Loving You

Chapter 13 - Abhimanyu - New Feelings

"But first, drink." Akshara announced, taking a sip of her tea and watching me curiously.

I swirled my thumb alongside the rim of the cup. I eyed the tea with curiosity but also a sense of unwontedness. I was never a big fan of change. I liked the mundane repetitiveness of my every day routine. I liked my coffee black. I liked my tea black. No sugar, no milk. I has never been the one to try new things.

"Actually can I apologize first?" I said, looking up at Akshara.

"Why?" She replied, taking another sip of her tea, the pupils of her eyes dancing with the lights hanging above the kitchen island.

I gripped the cup with my hand, trying to take solace in its warmth. For a man who was so used to keeping it poised and inexpressive due to the nature of my job, I wasn't doing a very good job of it in front of her.

"I won't be relieved till I apologize first. I promise I'll have the tea later." I said, pushing the cup back towards her.

"Oh no, we got all night for your apology. Tea and kachoris first." She retorted, pushing the kachoris and tea towards me again. "Or else the door is right there. You can leave exactly the same way you came in."

Damn. She knew the ball was in her court. And she was also confident I wouldn't leave without apologizing. Especially after I went through all the trouble of getting here in the first place.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. So eat."

"You know, I am the one who usually gives the orders."

"At your hospital. This is my house. And I'll be the ones to give the orders around here."

But I'll be the one giving orders in the bedroom. Where the hell did that come from?  I shook the clearly very suggestive and inappropriate thoughts from my head. I should not be thinking about her that way.

"You do know that I'm your boss right?"

"You do know we're not at work right?"

"But I'm still your boss." I said again; trying to convince I don't know who? I should not be getting this comfortable around Akshara but I was. And I couldn't understand why.

Being around her was making me feel all these emotions that otherwise I had become immune to. The anger I had felt this morning —it was all new to me. I had never acted that way before. Ans I had definitely not travelled to someone's house at midnight in pouring rain to apologize. So why her?

"At work. Now...we are...," her voice trailed off. I guess even she wasn't sure what we were.

"We are?" I probed because I hoped she was able to label whatever this was between us. Because all I was doing was drawing blanks.

I felt something toward her. A connection. Something undefined. Something that I don't think I'd ever be able to describe in words. But I felt safe. Ever since I met her at the bar a few days ago, she was the only person that made me feel safe. And that to me was a very new, unexplored territory. I had never felt safe before.

I could feel Akshara's brain working on overdrive to answer the exact same question that I hadn't been able to answer all this while.

"Stop trying to distract me. You can't get out of drinking the tea and eating my world famous kachoris!" She exclaimed.

Changing the topic I see. Guess even she didn't have an answer to question that had been bothering me for days now. What were we?!

"World famous?" I teased.

"Well, all my friends are settled around the globe so yes, I'd say that's pretty world famous." She gave me a bright grin, making me chuckle. She was so proud of her kachoris.