Chained Heart: RuShan

Shantanu couldn’t understand what was happening and why everyone was staring at him like that. Did he say something wrong?

Mustering all his courage, Shantanu looked at Rudra. "Boss, can we... can we do this?"

Rudra remained silent for a moment before speaking in a stern voice, "How many designs have you completed ? "

"Huh?" Shantanu didn’t understand what Rudra was asking and looked at Vivek for help. Before Vivek could answer, Rudra asked again, "Out of five, how many designs have you completed?" Hearing this, Shantanu lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Sir, Shantanu's first design is almost complete as he joined Yesterday." Pari chimed in.

"Wow, what an achievement," Meera commented sarcastically, glaring at Shantanu.

Nervously, Shantanu started biting his lower lip, unable to gather the courage to look at Rudra or anyone else.

"Finish your task first, then work on this idea," Rudra said calmly, waited for Shantanu's response. But Shantanu simply nodded without looking up. For a second, a flicker of an emotion crossed Rudra's face, but he quickly reverted to his stoic expression.

Rudra shifted his gaze from Shantanu to Meera, his face now filled with anger. "Be ready with your resignation letter," he said. Meera’s face turned pale; she hadn’t expected Rudra to take this matter so seriously. The other seniors were visibly trembling as well.

Meera was furious with Shantanu, blaming him for Rudra’s anger. What infuriated her the most was Rudra sharing his glass of water with Shantanu—not once but twice. She couldn’t stand that Rudra seemed to be paying attention to Shantanu more than her. Although Rudra had slept with Meera, he had never cared about her or anyone else’s feelings but his behaviour with shan was different and polite.

"How much time do you need to complete all five designs?" Rudra asked, shifting his gaze back to Shantanu.

Fiddling with his fingers nervously, Shantanu replied, "At least 25–28 days."

"Inform me when your work is done," Rudra said and walked out of the meeting room without another word.

Meera fumed and stormed over to Shantanu. "What do you think? That you can replace Meera Kapoor?"

Another senior snorted, seizing the opportunity to bully Shantanu. "He thinks speaking up in front of Rudra sir will make him a better fashion designer than us."

"It’s like we’re all here for fun while he’s running the company," another senior added sarcastically.

"If you try to fly too high, your wings will be clipped."

Shantanu is a cheerful and hardworking person, he had never intended to harm anyone. Hearing these words deeply hurt him, leaving him at a loss of what to do.

"You guys might have misunderstood him, Shantanu didn’t mean anything like that. He just wants to help increase the company's sales," Vivek tried to defend Shantanu.

Meera shifted her glare from Shantanu to Vivek. "You’re their leader, right? Teach him properly, or else you’ll all face the consequences of his mistakes," she said arrogantly before stomping out of the meeting room. One by one, the other seniors also left, but not without glaring at Shantanu first.

"Don’t pay attention to them. They’re always like this," Vivek said softly, patting Shantanu’s shoulder.

Shantanu was so depressed that he didn't respond or look at anyone.

"Shantanu, don’t let this demotivate you," a boy from the same B block said encouragingly.

"Abhishek, how can someone stay motivated after hearing so much on just their second day?" a girl standing nearby added , feeling pity on shantanu.

Pari looked at Shantanu, who was sitting silently, and then said, "You all go ahead. Shantanu will come later." One by one, everyone left. Only Vivek, and Pari remained with  still visibly shaken shantanu.

"Shantanu, please ignore them," Vivek said again. Vivek was also upset with all the scenes but he can't do anything.

"Bloody shameless b***h," Pari muttered angrily.

"Pari!" Vivek raised his voice slightly, but it didn’t faze Pari. "What did I say wrong? Everyone knows how she got this job. We rub our ass day and night, but when it's time to take credit then she shows up just because Rudra sir slept with her."

Hearing this, Shantanu looked at Pari with curiosity.

"Pari that’s their personal matter and we’re no one to comment on it," Vivek said with a weary expression.

"Why can’t we? That gold-digger can insult us whenever she wants, but we can’t say anything? Wow ! " Pari’s anger continued to escalate. Seeing the tension between Vivek and Pari, Shantanu decided to speak. "Please stop arguing. I’m fine," he said, looking at both Vivek and Pari one by one.

"Really ? " Pari asked, her eyes filled with concern. Shantanu gave a genuine smile and replied, "Really." Seeing him smile, Pari also smiled.

Pari leaned forward and playfully pinched Shantanu’s cheek. "I’m proud of you, Shantanu. You really gave those bully seniors a slap with your amazing idea."

"It’s nothing. I was just trying to help the company," Shantanu said shyly.

Their talks were interrupted by the phone's ring. Pari and shan looked at the phone then at Vivek and feeling eyes on himself Vivek sighed and moved to receive the call. As soon as he kept the phone near to his ear a stern, slightly angry voice from the other end asked, "Where is the weekly report?" before disconnecting call abruptly.

Vivek sighed deeply and looked at Pari. "Pari, Rudra sir is furious. Submit the weekly report, or you might get fired too."

Hearing this, Pari quickly removed her hand from Shantanu’s cheek and ran like a bullet train to her block. Seeing her rush off, both Shantanu and Vivek burst into laughter.

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To know what happens next, keep reading Chained Heart: RuShan

The main characters of this BL story are Rudra and Shantanu. If you don’t like gay couples, please refrain from reading this as I do not wish to receive hate comments.

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