Always Is Not Forever (Breaking Myself - Part II)

[ A D Y A N T ' S P O V ]

I am a wanted man.

Or dare I say, I am Adyant Oberoi and that made me a wanted man even though I had the height and eyes of my father except for my dark black hair courtesy of my mother. I didn't mind being similar to my mother but that's where the similarity halted. Ever since I had been growing, everyone rolled out how similar I was to my father, how I talked with my eyes to make people fall for me, how I followed none of the rules and landed in trouble most, and how most of the times, dad had laughed at those antics.

Do you want to be me, son? Pray you never turn like me.

A chilling threat with a hope in his voice that I never turned like him.

And he was right.

I wasn't him.

I wasn't committed to a girl at the age of eighteen. I wasn't rebellious as he had been with my grandparents. I never experienced depression as he had. I didn't have any past to catch me in the vicious clutches.

"All set?" Diverting my gaze from the file, I peered at my uncle, leaning against the door, his son and my youngest brother sticking next to his leg.

"Yes," I grinned. "Kiara is going to love this." I closed the file. "I cannot believe that none of the Oberoi females' joined the business."

He shrugged his shoulders, directed Yuvraj to one of the chairs and paddled to my side. "Your grandfather was an only son. Your grandmother loved painting. Your oldest aunt had desired but she died, and as per my wife, I love her in scrubs and lab coat. And your mom-" Hated the idea of viciousness that played in the business world and her life revolved around her books. "Anyway, call Kiara. She is late."

"She must be sleeping." Taking the phone from the table, I dialed the number and she picked it up in a few minutes.

"Bhaiya," Udisha sang from the other side.

"Princess." Uncle perked his ears and rolled his eyes. "Wake up your Kiara di. You know how to do it and if she screams, tell I am calling her to the office."

"Okay but-"

"Yes, I will bring you a teddy bear. Now off you go." As she cut the call, her father tusked at how I bribed my little sister with billions of things and truth be told, yes, I did spoil her because she been too small when she had come to our house despite the fact she had no idea she was adopted.

And my gaze roamed to Yuvraj, an eleven-year-old boy with a twenty-one big brother. I was aware he looked up to me and Kiyan, aware how he would snuggle into my bedroom at the dead of the night, scaring his parents but they had learned if Yuvraj wasn't with them, he was with me, in my bed, playing video games.

I needed to stop spoiling my siblings but when you are the oldest in the family, you get weird feelings, a responsibility of four siblings you never thought you can encounter or even take care of. Whenever our parents would be out to enjoy their lives, me, Kiara, Riya was left handling those kids.

Sometimes, it felt like I was more like their parent than their brother.

"Stop spoiling my daughter," Uncle tusked, settled next to me. "You are just like Kabir." Was I? "Want to toast?"

"Papa would kill me if he sees I am drinking during work."

"But we are not doing work." Winking, he caught the phone, dialed a number and instructed on the other end to bring the glasses and the bottle, and before I could intervene, he waved his hands at my objections.

His mistake.

If dad asked, I would put the blame on him.

"Uncle, who was that girl?"