Hello All,
Here is a short story inspired from today's events in the serial and the controversial precap. I have made some slight changes in the way the incidents unfolded. There would be one more part to this story.
This is not proofread.
So without much ado, here is the first part of this story.
Presenting...
INTERLUDE: AbhiRa OS
Dr. Abhimanyu Birla – the prodigal son of the Birla family was a man who prided himself on his iron control. His need to be in the driving seat was an affliction of his which was as old as his age and had its roots in his deeply troubled past. Not that he ever spared a thought about it, no sir. His huge workload never gave him the free time to think about such frivolous things. A better way of putting it was that he never gave himself the luxury of thinking about things. Because he knew that if, he ever tried to think about one single thing, all his emotions would come tumbling out and he would be unable to handle the resulting mess. And so he had done what he did best – bottle up all his feelings and emotions and put them behind seven lever lock of his heart and soul and then conveniently lose the key of the same.
That was how he had decided to move on and deal with all this shit around him, until he heard Arohi trying to stop Akshara from jumping into the raging fire in the store room and realized that two kids were caught in those burning flames. He had jumped into the rescue and had managed to save them, but he had not cared about himself. He had been brought to his knees by a severe case of cephalgia. It had been disturbing him since morning, especially when he had to deal with both the sisters at the same time. But he had, by no means been out of it as much as people thought he had been.
He had heard Akshara calling out his name, her panic filled voice pulling at his heart strings, and he had even heard the less scared voice of Dr Arohi Goenka. He had tried to answer to them, but his physical condition had not allowed him. He did not have a death wish, he never did. It just seemed that it was probably his fate.
It had been a shock to feel those soft hands on his face, he had tried to open his eyes but the pain had been excruciating and he had been losing it then – until she actually proposed to him. That had been a shock to his already crumbling system. He had heard in disbelief as she poured her heart out to him, confessing her love for him. Her soft hands cradled his face, her fingers carded through his matted locks as she wiped his face with her palm. He could hear the panic in her voice, the concern in her tone, the way her words trembled as she pulled him into her arms.
He tried to regulate his breathing, he tried to come around if only for her sake but he had inhaled a lot of fumes and he started losing it. But before he succumbed to the inviting darkness, he felt her trying to lift him up. With the last vestiges of his draining strength, he managed to help her a bit and got to his feet. He felt rather than saw the warm circular iron under his fingertips – stretcher, he deduced. He collapsed on it and promptly lost consciousness.
He awoke some time later to a strange sight.
He was out of the burning store room lying on the mud and grass covered bare land while his brother was almost frantic with worry. Dr Arohi was dealing with his burn wounds which thankfully were not that serious. It was just that he had inhaled some smoke but it was not he who needed medical attention. He looked around for her but she was nowhere to be found. He thanked Arohi for saving his life and he meant her tending but Neil took it the wrong way. And for a split second just as he was about to set them right, he could see the suppressed emotions in the eyes of Arohi Goenka. Some unknown feeling prompted him to give her the credit of his rescue.
“Yeah… Dr Arohi ne meri jaan bachayi. Maine dekha tha ye white coat pehne hue unhe.”
He had hoped that she would refuse, that she would tell him the truth. But he could only stare in disbelief when she not only accepted the credit for something that she had not done but also told him that Akshara had left some time back.
In a flash, a lot many things started making sense. The different scenarios which he had encountered now suddenly threw different meanings at him. He could understand that the situation was a lot more complicated than what he had actually envisioned, but most of all, his doubts began rearing their head. The doubts which he had pushed to the back of his mind under the relentless pressure of his mother and family.
He closed his eyes tightly as he tried to bring his flaring temper under control. How did Arohi dare to take credit for something which she had not done? He wanted to lash out at her, but Abhimanyu was not a fool. He was nothing if not calculative, especially when time and situation demanded.
And right now, he had to find Akshara and make sure that she was all right. He would have time to deal with Arohi Goenka later, and deal with her he would – but at this moment Akshu was his priority.
Getting up from the ground, he nodded at both of them and left the place intending on looking for Akshara. Now that he knew she loved him, he was not going to let her leave so easily. He would deal with Dr Arohi Goenka later.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
(To be continued...)
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