Darpan froze. Aryan and Ashmit too whipped their heads around, looking for the source of the sound. To their surprise a small old lady stood there ; outside the door with a small bag in her hands. Possibly the owner they presumed.
" Oh! Madam. Forgive us. We didn't mean to wander in here. We were only really looking for-" Aryan began.
" Oh no! No no. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that! "
The lady smiled awkwardly and gestured the boys to follow her outside.
As soon as they walked out into the main hall, the lady kept the bag down and bowed.
" Ha! I'm sorry. It's all my fault. This new illness of mine has been causing crazy problems to me. I didn't expect that there'd be such a mistake at work too."
" No madam. Please don't bow to us. It was partly our fault too. We shouldn't have entered here without permission. We're really sorry. " Darpan bowed with his hands clasped. This whole thing was a bad idea from the start. Now what will the little old lady think of them?
" Ah no. Honey, i apologise for any misunderstandings. I did not mean to scare you. It was my nap time as usual but I guess I may have forgotten to close the door today. And as soon as I wake up, I find two rats scurrying around my bed. You know I cannot let that slide now . I was simply busy catching these little troublmakers."
The lady explained while holding up the bag she bought earlier. There were two rats limp in the bag. Possibly drugged , Darpan assumed.
" So we weren't the rats that got in?"
Ashmit asked,much surprised. Darpan nudged him lightly by the elbow. Although he couldn't lie, he too thought the word was used to refer to them. ' How embarrassing! ' he mused to himself. His eyes were fixed at the little lady's appearance. Now that he looked at her closely, he could definitely tell this was the owner of the shop. There was no mistake about it.
A long red gown that fell to her ankles, golden fish symbols scattered around the entire red fabric. A thin black cotton vest that kept the dress together. Not to mention her salt and pepper hair that was tied back in an unruly bun. Her gold jewelry too, was quite hard to miss- gold bangles on both wrists, a thin black and gold chain that hung around her neck,dainty and elegant; the emarald,Ruby and sapphire rings that were probably too big for wear. When she proceeded to sit down at her desk and put on her glasses, Darpan could have sworn she couldn't have looked anymore like a rich pawn shopowner.
" Sorry about earlier, you were saying something?" She asked, looking up at the three men through her spectacles.
" We're really sorry about coming here without permission, we aren't that kind of people,i swear! It's just-the door suddenly slammed shut and....and we were stuck inside."
Aryan tried explaining as soon as they were told to have a seat.
" Yeah!! The door! Come to think of it, why does the door not have any openings or letaways? Like peepholes, keyholes etc?
Isn't that the whole reason why we ended up here? " Ashmit chimes in, his attempt on justifying the trespassing.
" Ah! It was the door, was it? Now I remember; the reason I did not close the door today. You see, some folks from the City Hall had come here a few times, offering to tidy up this place a little. I said let them do whatever and they just started polishing the door- all I saw was them taking off all the hooks and holes. Said they'd replace it with a better one- yet this one doesn't have any locks or gaps in it. Apparently, it prevents robbery or trespassing -according to them."
The little lady smiled while explaining the situation.
" Ah but I didn't really think I would actually get any trespassers you know, since this place is in the corner of the street and all. Oh boy, was I wrong" She said adjusting her spectacles.
Darpan laughed awkwardly at her response. Aryan and Darpan just sat quietly, a clear cut sign they want Darpan to continue the conversation.
" Ah, honey. I totally forgot to ask you all. If you came in here, you must have been looking for something, right? "
" Oh, yes ma'am . We needed a couple of things actually; uhmmm... here's the list. "
Darpan handed over the neatly folded note to the lady who eyed the items pointedly.
" A wedding ceremony,I assume? "
All three men nodded simultaneously.
" Ahh! I see! Well...., I do indeed have the silk curtains and the colored fabric, the acessories mentioned here also are arrangeble on spot. Though... I doubt I would have the gold embellishments needed for the veil. And even if I do, it'll take some time to dye and curate them. Would that be okay with you? "
" Ah, time is not an issue, that's totally fine! The thing I wanted to ask was ..well uhm , could I get an estimate as to what the total cost would be? I mean I'm not trying for a discounted price right now , it's just an estimate would be helpful in order to make a decision."
