Specks Of Love They Hate...

Two

Atirek was in his office, looking for any loopholes in the paperwork he'd perfected the night before. It was a habit he had developed over the years. Even if he completed all his work in the night, he always left the proof reading for the mornings. He felt that mornings offered a fresh start.
"Atirek." His assistant Veer entered his office. He was also his closest confidante apart from his father and Raghav but Atirek still refused to call him a friend.
"What now?"

"It's Arjun. He wants to continue his studies on a condition."
"Tell him he's not in a position to put forth conditions." Atirek stated. He was a spoilt prince who wanted a kingdom too dark for him to comprehend.
"I think you should listen to this one though." Veer's voice sounded amused.
Atirek raised his brow, urging him to go on.
"He wants your car."

There was a silence during which Veer stood calmly, watching Atirek ponder over the request. At last he smiled.
"I swear, he would be a great businessman someday, somewhere; just not in the family business." Atirek said, tossing him the keys to his Mercedes. "Always trying to get on my frickin' nerve, this kid."

Veer smiled softly, taking the keys and turning around to leave, to tell the youngest Thakkar that he'd won the negotiation.
"Veer." Atirek's voice stopped him.
"Yeah?"
"Before you give it to him, get it scrubbed clean from the inside. The last thing I want for him is to accidentally find something inappropriate. And change the number plates, he should not be dragged into any of my messes."

"Sure thing, Boss." Veer replied before leaving the eldest brother alone with his burdens.

***

Atirek watched from the patio as his youngest brother dumped his few boxes into his Mercedes unceremoniously and slammed the doors close with unnecessary force, probably wanting to pick a bone with Atirek just like the child he was. Atirek avoided his childish antics and stood calmly with his arms folded over his chest. As far as he was concerned, it wasn't his car now.

"Why do you have to go so far away, kiddo?" His mother, Shailja Thakkar was hugging Arjun.
Arjun gave a stank eye in his direction, rage all over his face.
"People don't want me here, mom. They'll be glad once I am out of here."

Shailja followed his line of sight to her step son with a weary gaze. Atirek wasn't her blood but she trusted him with Arjun. More than she trusted her husband with their sons anyway.
"He just wants you to get a good education. And I want that for you too." She finally said, tearing away her eyes from a suddenly vulnerable Atirek.
No matter what he did or how older he got, he would always be a kid to her. She had raised him like her own but Danish had made sure that she didn't have the power to interfere between them. If it had been up to her, none of her sons would be in this constant battle with themselves each day.

Arjun drove off without looking back, their gatekeepers scrambling to open the door.
"Get him followed, Veer." Atirek said to the man standing next to him. "I don't want him running into trouble. Also, tell them to stay there off campus."
Veer nodded and pulled out his cellphone, barking orders into it.

Shailja saw him looking longingly at the gate. The three sons of this home had been very close once. But then Raghav's grandfather, her own father, had dropped the huge bomb on the then mere teenagers, Atirek and Raghav who were 14 and 12 at the time. Unknown to them, Arjun had listened to all of this and somewhere, in his six year old mind, he had started thinking that every time Atirek said something for his good, it was because he wasn't his real brother. That childhood thinking was almost cured over the years though, as they grew closer, until four years ago, when Arjun turned 16 and Danish had gifted him his first gun keeping the tradition. He had loosely commented on how he wanted Arjun to be a part of family business too.