🍁chapter eighteen 🍁

Noticing a bit of bread filling at the corner of Rudra’s lips, Shantanu unconsciously reached out and wiped it off with his thumb. Feeling Shaan’s touch, Rudra’s grip on his coffee mug tightened, and his breathing became uneven.

Rudra grabbed Shaan by his waist with his other hand and pulled him closer, making Shaan suddenly fall over him. In an attempt to steady himself, Shaan gripped Rudra’s shoulders tightly with both hands.

As Rudra pulled him closer, Shaan came back to his senses and thought, "Oh no, I got close to him again. It’s my fault. I should’ve never let him enter my house." Shaan silently cursed himself and gathered the courage to say, "Bo... Boss, let me go."

Rudra looked at Shaan’s face and, in a calm voice, said, "Have breakfast with me."

Shaan blinked once and asked innocently, like a child, "If I don’t have breakfast with you, won’t you let me go?"

Seeing Shaan’s innocence, Rudra felt even more tempted to tease him. He gently placed his coffee mug on the table and made Shaan sit on his lap. "Hmm, you’ll have to stay like this the whole day."

Once again sitting on Rudra’s lap made shantanu embarrassed and irritated as well "Boss, I’m not a child for you to keep putting me on your lap like this. Let me go," Shaan said, trying to get up, but Rudra’s grip on him was so firm that he couldn’t even budge.

Shaan glared at Rudra angrily, "Didn’t you hear me? I said let me go!" He tried again to free himself. Rudra looked at the annoyed face of shan with calmness.

"First tell me, will you have breakfast with me or not?" Rudra asked in a steady tone. Shaan slapped Rudra’s hands and said, "Are these hands or magnets? They just won’t move! What do you eat? "

Rudra’s lips curled up in a slight smile. "Then have breakfast with me and find out yourself."

"Why do you keep getting stuck on the same point? Boss, enough with the jokes. Let me go, have your breakfast, and get ready for your meeting," Shaan said seriously.

Rudra looked at Shaan’s face for a moment to understand what shantanu want. Disappointment and frustration was written all over the face of shan.

But Rudra still didn't give up and asked in his usual voice, "Why are you upset with me?"

Shaan turned his face away and replied coldly, "I’m not upset with you."

"Shaan?" Rudra called him, but Shaan kept his face turned. Seeing Shaan pout childishly in anger, Rudra was surprised again. No matter how much Rudra was trying to understand the personality of shantanu but every time he failed miserablely.

Rudra took a deep breath and then calmly spoke, "When the meeting was canceled, you were already asleep. You had worked late and looked tired, so I didn’t think it was right to wake you up. And if I had gone home, who would have locked your door since you were already asleep?"

Shaan turned his face toward Rudra with a jerk and stared at him in disbelief "But I should at least know who’s staying at my house and who’s not. Imagine if I stayed at your house without your permission. Wouldn’t you be upset?"

Hearing Shaan’s question, Rudra immediately replied, "No."

Shaan raised his eyebrows in surprise and asked, "If someone stayed at your house without permission, you wouldn’t mind?"

"Not someone, If it’s you then I wouldn’t mind at all," Rudra said. Shaan was left speechless, staring at Rudra in astonishment. Rudra gently placed Shaan on the sofa next to him and handed him a sandwich and coffee, asking him to eat.

Shaan quietly started eating the sandwich without any more questions. Rudra also started sipping his coffee. "Did you complete the contract?" Rudra asked Shaan, who was sitting silently.

Shaan nodded. "Let me check it once before finalizing it," Rudra said.

"Alright. When is your meeting?" Shaan was back to his usual self.

"At 11," Rudra replied.

After breakfast, Shaan showed his contract to Rudra for review. Rudra pointed out some changes and explained them to Shaan thoroughly.

"Shantanu, did you take a day off from the office yesterday?" Rudra asked seriously, looking at Shaan. Shaan looked at Rudra in surprise and asked, "Who told you I took a day off? I didn’t take any leave. There’s so much work at the office, and you can see I’m working from home too."

Shaan thought someone at the office had complained to Rudra about him.

When Shaan denied it, Rudra patiently said, "There’s no need to lie. Everyone gets fixed leaves."

Defending himself, Shaan spoke again, "Why would I lie to you when I didn’t take any leave? Tell me who said that I did."

Rudra didn’t like that Shaan was hiding his outing from him, but he didn’t say anything. "Fine," he said in a different tone.

Rudra had excellent control over his emotions, so no one could tell what he was thinking. Right now, he was upset that Shaan wasn’t telling him about meeting a girl after taking a day off, but his face revealed nothing of his insecurities.

"Hmm," Shaan sighed in relief and continued sipping his coffee, thinking-- should he tell Rudra that no one in the office likes him. They think Shaan has a connection with Rudra or his family, and he make anybody lose his job like he has done with a few seniors who had different thoughts from him.

Rudra placed his coffee mug on the table and walked toward the door. "Boss, where are you going?"

Without turning back, Rudra replied, "Meeting," and left without waiting for Shaan’s reply.

