Shades of Life

Mr. Workaholic

I leaned back in my chair sighing, running my fingers through my hairs.

I checked my watch to see it was 2 o’clock in the afternoon, I’ve been at this project since yesterday afternoon and I’ve not had a wink of sleep.

“Carla” I yelled and then remembered I could have just dialed her number.

Damn it! I really should get some sleep.

“Yes, sir” She opened the door and peeked in. She stood there fluttering her eyebrows and a flirty smile.

I heaved a sigh at the sight.

Why is everyone hell bent on making my life worse?

“Get me my coffee” I said turning my attention to my laptop.

“Sir, you should get some sleep. You have been working since yesterday. What about your health?” She said trying to show that she cares about me but I know the real deal.

“Just do what I said” I said rudely causing her to shut up and close the door with a small ‘yes’.

I’m not an asshole alright. I treat my employees fairly and with respect but Carla is nothing but pain in my ass. Dad appointed her for me before I took over, she is his old employee’s daughter. But my problem is she always tries to flirt with me.

She’s beautiful but I’m not interested. It’s as simple as that but it doesn’t get into her thick skull. I told her out front on first day but she still tries really hard. The only reason I’ve not fired her is that fact that she is good at her work.

Sighing, I continued typing this email to the clients.

This work is easy but if you are working for someone else’s happiness not cause you are interested makes it very hard. I try my best and this is what it is.

My dad has poured his sweat and blood into this company and trusts me to handle it and take it to another level and that’s what I’m here to do. I keep minimal interaction with the employees, not more than required.

I have a team of people working directly under me. They will be working with me on the high profile project which I supervise myself. This has been my problem since I was a kid, if something is under my care I make sure I personally handle it. I’m more involved in the company work than most CEO’s are, mainly because I’m still young and there is so many things I still have to learn and also I don’t have any personal life rather than work.

So, work is all I do.

Ringing of my phone broke my rant.

“Hello” I answered seeing it was my dad.

“Hello Varun” came his thick voice.

“Yeah dad, tell me” I said leaning back on my chair.

“When are you coming to meet me?” came his accusatory voice. I winced at his question. I moved out as soon as I came back from US and I’ve been so swamped with work that it been more than a month since I visited him. Though, I see him twice or thrice in the office I haven’t visited my childhood house.

“I’m working dad, I’ll be there once I submit this project details” I said rubbing my face, driving away my tiredness.

“Are you over working yourself?” he said and I could hear concern in his voice. Though dad loves the company, he cares more about my health.

“No dad, I’m not” I lied smoothly.

“Really? I can call Carla any time, you know” came his sarcastic tone.

“Dad” I exasperated.

“Your uncle Tanvir is visiting tomorrow, make sure you are here in the evening” he said with no nonsense tone.

I closed my eyes in irritation.

“Dad, day after tomorrow is the meeting” I said trying to make him understand.

“I don’t want to hear any excuse, be there on time” He said with finality.

“But-“

“I’ll see you tomorrow, bye take care” He said and hung up.

I looked down at my phone and hurled profanities.

“Seriously, f**k my life”

I’ve always been alone my whole life. After my mom’s death, my dad mainly concentrated on work and my brother and I grew up with the help of our nanny. We used to see him 3 or 4 times max in a week but in our teenage years’ dad was more around but at that time we were in that phase where all we did was hang out with our friends. So, we never had that much of a connection with him but he is the only person I have in my life who gives a s**t about me.

I heard a knock on my door, knowing its Carla I said ‘come in’.

She entered and kept my coffee on my table and left without a word. She knows I’m not in a mood for her shenanigans.

I thought my brother would have my back but that soon turned out to be false after he met that b***h. Yeah, I just called my sister-in-law a b***h because that is what she is. She is an actual definition for gold-digger, though she came from pretty wealthy family but her greed wasn’t satisfied and my brother was her prey. He happily fell for her trap. How do I know she is a b***h? She tried to sleep with me and trap me before she knew about my brother. When I didn’t fall for her trap, she moved to my brother.

I warned him and dad did too but he was ‘so in love with her’ apparently didn’t believe us. For him, he chose her over us and let me tell you their marriage won’t last long. She is only with him for the money, now that he broke ties with us and wants to work in some company in US earn money on his own, she is struggling to keep up her act. I got a call from her last week begging me to call my brother back. I laughed and hung up.

That is one of the reason, dad and I didn’t stop him from doing this. We wanted him to see for himself what kind of a snake she is and now I think she has started showing her real color. It won’t be long when he will see her real self and leave her sorry ass.

