Veritas - AbhiRa FF

Chapter 2 In My Veins

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"That is all but fine, Mr. Singhania. We'd be happy to do anything to honour your mother."

"Thank you. My mother's name is ...."

"....Akshara."

The words however were uttered not by Mr. Singhania, but Abhimanyu - his eyes filled with reverence and barely held back longing.

His personal siren stood not ten feet away, her eyes confused and mimicking the emotion in his own eyes.

His Akshara was here.

NOW:

And then she was gone. In a blink of an eye, she had vanished.

As he had whispered her name, Mr. Singhania had turned to him, surprised. "How'd you know?"

And that one second it had taken for Abhimanyu to look at Naksh, his salvation had disappeared.

Did he imagine her? Was she merely a figment of his imagination? Had he conjured her up from the deepest recesses of the need in his heart?

He sat there looking into the empty space, not answering the older gentleman, just staring at the space he could swear he had seen his Akshara at.

"Coincidence. He must have read up on you, Mr. Singhania," his father had haltingly added and then turned around to stare at him angrily. Abhimanyu didn't particularly care about what he thought about his preoccupation. He had seen Akshara.

Where was she now? Why did this house remind him so much of his Akshu? What were the chances that Mr. Singhania's mother was named Akshara?

Although confused by the interruption, Naksh had simply smiled at the guests just as the servants announced that the food was served.

Abhimanyu got up with his family as they were taken to the open dining room and made his way to the table, all the while looking around for any sign of Akshara. His heart knew she was here.

***********

It had been four days. Four days since Akshara Singhania-Goenka had come back to her mother's maternal house. Four days of calm and peace though, had done nothing to quell the discontent and unhappiness that had made a permanent nest in her heart. No-one had pressured her to talk, content on simply letting her do her own thing, at her own pace. No questions had been asked, although she suspected that her aunt and uncle had already grilled her brother. At this point, Akshara didn't really care. It was fine, she reiterated mentally. It was fine to live in this sort of limbo - where neither her brain, nor her heart knew what to do. It was fine that her days began imagining him waking her up and ended with her sister wishing her good night. It was fine that the pain was settling in - becoming a dull thud she could always feel - it was starting to become her constant companion.

And it was in that limbo, that Akshara Singhania-Goenka had made her way to the living room when her aunt had informed her that her uncle's guests were here.

And it was in that limbo that she ended up looking into the startled eyes she always dreamt of, whispering her name like a sacred prayer.

A moment of despair. Of longing, of awareness. A moment was all it took for Akshara to all but vanish from the great room, running away from those eyes that seemed to always find her, seemed to always know exactly what she was feeling. She could feel his searching gaze even as she disappeared out of sight. But she couldn't deal with it. Couldn't deal with him. Or with what he brought about in her.