Abhira- A Forbidden Tale

Chapter 4

Akshara

Akshara enters the cabin behind Abhimanyu, her blood boiling at the insult she just endured... 

Meanwhile Abhimanyu tries his best to not go out and fire that goddamn guy he just saw with Akshara...

"What the hell was that?" Akshara loses her calm. 

"Excuse me?" Abhimanyu is a little taken back by her reaction. 

"I said what the hell was that?" she repeats.

"How dare you-" Abhimanyu shouts.

"No Mr. Birla, how dare YOU! How dare you treat me like that, that too in front of the entire office! I can take burden, I can pressure, I can even take your taunts... but what I will not take is you treating me like I'm not even human! 

I just took a 15-min break for lunch. That's it. Is your secretary not allowed to eat or breathe?" She shouts louder than him. 

For a second, Abhimanyu stands still. He looks at this girl in front of him who he thought was fragile but here she was, confronting him like nobody ever had...

"You didn't take my permission for the break" He replies coldly. 

"I marked it in my daily calendar that you have access to" She retorts. 

"Next time, you will seek permission from me, face to face" Abhimanyu grinds his teeth as his own reaction surprises him. Had it been anybody else, he would've fired them by now. But here he was, giving Akshara another chance and he had no explanation for it. 

"Alright sir. Alright. I get your point and I'll do exactly as you say..." she challenges him with a confident look on her face. 

"Sir, may I go now?" she bats her eyes.

"Yes." He sits back in his chair. "And oh Miss Goenka. Nobody ever talks to me in that tone. I'll let it pass this time but the next time you raise your voice at me again, you can pack your bags and get the hell out of my building" 

She stares at him for a moment and then leaves...

Akshara

1 month later...

"But Ishaan, what are we celebrating?" Akshara laughs as Ishaan takes her to the cafeteria where some of the other people from the tech department who she has become friends with in the past one month are waiting for her. 

In the middle of the table is a small cake with Akshara's name on it.

"It's not my birthday" she looks at him...

"I know but this..." he lowers his voice "Remember, on your first day here, you asked me how I knew about you... well our gang always made a bet on how long Mr. Birla's new secretary would last... I mean don't take us wrong... it's just a fun game" 

Akshara laughs "Really? So what was the bet this time" 

Ishaan looks at his colleagues who are also laughing "Well, Nishant said you wouldn't last the first day, Kriti and Prerna said you'd quit within the first week but I was the only one who said that you'd complete at least a month and today, you've done it" he winks. 

"So, since he won the bet, he got you this cake as a thankyou gesture" Nishant laughs "And don't mind my bet Akshara, it's not you, it's your boss that made me think that you'll quit on the first day" And everyone starts laughing. 

Akshara cuts the cake and everyone feeds her one by one...

"How did you know I'd survive a month?" Akshara asks Ishaan...

He smiles "The first time I saw you, I knew you were different... there was something about you that I can't explain but... I had this feeling that you can handle him" 

Akshara blushes "Thanks Ishaan, you've really helped me a lot in the past one month" 

Abhimanyu

Abhimanyu tightens his fist as he sees  the CCTV Camera footage on his phone... 

 Ishaan is feeding cake to Akshara and she looks happy. With him! A few moments later, he says something that makes her blush and Abhimanyu loses his control and smashes a glass against the wall... 

In the past one month, Akshara had proven to be the perfect secretary. She did all the work on time, never complained about the work pressure, was always on time and like he'd stupidly asked her, she took his permission for everything. 

Her entire first week, she purposely drove him mad by asking permission for even the smallest of things like picking up the phone!

But slowly, the two of them got in sync and his work was getting smoother... 

This relief didn't last for long as Akshara made new friends in other departments and that guy Ishaan, grew closer to her. 

Abhimanyu had tried his best to keep her indulged in work when he once saw Ishaan's message on her phone 'Meet you for lunch at 2'. And that day, he was actually successful, he gave her work that he knew wouldn't be over by 2 and she was unable to meet that bastard for lunch. 

But this couldn't go on for long and he often saw the two of them have lunch together or discuss something related to work...

One day he also overheard them when Ishaan was teaching Akshara the shortcuts to the new online filing system... 

And he lost his temper wondering why she didn't ask him for help instead of that guy. 

But in his head, he knew why. She was comfortable around Ishaan and Abhimanyu hated this fact. 

What he hated more was why it bothered him so much! He was THE ABHIMANYU BIRLA. He even care about feelings and emotions and all this stuff. Then why did it physically hurt him to watch her with another guy? 

This struggle for emotions and control often made him lash out at Akshara even when she wasn't at fault. 

And he knew Akshara desperately needed this job otherwise she would've quit like all the others... 

He also realised that this way he was only making her hate him more...

And for the first time in his life, he didn't want to be hated.

For the first time in his life, he actually cared about someone's opinion about him.

As he closes his phone fed up of watching the CCTV footage, his e-mail pops up with an update...

He had to leave for New York in two days for a meeting with an investor... 

And he would definitely take her with him. 

Him and Akshara in New York for a week. Away from this chaos. Away from Ishaan and everything else. 

And maybe, just maybe, the change in place would change Akshara's opinion about him...

He still didn't know why he cared at all, but he was tired of fighting his emotions. 

It was time for some adventure!

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