Abhira- Finding our way home

A Story

Akshara

*Akshara spends the next few days, working 18 hours a day...

She barely sleeps or eats as she continues to complete all her assignments.

The other doctors are a little confused seeing her work so dedicatedly, without rest or breaks.

She is also a little relieved as this constant hustle keeps Abhimanyu and Sneha's thoughts away for a little while...

But when she sees them together in the NGO, the pain comes rushing back...*

"Hey Akshara, is everything okay? You skipped the dinner buffet last night and the bonfire the night before that..." Siddharth asks Akshara, who is busy going through some files. 

"Hi Siddharth, yeah I'm okay, I'm just working on this-" Siddharth takes a grape and puts it in her mouth. 

"You know I have a little sister who is also a workaholic. So I know how to deal with people like you" he laughs. 

"I'm not a workaholic." Akshara rolls her eyes. 

"O yeah?" Siddharth raises an eyebrow sarcastically. "You're working more than all of us, combined!" 

"Come on now. It's time for dinner" he gets up and gestures for her to do the same. 

The more I'm trying not to get attached to people, the more this city is testing my resolve. She thinks.

xx

Abhimanyu

*Abhimanyu is pacing in the lawn as he dials Sneha's number.*

"Sneha, it's been more than a week! We've tried almost everything and honestly, Akshara hasn't even noticed! 

What if this whole drama makes me lose her forever? I'm tired yaar, I just want to be with her" he says, tired of getting ignored by Akshara lately. He knows she is dedicated to her work but since the past few days, she has been working non-stop. He even visited the NGO late one night, hoping to find her alone but she was busy with the kids.

"Abhi, okay let's just give it one last shot. Day after tomorrow is the 7th of April that is, the Fundraiser Event... if she does not confess her feeling by then, we'll end all of this" Sneha assures him. 

"Alright, but just till the event gets over!" he says, irritated and worried. 

xx

Akshara

*As Akshara finishes all the preparations of the next day's Fundraiser Event, she quietly withdraws from the group of doctors and goes to sit alone in the lawn... 

She looks at the stars and wonders if her parents really turned into them, like people always told her...*

"It's about belief...if you believe in it, then it's true for you, no matter what other people think" she hears Siddharth's voice from behind her. 

"Huh?" she says, shocked that Siddharth had figured out what she was thinking. 

"Akshara...let me tell you a story" he comes and sits next to her on the bench...

"There was this guy who was once full of life... the kind that finds happiness in even the most little of things.

But then this guy lost the people who mattered to him the most...

For a long, long time after that, he did not trust life and its paths...

He decided to not let life make any decisions for him.

He even decided to not get close to people anymore..." Siddharth looks at Akshara. 

"Do you know what happened then?" he asks her. 

"He did not have to lose anyone anymore?" she asks, hopefully. 

"See...that's exactly what the guy thought... 

But this was the biggest mistake of his life and it could have turned into his biggest regret!" 

"How do you-" Akshara desperately wants to know how Siddharth knows so much about her...

But then he replies "That guy was me, Akshara" he smiles sadly. 

"I never knew my mom Akshara. My first breath was probably her last...

But after I lost my dad, I stopped talking to anyone... I just did not want to care...I was the closest to him..." he smiles 

"He had been my mom AND my dad for so many years... but you know what, in all of this, I forgot that I have a little sister... Dad adopted her when I was seven because I too wanted a sibling...like all of my friends...she was just one at that time.

I remember I had stopped talking to my dad for a week because he said I couldn't get a sibling...but the day she came, the day Riddhima, our little RiRi came into our lives, I was so, so happy. 

When we lost our dad, RiRi slipped into depression... and instead of helping her cope with the situation, I chose to withdraw...

When a few months later, I almost lost her-" his voice becomes heavy "I realised that I was going to lose another person whom I love just because I was too afraid to love... had I not come on time, she would've swallowed those pills Akshara...And that regret would have killed me!" 

*Akshara does not realise how tears roll down her eyes as she takes in his words...*

"I've never shared this with anyone Akshara" he looks at her and smiles. 

"Wh-y m-me?" she sobs. 

"Because in the emptiness of your eyes, I saw a reflection of me... I don't know your story Akshara...and trust me, I don't expect you to share it...

But I hope that my story helps you a little..." he says as he gets up.

"I don't regret trusting life again, Akshara... I don't regret loving people who love me." He smiles and leaves...

Abhiii... Akshara sobs. 

"I love him. I love Abhimanyu." For the first time in more than a year, she says the words out loud. 

Oh God. What should I do now? I'm too late...I've lost him. She cries. He's engaged to Sneha. But I need to tell him. I've seen the way he looks at me. I may be wrong. But I need to tell him. If he says No, I'll never disturb hiss life again... but I need to tell him!

Author's Note: 

Hi guys, please do like and comment and share your feedback! :")