Three loud bangs echoed through the office of Arjun’s, the ever growing edtech empire now crumbling under its own weight.
Arjun stared at the numbers in his hands before tossing the paper to the floor. Loan defaults. Customer complaints. Lawsuits. Investors branding him a fraud.
He exhaled sharply and walked to the window, watching the city move below.
Are you guys cursing me too?
Do you guys also think that I am the villain?
“Thud.” His knee hit the desk as he fell back into his chair, pain shooting through his leg. He looked at a framed photograph of his family, smiling, untouched by the storm raging outside.
Enough for today. Let me go Home.
His house welcomed him with open arms, the safe heaven with no cameras, no reporters, no questions. Just warmth and love.
“You’re early,” Riya, his wife, said, her voice carrying both relief and hesitation. She had seen too much of him today, not in person, but on TV, on headlines tearing him apart.
Arjun slowly walked to the balcony and sank onto the floor.
Vihaan, his son, climbed onto his lap, giggling. “Papa!” “eeee”, showing off his teeth “When will you be on TV again? Tomorrow? The day after? I can still see you there, even when you’re not home!”
Arjun hugged him and held him close and then looked up at Riya. “No more meetings. No more customers to satisfy. Thought I’d come home early today.”
Vihaan was off to riding his toy cycle that his father had bought.
Arjun’s father sat beside him, he was quiet. But he couldn’t hold on for long, with a sad and slightly angry face he said.
“Arjun, I raised you to be a good man. Not just a man off to conquer the world”
Arjun let out a breath. “Papa”, he let of a simple smile, ” I wasn’t just chasing success. I wanted to build something meaningful…”
Silence all around.
Suddenly, Tears were heard, it was not Arjun’s, it was his son’s he had tipped over
“Bad cycle, Papa! Bad cycle!”
The whole family rushed to comfort him. His mother handed him another toy, the tears stopped in sometime. Vihaan ran off, already onto the next adventure.
Arjun’s father chuckled and turned to him. “Do you remember when you fell off your first cycle?”
Arjun nodded. “Yes. You helped me get back on, Papa”
His father placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Falling isn’t failing, son. Staying down is.”
Arjun’s eyes widened, it was the same wonder in his son’s eyes, the same eyes that once looked up to his father like a hero.
For the first time in months, something shifted inside Arjun. Not certainty. Not victory. But something stronger.
Hope.
That night, as the world mocked him, he held his son close and whispered,
“Papa’s not done yet.”
he picked up his phone and tweeted:
“Broke, not broken”
The world might not believe in him.
But his family did.
And for now,
that was enough!!
For more insights into the events that lead to me writing about this short story have a look here :
https://ajayan.substack.com/p/a-comeback-story-of-the-most-prominent