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It was two in the afternoon when Prithviraj got the call that Shivansh was missing. That was more than enough for the king to cancel the meeting. He was the same king who never canceled a single meeting before. Maybe parental responsibility was not something he had experienced before.
Prithviraj and the guards have been searching everywhere for the past two hours. On top of that, the boy left his phone in the cafeteria behind. Two hours. They had been madly searching everywhere for two hours. The entire city was a silent spectator of their heartless ruler's despair and fear.
Losing a child is the biggest fear in the world. And Prithviraj was feeling it for the first time in his life.
When they couldn't find him anywhere, they reached near the shores. Maybe... just maybe the kid came here out of curiosity. And Prithviraj almost cried in relief when he saw his kid playing on the beach with some random kids. His pants were rolled up to his knees as they played handball. Occasionally, they also pushed each other into the water.
Shivansh was like a kid looking at his favorite toy for the first time. Beach was way much more fun than he was told. He was oblivious to the storm standing behind him, bristling in anger and fury.
Two hours of fear, pain, and bad thoughts piled up together. All the emotions he felt in the past two hours blended to form one, strong emotion. Anger. Fury. Uncontrolled and unimaginable rage.
The kids who were playing with him stopped when they saw the King of their kingdom standing just a meter away, glaring at them. There were numerous cars and guards surrounding their King, and they stilled in fear and apprehension. They had no idea that the boy they were playing with was the monarch's only son.
"Kya hua? Ruk kyu gaye tum log?" Shivansh asked them curiously. But when the kids just stood silently, he followed their gaze.
He stilled seeing his father and an army of soldiers behind him. He gulped seeing the fury chained in his father's eyes. One look at his father's face and he knew he did something. The guards, police, and soldiers who accompanied his father intimidated him more than made him feel saved.
It was at that moment he realized how powerful his father was in this world. When his father walked down a lane, an army accompanied him. Whenever he made his way to a specific place, the area would get cleared before he would reach there. Prithviraj Agnihotri was the ruler of this world. A monarch. The most respected person.
His father was the law himself. His words became news and his decisions became the fate of the people of this world.
Without a word, Prithviraj walked to his kid, who looked scared for a change. Only if he hadn't been such an important personality and every action of his wouldn't have been captured with different angles, he would have unleashed his fury right the moment they met.
The man thought of all the worst possibilities when he was searching for his kid. All the bad thoughts made him die every second while searching for his child. And when he found the kid, he was playing with strangers on the beach. He never felt so furious before.
"Baba, aap yaha..." Shivansh dared to ask him but Prithviraj didn't let him continue. He was too enraged to talk. And they were in public. He had to remind himself again and again.
"Come with me, we are going home." Prithviraj announced, holding his hand gently but firmly and guiding him to his car.
Shivansh saw the raw anger behind his father's calm demeanor. This was the first time he saw something so controlled yet so dangerous in his life. The way his father was controlling his anger, not giving away in the urge to whack some sense in the way, and his eyes burning with fury that made him flinch without any chastise scared the kid.
It was only when they got inside the car and Prithviraj ordered his chauffeur to drive home, informing his bodyguard that they found Shivansh, the boy realized what brought his father here. He came here unannounced. He didn't have his phone with him. His father must have gotten scared. He wanted to apologize and say how he didn't think much before deciding to explore the city on his own but couldn't gather enough courage to do so.
Prithviraj looked like a ticking bomb. Just a poke and the explosion would be destructive. Not wanting to get yelled at in front of their driver, Shivansh didn't speak anything. The man sitting beside him was his father, no doubt, but it was a deadlier version of his sweet father. This man didn't let his misbehavior slide this morning, how would he let his reckless behavior slide?
The journey from the beach to their mansion felt too long. Prithviraj was not speaking, afraid of lashing out at him in front of strangers. He was livid but he didn't want to humiliate his child. Shivansh was a teenager. Getting yelled at in front of strangers is embarrassing. And Shivansh was quiet because he didn't know how to address his father without angering him.
When they reached home, the servants had a hunch about what might have happened. The news of Prithviraj frantically roaming on streets was not missed by the news channels. And one look at the kid, and they knew the boy was at fault. They felt bad for the little kid. Prithviraj had a scary temper. His anger scared almost everyone, and the boy was still a naïve kid. How would he take his father's anger?
"Did you eat anything?" Prithviraj asked the boy as soon as they walked inside the house. It was almost five in the evening when they reached.
