Abhi put on his suit and quickly combed his hair. He was supposed to be at the conference center 15 minutes ago but had lost track of time entirely. As he ran down the stairs, he heard Manjari calling his name from the kitchen, asking him to eat something before he left or to at least take a snack for the car. He told her that he would eat after his presentation...that he was too nervous to even think right now. Before she could answer, he was out the door.
As he got into his car, he turned on the radio to calm his nerves...because the only person who could help him, who's one touch could bring him peace was not here. He flipped through the channels until he found the perfect song...the song that instantly brought a smile to his face, the song that brought back hundreds of memories. With each note of Lag Ja Gale, he remembered meeting Akshu for the first time, he remembered her gently stroking his hair as she sang to him, he remembered her humming through her every panic attack. But most of all, he remembered that day. The day when his life...their life changed forever.
Exactly three months ago, he held Akshu's hand in his as they walked up to Dr. Hooda's clinic for one last time. He asked her to wait at the doorstep while he made sure the examination room was ready, telling her that he would be back before she could blink her eyes, kissing her forehead before he went inside. She reluctantly let go of him, her heart pounding faster than it ever had before...she was only minutes away from finding out if she was cancer free...if she would be able to spend the rest of her life by her Abhi's side.
A few minutes later, a nurse came to tell Akshu that they were ready for her. Confused as to where Abhi was, she entered the clinic, getting more and more anxious. But, the moment she saw the front desk, she froze in place, her entire body in shock. "CONGRATULATIONS, AKSHARA!" the sign read. She saw balloons flooding the floors, streamers hanging from every corner. Turn by turn, all of the staff members rushed to her, tightly hugging her, exclaiming how happy they were for her...how proud they were of her strength, and how they wished her a long, healthy life ahead. She could not believe her eyes nor her ears...she felt as if she was dreaming...as if she could wake up at any second.
It was not until she saw him...her Abhi...standing at the back of the room, tears filling his eyes, that reality began to hit her. He stretched his arms as wide as he could, smiling wider than she had ever seen him before. She dropped the flowers that were in her hands and ran towards him, jumping into his embrace. He spun her around as the entire hospital clapped for them. "Hum jeet gaye Akshu...hum jeet gaye." He said through his tears. "Yeh sach hai?" She asked in return, her voice shaking...wanting to confirm one last time. Abhi gently let go of her, setting her back on the ground. He looked into her eyes, squeezing her hands. "Akshu, yeh humari zindagi ka sabse bada sach hai."
Just then, Dr. Hooda came out from his office, holding a huge box of pastries. When he tried to shake Akshu's hand, she hugged him instead, thanking him for everything he had done for her...telling him that she would be grateful to him for the rest of her life. Abhi looked on in admiration, his own heart overflowing with gratitude for the man who had helped him save his wife. Abhi told him that if he ever needed anything...absolutely anything, he would always be here for him. He had returned his life to him, and nothing would ever compare to that. Dr. Hooda praised Abhi's capabilities as a cardiologist, telling him that in his 40 years in the profession, he was one of the best he had ever seen. He wished both of them best of luck for the future, saying that they were out of the woods, but to continue taking it easy...looking directly at Akshu. Akshu pointed to Abhi, saying that was his job, causing all three of them to burst into laughter.
Abhi and Akshu spent that entire night out on their terrace...underneath the stars, underneath the moon that had not shined that bright in ages. Abhi had ordered all of the pizza, ice cream, chips, and cake that he could find...telling her that this was his way of making up for all of the soup, all of the boiled vegetables. She had smiled and responded saying that anything her docman made was the sweetest of all...that she had only been joking all of those days when she said he was a horrible cook. They had eaten until their stomachs hurt, sitting on the couch, their bodies wrapped together. Suddenly, Akshu had gotten up and taken his phone out of his pocket, kneeling down to ask him to dance. She had searched through his playlist, pressing play on their song, taking him into her embrace, holding him as close to her as she possibly could. They had swayed together for hours, losing track of all time...neither one of them saying a single word. He would occasionally kiss her out of the blue, running his lips down her chin, down her neck, causing her to innocently giggle...
