TANGLED SOULS

To your eternity -7

'Did I lost him forever?'

It was the only question ringing in her mind as Akshara Goenka sat on the floor of her room, knees against her chest, leaning against her favorite bench by the window. Her hands were buried in her messy hair, lips wobbling and tears falling as loud sobs broke through her throat. She wished she could disappear from the world.

She didn't know how it happened—No. Who was she kidding, she knew exactly why and how it happened. Her feelings. Those feelings that she couldn't erase or forget, no matter how much she'd tried to convince herself to only be a friend to him. It's easy to say but, doing it is hard. And this is exactly what she feared when she was avoiding him. She couldn't be so close to him yet so far. This is why she wanted to keep her distance with him but Abhi made it impossible and now, she's ruined everything. She kissed him. Him, her best friend. Him, who was promised to someone else. How. will. she. ever. face. him. now? Would he even want to see her face?
The mere thought made her choke on thin air as flashes of their happy moments appeared behind her closed lids and another sob broke her, leaving her to cry at the misery, only she was the responsible of.

Back at the Birla house, the party was in full swing, music blared from the speakers as everyone was having a whale of a time. But Abhimanyu Birla, now clad only in his t-shirt, was in no mood for the party as he was pacing back and forth in the main corridor of upstairs, searching her, his Akshara through the heads of peoples, dialing her many times, without success. He didn't wanted to alert everyone by barging in as he knew this is something solely between Akshu and himself. They had to deal it alone. He have to—No. Need to explain himself. He need to make things right with her as with each passing minute, the hole in his heart deepened and he was losing his mind with the millions of questions assaulting his brain.

He let out another curse under his breath when the call went straight to her voicemail again, did she even have her phone on her?—His question was soon answered when he heard her phone ringtone and twirled around to find his sister holding Akshara's phone. Nishita Birla, glanced down at the phone in her hands, before looking up at her brother.

"Bhai, I found this phone behind the stairs..." She said as she handed it to him.

Abhi didn't know if he had to feel relieved or more worried as his girl was out there somewhere in night, without her phone. His stupid, idiotic, stubborn girl. He mentally made a note to give her an earful once he found her.

"Don't know where she went, even the last time she disappeared..."
Nishita's absentminded mumbles snapped him out of his thoughts as he returned his attention to her, brow shot up. "Last time?"

His sister nodded, "Haan Bhaiya, remember last Friday? When Akshu got her job?" He nodded silently, urging her to continue as Friday poked something in his mind.
"Akshu was here to inform Chacchi about it! She was in your room and I needed her help for my science project so I went to meet her but she wasn't there when I opened the door. Even Chacchi wanted her to meet some guests..." She shook her head with a sigh as she finished her story.

His witty mind started connecting the dots slowly as the realization dreaded upon him gradually. Last Friday. That is three days ago, Akshara was here, at his home. He closed his eyes and reminisced that day. Akshu called him that morning, probably before her interview and after that she dropped off here to inform his Maa about it and was in his room, that's when she left her appointment letter for him. But then, what happened? If Nishita's words were true then Akshu left without informing anyone, not even Maa, which is not likely her. And she disappeared for the whole weekend and avoided him like a plague until he cornered her this morning. Hoping he was wrong, he asked his sister the question that was bugging his mind.