Page 2 of No Boss
It wasn’t funny. Abhinav didn’t smile.
His father’s eyes moved to the small diya still burning.
“Your mother prays every day,” Rajendra breathed out the words. “Asks Kuldevi to take away my pain. To let me live.”
Abhinav said nothing.
His father looked at him. “You don’t believe it helps.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I think,” Abhinav replied carefully, “prayer makes the person praying feel better. If it helps Maa cope, then it serves a purpose.”
“But you don’t think anyone’s listening.”
“I think if someone was listening, you wouldn’t be in pain.”
The words came out sharper, harder than he’d intended.
His father didn’t flinch. Just studied him with those too-knowing eyes.
“You’re angry,” Rajendra stated quietly. “At the cancer. At the doctors. At God, maybe.”
“I’m not angry.” Abhinav kept his voice level. Professional. The same tone he used in boardrooms. “I’m accepting reality. Cancer is biology. Pain is neurology. Prayer is psychology. None of it changes the medical facts.”
“And the medical facts say I’m dying.”
“Yes.”
His father was quiet for a moment. Then, “Do you know what I pray for?”
Abhinav didn’t answer.
“Not for the pain to stop. That’s what your mother prays for, and I love her for it, but I know better.” Rajendra shifted slightly, wincing. “I pray that I raised you right. That when I’m gone, you’ll know how to live instead of just how to achieve.”
“Papa…”
“Abhinav, you’re thirty-three years old. You’ve built an empire. Multiple companies across three continents. You’re worth...” Hewaved a hand vaguely. “More money than we can spend in seven lifetimes. You’re brilliant, beta. Truly brilliant.”
Abhinav waited. There was abutcoming.
“But you’ve never been in love. You’ve never stood anywhere and thoughtthis is it.You live in office or hotels. You date women you don’t remember three months later. You work eighteen-hour days because when you stop working, you don’t know what else to do with yourself.”
“I built what you taught me to build,” Abhinav responded quietly.
“I know.” His father’s voice cracked on the words. “That’s what I fear. That I taught you too well how to be successful and not well enough how to…just be.”
The oxygen machine cycled.
Beep.
Hiss.
Beep.
“I want to go out,” his father declared suddenly. “Today. Now. Before I’m too weak.”
Sarita, Abhinav’s mother, appeared in the doorway as if summoned. “The doctor said…”
