Next day Varsha and Ira decided to go for shopping in the afternoon. Cousin Akshay who is the son of eldest uncle and younger brother of Arpit also accompanied them. Grandpa wanted someone to go with the girls but Akash is busy with a new plan he is working on for the restaurant business of family. So Grandpa asked Akshay to accompany them who did so after a bit of coaxing.Akshay is happy to accompany the girls to shopping. Grandpa promised him to buy his favorite bike at new year if he behaved well as a good boy. Akshay is happy with the deal because he is not angry like his father or feels compet.i.tive like his elder brother. Grandpa is happy by ensuring that the kid will behave and will not be influenced by his father to make things hard for Varsha.
While Varsha and Ira left for shopping with Akshay in a car, Eldest uncle also went to the city with his wife for a meeting. Akash left to the office of Patel Family Business with the youngest uncle in the morning itself. Kids of youngest uncle went to school. Arpit went out to meet his friends and girlfriend because his graduation is done and he does not have to go to college. Nowadays Arpit is preparing for compet.i.tive exams to enter some prestigious college for his master"s degree like Akash.
Grandparents stayed at home along with the mother of Akash and youngest aunt. Those at home take care of gardening, vegetables, and maintenance of the house. Grandpa has stopped interfering in the management of the business and only at some certain times he will partake in decision making. He remains informed about the happenings of business by his trusted chartered accountant and lawyer who remain involved in finance and legal aspects of the business.
Varsha and Ira went to the Phoenix shopping mall and wandered around hand in hand. Akshay followed the girls keeping a few meters of distance. The childish behavior of girls is so embarra.s.sing to him that he is keeping a bit of distance from them.
Phoenix market city felt like a new world to Varsha and she enjoyed it. After entering the shopping mall, going from one shop to another shop feels like wandering on the street. Pathways look exactly like streets outside. Trees and flowers on the side give the walkways a natural look. The whole shopping mall is inside a building spread wide and the roof which is three stories high is painted in a way to give the feeling of open sky.
Today Varsha is wearing a knee-length tunic with floral pattern on a cotton trouser and has wrapped a scarf loosely around her neck hanging in front. She looks like a cute and innocent girl of some conservative family. Ira is also wearing a modest dress which is a loose-fitting jeans trouser and on top of that a branded full sleeve long T-shirt. She looks like a cheery and mischievous girl exactly as the pampered miss of a rich family which she is. Both girls are attractive with their own traits and make a beautiful pair attracting the attention of many shoppers around. This thing made Akshay a bit protective and he moved closer to them sometimes if he felt the gazes of some people toward girls to shoo them off.
Girls looked around for dresses in a few shops but they could not find anything of their liking. After they got tired of one hour of browsing, they bought some vegetarian snacks from McDonald cafe and sat on a bench and ate it along with Akshay.
Varsha looked around and seeing the shoppers and the artificially maintained natural beauty inside the mall, she sighed and said "Even if we do not shop and just sit here and enjoy watching the view, it should be good enough. Those clothes are anyway ridiculously highly priced and look more torn and tattered than the normal dresses. If torn and tattered is the fashion then I better remain in my backward clothes."
Ira laughed hearing the words of her sister-in-law. Varsha also laughed with her. Akshay who is also tired and a bit irritated due to the fruitless wandering of girls asked: "What is it exactly both of you want?"
Varsha and Ira both got startled and looked toward Akshay who is looking questioningly toward them. Ira still has a spoon in her mouth while eating ice cream and Varsha is eating a piece of french fry which is half in her mouth and half outside. Both girls looked toward him so innocently that Akshay could not control but laugh at the funny picture. Both girls just watched him like that and Akshay took his time to open his camera on mobile and clicked the picture and laughed again.
Varsha blinked and then pushed the french fry into her mouth and chewed it and gulped and asked "What do we want? Don"t you see we are eating what we want."
Akshay is still happy with the picture he has taken. So he smiled and said "What type of dresses you want? Tell me. I was with you all the time, maybe I can help a bit."
Varsha has finished eating. She wiped her hands while she thought for a few seconds and said: "I want to buy a knee length tunic or frock with a half sleeve and matching cotton trousers."
Ira smirked at this and said "How backward? I want a beautiful dress which does not expose shoulders and is at least knee length. Floral pattern design will be good."
Akshay laughed seeing Ira"s dramatic expression and said "Both are backward. Let us go and shop with me the dresses for backward people." And he stood up picked the waste of eating and disposed in a bin nearby and walked toward a shop which they have visited before. Varsha and Ira followed him hand in hand.
When they entered the shop, they felt surprised to see Akshay moving to a rack and sliding the hangers here and there and then picking a dress and then he continued the same process in other sections. Varsha and Ira followed him silently.
After some time he handed three dresses to Varsha and four to Ira and asked smiling "How is it? Do you find them okay? If so, go and check them in trial room."
Ira shrieked and said "Wow, how did you find them? We visited this shop before and did not see them. These are exactly how I want them. It was a good decision to bring you along with us."
Akshay looked at Ira wordlessly and then said after a few seconds in a serious expression "When you are shopping, you should look around more than bantering with each other."
Now it was the turn of Ira to be speechless and Varsha laughed. Ira pouted and Varsha laughed harder. This happens rarely that someone shuts up the mouth of Ira. Ira looked toward Akshay accusingly and then pulled Varsha toward the trial room.