Chapter 1

Hello  this idea sort of came to my mind and I decided to just pen it down.  

Hope you all enjoy reading it. It's slightly maturish but nothing too detailed. It's more about the subject matter.  I consider it a PG-13 rating.

Heavy eyelids gently stirred as voices from the hallway echoed their way into the curtained room, awakening a very tired Akshara Goenka.  She instinctively put her hand on her forehead and groaned at the throbbing pain that seemed to be bouncing between the temples.  Despite the dimness in the room her eyes squinted offended by the red digits on the alarm clock.  “1:00pm?” she hoarsely whispered.  “So late…wh-what happened?”  She closed her eyes trying to recollect the events of the night.  She remembered clearly attending the conference party.  The rest was just blurry images: dancing, laughing, talking, and some fruity non-alcoholic cocktail with someone.  “Abhi-manyu…” Akshara said out loud as her eyes flew open and she suddenly realized there was an arm draped around her waist.  “Oh God,” panicking as her elbow moved backward, thudding against a chest.  Abhimanyu Birla awoke with a gruff cough as he felt pain and barked, “What?”  Akshara quickly sat up and pulled the covers up around her horrified at the situation she was finding herself in.  “What are you doing here?”

“Wh-who, what?” Abhimanyu sputtered as he sat up his eyes barely open. After a second’s pause he asked, “Akshara, what are you doing?”

“What am I doing?!” she shrieked even though it hurt her head to speak in such a tone. “What are you doing?!”

Abhimanyu moved backwards as his delayed senses finally caught onto the situation.  He let out a yelp as he fell out of the bed due to his legs being tangled in the bed sheets.  Akshara tried to pull some of them back to cover herself resulting in his right leg going up in the air.  “Ahhh…would you stop so I can stand up?” Abhimanyu complained as he tried his best to untangle himself from the mess.  When he finally stood up he had the bed sheet draped around his shoulders.  He rubbed the back of his head and asked, “What happened last night?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing...you don’t remember?  Oh god, this is like the Desi daru hut incident.”

“Just that we were at the conference party,” he replied.  “My head feels like someone dropped a thousand bricks on it. But we didn’t have any Desi daru so why are we feeling like this?”

“I don’t know.  You think someone spiked the drinks?”

“This is a conference.  That would be illegal.  We had fruit punch and it wasn’t alcoholic.  We asked twice,” taking a deep breath, “Let’s stay calm about this.  We are both dressed so nothing happened last night.  You have clothes on and I have my pants on so let’s not jump to conclusions.”  Akshara just stared at him in disbelief.  “What?”

“Then where’s your shirt?” she nervously questioned as she held the covers closer to her chin.

Abhimanyu looked down, finally understanding why he was feeling a bit cold.  He quickly wrapped the sheet around his chest. Where exactly was his shirt?  He lifted his eyes and watched as Akshara lifted the covers up above her head and inspected what she was wearing.  When their eyes met again he swallowed hard.  He could see the white collar sticking out from under the white striped duvet.  “I’m sure there is some explanation.”

“What explanation?” Akshara panicked.  She never thought that something like this would actually happen to her.  So much had happened in the past few months and just when things seemed to have settled and the three of them had moved onward in their paths then this had to happen?  What kind of cruel joke was this? What if people from the conference found out about this?  What if it spread to the employees at the hospital?  How could she show her face?  How was she going to explain herself to her family?  Abhimanyu’s false molestation charges was one thing but she couldn’t stop gossip about her family.  Especially after Arohi’s wedding was called off and it seemed things were sort of back to square one. She curled her legs closer to her body feeling her bare skin rub against the cotton fabric of Abhimanyu’s dress shirt.

Abhimanyu twisted open a bottle of water and drank half the contents in one gulp.  He had to logically think this through despite the pounding in his head.  He knew how this was looking and the look in Akshara’s eyes said it all.  For him it wasn’t a matter that something may have happened between them; he loved her; it was the fact that they couldn’t even remember what had transpired in an intimate moment that is considered to be almost sacred and special between a couple.  He knew of the implication that this one act of theirs could cause.  And he be d*mn if he let anyone lay any accusations about her character.  He would take the responsibility.   He turned to see the love of his life still clutching the covers trying to control her breathing.  “Akshara,” he softly spoke.  “I am taking full responsibility of this…whatever may have happened last night.  I know our families are still angry at each other but maybe it’s time to try to convince them.  He came closer and kneeled on the floor by her bedside.  “I know we talked about this to give everyone some time; it’s been two months.  You know how I feel about you.  And you feel the same way.  We’re on the same page now. Can we start telling them about us?”  

Akshara lowered the covers and replied, “Abhi, it’s just this…I cannot remember anything from last night.  We’re both adults and things can happen…it’s okay and not okay at the same time…this isn’t exactly how I wanted this to happen.”

“I understand,” taking her hand into his.  “But, maybe it isn’t what we are thinking?  We are still clothed, if something did happen I think I would be well…naked.”

“Where are my clothes then?”  Abhimanyu surveyed the room and got up from the floor and walked towards the bathroom.  “Akshara…”  She looked up to see him holding a hanger with her party attire.  “I think you may have spilled something on them.  They feel a little damp.  They were hanging on the clothes line above the bathtub.” They gave each other relieved smiles.  “Mystery solved.” 

“Let me go and change,” Akshara replied.  He handed the hanger over and then turned his back to her.  She smiled at his gesture and quickly got up from the bed to get dressed.  Abhimanyu was staring up at the ceiling inspecting it as if it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.  He could hear Akshara rustling around in the background as she made her way to the bathroom.  He heard her sudden cry and he instinctively turned thinking he was going to have to catch her like always.  What met his vision made his heart skip a beat.  Akshara had managed to save herself from tripping and falling to the floor as the tangled covers lay around her feet.  Her clothes were crumpled on the other bed while she stood there just wearing his white dress shirt.  The length was just long enough to cover her bottom but still short enough to expose the upper thighs.  Slowly their eyes met and he could feel the warmness spread around his cheeks before he forced himself to turn around squeaking, “I didn’t see anything.” He heard the slamming of the bathroom door making him let out a sigh.  He tapped the back of his head as he couldn’t help but smile recalling the memory. It was one of the sexist things he had ever seen. “Abhimanyu, beta…”  

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Eyes shifted nervously above the newspaper he was pretending to be reading waiting for what he hope would happen.  He had texted his brother’s phone as a check and to his relief he was still in his room which meant fifty percent success.  He heard a hotel room door open and close causing him to straighten his posture as he sat in the cushioned bench in front of the elevators.  His lips curled upward in a smile as he recognized the petite frame of his quarry walking to the other side of the hallway towards her room still wearing her party attire from the night before.  “I’m sorry bro.  I’m sorry Akshara.  I just needed you to think something happened.  You two are a perfect pair.  We have to make the families agree.”  His body tensed when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.  “Neil?”  He turned to see his cousin Parth staring down at him.  “What are you muttering about?”

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Pre-cap part 2

“Are you crazy?” Parth sputtered, spilling water onto the table and himself.  “Neil, do you know what Abhi will do to you when he finds out?”

“Nothing happened.  I made sure of it.  When I left them she was in one bed and he was in the other bed.  They were both passed out fully clothed.”

Akshara clutched the fabric of her kurta top in her hand as she nervously spoke, “Abhi, we have to talk.  I-um, I missed my monthly…”

“Tell me where you are.  I’ll come there right now,” he replied into his phone as he slipped into his office.

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So, what did you think actually happened?   Did Neil's plan really go awry? 

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