Bound With Stars

Chapter 1

David's POV

"A new CEO is never taken off the radars of the tabloids nor the company he is leading with the prospect of earning decided profits or sharing losses; as well as safeguarding the interest of his employees who devote themselves to their leaders with the sole intention of achieving equilibrium," said David. He looked straight at the reporters who have been at his throat to get an interview since his and his best friend Blake Cullen's succession as CEO and MD three weeks back. Every time the new leaders showed them a red light burning them with their newly obtained business tycoon personalities, the reporters became more persistent. However, they became lucky on the morning of the tenth anniversary of R & C group of companies when the duo finally nodded their heads to conduct the live interview with an intention to expand their export business and approach their investors with a new mindset into luring them towards their new unisex collection.

The paparazzi asked a few other questions relating to their personal lives, family opinions, investor response concerning the change of their father's early retirement. They made it an attempt to keep it entirely professional but still leave them with a bite or two to last a few weekends. Living in an urban city like Greater London, the most popular European regions, getting rid of the press was not on the charts; not that it was ever an option for a reputed joint venture to escape the press. David, particularly, didn't believe in the false hype generated through the medium of those extended articles or edited broadcasts shown on the news channels. He dismissed the philosophy, "All press is good press." He wasn't a star to begin with; he was a normal person who was promoted through luck to take over the giant brand forward. Hard-work he hadn't known yet; then how could he pose for or indulge in the conversations with the media solely because he obtained the title of CEO. It might seem the attitude of a leader but to him it was a charade to hide the nervousness of being a leader and as far as he could see the impact on the reporters, some of them weren't impressed. They were gutted from him or Blake, he couldn't say. 

Since five until now, they have called each other through their favorite biscuit names, Bourbon and Oreo. Suddenly, being together in the spotlight to convey a public message was too much even for the twenty-six year old David. His tall frame wasn't intimidating the cameramen clicking him from left and right. It encouraged them as if he were a robot who challenged them to make him look different in his pictures. He looked the same though as he'd looked two years ago when he stood next to his father, Donald. The photographer's  have been at it for an hour, and it seems like a decade. Having had enough of the tantrums, he loosened his tie and stepped down the podium giving the entire stage to Blake who surprisingly enjoyed the attention. 

From the corner of his eye, he eyed Blake who seemed stoic in his gray suit. 

"Wasn't he shivering until last night at the mere thought of facing the media?" David  muttered under his breath. "Perhaps, the pep talk our fathers gave, consoled his overbearing nerves," he added as a way to remind himself but finding it not comforting, he argued a little louder for his own liking, "Why didn't it work on me?"

"Because you my friend are the unhinged missile of the army," he heard Ben's husky voice from behind and turned to see the latter, standing there with a goofy smile lingering on his lips. 

"That went fast, eavesdropper," he raised an eyebrow. 

"I was hoping to drag it and make them piss in their pants, but I took mercy on the sleepers." Blake shrugged his shoulders. "Coming to the holy saint, Sir, why are you miserable?" 

"I feel like I have enrolled into the military and I might be actually turning into the unhinged missile of our father's grave test. It's not working to say the least and I am not a holy saint." David emphasized, rolling his eyes, clarifying Blake's offensive sense of humor right away. David had assumed Blake would fire up another atrocious charge from the list of the verbally amusing sentences instead his childhood best friend dismissed him through the eye and signalled the team-mates to leave. The freaky Donald Robinson had appointed them as his guardians in the mess he had pushed on him overnight and all he could do was make a node with a 'hmm' sound. 

"Is the managing director feeling the weather?" David twisted his lip into a smirk but failed miserably for Blake ended up laughing as if he cracked a joke, worth millions. "Seriously, is this why you asked me about my discomfort?"

"God! David, I can't believe you're the same guy who I knew for years. It seems one title has caught up in your head and made you a clown." Blake ofcourse joked right through the white-teeth to appear as cool as their Dad's have been when they announced their retirement. 

"Says the man who wasn't even ready to wear a suit until a month back," David retorted, crossing his arms over his chest and keeping his posture as straight as possible. It was supposed to make him look the meaner version of himself; it didn't because Blake's audacity reached another heights and he laughed more than usual. 

"If you're done with your ridiculous laughing, can we move to the office or I fully intend on calling Genelia to beat your ass," David mumbled, fidgeting with the buttons on his coat. 

"What if I call the Darling of our group?" 

"Are you threatening me?" 

"What if I am?" 

"Then I will use my managing director power to show the story of Darling and Bourbon in the media." Blake blabbered whatever came in his mouth to make him shut up and indeed, it made him quiet and thoughtful.  

Blake and Genelia had a story one would want and one wouldn't want either. They loved each other to bits and pieces yet when it came to tormenting the other, they were a step ahead especially Genelia's father loved to threw his authority at Blake because in his eyes, David was a man enough to not have any girlfriends and to allow his parents to choose the bride for him. This ofcourse never came in between Blake and David for they were glued to each other through the hip. If any external source ever tried to split them, they had a record of pushing that person's soul into a frozen cave. But when it came to their Darling aka Crystal, Blake's sister, they were either in the north or south for it was some task to win from Crystal Cullen who wasn't only his female version but his only female friend since she was born into the crankshaft world. She made him shy in a good way and he considered her a baby but they had no story for the last time he checked, he'd been practicing to fit in the slippers of a CEO and she'd been doing her job as a psychologist. Perhaps, she could help him fix the clandestine of his mind and gather his nerves but how could he ask for help in a trivial matter such as this? 

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