🍁chapter thirteen 🍁

Shantanu was currently on the sixth floor's pantry and was preparing a tea for Rudra. While sipping water, he mumbled to himself, "His throat was so sore, yet he can't stop yelling at people. I wonder who that poor person was, getting yelled at. I know how he became such a big businessman, when his habits are no better than a stubborn child."

Meanwhile, Rajeev and Rudra were glaring at each other in frustration and irritation. Rajeev with an annoyed face asked, "Rudra, what's your problem? I was talking to Shantanu, so why did you send him away?"

Rudra replied coldly, "I pay him to work, not to chit-chat with you."

Rajeev gave Rudra a "Are you serious?" look "Rudra, nothing changes in five minutes! Besides, you weren’t talking to me. If I want to talk to someone else, why can’t you let me? "

Rudra ignored Rajeev nagging and picked up his laptop, resumed his previous work. Rajeev became even more irritated at this behavior and again complained "Honestly, I am feeling like an innocent wife, and you're my overbearing husband ! "

Rudra shot him a sharp glare with his piercing blue eyes and sarcastically remarked, "My taste isn't that bad." Rajeev's jaw dropped, his eyes wide with shock. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.

"If you're done talking, please leave my office," Rudra said, snapping Rajeev out of his daze.

Rajeev pouted and retorted, "At least I'm still better than those girls with whom you sleep with every night."

"Shut up " yelled rudra coldly.

Ignoring Rudra's words, Rajeev looked at him seriously and asked, "Why don’t you live at home anymore? "

"I’m fine like this, and I don’t want to see your lovely Sushma Mom every day," Rudra replied nonchalantly while typing on his laptop.

The mention of Sushma reminded Rajeev of the CEO topic. "Did you find the CEO for your brand yet?"

Rudra glanced at him briefly before focusing back on his laptop. "Why do you care? "

"Well, if you haven’t, I could be the CEO—"

Before Rajeev could finish, Rudra cut him off. "Prem is the CEO."

"Fine," Rajeev said with indifference, but he was excited about working with Shantanu who has the power to push down THE RUDRA OBEROI

Just then, Mona knocked on Rudra’s door. After receiving permission, she entered with a tray containing a glass of water, a cup of tea, and some medicines. As she approached Rudra, his eyes questioned her silently.

Mona explained while setting the tray down, "Sir, Mr. Shantanu has sent this. I tried to stop him, but he didn't listen to me" She braced herself for Rudra’s anger, but all he said was, "You can go."

Mona bowed and left. Rajeev reached out to grab the cup of tea, only to have his hand slapped away by Rudra.

"Ouch!" Rajeev cried, pulling his hand back and rubbing it. "Rudra, what’s wrong with you? Why are you acting so weird?" His fair hand had turned red.

Rudra glared at him. "What are you doing? Didn’t you hear? That’s for me—my throat is sore, not yours."

Annoyed, Rajeev replied, "I know. That’s why I was going to take it. But perhaps you’ve forgotten that you don’t drink tea. The water and medicine are for your throat."

Rudra looked at the cup again, thought for a moment, and said presenting himself helpless "I’m having trouble in speaking. I can't do anything but need to drink this tea."

Rajeev gave him a skeptical look but said nothing. "Fine, fine. I’ll get another one made."

Shantanu had returned to his department and resumed work. He sent emails to everyone on his list and scheduled meetings with managers. After completing his tasks, he looked around to see people either engrossed in work or chatting among themselves.

"Is my life destined to be this boring? Why do these people have such strange opinions about me? Whenever I try to talk to someone, they look at me like I’ve committed a crime," Shantanu thought sadly.

He tried interacting with others, but when no one paid attention, he left.

"Where’s he going? We have a team meeting in a while," Dev asked Kajal.

Sahil, irritated, replied, "What’s wrong with you Dev? Why do you care for him,? "

Kajal taunted Sahil, "And what happened to you, you anyway flatter the upper class people, then how did Shantanu get away? why he is an exception?"

"You guys don’t know him, he’s so arrogant and ill mannered. And for your kind information, I don’t brown-nose anyone," Sahil snapped, recalling how Shantanu had insulted him.

While, Shantanu had reached the third floor, where everyone welcomed him warmly. After chatting briefly, everyone returned to work except Pari, who continued talking to him.

"Next time we go out, you’re drinking with us," Pari insisted.

"No, I’m fine like this," Shantanu declined politely.

"Why are you so boring these days? Anyway, what’s the latest news from upstairs?" Pari asked excitedly.