Shivansh's lips failed to co-operate. They were sealed in fear. When the boy did not answer, verbally or in actions, his jaw ticked. He reminded himself that he couldn't shout at a child. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before taking a step forward towards the boy.
"Did you or did you not eat anything outside, Shivansh?" He asked him again, and this time the boy nodded his head quickly. His father sounded too angry for his liking.
"What?" Prithviraj asked him again, and Shivansh looked up before looking away immediately. No matter how much he tried, his father's dark, angry eyes were too intense for him to hold his gaze.
"Dosa." Shivansh answered in a small voice and Prithviraj nodded his head.
"Go to our room." Prithviraj demanded him, looking at him with such seriousness that Shivansh didn't have the bravery to question his father and immediately scurried away.
It was only when Shivansh ran upstairs, like literally ran upstairs, that he ran his fingers through his hair angrily. He didn't want to deal with the kid in anger. So he took his time. He waited for half an hour, at least, before going up to his room.
Shivansh was sitting on the bed silently. His eyes held guilt and slight fear. Though the fear didn't settle with him, he knows kids are supposed to get scared after making mistakes. It was still better to fear consequences than not care about it at all.
When Prithviraj walked inside the room, Shivansh gulped immediately. This was a new side of his father and was quite daunting. The way he commanded presence without even uttering a word, and the way he walked and conversed with him, everything was just too different. And now that he was in trouble, he didn't know what to expect from him. That scared him a bit.
"I'm sorry, Baba." Shivansh apologized genuinely.
He was genuinely very sorry for scaring his father. This was not happening for the first time. But unlike every other time, he honestly didn't mean to cause trouble this time. This was just how he used to live. He never informed anyone. He never cared enough to inform his father. But today when he saw his father in distress, he realized how stupid he was being. The majority of the time, his father was oblivious to his adventures.
Prithviraj as a banker didn't have the luxury of keeping his eyes on Shivansh all the time. And the boy refused to let his father know anything about his life. It wasn't until Prithviraj reached with an entire army to find him, he realized how selfish he had been in the past.
"What are you even apologizing for, Shivansh?" Prithviraj asked him, closing the door behind him for privacy.
Though nobody wandered on the third floor, there were still a couple of guards for security. He didn't want to humiliate his son in any way. He wants the kid to know what he did was wrong, and he needs to make sure the boy learns to not run wild again in the future. And for this, he needs to make sure that Shivansh feels the guilt and not the humiliation.
"Speak up, child. I am not talking to the walls, now am I?" Prithviraj snapped angrily. His patience was a long-told history. Every bit of his patience ran out when he found out his son was missing.
Shivansh flinched at the tone. He was not used to seeing his father like this. Normally, he would have snapped back and walked out of the house. But this time, his mouth didn't co-operate. His legs refused to run out of the house. It wasn't the fear that locked him in his place, it was remorse. He was guilty of scaring his father.
"I'm sorry." The kid apologized again. Prithviraj felt like banging his head against the wall.
How are you supposed to scold someone when they are already feeling guilty? But then he remembered how Shivansh originally landed in this world. Recklessness. The boy might be guilty but it was how he made himself over time. Prithviraj vowed to change this habit of the boy. The boy was just sixteen to be making decisions in his life and not involving his father. Not only did it anger him, but it also hurt him.
"Stand up, Ansh." Prithviraj gentled his voice.
Soft approach. He needs to make sure the boy is comfortable with him if he wants to hear the kid. He needs to be gentle if he wants the boy to tell him why he behaved this way. Was it just his hormones and recklessness, or something more?
"Up, beta. Get up. I am not going to hit you." He assured him when he saw hesitation flickering in the kid's doe eyes.
Shivansh nervously rubbed his hands but stood up. Prithviraj took a seat on the bed, sitting on the edge, and pulled the boy in front of him, holding his wrists. Contrary to his father's words, the position screamed for violence. But his father's eyes were strangely soft. He was expecting so many things in that moment but gentle gaze was not the reaction he was expecting.
"Do you know how scared I was when your bodyguard called me and said that you were missing?" Prithviraj began, his soft voice made Shivansh look down. For some reason, he couldn't lift his gaze from the floor.
"Can I, at least, expect a conversation with you, Ansh? If you keep looking down and do not respond to my questions, how will we reach a conclusion? Mujhe samajhne toh de why you keep behaving like this." Prithviraj could see his words were making the desired impact.
