Chapter 2 B

Neha

@SurrealFantasy

Quick update this week - in a day- which is unheard off if you know anything about me -  before real life catches up. I lose inspiration very quickly and am notorious for procrastinating, so I'm trying to update the FF before I have to give up on AbhiRa too.

Hope you find this update a little more light-hearted.

P.S: Not proofread.

P.P.S.: I have sole copyright over my works. Please do not reproduce my work without my consent.

C H A P T E R 2 B

The ride back home was silent. Thankfully Parth took the reins and drove them back as all the others sat and tried to process all the new tumultuous relationships.

Akshara was Naksh Singhania’s niece. Named after his mother - Akshara Singhania nee Maheshwari. Daughter to Vishambharnath Maheshwari.

Harsh ran his fingers through his hair, sighing out loud. His son had gone and fallen for the daughter of two very powerful families, one of whom was now investing millions into their hospital. Any step or misstep would send their carefully built hospital to shambles. He stared as his son sat on the passenger seat, barely noticing anything. He seemed to be in his own thoughts. He sighed again as Anand looked at him and silently asked him to maintain his peace.

They’d barely gotten out of the car, when Abhi made his way to his motorcycle.

“Where are you going, Abhimanyu?”

Not paying any of them any attention, he got onto his ride, as he slipped on the helmet.

“I’ve got an errand to run.”

“We need to talk, Abhi.”

Abhimanyu rolled his eyes. “The time for you to talk to me passed when you were hurling abuses at the woman I love.”

Harsh felt his brother pull him into the house but his eyes were fixed on his son, riding away on his trusted vehicle. His eyes followed him till he disappeared out of sight. And out of his hands.

**********

Akshara groaned as she woke up. Her head still seemed heavy - as though she was going through a bad hangover. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, trying to get her bearings back. She remembered falling down, she remembered having a panic attack and then….Abhimanyu?

She sat up with a start, and gulped down a shout as a voice said, “You’re awake? Feel fine?”

It was then that she noticed Keerti bua sitting on the couch, perusing a magazine with her eyes on her.

She nodded while her aunt gave her a glass of water from the side table. “Still don’t want to talk about it?”

“I….Talk about what?”

“How stupid on a scale of 1 to you-just-had-a-panic-attack-because-you-saw-your-old-flame, do you think I am, Akshara?” Keerti asked her sardonically.

“He’s not an old flame,” was Akshara’s neat response.

“Ah. Current flame, then?”

“No flame. Not even an ember, Bua. He…he was here, then? I wasn’t dreaming?”

“Nope. Although I do wonder if all your dreams are like that. Must be some hallucination if you think you dreamt up an entire panic attack.”

“Buaaaa.”

“Akshuuuuu.” 

Keerti took a seat in front of her niece. “What happened, Akshara? We’ve given you ample time to come to terms with whatever went down in Goenka house. But seriously, how bad were things that you’re having panic attacks due to a boy?”

Akshara put her head on Keerti’s lap and looked at her Nani’s smiling face on the wall. “It wasn’t due to him. It was due to some bad memories.” 

“Related to Arohi?”

On not getting a reply, Keerti gently swept her hand through Akshara’s hair. “Beta, it’s good to love your family. Great to love your siblings. But at what cost, Akshu? Your sanity? Your happiness? Your love?”

“One day or the other, you’ll have to face your demons, Akshu. And I saw the way he looked at you. When you were having the panic attack, it looked as though someone was drowning his puppies in front of him, one by one, while he had to watch it sitting on a hot bed of coals all the while solving a nuclear physics question.”

“Quite an imagery, Bua,” Akshara snorted, and added, “I don’t know about love. He…he rejected Arohi. Because of me. How do I even think of him that way?”

“It’s a hard situation, beta. I’m not going to lie that it isn’t. But if you think you don’t already love him, that you have a choice in matters of love, you’re deluding yourself.”

“You think I love him?”

Keerti smiled as Akshara got up and leaned against the headboard. Ah, young love.

“It’s not about what I think. It’s more about that fact that you almost tore off his shirt when he tried to leave.” It took all of Keerti’s will power to not laugh while Akshara grimaced as the memory of hanging onto his shirt made its way to the forefront.

“Come down for dinner in a few minutes. But remember one thing, honey - he’s still waiting for you. After everything that happened, he knew you were in trouble without even knowing you were here. That’s not a connection everyone is lucky to get. And if you let him go again, maybe this time he won’t wait. Don’t tempt fate that way, Akshu."

Keerti left the room while Akshara pondered over her words. Then a sudden thought went through her head and she groaned. Burying her head into the pillow, she let out a smothered shout.

“I told him I dreamt about kissing him. I. Am. Such. An. Idiot. “

********

Naksh looked at the young man sitting in front of him. Accomplished. Successful. Ambitious.

As Abhimanyu sat in front of him and told him his side of the story, Naksh kept his expressions neutral, trying to judge the man who was in love with his niece. Impatient. Loud. Brash.

Nothing like a man Naksh would have picked for Akshara. Or even imagined Akshara would pick for herself.

