AbhiRa Short Story: Broken

Part 1 - Abhimanyu

"Abhi, here, get up. Have some tomato soup."

Akshara placed a makeshift table on our bed and gently placed both her hands around my shoulders to help me sit upright on the bed. She fluffed my pillows so I could easily lean back against the bed frame for support.

"I don't want to eat, Akshu."

"Kyun? You didn't eat dinner properly yesterday night either."

"Mann nahin hai. I don't feel like eating." I pushed the bowl of soup away with my one good hand and started fidgeting with the bandage found my right hand.

"Are aise kaise mann nahin hai? Main yeh ni karunga, yeh nahin kaaounga. What kind of attitude is this?"

On any other day, Akshu's imitation of me would have gotten her a good hearty chuckle and teasing back. And I could even sense a smile forming at the cracks of my lips but then I gazed back at my broken—fractured hand and all the insecurities I was trying to suppress came flooding back.

"Do you want to eat your tasteless paate and gaass phoos? Dil pe pathar rakh ke, I'll even make you a salad Abhi. I promise." Akshu pinched her neck in promise.

"No Akshu, please go away. I want to rest."

"No. I won't leave until you tell me what the problem is or until you eat something. It's been 2 weeks since you came back from the hospital Abhi and with each passing day, all I see is your smile disappearing from your face and you just cocooning yourself into a shell."

I looked at Akshu's eyes which were filling to the brim with tears but none had started rolling down her cheeks yet. There was so much I wanted to tell her but there was so much I didn't want her to know.

"If you don't want to tell me what's bothering you, fine. But I'm not leaving this room until you eat."

Akshu wiped her tears and moved towards him and picked up the bowl of soup and dipped a spoon in it and held it close to his lips.

"Please, one spoon?"

"No, Akshu." I moved my head away from Akshu's hand to look away.

"Yes, Abhi."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes!" Akshu's voice was getting louder.

"NO, AKSHU!" I flung the bowl from Akshu's hand and the bowl shattered into hundreds of little pieces while the red of the tomato soup splattered on the bedsheet, Akshu's clothes, hands and the cold hard floor.

"I've told you many times that I don't want to eat and to just leave me alone. Tumhe ek simple baat samajh mein nahin aati kya? Do I need to repeat myself? Khaane ki zid lagayi huyi hai. Nahin khaana mujhe. I don't want to eat this damned soup. I'm not hungry. Please Akshu. Leave me alone. Jaisa hoon, manage karlunga. Please."

I folded my hands in front of her. Tears poured down my eyes hesitantly. But what rained down harder was all the pent up irritation and anger that has been accumulating over the past two weeks.

This. This is what I didn't want her to know. This is what I wanted to protect her from.

"Abhi..."

Her voice was soft and her eyes were moist. I didn't even have to look at them to know. I refused to met her gaze.

"Jao. Just leave." Broken. These were the words of a broken man. Me. I was broken.

"Abhi, Akshara. What happened?" Parth came running into the room and stood at the door frame without as much as even taking one step forward into the room.

"Nothing bhai. The bowl accidentally got knocked over." I wiped my nose and the tears away from the brim of my eyes.

Parth looked at Akshara questioningly to collaborate the story. She nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, bhaiyaa. I knocked the bowl over."

I could feel Akshu's eyes staring at the side of my head. I refused to look at her. I couldn't look at her.

"Okay. I thought something else happened."

"What bhaiyaa?"

I looked up ar Parth, silently shaking my head in "no" but he wasn't looking at me.

"Oh...so you don't know?"

"Know what?"

Parth looked at me accusingly. "You didn't tell her?"

I shook my head silently.

Akshu turned her head between Parth and me multiple times to look for answers to her silent questions.

"Tell me. Please"

"Abhi's x-ray reports came in."

"And..." she poked.

I gained the courage to finally look at Akshu and when I did, she was already staring right at me. Accusingly, heartbroken, knowing. She already knew what the reports were going to say. But she also had that defiant look, that of a tigress on her face that she wanted to hear the exact words be spoken.

"The prognoses doesn't look good. They are saying even if Abhi may make a full recovery, he may not be able to perform surgeries ever again. There is a very slim chance that he may be able to go back to performing surgeries."

"How slim?"

"1% and that too has no guarantee."

Akshu nodded her head but before she could even utter a single word, a large commotion was heard downstairs.

"And I guess they just found out too." Parth stated matter of factly before leaving the room.

"Akshu..."

"Not now Abhi."

She moved the makeshift table away from me and gave me a helping hand to stand up.

"Please go. I'll be down soon."