The Corporate Monster ✅

D R O W N E D

Standing in front of his house again made his stomach churn with anxiety. Aniket had never ached for his mother's love before, even when he knew that his own biological mother, Divya was killed by Prakash. He had Maykala to offer him the motherly love; and so, he never craved for it as his sister and his traitor of a cousin, Chinna had.

"C'mon." His wife said, tightening her hold on his fingers. "We have to shop for the house warming party after this."

Even though he was giving up his company, his power, and his money, he was still happy looking over at his enthusiastic wife. It surprised him that he had scored such a understanding, loving wife. If he received a ungrateful, gold-digger like Preesha, he would've spent his time at his office and wouldn't be willing to be the stay-home dad.

At the start of their marriage, Krithi had proposed something of that sort. A house-husband, he remembered. It was a term that infuriated him to the bounds of hell, and surged his ego. Now, the thought of staying home with his kids and making up for the lost time actually appealed to him.

However, it irked him that he was making his wife work. He should have been the breadwinner of the family. Although Krithi had explained to him that she wanted to work, Aniket could never understand why she wasn't willing to be pampered.

He had saved a truck load of money while he was the CEO of Pandyan Corporations. Now that he was willingly handing over the company to Prakash, he wanted to begin a rival company of his own with the knowledge and experience he had gained from managing his family's business.

"We're wasting time, Aniket. I did not take a day off to waste the day. Plus, Aruvi will come back from school and she starts to run free in the hospital if I don't check on her."

"I didn't see her this morning."

"I arranged a driver to drop and pick her up from school. And she's learned to be independent in these two months. She knows what to do."

"Oh." He said, running up the steps. Aniket did not like Krithi's way of implementing good behavior in his children. Aruvi was the most fussiest little girl he had ever seen, and it surprised him how his wife had brought up his child to possess manners.

"We have exactly half an hour to get their signatures and get to the registrar. This will be quite simple, since this is what they want." She said, her hand reaching for the doorbell.

"I hope Chinna is still here."

"Oh, I called Mayma before we came. She said she made Chinna stay a little bit longer before he goes to work."

Aniket snorted. Chinna's illegal businesses shouldn't be classified as 'work.' "If that's what you want to call it."

Krithi masked her face with a polite smile, something she had learned while dark reigns of depression clouded her head when her husband was presumed to be dead. "Have the papers ready, Aniket."

"We're cowards." He seethed, bitter that he was giving up his three year work to a man who didn't deserve a cent of his hard work.

"We have three children, Aniket. We can't fall into danger like we had before. We have responsibilities." She lectured.

"Exactly. How am I going to sustain my children when I don't even have money?"

"You don't need a ton of money to be happy, Aniket. We can learn to work with what we have."

Even though a part of him knew it was true, he shook his head, opening his mouth to argue when his mother opened the door with a wide smile. He couldn't look at her. The woman had basically pushed him out of her house. Yet, a part of his heart still earned for her love.