My family was never perfect; it was dysfunctional since I was born. Do I blame myself for killing my mom? No, that’s absurd. She chose to keep me even after doctor told her about the complications. She sacrificed herself for me and for that I will forever be grateful but my dad didn’t think so. He loved my mom and when she never told him about the complications, he was mad at her. Her death hit him hard and I don’t think he grieved her death for the first few years. He was very angry at her but with time he let go of his anger.

I remember when I was 7, my dad came home drunk and was crying like a baby. My nanny didn’t let me near him so I saw him crying in pain from a distance. He didn’t come out of his room for a week and now I know why. He changed after that, he started being there for me more than he was before. But he mainly changed when I was 15 and my brother was 18 and he brought a girl home.

He realized we both are growing up and need someone to mentor us. And from then he was there for us in every which way. And that was when he sent me to USA for my further studies.

My brother grieved our mother’s death in a whole different way. Since, he knew her and was taken care by her, he took it hard. I was sure, he hated me for few years. Not that I cared because I was alone most of the time, only friend I had in India was Aakash and he still is my only friend.

My brother and I had a strained relationship all my life. He ignored me most of the time and I was okay with it. Sure, I was sad when I was a kid. I couldn’t decipher why he hated me so much but then after his college years he started to acknowledge me. We weren’t best of brothers out there but we were civil to each other. And he didn’t hate me anymore that was until I told him what a b***h his now wife is.

He was a rebel kid among both of us and he came home one day already married to us and dad threw a fit. He knew what kind of a person she is and believed me when I told him how she came on to me but my brother’s case was different.

He got mad when we told him the truth and just took off with her. Though, dad and I were scared that he would hate us but we were more confident he would find out her real face and come back to us. How were me so sure? By the look on her face when he said he cutting ties with us. She groveled more than us to him to not leave us. She wanted to be the queen of our empire but sadly that dream got crushed the very first day of their marriage. We saw her nag him and plead to my dad to tell my brother to reconsider, seeing her desperation we understood her intention but I guess my brother needs few more days.

I’m actually surprised she has been with him there without our family money for two years now. But her constant calls tells us that she is hoping some day my brother will come back and join the business.

But little does she know that my brother was never interested in the family money. He doesn’t give a f**k about our company.

I chuckled thinking about her desperate face.

Poor girl.

I haven’t completely sworn off girls per se but I haven’t met any girl who has gained my attention without being an attention seeker. Due to my money and fame, most of the girls try to flirt or send some kind of signal that they are interested in me. But I’ve never met any girl who wants to know my lonely, pathetic self. Girls are so overwhelmed by my business, money and fame that they don’t care about me. My actual self.

They only care about the appearance and that’s why I don’t have many friends. Being in this society with this standard is hard to find a genuine person. Where ever you see, you see a fake person who wants one or the other thing from you.

That’s why I keep myself busy with company work, finding a genuine person in this world is lot more complicated than this work so I’ll better stick with this.

I pressed a button on the phone, indicating Carla that I called her.

“Yes sir” she came in.

“Is the team ready for the project?” I asked never removing my eyes from my laptop.

“Yes sir, since Rohit left the team we hired a new girl. She will be starting her work from next week” She answered.

“Get me her profile” I said and I heard her ‘Okay’ before the door closed.

I fired Rohit a month back. He was a leech. His work ethic was good; he was amazing with his work but his behavior was s**t. We received a complaint from a girl about his harassment and here in this company we take every complaint seriously and when we investigated we found out that there were other girls who were victims of his harassment. I fired his ass and made sure he doesn’t find any work in other top companies.

Carla came in and kept a file on my table.

“Sir, do you need any help with your work?” She asked with sweetest voice and I tried not to puke. I grimaced for sure. I can’t help it; I can’t stand fake people.

“No” I said in my deadly voice. It always shuts her up.

I didn’t hear any noise, just soft sound of door closing.

Sighing, I opened the file.

Umm, Akshara Vashisht.

Her profile was nice, nothing impressive but she has good grades in college and has worked on a good project in her old company. My uncle is tough nut to crack and the fact that he hired her must be for a reason.

I closed the file when I didn’t see anything I didn’t like.

Guess, she will start working on our next project.

I’ll make sure we get that project.

Shaking my head, I concentrated on my work.

Author's note:

Hey guys!

Meet Varun Mehta. Your no nonsense guy. He doesn't give a f**k about anyone. 

Do you think he will care about our Akshara?