Dedicated to _sriiiiiiii_ 💜

Thank you for your support ^-^
(Anyway, I legit had to spend a few seconds to count how many "i" you used 💀)

~○●○~

"Who the hell doesn't even move when someone kicks them out of bed?!" Kiarav asks, his voice taking a higher note than usual, still being weary of his surroundings.

OK. He accepts that he might have overreacted and the person standing in front of him isn't certainly a ghost but a human who is fuming at him. Not his fault for accusing his boss though. That man left him with no choices but to label him as a psychopath.

Kiarav fixes his posture and stands still as if he weren't screaming his lungs out a moment ago.

"And who the hell kicks someone off the bed when they are sleeping?" Nilay counter backs, pointing an accusatory finger at the boy.

Well, he knows why he didn't move at all even after being hit by this kid. He had consumed too much alcohol last night. The amount was so huge that his head is burning right now, it doesn't help that the kid has just added to the pain. While he knows about his unresponsive behavior, he isn't sure what the kid, who is supposed to be his best friend's secretary, was doing on his bed.

Vikram can't stop himself from laughing at the bickering. Both of them sound silly if you ask him. He is amused by the free entertainment early in the morning. Who could have known that the kid would come in handy like this?

"I....I was.... That's not the point! I asked you a question. You should answer first." Kairav says, folding his arms across his chest.

The audacity amazes him. That person scared him to death but now he is asking questions!

"I believe I told you to be on the desk, Sharma. What were you doing in the guest bedroom?" Vikram asks, managing to hold a stern voice after his fit of laughter dies down.

Kairav doesn't have anything to answer so he makes a face to make it look like he is busy thinking.

"If you can pause work to freshen up then I can also take a break, can't I?" Kairav says in a challenging tone for which his boss just raises an eyebrow.

"So, I just wanted to take a break for a while. The bed just looked so fluffy. It's not my fault."

"Oh, really?" Nilay mocks, rolling his eyes along with it.

"Yeah." Kairav replies, mimicking the exact expression and tone that Nilay used.

"Aren't you just a annoying little fuck?" Nilay says, totally being annoyed by the kid.

"Aren't you just a big stupid guy?" Kairav replies, noticing their size difference.

What's with Mr.Arora and his friend making him insecure about his height when he isn't definitely a short guy.

"Alright, that's enough. Sharma, go to the office room and get to work and you, go get freshen up." Vikram orders before they can be at each other's throat.

"Yeah, Yeah. I'm going, Mr.Arora. And one request please. Don't disturb me while I'm working." He speaks with sass and walks towards the office room.

"Are you sure that you are his boss? Why do I feel it's the total opposite?" Nilay's eyes follow the retreating back of the kid as he asks this important question to his friend.

I doubt that too.

"Just go and get dressed properly. You look like a beggar." Vikram suggests, scrunching his nose.

"And you are looking like a prince, darling. Maybe I should just stick to you and ditch all those girls. You are way hotter." Nilay mocks, throwing exaggerated heart eyes at his best friend.

"You are disgusting."

"Nah, just gay for you." Vikram just rolls his eyes before going to his office.

Not having enough stamina to deal with Nilay's nonsense, he ignores his best friend.

"Sharma!" Vikram yells as soon as he enters his office and finds his secretary sleeping peacefully.

"Shut up, bhaiya. I will have to go to the Arrogant Corporation in the morning. Let me sleep." Kairav whines without opening his eyes.

Vikram raises an eyebrow at the change of his company's name.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble but you are now in the house of the CEO of the Arrogant Corporation." Vikram says as he slams his hand on the desk to wake the boy up.

Kairav almost jumps from the chair at the abrupt and loud noise but he manages to save himself from that fall. He glares at the man in front of him. Who does that to a person while he is sleeping? His jerk boss apparently.

"Well, good morning. Do you need some morning tea, Sharma?" Vikram asks sarcastically.