Shivansh tugged on his lips. Strangely, being answerable to your fault is way harder than running away from it. Getting angry and then walking out was easy for Shivansh. But this? Answering the questions, and explaining his behavior... these were proving harder than anything. It was like the guilt had tied his tongue.
Prithviraj was waiting for the kid to speak. And the boy didn't disappoint him. Shivansh took his time but answered him.
"Scaring you was never my intention, Baba. And I was not testing you either. Sachi. I heard some students talking about the beach nearby. And maine kabhi beach nahi dekha tha. I just got curious. Aap bhi ghar pe nahi the. I thought... I didn't think much honestly." His small voice was laced with guilt.
Now that he spoke, Prithviraj realized how he was raised. He was not answerable to his father. He didn't have to inform him. He was the master of his own life. It hurt Prithviraj to think that his son didn't involve his father in his life before. He has no idea how he tolerated that in the other world because he was close to losing his calm right now.
"Tell me honestly, Ansh. This is not the first time you have gone somewhere without informing. Permission chodo, you never cared about informing your father before. Kyu?" He asked Shivansh bluntly.
Now that his father asked him straight forward, he felt bad. He felt like a selfish and ungrateful brat, that he was. When he looked down again, Prithviraj gripped his jaw firmly in his hand and made him look up. The scorching gaze of his father sucked the very last of his courage too.
"Kuch pucha maine, Shivansh."
"Ji," he agreed timidly. "Not the first time."
Prithviraj closed his eyes and leaned back. It wasn't entirely the boy's fault either. His father made him feel like it was not important to ask for his permission or have the decency of informing him, at least. But Shivansh was sixteen. An age where he was not naïve.
"Have you ever thought how stupid you have been all this time, Shivansh? You left the school without informing anyone. Not me, not your guards, not your classmates, no one. Nobody had a clue where you were. You were not picking up your phone. I can make do with stupidity, Shivansh, but carelessness?" Shivansh flinched at the harsh and unfiltered words of his father.
Just the moment, he was about to look away, Prithviraj forced his eyes back on him. Tears of helplessness and remorse filled his eyes. And his father's resolve almost broke down. But he was not done. Not even remotely.
"This might hurt you to even listen, Shivansh, but you need to start considering your family's emotions. Have you ever thought about what would happen if I were to go away somewhere without letting you or anyone know? How would you feel if you were looking for me everywhere but not finding me anywhere? You have zero knowledge of how terrifying it is when you don't know where your kid is and you're searching for him madly. I nearly collapsed from fear."
Prithviraj was not raising his voice but he wasn't being gentle in any way. Gone were his tender gaze and gentle tone. His voice was sharp like a dagger, his words were no less painful. It hurt him to listen to the misery he put the monarch through in a few hours, and his banker father for years now.
"I... I am sorry, Baba." Shivansh's voice choked up, unable to clear the lump in his throat that kept constricting his voice.
"You will be sorry, Ansh. You'll be very sorry." Prithviraj promised him, pinning him with his scrutinizing gaze and the boy looked at him pitifully.
"You were not trying to defy me or test me in any way. Yeh baat jaanta hu main. But this habit of yours is really dangerous, Shivansh. Your habit of not informing anyone before leaving or walking out like it's very normal needs to change. Who knows what might happen to you and I won't have any idea about your whereabouts. The mere thought of you suffering alone because of your stupidity makes me tremble, stupid boy." Prithviraj scolded him mercilessly.
He whacked him gently when he called him stupid and Shivansh's chin quivered. Getting scolded like this and feeling the weight of guilt is the most difficult thing he experienced in the world.
"Go and stand in the corner." He demanded softly.
Shivansh looked up in disbelief. For a moment, his guilt was replaced by shock. Corner? The threat his father gave him in the morning was not really a bluff. But he was sixteen for God's sake. He was too old to stand in the corner like a naughty toddler.
When Shivansh just stood in his place, not moving at all, Prithviraj raised an eyebrow. When the kid realized that his father was not bluffing or threatening him anymore but was serious, he scoffed, taking a step back immediately.
"I am not standing in the corner like a kid. No. Not happening, Baba." Shivansh immediately shook his head. He would never do something that embarrassing. Not at all.
Prithviraj looked at him silently. The audacity of the kid stunned him. When he was a kid, he could barely go against his father. Though it was more out of fear than respect or guilt, but they always obeyed their parents. But Shivansh? The boy never listened to him.
