The Marriage Contract

4 - Ultimatums

"What the hell is this?" Harshvardhan Birla threw his phone and it slid across the kitchen island and stopped an inch away from where Abhimanyu was eating his Honey Brunches of Oats cereal.

"Your phone." Abhimanyu replied, stuffing his face with another spoonful of cereal.

"Abhimanyu, this is not funny."

"Never claimed it was. What's got you all worked up anyway?"

"The video Abhimanyu! I'm talking about the goddamn video!"

"Why are you bringing up a 2 day old video now? That's yesterdays news!"

"You are going viral. Everywhere. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Even WhatsApp!" Harshvardhan Birla fumed.

"Oh, is that not what you wanted? For the Birla Hospital to get more publicity?" Abhimanyu asked, thoroughly chomping on his cereal.

"Not like this! We need good publicity for you. Abhimanyu, there is a viral video of you butt naked, climbing out of an apartment balcony and then picking a fight with the stranger filming you."

"Well, he should have been minding his own business then." He replied, slamming his fists on the table and looking at Harshvardhan, defiantly.

"And what did you do this time to get kicked out of the apartment, out of the balcony none the less?"

Abhimanyu shrugged his shoulders before picking up his cereal filled spoon again. "Her husband came home."

"H...husband? Abhimanyu? Are you even in your goddamn senses? Why would you sleep with a married woman?"

"I guess I learnt that from you. Isn't it?" Abhimanyu dropped the spoon in the bowl and pushed it away from him. He then folded his hands together on the counter.

Harshvardhan Birla was flabbergasted at Abhimanyu's response. "This. Is. Not. About. Me." He mumbled with grit teeth.

"Is it not? Because last time I checked, I was your son. Right? Or is there something that I should know?" His tone was dark, rude, and sarcastic.

Harshvardhan took a deep breath trying to calm himself down. "But then why the balcony? You are not the one to run away from a problem or person."

"Ooh. Yeah, I may have also called the girl by the wrong name when I was explaining the situation to her husband. Honest mistake on my part, that. Should have paid attention when she was introducing herself to me."

"And now you are ruining your and the hospital's reputation because you can't keep it in your pants. Abhimanyu, you are the most eligible bachelor in the city, and one of the best cardiac surgeons but rather than using it to your advantage, you are hell bent on ruining that very advantage."

Abhimanyu looked away, avoiding eye contact with his father. He hated to say it but Sir was speaking nothing but facts. He needed to get his act together.

"If you don't want to be the CEO then why are we even wasting the board's time? We can just give that position to Parth. Why keep a vote?"

"No!" Abhimanyu's voice boomed in his large penthouse suite apartment. He absolutely detested the mention of Parth.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Harshvardhan gave a satisfied smile seeing Abhimanyu aggravated by the possibility that Parth may become CEO.

"What do you want from me?"

Harshvardhan smiled. "Neil!"

The door to the apartment opened and Neil walked in carrying a big black binder. He side stepped Harshvardhan and placed the binder in front of Abhimanyu, leaving it open on a legal document.