"Not feeling like having tea today. How about a cup of coffee?"

Maybe that boy doesn't get sarcasm or he is two steps ahead of Vikram in his matter. Vikram has a feeling that the latter one is correct. Whatever it is, this boy never fails to get on his nerves.

But before Vikram can snap at his secretary who is still trying to rub the sleep away from his eyes, his best friend enters the scene with a 1000-watt smile displaying on his face.

"Make it 2, Arora." He smiles at Vikram and then smirks at the boy who curses under his breath.

"Don't make yourself too comfortable. I can kick you out anytime." Vikram glares at his best friend as he threatens.

However, he sets his gaze on his good for nothing secretary to give him a lecture on his manners but that boy surprises him by being an attentive worker for once. This boy never ceases to surprise him.

"Actually, I'm here to help your secretary with his work. Now, how can you make this little soul work so hard?" Nilay delivers his not so genuine speech before winking at the boy.

Kairav musters the most fake tooth rotting smile before speaking up. "No thanks. I don't wanna be haunted by a ghost." Nilay's smirk falls at the boy's blunt answer.

Nilay is naturally a flirty person. While it looks like he flirts with anyone he sees, he keeps his craft platonic when it comes to males. He just likes to see people squirm uncomfortably under his flirting skills. However, this boy doesn't seem bothered by it.

Kairav Successfully ignores Nilay's annoying presence the whole time and focuses on work no matter how much he wants to strangle either Nilay or his boss and escape from this hell hole. He is sane enough to hold himself back from committing this blunder.

"I'm done, Mr.Arora!" Kairav says proudly.

He has worked for 4 hours straight to finish everything on the desk! Now, that's some progress. By the end of this whole ordeal, Mr.Arora will turn Kairav into a worker bee who will work nonstop.

Where is my Nobel prize?!

Vikram checks his work with a skeptical eye. However, he doesn't find any fault. If anything, the boy has managed to do his work neatly like a professional. Dare he say it's in the same level as Naina's.

"Hmm. Good." Vikram can't help himself from complimenting.

And he receives a smile brighter than day from the boy. Vikram doesn't know why his smile is so contagious to him. He finds it hard to control his facial expression, it's hard to hide that smile that is trying to break free but he manages to hide it.

"I can go home now, right? I did all my work already!" Kairav's enthusiastic yell can be heard from miles away.

"No-"

But Vikram stops mid-sentence when he catches the look his friend is giving him.

"Let him go. We have some work to do as well." Nilay says, eyeing Vikram.

Oh, yeah. It almost slipped Vikram's mind that they will have to go to the central jail today. They have already fixed an appointment. Seems like it's a lucky day for the kid.

"Fine. But it's just for today. This won't be repeated no matter what." As soon as those words leave his mouth, Kairav grabs his bag and starts to run towards the door.

"See you later, cutie!" Nilay smiles and waves a bye.

"See you never, ghostie." Kairav says, trying to give a death glare to the annoying man but ends up looking cute like Nilay claimed earlier.

**********

"Set menu 3 please. And yeah, please make sure to add proper amount of salt. Your dish always lacks it." Kairav orders, waving a note of 1000.

"Make it yourself." Sanjay says through gritted teeth, if only they didn't have customers around here.

"Wait, why are you here? Did Karan bhaiya finally found out that your cooking sucks?" Kairav jokes but Sanjay is fuming in anger.

This boy just wants to get hit by Sanjay's slippers so bad.

Karan has finally hired another chef to make the work easier for him. There's no pressure of cooking right now so he is taking care of the restaurant while Karan is out running an errand.

When Kairav could finally run away from Mr.Arora's home, he made his way towards his best friend's house. Because there is always free food. When he blabbered about his hard work to Mrs.Thakur, she became so proud that she gaves him 2 notes of 1000 as a gift to motivate him. Tani wrestled him down and took a note from him so now he is left with only one. And what's better than coming to the restaurant where his brother works to spend the money? No where because he gets to boss his brother around here.