When he kept staring at his child, refusing to utter a word, Shivansh stomped his foot. He was quick to transform from a sixteen-year-old teenager to a six-year-old bratty kid. The silent stare scared him more than all the scolding he got.
"Baba, please. Corner time nahi. I am not a kid. It's embarrassing." Shivansh whined, and his father tilted his head, scratching his chin dramatically.
"There's no one but us, beta. It's not embarrassing. Go and face the corner. Be quick." Prithviraj repeated again, but Shivansh stubbornly shook his head.
"You're treating me like a child." He complained with a sulk, and Prithviraj's patience started growing thin once again. The boy doesn't know when to shut his mouth. He was so close to seeing his father's angry side, something he was not really ready for.
"Because you are a child, Shivansh. Stop behaving like you're twenty-six. Now, before I make you stand in the corner, have some mercy on yourself and obey." His voice was terrifyingly calm.
Shivansh was not a fool to ignore the alarms. But he couldn't bring himself to stand in the corner. He was never punished before. He was more like a loose bull. He might take any other punishment but that. Standing in the corner like a bratty kid? Not happening.
"It's embarrassing. Kuch aur punishment de do aap." Shivansh argued once again, and that was it.
Shivansh took a step back when his father stood up. The height difference made his towering height intimidating. And suddenly the urge to crawl into the corner and put his nose as far away as he could sounded more tempting than bearing the wrath of his father.
But before he could have reacted, Prithviraj grabbed his elbow, making the boy choke on his breath. He was expecting so many things but not his father bending down slightly to meet his gaze. He was leaning forward so scarily that he almost gulped. He always thought his father was not man enough. He underestimated his father for being calm and understanding.
"You think you have the liberty of choosing the punishment, kid? Am I selling clothes here that you wish for varieties? Now behave like a kid you are, Shivansh. Kids get their mistakes forgiven because they are kids. If you want me to treat you like an adult, you'll be accountable like one. Do you still want me to treat you like an adult?" Prithviraj asked him calmly, and Shivansh shook his head like a scared kitten.
The kid was not sure how his father would deal with him he agreed to get treated like an adult, but somewhere deep down his heart he knew not knowing was best.
He didn't dare utter another word of protest when Prithviraj dragged him to the corner and made him stand there. He felt his father taking his hand back once he was nicely put in the corner, like a toddler. It was embarrassing to begin with, and it made him want to crawl back to his calm and sweet father. This monarch never relents back.
"Stand here, Shivansh. And I swear, if you move from here or try defying me again, I'll treat you like an adult." Prithviraj warned him as seriously as he could. Shivansh bit his lips but turned back slightly.
"Like an adult?" Shivansh questioned him, and his father sensed curiosity and nervousness at the same time.
Shivansh yelped in pain when he felt a sharp whack on his leg.
"Ouch, maara kyu?" Shivansh asked him, almost in an accusatory tone. His mouth dried when he saw an itching stick in his father's hand. That thing hurts so bad? He wanted to throw away the sinful thing out of the window.
"You wanted to know how adults get treated for behaving carelessly. I showed you. Will you stay put now?" Prithviraj asked him flatly, and Shivansh answered him by turning his face away and standing obediently.
A single whack was enough for the kid to know that embarrassing punishment was better than getting whacked by an itching stick. Prithviraj shook his head and threw the stick on the bed. He wasn't planning to hit the kid either way. But his child was being too stubborn, so he scared him a bit.
He took a seat on the chair and stared at Shivansh, who was standing in the corner. He was not sure how long he would keep the boy standing. He never did it before. Nobody ever punished Prithviraj out of concern either. He was punished countless times, but every time he got punished, it was either because his father was dissatisfied with him or he went against his father's words. Royalty took obedience very seriously.
But with Shivansh, Prithviraj was being as gentle as possible. All his life, Prithviraj got beaten by belts, sticks, and whatnot. Now that he was looking at his son, the monarch knew that he never got punished but abused. Nobody gave him corner times, nobody scolded him or made him understand. Prithviraj got beat directly. Something he would never do with his son. His son would never go through anything he went through, Prithviraj promised himself mentally.
Shivansh's embarrassment turned into remorse. Countless memories of him running away from home, hurting his father flooded his mind. Back in those days, his father hardly knew about his adventures. But whenever he got to know about it and confronted his child, Shivansh always fought with him. He would misbehave with his father and walk out of the house.
Ungrateful. That's what he has been all this time.