Darpan nervously looked around as the lady began calculating the price of the needed items . He was already praying for his wallet. If anything turned out too expensive, they
would have to waste their efforts here and look for another store- which will be a hassle altogether. Not to mention, the awkwardness of leaving the store without buying anything and possibly wasting the owner's time. If anything went a little over the budget, they'll just have to adjust with makeshift options or so he figured.
" Hmm, all that comes around to a total of about 3,452 rupay*. Would that be too much? "
Darpan had a hard time concealing his happiness as he wanted to scream from the utter joy he felt. Even with all the material,though a little on the expensive side, the price was still somehow in their budget and way less than what Darpan had originally estimated.
" Oh, no! That's practically perfect considering all the material is available here"
Aryan and Ashmit too hummed in agreement.
" Oh, it's confirmed then? Alright, you be seated here, I'll just bring out some snacks while you wait for the embellishments to be done." she declared as she waddled away into a room to bring snacks. Even with all the protests the three men made, the lady insisted,plus Ashmit too was ready to indulge in eating neat so they gave up.
" Thanks for the refreshments, uhm-" Aryan started.
" It's okay, you can call me Anu jaabi. I'm not so old to be called Aunty by any of you youngsters yet,i fear."
She let out a small giggle as she retreated back to one of the rooms where they previously were as all three men just stared at each other cluelessly.
After a long while of silence and sounds of Ashmit gulping up the last sip of his orange juice, the door opened and Anu jaabi walked out with a satisfied expression on her face.
" Here, i happened to have some designs from a previous order that were extremely similar to your description so I just dyed them. Would these be better or shall I make entirely new batches? "
" Ah, no! These are absolutely amazing. Though a little different than the original design, I think they would be absolutely perfect for the aesthetic we are going for. ! Thank you so much! "
Darpan was definitely satisfied and happy with the quality of the stuff they had gotten here. It's far better than anything they could have gotten elsewhere. It almost seemed like wandering off in here did happen for a good reason afterall.
As Darpan kept the now packed stuff inside his huge side-bag he noticed the bottles of glittery liquid on the shelves behind the desk. They had been standing out to him for a while now, he just didn't want to possibly end up being distracted by them.
" What's that? The shiny liquid behind you?" Ashmit asked as soon as he was done scarfing down the contents of his plate. Darpan mentally screamed at himself and at Ashmit through his glare. They possibly couldn't afford to buy whatever that was even if it was in sale in the first place. Getting swayed while on a budget is never a good thing- Darpan definitely spoke from experience.
" Oh, those?" Anu jaabi turned around to get a good look at the bottles behind her. A smirk suddenly graced her face as she seemed to be contemplating about something.
" Say , would you be interested in some medicinal potions? They are of utmost benefit to anyone using them, i guarantee. So, would you like to take a look? "
Anu jaabi excitedly asked them, her hands clasped together in enthusiasm. It almost felt bad saying no to that face.
" Uhmm... actually we got everything we came here for and we can't -"
Darpan wanted to refuse but as soon as he opened his mouth, Ashmit tugged on his sleeve.
" Let's just take a look na Bhaiyya, whats the harm in just browsing around? "
Before Darpan could reason anymore, Anu jaabi too, pleaded again.
" Yes ,of course. I'm not trying to sell it to you but you see, I'm kinda proud of my creations and like to show them off whenever I have a chance. You three seem like men with good tastes so i know you'd appreciate my work a lot more. Even if you just look around,it's completely fine. So ? Please come in?"
Anu jaabi didn't even wait for an answer and was already leading the way to the door. The room was the exact same as the one they had accidentally broken into before.
Darpan hesitantly trailed behind the other three.
" I still can't quite get a good grasp at this. You make and sell all of these stuff then why do you make potions as well? Aren't these two very different kinds of job duties?"
Ashmit asked, his curiosity reaching new peaks.
Anu jaabi just laughed heartily and stood right before the door.
" Did you like the juice I gave you before?"
" Yes, it was delicious!"
" Then just think of it as a hobby or a side-job."
" Wait- you made that too?"
" Of course honey, all kinds of Juices and potions of mine are made right here in my little nest."
That was the only thing she uttered before she opened the door and everything that was inside sparkled right in front of their eyes.
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1. Rupay- Fictional currency of this world based on the Indian Rupee.