"Consider yourself lucky that there are people around here or else you would be a dead meat right now." Sanjay threatens out in the open, making Kairav gasp dramatically.

"You can't just go around and threaten a customer that way! Call your manager, I need to talk to him." He says, pretending to be a Karen.

"Complaint accepted, Your Highnees." Karan says with a chuckle, saving the boy from Sanjay's infamous smack.

"I'm not kidding though. You see this? I'm really gonna pay for the food." Kairav says, softly slamming the note on the table. He is both lazy and tired to slam it hard.

"Oh? And where did the money come from?" Sanjay enquires.

The month hasn't ended yet. So, he can't possibly flex his salary right now.

"From my pocket." He smirks, waving the note again.

Snajay doesn't care about people watching anymore. He smacks his head. Hard.

"Where did you get the money from?"

"First of all, refrain yourself from hitting your customer. I won't hesitate to call the cops on you and secondly, it's ny hard earned money! Don't question me like I'm some filthy criminal. If I were, I would be sitting on million dollars right now after looting a bank."

"Come down, Sanjay. People are watching. He is too lazy to do something illegal. It must be Mrs.Thakur who gave him the money. She likes to spoil him rotten you know."

Kairav glares at Karan for talking about this way even though he is not wrong. Sanjay finally controls himself from smacking his little brother but that boy must want a beating too badly because he goes with his nonsense once again.

"Now be quick. I might even leave a tip if you are quick enough." Sanjay smacks his head once again.

"What was that for?" He yells.

"To earn that tip I gotta work hard, don't I? Consider it as a head massage." Sanjay says, flashing a fake smile.

"No thanks. I don't want my head butchered."

Before Sanjay can take his slipper off, Karan takes him away. Kairav sighs in relief. His brother has got no chill.

He finds himself getting bored out of mind. His brother is serving everyone except him and he knows that his brother is doing is purposely to get on his nerves. But he must also know Kairav isn't the one who gets bothered by it. He is too lazy for it. He lets his lazy eyes roam around the street instead of waiting for his food.

"Woah! Who's car is that?" Kairav says to himself, being mesmerised by the car.

No one has this kind of fancy car in their neighborhood. So, his excitement is understandable. However, it's shortlived as he finds his boss and his boss' best friend getting out of the car. His pupils go wide as his gaze follows them walking towards the restaurant.

Mr.jerk and his equally jerk best friend! What are they doing here?

Kairav certainly doesn't want them here. They have already made his life a living hell. Now that he is in the comfort of his familiar surroundings, he doesn't want them to ruin it. Mr.Arora's best friend, Nilay, makes him more annoyed than Mr.Arora himself.

"Welcome..... Mr.Arora? Please come in." Kairav has never seen his brother talking to him in that sweet voice.

It makes him hate Mr.Arora even more!

Sanjay never got to continue his studies nor did he get to set up a business of his. However, he considers himself a business buff. So it's no wonder that he knows and recognises Mr.Arora. He looks more confident up close. Sanjay finds himself tongue-tied, a sweating nervous mess in front of the man who's demeanour screams power.

"Please h-have a seat." Sanjay stutters, looking around but finding no empty table except his brother's table.

"Kairav! Get up and let the customers sit!" Sanjay yells at the boy who is still shocked at his brother's behavior.

Sanjay is freaking out. Where is Karan when he is needed the most? How would he handle such a vip customer on his own? He never thought a man as rich as Mr.Arora will even set his foot in their poor neighborhood.

"Areee, how can you talk like that to me? I'm a customer too! And Where's my food? I've been waiting for ages." Kairav complaints, instead of getting up which makes Sanjay clench his jaw.

"Don't make me smack your head." He switches his tone, remembering who is standing in front of him.

He gives an awkward smile to Mr.Arora and his friend to make up for his brother's insolence behavior.