And those very giggles rang through Abhi's ears as he heard the car behind him honk, realizing that he had gotten carried away in his thoughts. He wiped his tears and drove into the parking of the conference center, grabbing his file and speeding towards the entrance. Rohan greeted him at the door, asking him where had been. The stage was ready to go, the media was here, and the audience was eagerly waiting. As he entered the auditorium, he saw that his family had made it there before him. Each and every single one of them sitting in the front row, ready to cheer him on. But, the one person he was waiting for wasn't there.
Abhi walked backstage to wait, standing by the curtains, peeking out in anticipation. Right then, he felt her arms wrap around his waist...he felt her lips kiss the back of his neck. "I am so sorry Abhi, thodi se der hogayi...woh aaj ka therapy session thoda lamba hogaya...liken tumhe pata hai na ki mein yeh event kabhi bhi miss nahi sarsakti?"
Abhi turned around and grinned, staring directly at the love of his life. She was wearing the simplest, yet most beautiful blue saree, her hair falling a few inches below her chin, clipped back into the cutest hairstyle. He tucked the one loose strand behind her ear, taking her hands into his. "Akshu, I know. Mujhe pata hai...tumhe kuch bolni ki zarurat nahi hai."
Before they could speak further, they heard the announcer thanking everyone for coming, saying how it was one of his life's greatest honors to introduce Dr. Abhimanyu Birla, who would be presenting on his groundbreaking research regarding malignant cardiac tumors. Akshu kissed his hand, wishing him the best of luck...telling him that she was so incredibly proud of him. He hugged her one last time to gain his strength, and with that, he walked on stage to face the crowd, taking a deep breath... watching as Akshu quietly took her seat next to Manjari...finding all of the reassurance he needed in her smile.
"Hi everyone. I am truly so grateful to be able to use this opportunity to talk about something that is extremely dear and close to my heart...to talk about a form of cancer that affects so few people per year that most refuse to believe in its existence...to talk about a form of cancer that is the realest, most painful disease that I ever encountered in not just my career, but in my life...."
***
The audience burst into applause at the end of Abhi's presentation, every single individual giving him a standing innovation. But, out of the sea of faces, the only one he saw was her's...her face beaming with pride, with gratitude, with reverence. Several researchers came up to him to ask him questions about his studies, wanting to pick his brain about how he had come to certain conclusions. All of the Birlas and the Goenkas congratulated him, telling him that they could not even express how amazed they were of him. He appreciated their praise from the bottom of his heart, but he was growing more and more restless by the second, wanting nothing more than to be with his Akshu...his Akshu who was standing behind them all, patiently waiting for her turn to speak with her husband. Noticing the looks of desperation they were giving to each other, Nishta jokingly told their families to come with her, to try to understand the situation. Everyone laughed as they saw Abhi look down and smirk while Akshu's cheeks turned tomato red.
Once everyone had left the auditorium, Akshu slowly walked towards Abhi holding a delicately wrapped frame. She gestured for him to open it, eager to see his reaction. Inside was a collage of all of the photos they had taken with her disposable camera on that perfect day in London. And, in the very center was the heart shaped locket that he had given to her when she was first diagnosed. His emotions were already overflowing when she told him to turn the frame around, that there was more to the surprise. On the back was an engraving that read "157 things that made me smile in my 157 days with cancer." And below that, was every single date from the day she was diagnosed to the day she was told she was cancer free...and next to each date, was a memory...and each memory was with him. "Today, Abhi painted my toe nails for me....today, Abhi and I wrote a song together...today, we decided we wanted 3 children...today, we danced in the tube...today, we kissed in the rain..."
Sensing that her Abhi was entirely overwhelmed, she took the frame out of his hands and gently put it on one of the seats. She cupped his face in her hands, her eyes soaked in tears of all consuming, irrevocable love. "Abhi, thank you...thank you for everything...thank you so much...thank you, thank you, thank you..." ________________________________________________________________________________
A note from the author: Thank you all so much for the love you have given to this story & all of my one shots so far! More stories on scenes & tracks I want to see in the show coming very very soon!
xoxo
Pooja
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Amends In Your Arms
RomanceA series of one shots & short stories taking place post Abhira's divorce track!