Prithviraj's heart broke when he saw the boy's lower lip trembling as he tried suppressing his sob. But the more he thought, the more guilty he felt and the more his heart ached. Soon the tears cascaded down. His shoulders shook as he cried silently. Twenty minutes. It only took twenty minutes for the boy to break down and cry like that.
Damn the punishment, Prithviraj thought as he stood up from the chair and in three long strides covered the distance between them. Shivansh cried more when his father turned him around and embraced him closer to his chest. He held on to Prithviraj as if he was scared to lose him. His actions never made his father feel loved. If anything, he must have made him feel so unwanted and a failure.
"I'm sorry. I am really sorry, Baba." Shivansh cried in his chest and Prithviraj shushed him, rubbing his back as he sat down on the bed and took him on his lap.
Suddenly Shivansh didn't care he was sixteen, too old to be sitting like that, holding onto his father as he always claimed. He wanted the warmth Prithviraj was always willing to provide but he was reluctant to accept. He insulted his father for being so soft numerous times. But this time, he realized why Prithviraj was like that. Because he knew his son needed the love he thought was a weakness. But he was too stupid to understand that back then.
"Shaant, bachcha. It's okay. Everyone makes a mistake. You're no different. It's okay." Prithviraj gently shushed him, rubbing his back. But the boy shook his head, sniffling.
He looked at his father and bit his lip to keep himself from breaking down once again. But when his father offered him a soft smile and tucked his hair behind his ears as they were continuously troubling his eyes, a fresh line of tears made their way to his eyes.
Prithviraj rested his chin on top of his head as he kissed his head.
"I hurt you so much back then. I always keep hurting you. You don't deserve this. I am really sorry. Aage se aapko bina bataye kahi nahi jaaunga." Shivansh promised him, and Prithviraj smiled at him gently.
He might have not believed his son's words but the breakdown he had just now and the realization that hit him when he was reflecting on himself in the corner more or less convinced him that Shivansh was actually sorry. He was guilty, and not because he got caught but because he genuinely realized how wrong he had been.
"Yes your father didn't deserve this cold shoulder you gave him all this time, Ansh. Don't I deserve to know what is happening in my child's life? You are my son, Shivansh. The least I deserve is to get informed about your whereabouts. You might be growing up every day but that doesn't make me feel at ease. Not knowing where my child is and in what condition is very scary." His soft voice made Shivansh play with the button of his father's shirt.
"And I also know you won't repeat this. Because if you do this again, I won't let you get away just because you cried." He playfully warned him, swatting the back of his head, a little sharply making the kid wince.
Even when he was being playful, Shivansh had a hunch that his father was not kidding. He rested his head against his father's chest, making himself as comfortable as he could and Prithviraj rolled his eyes at the kid.
He wanted some comfort after getting scolded like that, after standing in the corner for twenty minutes. Though Prithviraj knew the punishment was literal Ily nothing in front of what he originally wanted to do, he didn't stretch it forward and hugged his child. Shivansh was guilty, for the right reasons.
"I don't care how old you think you are, Ansh. You will let me know where you are. In fact, you need my permission if you want to go somewhere out. The world is very dangerous, Ansh." He caressed his forehead, and Shivansh nodded his head wordlessly, leaning more to his father's chest.
He watched his father placing the phone he forgot in the cafeteria beside him before wrapping his arms around him once again. He didn't know when he drifted to sleep. He just remembered Prithviraj running his fingers through his hair, occasionally kissing his forehead and caressing his cheeks.
Maybe the love and comfort provided him with so much warmth that he got lured by sleep in no time. He doesn't know when his father placed his head on the pillow and covered his body with a warm blanket and placed another soft kiss on the top of his head. He doesn't know how long his father sat there, staring at his sleeping face, calming down his pounding heart, telling him that his kid was safe and asleep soundly. He tried rubbing away his guilt of scolding too much when they literally met two days ago.
But Shivansh was his child in every world that existed in this universe. Maybe the reason why he never felt uncomfortable and awkward with him once he got to know he was his child.
When he was comforted enough with the sight of his safe and sound kid, Prithviraj wrote a note before leaving for work. He had left important meetings, he needs to return now.
SO, THE RUTHLESS MONARCH IS NOT SO HEARTLESS AFTER ALL. HAHA
Prithviraj Agnihotri— Saha bhi nahi jaata, kaha bhi nahi jaata chotte sehzaade ho
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