Shaan just stared at the back of Rudra in surprise as Rudra walked away. "I can never understand him. He comes and goes whenever he pleases. Meeting? It’s only 8 AM, and his meeting is at 11! What's wrong with this man...,"

Shaan stopped groaning when his phone rang. He looked at the screen, and it was showing "Mom."

On the other side, Rudra had stepped outside, quickly pulling out a cigarette and taking deep drags. He stood taking support of his car, keeping one hand in his pocket, inhaling nicotine deeply. As the cool morning breeze brushed his face, he closed his eyes for a moment then opening them slowly. He stared into nothingness with deep thoughts.

"Hello, Mom. How are you?" Shaan answered cheerfully.

"I’m fine. When are you coming home?" his mom asked.

Shaan sighed deeply and closed his eyes. "Mom, I’ll come soon. There’s a lot of work at the office, and I’ve only joined the office recently and Taking a leave so soon wouldn’t leave a good impression on the company." Shaan replied hesitantly. He didn't forget how his chairman asked him about leave today only. This is the only start of his career in an Indian company and he can't risk to offend them this soon.

" Shaan You are always giving excuses about work. Spend some time with the family. You have a big family, and everyone misses you so much," his mom said, slightly upset.

Shaan thought, "What family? There no one cares about anyone. Everyone lives together for their own benefit. No one respects you either. I don’t know why you are still staying in that family. Aunt and cousin always belittle you and make you do their work. If Dad were here, maybe things would be different..."

"Hello... Shaan, are you listening? Hello?" his mom’s voice brought him out of his thoughts. Quickly, he said, "Hello... Sorry, Mom. What were you saying?"

"Shaan When are you coming home? Your aunt  is also here and she was asking about you,.. and your grandfather also wants to see you," she said.

Ignoring her rant, Shaan Hesitantly asked, "Mom, why don’t you come and stay with me? Can’t you live here? "

"You know I have to take care of your grandfather. Plus, the whole family lives here. I’ve told you many times to live here too, but you went abroad, and even after returning, you’re not staying with the family. Shan don't be like this, come and live with your mom." she said, urging him to live with family.

"Mom, there are others in the family to take care of Grandpa. I’m also your family. Can’t you live with me?" Shaan asked with a sad smile. He felt a lump in his throat at what his mother said next.

"Shaan, what are you even saying? If your dad were alive, would he have left your grandfather? Now that he’s not here, it’s my responsibility to keep the family together. Alok (his uncle) was saying that we have such a big house in the village, yet you’re staying in a rented apartment. The city is just an hour away from here. Others also travel daily to work from here. Why are you wasting money on rent, living alone and asking me to join you ? "

"Mom, I’ve already told you before, I don’t like it there. If you don’t want to live with me, then don’t, but I won’t stay with that family where everyone lives together for their own benefit," Shaan said with clear frustration and bit his lower lip hardly.

The despair in Shaan's voice was clearly visible but Shaan's mother was unable to understand again And she again tried to convince Shaan to stay at home. "Every family has problems, Shaan. That doesn’t mean people stop living together," his mom said angrily.

"Mom, why don’t you understand? No one in that family considers you family. They only come to you for their own benefit, but when you need someone, everyone turns their back on you. I am your son and I care for you, not those greedy members of your so-called family." Shaan said in an agitated tone.

His mom’s voice turned sharp and firm. "Stop saying meaningless things, Shaan. You have no attachment to your family. Everyone cares about you so much, yet you run away from them."

Shantanu's eyes were filled with tears and he still had the phone to his ear but there was no sound from the other side Because after saying this Shantanu's mother disconnected the phone.

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At 11 O'clock,

Rudra was seated in a hotel room for his meeting. Across from him were Sushma, Sanjay, Vijay, Rajiv, and other board members. Rudra’s face was emotionless even more scary than usual. His body language was emitting the aura of "Don’t mess with me, otherwise you will root in hell."

Sanjay initiated the meeting, and one of the board members said, "As we know, Mr. Rudra often makes headlines, which has led to a decline in our stock prices."

Rajiv sternly asked, "What are you trying to say?"

The board member replied, "Mr. Rudra’s name is often linked with women, which is not good for our company’s image." Hearing this, a sly smile appeared on Sushma’s face.

"We have recently launched a new product, but due to Mr. Rudra’s controversies, people didn’t buy it. Meanwhile, the opposition’s stocks are soaring," another member added.

Rudra nonchalantly said, "Why are you blaming your failure on me? From what I know, your product didn’t succeed because you didn’t make any improvements. The opposition made significant upgrades to their product, unlike your company, which just changed the color."

Hearing Rudra’s words, the board members looked visibly afraid, and the smile on Sushma’s face dropped instantly.

This meeting was held to remove Rudra from the board, with Sushma being the mastermind behind it. She wanted to replace Rudra with her son, Archit. Despite heated discussions, Rajiv and Vijay stood by Rudra till the end. Even Sanjay didn’t want Rudra out of the company.

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Will Shaan and Rudra’s misunderstandings be resolved? Will Prem’s entry mend their relationship or break it forever?

To find out, keep reading "Chained Heart: RuShan."

The main characters of this story are Rudra and Shaan. This is a BL (Boys’ Love) story. If you do not like gay couples, please refrain from reading, as I do not want to receive hate comments.

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