But there was something about the earnest manner the young man conducted himself in. Naksh recognised the desperation in his words and actions - here was a man who had already lost the love of his life and had no way out of the pits of his despair.

Abhimanyu looked back at Akshara’s uncle. His text asking him to meet him had come a few minutes after they had started their journey back home. It had felt like an oasis in his desert of angst. But now, as he recalled all the things that had gone down, he felt the same blanket of hopelessness shroud him again.

A few moments of silence passed before Naksh responded. “Well, it’s a toss up between you both on who the bigger idiot is.”

Abhimanyu frowned at Naksh as he gave his opinion. “Excuse me?”

“Do you know how rare it is to find the kind of love you have? And you’re both playing footsie with it.”

At Abhi’s forlorn expression, he added, “Look. I know you don’t want to hear this. But the fact is that you screwed up. You knew that Akshara is blinded by her family, and you hurt her right there. Obviously she’s going to run in the opposite direction, Dr. Birla.”

“Sir, I….you don’t have any idea how guilty I am about everything that happened. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t go through with the wedding after knowing the truth behind the fire and Akshara’s accident. For a moment, even if I wanted to forgo my own wishes, I couldn’t get married after knowing the truth - what kind of life would we have had in our marriage?”

“That didn’t strike you before you asked to marry Arohi?”

When Abhimanyu didn’t come up with an answer, Naksh sighed. “I’m sure you want to forget the past, Dr. Birla. What you don’t realise is that Akshara’s entire life revolves around the past. Let’s not even go there. You say that you love her. And against my better judgement, I’m inclined to agree with you.”

“But, Abhimanyu, how much do you know about her?”

Abhi interjected, “With all due respect, Sir, I know all there is to know about her. I know things about her that I don’t even know about myself.”

“You know her, Abhimanyu. I can see that. How to calm her down. What she’s feeling at a moment. What hurts her. I’m not denying that. But what do you know about her?”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a difference between knowing someone and knowing about someone. Akshara Singhania Goenka is a very easy person to love, Dr. Birla. She’s sweet, altruistic, and is far more accomplished than people give her credit for. But she’s plagued by nightmares you and I cannot even fathom. You’re a surgeon, right? You are taught to go to the root cause of people’s disabilities. Your love, all these feelings, your care can probably be the symptomatic treatment of Akshara’s problems; but her wounds run deep, Dr. Birla. And till you get to the root of her problems, you can have no chance in winning her over. ”

Abhimanyu thought over his words, “You mean the cause behind her panic attacks? Or Arohi’s behaviour towards her? Why she lied?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about Akshara’s past. She’s conditioned to be the way she is through years of continuous judgement and trauma. And I’m not at the liberty to disclose her trauma to you, Abhimanyu.”

“I know Akshara, I can tell you that she mirrors your feelings if nothing else. But if you really love her, really want her in your life, you have to get her to open up to you. And I’ll warn you that the road to it, isn’t going to be easy, Dr. Birla.”

There was a gritty determination in Abhimanyu’s eyes as he heard that. The fact that Akshara’s eyes carried a pain he couldn’t identify wasn’t a secret to him. Neither was the fact that the voice that drew him to her reflected the same agony. He knew she was suffering, maybe in a way which was far worse than him.

“The road to love is never easy, Sir, is it? It won’t deter me. Not if she is happy in the end.”

Naksh gave the man a heartfelt smile. “That’s what I wanted to hear, Dr. Birla.”

“Abhi. You can call me Abhi.”

“I think I’ll stick with you calling me Sir though, Abhi.” Naksh grinned at the sheepish smile on Abhi’s face. For the first time since since they had met, he looked like the young man he was and not as though he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“So, where do I start?” His earnestness made Naksh laugh. 

As they got to thinking, Abhimanyu felt a ray of sunlight shine on him after days of being in an abyss of dejection. 

Akshara Goenka had no idea what was about to hit her.  

*****

The next day saw Akshara having breakfast at her house with the senior Singhanias while her two brothers were busy sleeping.

Her uncle had still not broached Abhimanyu’s topic or the panic attack, and that was giving Akshara new anxiety.

She looked at both of them, clearly engrossed in their avocado toasts, and talking about the merits of legalisation of medical marijuana. What even?!

She coughed and began, “You don’t have anything to ask me?”

Her uncle raised his eyebrows, “Do you have anything to tell me?”

“No.”

“Then no.”

Keerti hid a smile at the exchange. Akshara was slowly becoming the old version of herself - clearly unable to hide her emotions from her uncle. And she had new-found respect for her husband’s own version of reverse psychology.

“How do you know the Birlas?”

“I’m investing a few millions into their hospital. They seemed like a respectable bunch and I wanted them to name their A&E department after Mumma so I called them for lunch.”

Silence reigned again and Akshara squirmed. “Don’t you want to know how I know them?”

“Are you volunteering that information?”

“No.”

“Then no.” 

This time Keerti had to fake a cough to stop herself from laughing. A kick on the shin from her husband calmed her down a bit.

“I work at the hospital, you know? As a music therapist.”

“So that’s how you know the Birlas?”

“Yes.”