"It's alright. We can share a table." Nilay smiles politely at Sanjay but smirks at the little brat who is rolling his eyes.

The duo take 2 seats in front of the annoyed boy.

"What are you doing here?" Nilay tries to hold a conversation with the boy.

"I'm buying vegetable in this restaurant, isn't it normal?" Kairav snaps whilst Nilay laughs humorously.

"Kairav, Behave!" Sanjay yells but he just shrugs his shoulders.

When Sanjay realizes he has his emotions under control, he approaches the duo with a huge smile on his face. His smile is almost identical to Kairav. No wonder they are brothers.

"I wanted to thank you for hiring my brother, Mr.Arora. I promise he won't disappoint you. Even though he is a bit childish, he is a talented kid."

Vikram eyes the man carefully. His gratitude seems genuine.

"Oh, you are his brother?" Vikram asks, poiting at Kairav.

Sanjay bites his tongue in embarrassment. He should have known that the big businessman sitting in front of him won't know who he is. Oh, but he does know. Kairav looks at Mr.Arora with a knowing look. He almost laughs at his face for playing dumb. Kairav won't be surprised if the man knows what kind of underwear he wears and here the man is acting like he doesn't know his older brother.

"Sorry, my bad. Yeah, I'm his older brother." Vikram nods his head at that.

"It's fine, Mr. Sharma. I hired him because he is quite useful." Vikram smirks while a proud smile takes over Sanjay's face.

"What would be your order, sir?" Sanjay asks, holding a notepad and a pen.

"Black coffee." Kairav says on behalf of his lovely boss.

"And mineral water for him. He needs water to keep his mind working." Kairav says, pointing his finger at Nilay.

"Like I said, quite useful." Vikram mutters.

"We will have what he is having." Nilay says.

Sanjay nods his head before walking away to prepare the food.

"There are so many expensive restaurants around so why are you guys here?" Kairav asks, being suspicious of their motives.

"To buy groceries. Isn't it normal?" Vikram retorts.

"Now, that's plagiarism. Too dumb to come up with your own comeback?" Kairav says, totally unimpressed by the man.

"Where is the owner of the restaurant?" Nilay asks, trying to divert their conversation.

"Why? Need a job because your old boss kicked you out?"

"You are seriously entertaining, kid! I already like you." While Nilay looks amused, Kairav looks the total opposite.

"The owner is my brother's best friend. In a way, he is my older brother. So, forget about getting a job here."

"What if we are here to give him a job instead?" Nilay asks, wiggling his eyebrows together.

"What do you mean by that?" Kairav asks, getting concerned now.

"You will find out later." Vikram answers.

"Here is Karan bhaiya!" Kairav exclaims, seeing Karan entering the restaurant while carrying things in both of his hands.

Vikram glances over at the man who has a lot to explain.

The conversation he had with Mr.Agarwal's accused murderer earlier today is still ringing in his ears like a broken record.

"He didn't have a son. I'm positive." The man said to Vikram.

"He told me himself. What if he hid his son from you? Was he a secretive man?" Vikram asked back, not being satisfied with the answer of the man.

It took a while for the man to recollect his memories, "He was. There was certain things he didn't want to talk about but I always brushed it off."

"Did he even talk to you about a boy? He may not have mentioned it's his son but maybe he talked to you about a certain boy? You were his best friend of 20 years after all." Nilay inquired this time.

"Yeah. He did. He always talked about a boy whom he met while visiting an orphanage. He constantly told me that the boy was too bright, too genius and he was bound to find success in life."

Vikram and Nilay shared a look before shooting the next and the most important question.

"Do you perhaps remember his name?"

"He talked about the boy a lot. It's hard to forget."

"What's his name?"

"Karan. Karan Mehta. He used to live in Sunflower orphanage when he was a child."

"Thank you for cooperating. I assure you that you will get bailed out soon." The man cried in happiness while thanking him again and again.

A/N: And the plot thickens 👀
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter ♡