After she checked the stock in the store room, discussed the new addition in the menu with their pastry chef Mahua and Chief chef Priya, Nia first went to the area where tea was made and snacks were kept. Carrying a cup of milk tea and a blueberry pastry on a plate she then went over to the shelves on the wall of the dining hall and took out the copy of The Girl in the Letter by Emily Gunnis.
There was a soft, fine drizzle falling, like flour falling through a sieve. Nia wanted to sit at a table outside but with a book she could not. She chose a table by a window from where she could watch the beautiful river and the small wooden fishing boats, the fishermen casting nets, while taking small respites from reading. The river looked a little hazy in the light drizzle and a little melancholic.
She sipped milktea as she read, occasionally raised her eyes from the pages to watch the fishing boats. The rain changed its pace from time to time, from fine flour to big tear drops, then back again to flour.
Not far from her on her right there sat on a table four men who seemed in their early thirties. They talked and laughed while sipping tea and eating dessert. Nia felt their gazes on her but she ignored them. She never acknowledged people's attention. One among them was a familiar face. Though she was surprised to see him here at her cafe, she feigned that she did not notice him. She did not recognize his companions.
A little farther to her left, on a table sat four women with heavy makeup and in expensive dresses. They all were either in their late twenties or early thirties. They were talking rather loudly and were eying the four men. Except the man she knew, the other three were not so adverse to the attention those women gave them. Only this familiar one did not even spare them a glance. Today he was again in a blue shirt. Though it was another shade of blue. This time it was midnight blue.
Blue was her favourite colour. It looked like it was his favourite too. She was not pleased. Nia was aware of everything going on around her. Her observant eye took in every detail, though the other parties did not catch her looking at them even for once. But the man in blue knew that she was purposefully ignoring him. He also knew that she always appeared cold, showing no interest to people around her.
The women on her left would not have noticed a woman like her who wore a simple cotton dress and had no makeup on her. She was wearing a light pink maxi dress with little blue flowers on it. Her long wavy hair was in a messy pigtail. The women were forced to take her into notice because she was sitting between theirs and the men's table and the most handsome among them had his eyes glued on this simple woman. They wanted Nia out of their way of view.
It was a beautiful romantic rainy afternoon for an unromantic Nia. She loved such a weather as it always had a soothing effect on her. Her soul would smile at the happiness of the trees, of the hot, parched earth absorbing eagerly the rain. Today she should have been at home with her mom and grandma. But this week she went home on Friday afternoon after her classes were over and returned yesterday evening as she had some urgent work this morning in the city.
'Does he always come here on Sunday? I'm never here on Sundays. So I won't know.' Nia wondered. Then she remembered what Zubeen had reported to her. She had received the report three days ago and did not yet decide the way to solve the problem. 'Has the bastard come to ogle this piece of land, that is ours? I'll take out his hateful eyes.' In her anger she forgot that she had regarded those pair of eyes beautiful.
Poor Yougal Lucas was unaware of the malevolent plan in the mind of the woman he loved so deeply. He had a happy yet melancholic look in those hazel orbs. He was happy to see her, to be in the same room as her but she hated him so much that she would not spare him even a single glance. Suddenly she turned her gaze towards him. His heart almost leapt out of him in excitement. Yougal Lucas smiled sweetly at her.
The next moment his heart felt it was thrown into blazing fire. Her beautiful brown eyes were not cold lakes this time. They were now wildfire raging fiercely, ready to leap out and devour him. 'Why, oh why? A moment ago she was good with ignoring me. Now this sudden anger! What have I done to displease her more?' Yougal Lucas felt he was a mirror shattered into pieces.
Nia wanted to throw him out of the cafe. She could not do that. It would damage the reputation of the cafe. She returned her gaze to the river outside and closed the book. In Zubeen's report Yougal Lucas Sinha was one of the businessmen who were interested in the land where the cafe and the training center stood. Actually he offered the highest amount to the real estate agents to strike a deal with the owner and get the land.
The sudden shrieks of female voices stopped the soft humming sounds of the room. Nia came out of her brooding shell to look at the source. It turned out to be the four femme fatales, who were greeting their newly arrived friend. A more beautiful and stylish woman was walking to their table who seemed to be on a mission to fill the air in the cafe with the fragrance of Givency Very Irresistible.