“Is pulling the doctors’ shirt off and mumbling their name into your pillow the usual way you greet all the doctors of the hospital?” Naksh asked innocently and Keerti had to duck below the table as an excuse to pick up an invisible fallen spoon before she peed herself looking at Akshara’s face.

She had become a very interesting shade of red and her eyes had grown wide as she choked on her own saliva.

“Interesting tradition. Is it a Birla hospital thing? Because I’m going to have a hard time doing that to Harshvardhan Birla the next time I see him,” Naksh added.

Akshara looked at her uncle. Then at the fruit on her plate. And she tried to imagine herself as one of the pieces of pineapple as she pierced her fork through it.

At her uncle and aunt’s loud outburst of laughter, she turned an even deeper shade of red. She could feel her face becoming hot, even the tip of her ears felt hot. 

“I….I need to go the hospital. My leave ends today,” she muttered as she got up.

“Sure. We did ask Dr. Abhimanyu to wear t-shirts from now onwards though. Wouldn’t want you to attack his virtue.” Keerti said helpfully from behind her. 

She smiled a bit at herself though, as she made her way up the stairs.

“I. Am. Such. An. Idiot.”

********

Abhimanyu looked at himself in the mirror for the hundredth time as he sat in his cabin. Nervously fidgeting with his fingers, he sighed out loud, before taking out his phone and looking at the text from his new mentor.

“She’s left for your territory. Do not blow it.”

Words of the wise, Abhi thought. No help, but they calmed him down a bit. “Think of her like a disease,” he said to himself.

“Wait, disease? Shut up, Abhimanyu,” he thought. But it gave him perspective. It was a powerful metaphor. He had to find out the risk factors and the origin of the tumour before he could work on targeting said tumour and figuring out its management.

A knock disturbed his thought process and he looked up to see the very cause of his vexation standing at the door. She was wearing a blue off shoulder top and trousers and looking all types of adorable and pensive, Abhi thought to himself.

“Hi Abhi.”

“Hi Tumour,” he said without thinking and then closed his eyes with embarrassment at her horrified look.

“Sorry. Morning, Akshara. Please come in.”

Confused, she swallowed and took a step inside. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I…I wasn’t completely in my senses and then the panic attack….anyway, sorry for the hassle yesterday.” She said her piece, looking determinedly at the paper-weight on his table as though it was going to perform a series of very elaborate magic tricks. He was wearing a t-shirt below his lab coat, she noticed, turning a very vibrant shade of red, yet again on recollecting her aunt's departing words.

Abhimanyu smiled to himself. “I didn’t mind at all. I didn’t know you were half a Singhania, though.”

This time she smiled and looked at him. “Yeah. My pedigree is something else, huh? Naksh Mama is my mother’s brother.”

“You miss her?” He asked expectantly. 

“Never knew her enough to miss her, you know. She was gone before I even knew how to really address her.” Akshara replied absentmindedly and then turned serious as though realising that the information was too personal to share with a random person.

Abhi took in that information and rushed to her side before she could make a hasty exit.

“Are you fine? I mean after the attack yesterday.”

She took a step back at his proximity. She could feel his heat and his presence disconcerted her like always. Couldn’t he have asked the same question while sitting?

She could only nod her head and take another step back. 

“You know, I made a promise to your uncle yesterday.” He said conversationally. 

“You talked to my uncle?”

“Yes. He’s actually a very nice man. A little authoritative but then again, I live with Harshvardhan Birla, so who am I to judge?!” When she didn’t reply, he added.

“Don’t you want to know what the promise was?”

“Wh..What?” Stop freaking stuttering, Akshara, she mentally chided herself. 

“I promised him that I’ll try to make all your dreams come true.”

“Oh. Okay. Good for you.” She didn’t really know how to answer him anymore. Urgently turning towards the door, she turned the knob, just as she felt his presence behind her now. Crowding her.

His own hand covered hers on the door knob as he leaned in. Akshara’s eyes popped out of her head and she felt her back grow rigid, as something warm pressed against her cheek for a moment. His lips, she belatedly realized. She barely resisted the urge to turn to him - whether to sock him in the face or to kiss him full on the mouth - she wasn’t sure which way she leaned and she had to remind herself to breathe.

“Good Morning, Akshara.” He said, now back at a respectable distance from her.

He opened the door for her helpfully, and she stood there still as a statue. “What was that?”

“I told you, I promised to make all your dreams come true. And I keep my promises. Especially when it comes to you.” He smiled gently at her. 

Blinking her eyes and still in a bit in shock, Akshara stepped out of the cabin and made her way to the corridor not really grasping what had happened moments ago.

You dream of me?”

“Every morning. You wake me up, you know? By kissing me.” 

As she remembered her panic attack induced confession, she closed her eyes, mortified.

She hit the wall next to the door repeatedly with her head.

“I. Am. Such. An. Idiot.”

Akshara missed the smile on Abhi’s face as he watched her from the glass on his door. God, I love her.

*******

That is it folks! I hope you enjoyed a little bit of the "funny" moments, if I may call it that. The next update will take at least a week. 

Leave behind your comments, please.

Bisous,

Neha