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2. Brownies

Yash confusedly glanced between Shubman, who looked like he was on the verge of tears and Ishan, who just stood there unmoving. Ishan's expressions were stoic, his eyes showed a completely different story though. Shubman tried to take a step towards Ishan and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could speak,  Ishan had already ran out of the room. Yash's gaze lingered at the empty spot Ishan once stood in.

He then turned to watch Shubman and observed him for a couple of seconds before walking out of the office. Yash spotted Hardik and Rohit there interrogating Ishan.
"What's wrong bacha?"
Rohit asked Ishan, who had now lost his stoic expression and looked shaken.
"Nothing bhai, let's leave."
"Then why do you look so- wait... is this The Shubman? THAT Shubman?"

Yash observed Hardik as discreetly as possible and tried to decode what he meant. 'That Shubman? Which Shubman? What do they mean?
Oh! So I guessed it right, they do know each other.' all these thoughts ran inside Yash's mind and he realized Ishan hadn't responded to Hardik's question but his expression had made it obvious. It was THAT Shubman. The three of them made their way out of there and Yash slumped on his chair.

This was going to be a tough task, thought Yash and he made a mental note to question his boss about the matter. Hardik and Rohit on the other hand had been trying to calm Ishan down throughout their ride back to their agency.
"You won't see him again, it will be okay."
Rohit said trying to comfort Ishan.
"Do you really think so?"
Ishan asked Rohit in a hopeful manner showing his puppy eyes.

"Yes bacha"
Rohit replied a little unsure.
"It won't be okay bhaiya. It's fine, you don't need to lie to make me feel better."
"Why won't-"
"Because he now knows what Ishan does and which agency he's from."
Hardik replied to Rohit and earned a glare from him in return. Hardik eyes widened, realizing that Rohit obviously already knew all of that but he was truly just trying to comfort the younger.

The next day, as Yash made his way to his office he was summoned by Shubman.
"Yes?"
"What are you doing here?"
"You called me?"
Yash asked looking at Shubman like he was crazy. Shubman as always sighed but ignored that comment.
"Did I not tell you that if you failed to hire Ishan you shouldn't bother to show your face here again?"

"So... you're firing me!?"
This time it was Shubman's turn to look at Yash like he had lost it and Yash finally got the hint.
"Oh! You want me to coax him."
"Yes."
"It's better to just fire me then."
Shubman narrowed his eyes at Yash and Yash either didn't notice or pretended not to as he continued.
"What really went down between you two? and why are you so hell bent on making my life miserable by dragging me into it?"

"None of your business"
Shubman said holding one finger up.
"-and because it's your job."
Shubman said holding his second finger up.
"Now do your job."
Shubman said dismissing Yash and Yash had no option but to dejectedly leave his office, secretly praying for Shubman to either hit his head and forget everything or for Ishan to be the opposite of Shubman, that is be actually nice and agree to Yash's pleading.

Yash went to his desk and took a deep breath before calling Ishan's company.
He asked for Ishan's number and upon getting it, gave him a call. He decided he wanted to get blocked right away because when Ishan picked up he started with,
"Hello, I'm Yashasvi from Gill Ente-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, Ishan had cut the call. Maybe Yash shouldn't have started like that... Yash tried again but there were no rings and it said out of service. Great, he had been blocked.

Yash stood up, now knowing he had no other way to get to Ishan then to go meet him directly. Ishan, on the other hand, had been very surprised when the assistant Yash showed up at his agency wanting to meet him, because he had half expected Shubman to barge inside instead. He was grateful for that not happening though.
"Hello..."
"You know I cut the call and blocked you for a reason."
Ishan said giving Yash a disappointed look.

"Yes, well I don't know the reason though, so I'm here to find out."
"and who are you exactly?"
"I just want to help you. If you tell me I can fix it, or atleast try my best to."
"Do you think my problem is something like wanting more salary or benefits? Because that's not it and I don't have a problem for you to fix."
"I know. I know it's not any of that. It's probably my boss isn't it? The problem."

"Why don't you go ask him instead? You seem to know him well."
Saying that Ishan got up and left his office, leaving Yash behind. Ishan went to his shared apartment with Rohit and Hardik and when they showed up after sometime, Ishan took a deep breath.
"You guys should take the job."
"We are going to all get a job at the same place Ishu, we had already decided that."
Rohit softly denied Ishan with a shake of his head.

"Yes, besides I don't want to lose my career, I'm too young."
Rohit and Ishan gave Hardik a confused look and Hardik further elaborated.
"What? Who will be willing to give me a job after I kill my boss instead of protecting him?"
Ishan and Rohit just chuckled shaking their heads and Ishan relaxed a bit, but the thought still lingered at the back of his head. This was the biggest job they could ever get, did he really want his brothers to lose this opportunity because of him?

For the next few days Yash had followed Ishan around.
"Ok! why don't you leave me alone, before I call the police? or worse kill you myself."
Yash gulped nervously.
"Please just give it a shot."
"Why are you so hell bent on making me agree?"
"Because I'll be fired if you don't."
Yash then removed a box from his bagpack and gave it to Ishan.

"What is this?"
"I heard you like brownies, so I made you some."
Brownies... Ishan didn't like that dessert anymore but he bit back those mean words. This guy had put in efforts and so he took the box out of Yash's hands and removed a brownie holding it in front of him.
"I've stopped... eating brownies."
Saying that, Ishan handed the brownies back to Yash and left. Yash was confused, he had asked Shubman and Shubman had told him Ishan liked brownies... then what changed?

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