Veritas - AbhiRa FF

Chapter 3 - Of Dreams and Idiots

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 in 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."