Page 46 of Forged By Fate

“Whaaaat! Butwhy?”

“I’ve just been told the living room needs redecorating.”

CHAPTER 23

VIREN

Ispent the morning working from home because I had promised to spend time with Aisha after she got home from school. Sufi and Sunaina took off early in the morning, and I didn’t know where they were headed. They were up to something, for sure, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what it was.

I took a break for lunch and was surprised to hear a lot of commotion from the living room.

“Arre! What are you doing?” shrieked my Chachi. “Where are you taking the sofas and the coffee table? Vireeeeen!”

I raced out of the study and came to an abrupt halt at the sight of a bunch of men taking the sofas out of the living room, as the rest of the staff stood by and watched in shock.

“What the hell is going on here?” I thundered.

A man stepped ahead with a sheet of paper.

“Sahab, we’re just following orders. We’ve been paid to move the sofas out of this room and replace it with the furniture thatwe have in our trucks,” he said, keeping a wary eye on my aunt, who looked ready to attack him with her walking stick.

“What furniture? You’ve come to the wrong house. We haven’t ordered any furniture,” I said wearily. After tossing and turning all night, I was too tired to deal with this crap right now.

“Youhaven’t ordered any furniture, but I have,” announced Sunaina, walking into the house, with Sufi suppressing a smile behind her.

I knew those two were up to no good.

“How dare you?” raged my aunt. Tahira stood behind her, looking tight-lipped with fury.

Interesting.

“But the three of you did ask me to redecorate the living room this morning,” said Sunaina gently. “I was just following orders.”

We were forced to step back as the movers brought in the stuff that Sunaina had bought. She had replaced the plush couches my aunt had ordered from Italy with what looked like very desi furniture.

“Where did you even find all this?” asked Tahira, screwing her face in distaste.

“Right where you guys suggested,” said Sunaina gleefully. “In Chor Bazaar.”

I bit back a laugh at the identical looks of horror on my Chachi’s and Tahira’s faces.

“Oooh! I feel faint,” moaned my aunt.

“I think you should go and lie down, Chachi,” suggested Sunaina, beckoning for my aunt’s attendant to help her out of the room.

Chachi staggered out of the room, but not before she shot me a commanding glare.

“Fix this, Viren,” she ordered before her attendant led her away.

“Are you out of your gawaar little mind?” hissed Tahira, advancing on Sunaina. “How dare you fill this beautiful house with junk from Chor Bazaar?”

“Considering this is my husband’s house and not yours, I don’t need your permission to fill it with whatever I like,” said Sunaina, and I was very proud of her for standing up to Tahira.

I could have intervened at any point, but I had a feeling my wife was making a very savage point right now, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.

Instead, I began to examine the furniture carefully. There were a couple of exquisitely hand-carved teak wood sofas upholstered with brocade.

“What’s this for ?” I asked, examining a large wooden trunk that was almost stark in its simplicity, but was a work of art.

---