Loving You

Chapter 7 - Akshara - The Offer

"How did your interview go today, Aksh?" Lillian asked as she stood beside me, wiping the remainder of the glasses while I poured and mixed the drink orders.

It was 8pm and the dinner time rush had just started pouring in. I wasn't supposed to work today but I practically begged my co-worker and friend, Betty to give me her shift. I couldn't be left alone with my thoughts. I knew I wasn't going to get the Birla Hospital internship so thus I was going to have to try my luck elsewhere, probably by giving private therapy sessions in order to complete my thesis research paper on time.

"Horrible," I confessed. "I don't think I'll be getting the position. But the doctor who interviewed me was rude too, so I don't regret not getting it." Liar! You do regret it! And Dr. Abhimanyu wasn't rude, he was just very straightforward. I don't know why I was defending his behaviour —to myself out of all the people —but I was. Like an idiot.

"Oh, better luck next time!"

I gave her a weak smile and organized the drinks on her tray and watched her disappear in the crowd of patrons.

A little notification went off on my phone and I checked to see that I had recently received an email. I quickly tapped on my Gmail account and saw that it was from the Birla Hospital Human Resources department. Probably a rejection letter.

At first I decided to ignore it but then decided against it. I couldn't keep hiding from the truth. I had to face it sometime and the best time was now, surrounded by alcohol.

I tapped on the email, preparing myself for a "Sorry" but instead was greeted by a "Congratulations! You have been selected for an Internship at the Birla Hospital Music Therapy Department."

I did a double take and re-read the email, thinking I had made a mistake reading it the first time round but no. It was written clear as day, that I had managed to land myself an internship at the Birla Hospital despite what I considered a disastrous and grueling interview.

"One beer please. Whatever's on tap is fine."

I knew that voice. I had heard it this past weekend. And I had definitely heard it earlier this morning. I looked up to find Dr. Abhimanyu Birla standing right in front on me, in flesh.

"You?!"

Abhimanyu raised in eyebrows in question. "Me."

"What are you doing here?" I whispered. I don't know why I was whispering. But at this point I was receiving shock upon shock and I honestly didn't know what else to do.

"I came here to have a drink." He whispered back. "But why are we whispering?"

I gulped and straightened myself out out before pouring him a beer. I needed to get a grip on myself. I shoved the glass of beer towards him and tried to get myself busy in making other drinks —but the only problem was that there weren't any other drink orders to complete. And the other patrons sitting at the bar around me were busy idle chitchatting amongst themselves.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Should I have asked that? Should I be more respectful considering he is going to be my boss now? That I will be working under him? Just the thought of being under him brought a crash course of very dirty thoughts to be flooding my brain with very vivid imagery which I did not need. Stop it, Akshu! Working WITH him, I corrected. Not under him. Working with him.

I could see that he looked as if he was in deep thought about whether to give me the easy answer or say the truth of why he was actually here. "I wanted to see if you were doing okay."

"Okay?"

"After the panic attack. I wanted to see how you were holding up." Abhimanyu paused to take a gulp of his beer. "I was worried."