Shantanu thought for a while and was about to open his mouth to tell about Rudra but remained silent " Should I tell Pari that yesterday Boss was with me and he was drunk. What if Pari also starts believing that I have some connection with Boss or Oberoi family? And what will I do if she stops talking to me, like the people on my floor? Sorry, I can't say anything to you."

Noticing his distraction, Pari waved her hand in front of  shan. "Shan… Shan… come back to Earth!"

"Sorry, I was zoned out. I really miss you guys," Shantanu said sadly.

"Me too," Pari replied with a tinge of sadness.

On the other hand, all the people of Elegant had come to the meeting room. After some time, Rudra and Mona also arrived there. Rudra takes a look at everyone while sitting on his head chair. His eyes became small on not finding Shantanu there but he did not mention Shantanu's absence. "Is everybody present here?"he asked coldly.

Earlier, when the meetings used to take place then Meera and her sycophants used to sit in the front row next to Rudra. So today too, people had left some chairs vacant and were sitting a little far from Rudra. Kajal and Dev looked at each other and before they could say anything, Sahil said irritably "Sir, Shantanu is not here. He doesn’t care about the team or the meetings. He neither talks to anyone nor tells us anything nor helps us in team work."

Rudra’s expression remained unreadable. No one could tell what was going through his mind. He glanced at Sahil and said, "And do you think Rudra Oberoi will give you guys a lesson on teamwork?" His voice was icy and sharp, sending chills through the room.

Turning to Mona, he ordered the same tone "Call on the third floor." Mona quickly dialed from the room’s landline.

Within two minutes, Shantanu rushed in, breathless. "I’m sorry, boss… I didn’t know about the meeting," he said, panting and glancing at everyone.

"Of course, you wouldn’t know if you’re not on your floor. Why weren’t you there?" Rudra demanded, eyes him from top to bottom.

Shantanu bit his lower lip and hung his head low, replying softly, "I’m sorry, boss. I went to check on my designs."

His voice trembled, and his eyes glistened with unshed tears. He felt terrible, blamed for something that wasn’t entirely his fault. The people on his floor never informed him of anything, leaving him to fend for himself.

Rudra closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, and then told Shantanu to sit down. His tone was not as harsh this time. Shantanu quietly took a seat in the front row and muttered another apology. Rudra signaled Mona to continue.

Mona stood up and began speaking. "There are two reasons we’ve called you here today." She paused, glancing at everyone.

"Elegant has a new CEO." At this, murmurs spread through the room. Shantanu sat quietly, uninterested in engaging with anyone.

Mona continued, "You’ve all heard of The Diamond Magazine, right? It has often boosted our product sales and frequently features our brand. Prem Kapoor, the owner of The Diamond Magazine, will now also be Elegant’s CEO. If anyone has any objections then let me know."

The team took a moment to digest the news, shocked yet excited. The Diamond Magazine was the country’s most luxurious and renowned publication. People spent their entire careers dreaming of being featured in it once.

Since no one objected, Mona moved on. "Additionally, our brand endorsements will now include film stars, singers, and other famous personalities. Mr Shantanu has already scheduled some meetings. Once those progress, we’ll begin photoshoots. I trust you’ll have the new collection ready soon."

All eyes turned to Shantanu, but no one dared speak to him. The meeting continued with discussions about upcoming projects and strategies.

After the meeting, Rudra was the first to leave, followed by the rest. Shantanu remained seated, feeling despondent and overwhelmed. He was tempted to leave everything behind and return back to Germany.

Lost in his thoughts, he was startled by voices and looked up to see Dev and Kajal standing before him.

Kajal hesitated before saying, "I’m sorry you got scolded because of us."

Shantanu said nothing, lowering his gaze again.

"We’re a team, and we’ll act like one from now on. If you ever have an issue, come to us," Dev added.

Shantanu tried to smile. "Thank you. And for the record, I haven’t had anyone fired, nor do I have any connection to my boss or the Oberoi family." Kajal and Dev exchanged glances, silently communicating something.

"Alright then. We’ll get back to work. Let us know if you need anything," Dev said with a smile.

"Okay," Shantanu replied softly.

As they left, Shantanu felt a bit better. He reviewed the meeting in his mind, having missed most of it earlier, and made a list of tasks for the day.

Shantanu made a list of things he had to do today. Shantanu gets up and leaves for his floor. When he reaches the stairs of his floor, his attention goes to Rudra's floor. "Would the boss have taken tea and medicine? I did not pay attention to his throat because I was late, however, he was shouting exactly like before" While thinking all this, he does not even realize when he reaches the last step of the sixth floor.

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What will happen when Prem and Shantanu finally meet? And how will Rudra react when he finds out Shantanu is the person Prem likes?

Keep reading Chained Heart: RuShan

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