Ruin In Royals (Royal #1: Book 2) | ✔

41

-• why him? •-

I park my car in the usual spot and take the private elevator to the top floor, stepping out once the metal doors slide open. Ignoring the man standing in front of the glass wall, I walk past the reception desk and towards my office. He turns, I feel his eyes watch me as I settle in my chair and turn on the monitors.

"Yara, run the test files." I command.

"Yes, boss." His reply comes immediately.

I lean back, knuckles folded beneath my chin as I watch the screen. My eyes switch to the files pending for approval and I pick one, reading through it as Yara runs test on our beta version.

"You're late."

I nod, having heard him step inside my office when the door opened. "I had something important to settle."

"And what was it that you had to ignore an important event?" He places the glass of his whiskey on the corner of my desk.

"Am I obliged to answer that?" I raise my gaze from the files. He watches me keenly.

"We're partners." He states.

"Business partners." I clarify. "Come to me with questions regarding business or our plans. My personal life is mine to take care of."

He scoffs. "If I gave a dime about you, that'd have hurt me. But since I don't, what you do in your personal life is neither my business, nor do I want to bother myself with that mess." He leans in, bracing the table, looking at me sternly. "My time is money, Rudra. Every second makes me billions. But still, I take out an hour from the busy day, just to have one meal with my family. And I had to give up on that because your personal life came into the way of our business meeting. I'm your partner, but don't forget I've an out, you don't." He points a finger at me, reminding me of the differences between us, how he's more powerful, more in control and more with freedom among us. "So the next time you use my time for your frivolous personal matters, you better pay me worth every second of it, got that?"

I match the leveled, furious stare. More than nine years and he still treats me like someone below him. I wonder what his reaction will be when I make his sister my wife. And I will. He might flip hell upside down to prevent that, but I'd go beyond time and horizon just to make that happen.

"Tests executed successfully." Yara interrupts.

We both look away.

I run the code and the security program installs successfully.

"Let's talk business now," Yuvraaj settles down on the chair in front of me. I don't look away from the computer screen. His smug face often brings heinous thoughts in my head. We gel better when we're not around each other. I've no idea how we worked together so well for over so many years, but I think I've my patience to applaud for that. Even making sense of every word that leaves this jerk's mouth is a matter of perseverance. And I've been doing that close to a decade now.

I know he feels the same about me.

We're the same end of magnets, the more we're pushed closer, the stronger we repel each other.

"We can release the beta version for free. Customer satisfaction is more important when it comes to protection of their privacy. The key to attract companies to work with us is to prove that we trust our software. And the only way we can do that is to use our own security program across all subsidiaries." I tell him.

He nods. "I get that. I'll talk to my security team and see if it's possible. But that's not what I want to talk about."

I look at him. "Then what is it?"