The Marriage Contract

14 - The Marriage of Dr. Abhimanyu Birla

"What the hell is all this?" Harshvardhan slammed the newspaper onto Richa's desk.

Akshara's eyes widened with shock and disgust as she read the headline: Doctor Casanova Birla Found Yet Another Punching Bag along with a picture taken of Abhimanyu as he punched Ronak in the face repeatedly, probably from the security cameras in the building.

Ronak.

Only he was vindictive enough to have done this.

It had been two days since the incidence with Ronak. And just when she'd thought things had calmed down and Ronak finally screwed his head on straight and was willing to leave Abhimanyu and her alone, he'd come back with a vengeance.

Akshara watched Abhimanyu in nervously, wary of what his reaction may be.

"Harsh, calm down." Richa said, leaning back in her chair as she proceeded to scroll through her phone.

"Calm? Calm? No! I won't be calm! You promised that this fake relationship will do wonders for his image, make him seem like a smart, mature, well-mannered, well-settled man but it's doing nothing more than portray him as a bully. A bloody hooligan!"  Harsh yelled, targeting his words at Akshara who lowered her lashes in shame.

Harshvardhan Birla was speaking the truth. If not for her, Abhimanyu probably wouldn't be stuck in the dicey situation he was in right now.

Abhimanyu glanced at his the newspaper laying right in his line of sight.

"Damn. They should taken my left profile. The right profile isn't doing me justice. Maybe next time." Abhimanyu mentioned casually, making Akshara tilt her head in confusion.

How could Abhimanyu be so unbothered by everything that was happening around him?

"Profile? What?! Abhimanyu, do you even know what you're saying?" Harshvardhan Birla asked, frustrated at his son, flabbergasted even.

"Calm down, Sir. Or you'll find yourself occupying one of the beds in Birla hospital and we both know how outrageous those invoices run. That disgusting piece of shit was abusing and assaulting Akshara and I did what I had to do. Simple as that." He explained, as if it was an everyday run of the mill business for Abhimanyu.

"And in doing that, what should have been pictures and videos of you going on a movie date with Akshara circulating on the internet and social media pages, we get grainy security camera footage of you punching a guy in the face making front page news." Richa added her two cents, earning an eye roll from Abhimanyu.

"And the board isn't very happy about the news. They have decided to pre-pone the vote to 2 weeks from now because they don't think you will ever be able to change. It's clear they have decided to go with Parth as the successor. Why're we even trying now?"

Akshara felt like an invisible fly one the wall listening to every single conversation that was going on but not important enough to be included in any of it. She shifted her eyes warily between Harshvardhan Birla, Abhimanyu and Richa, wondering just what it would take for the earth to swallow her whole.

"So? Then give them an even bigger news. Something that will take their minds off the stupid punch —a punch I have no regrets about the asshole was touching Akshara without her permission."

"Oh really? What news could be bigger than an esteemed doctor of a prestigious hospital getting into  fist fights?"

"Get married." Richa sudden announced out of nowhere, her eyes lighting up deviously.

"What!" Abhimanyu and Akshara exclaimed in unison, dumbfounded at Richa's words.

They both looked at each other, eyes widened in surprise and an unsettling feeling before shifting back to stare at Richa, bafflingly.