Veritas - AbhiRa FF

Chapter 5 - Almost Drowning

Aarohi smiled as her fellow intern joked about being bonded labour and how they couldn't have a day off even when almost all senior doctors and consultants were not on regular duty today.

She already had enough on her plate - her OPD duty had just ended and she had to collect the blood samples of the twenty-six new patients her resident had admitted overnight in the Medicine ward she had been assigned to. So it was with great effort that she and her colleagues made their way to the ceremony at the emergency wing, all in the hopes that the resident would get tired of waiting and do their jobs for them.

She watched disinterestedly as Harsh gave some speech about how the board had a new member and this ceremony was the naming of the Emergency block in his name. She'd almost taken a step back to get to the hospital cafeteria, when the sight of Naksh Singhania stopped her. He stood there, smiling with her Bua and her cousins, whispering something to the person behind him.

It itched. Aarohi knew Naksh didn't like her. He didn't make it a secret. He had been fine when they were kids, and even for sometime after her mother had died. Then slowly, he had started sheltering her half-sister. Rejecting Aarohi's efforts to bond with him. He didn't do it outright but he slowly just stopped showing up. And with him so did her Bua, Gayu Chachi and Krish. Vansh still stayed at Goenka Villa but seldom mentioned his mother, preferring to visit her in New York once every few months.

She knew that the reticent behaviour was due to Akshara. It didn't take a world class surgeon to guess that. She knew that the two faced angel had complained to Naksh about something Aarohi had done. And of course, who wouldn't believe the sweet, silver-tongued Akshara?

But it still itched to see her cousins standing there, acting as a unit.

She wanted to leave the place, but her feet seemed to have been made of lead. Her gaze wandered over to Abhimanyu, who stood against a pillar, a few yards away from his father. He looked effortlessly charming as usual, his lab coat worn over a blue formal shirt and black trousers. At this point, her feelings for Abhimanyu ranged from anger to indignation. She refused to think about her emotions with regards to him anytime soon. She followed his gaze, as a slow smile appeared on his face, and saw the person he was looking at.

Akshara.

She almost snarled as she realised that she had missed her standing behind her uncle, who had been whispering something to her before. As always, she stood behind everyone, hardly meeting anyone's eye, looking as though she wanted to dissolve into a puddle rather than be in the limelight.

Aarohi scoffed at her half-sister, decked up in a plain red anarkali - she didn't know what irked her about her presence. She was just so....so cloyingly sweet. Everyone naturally gravitated towards her. She never even had to try. It didn't matter that she went away for three years - they were always reminding her of how "sweet", how "innocent" their Akshara was. She rolled her eyes. As sweet as a bitter gourd dipped in honey.

Claps from around her broke her out of her thoughts, and she saw Naksh smile at the doctors and ministers in attendance.

"I know you are all waiting for me to say something. But the right person to do so would be my niece - Akshara." He stepped back and she could see Akshara's eyes open wide as she took a step back subconsciously.

Abhimanyu's eyes grew wide too as he heard his newest co-conspirator's words and he saw Akshara's state. He realised that Naksh had probably not prepared Akshara for this part of the morning because Akshara was swallowing a lot of air and her hands shook as she took the mike from her uncle.

A few moments passed and Abhimanyu grew more agitated, concerned that she would have a panic attack, when he saw her eyes fall upon him. Feeling like Kabir Khan from Chak De India communicating telepathically with the goalie at the end of the movie, he gave her a small reassuring nod before mouthing the words, "I love you."