at my place this year, yeah?”
“Done,” I agree, smiling. I recollect now how every Diwali we spent one evening together with all our friends. In fact, last year Aaliya and I had hosted everyone at our home. It feels so good to have my memories of my time here in India back and I look forward to meeting all my friends now.
Aaliya makes a face. “Well, if you two have already decided this, then come on, Rishi. Let’s start short-listing stuff while you give me details of the rooms, etc. We will also need to visit your house and take measurements soon.”
Leaving Rian with Leo, I follow Aaliya as she gives Rishi a tour of the store.
She leads him through beautifully placed living room furniture settings with a variety of chandeliers atop and exquisite art-work on the walls and consoles—a lot of it from Indian artisans and artists. We all discuss various themes, colors and options. And being her professional self, Aaliya takes down notes in her diary. It takes us a few hours and from there we move on to settings for dining rooms and bedrooms, each setting elegant and so very tasteful. The entire store is a reflection of Aaliya and my individual and combined tastes and styles.
We return to the main section of the living room settings and Rishi pauses. “All this is very impressive, Aaliya. I must say that it’s even more fabulous now than what I had seen during the store launch. You’ve created a shopping paradise here.”
She smiles at me. “We both built this space together. We traveled to Italy, Portugal and even Turkey to source out the best furniture. This shop was a dream come true for me.”
I remember quite clearly when Aaliya had suggested the idea of the store. It was a year or so into our marriage and she’d spoken of it so ardently, of course, I had to give her what she wanted. And though she gives me credit for this, in reality, this store is all hers. Her dream and hard work.
“I love it,” Rishi says. He spins slowly in place and awe reflects in his eyes. “I can imagine my house will be fantastic once you both are done with it. Let’s go see it tomorrow if you guys have the time. Once we are there, you can let me know exactly what we shortlisted will look good where.”
Rishi leaves soon after we fix a time to meet him tomorrow. Once we wave him off, we return inside to collect Rian.
“Aaliya,” I begin. “I think you ought to bring ASD to London.”
“What?” She halts beside me, surprise etched on her face.
“Yeah, it just dawned on me that you love this part of design, the acquisitions part I mean. So why not create such a space back home in London?”
Her face falls and I immediately realize what I’ve said.
I lift her chin up.
“Aaliya, this here is also home for me. It doesn’t feel different from what it did a few months ago before I forgot everything. But you have to realize that London will be our home for most of the year. I have responsibilities there and I can’t avoid those forever, you know that. We even discussed this that day before you got shot.”
She pushes a strand of hair from her face. “I know, Damien, and I told you even then that wherever you are is home for me. But being here, this all feels right too.” She sighs. “It will take me time to come to terms with the fact that you belong there and not here.”
“We, Aaliya, you, me and Rian—we belong there.”
When she nods, I return to my question, “So, do you think you’d be happy opening ASD in London?”
“I guess, once all this suspense in our life is over, I’d like to do that,” Aaliya finally says.
I give her a smile and clasp her hand in mine as we return inside the store.
