Bruises| Abhira FF ✔️

CHAPTER 08

Third Person's POV

The sun rose, filling the sky with the shades of orange and pink. Peach and magenta, amber and rose, radiating hope, a new beginning. Another chance to live. The start of a new brand day.  As compared to the peaceful morning, her mind was a chaotic mess. It was her first day of her new job, and she was sitting in the same lobby that she had visited twice before, waiting for her boss to come so her day could officially start.

Her nervousness was on another level today. Like hail on a glass plane, the drumming of her fingers was as relentless as it was loud. Each click of her nails on the table echoed the tumultuous thudding of her heartbeat.

Her face rigid with tension, belied her youthfulness, she seemed to have aged a decade in the past hour. Aarohi's word kept ringing in her mind. What does she mean by 'maintaining distance'? She thought.

"Akshara." Aarohi approached her with a smile, and Akshara immediately stood up from her position upon seeing her.

"Hi." Akshara greeted her with a nervous smile.

"Abhimanyu sir will be here any minute now. Are you ready for your first day?" she asked, and Akshara simply nodded.

"I'll catch up with you later, huh!" she patted her shoulder and left. She again sat on the couch, waiting for him to arrive.

"Ms. Akshara!" she heard her name and immediately stood up and walked up to the reception desk.

"Abhimanyu sir is here. You've been called to his office." the reception guy told her, and she nodded before making her way to his office. Standing outside his office, she adjusted herself before knocking on the office door.

"Come in." she heard his voice and entered the office. His office was painted grey, and it had only one floor-to-ceiling window, which faced the main road.

On the grey desk sat a desktop computer and a notebook lying open. In a corner, the air conditioner was blasting at medium, and there was a swivel chair in the middle of the office.

A bookshelf bursting with books was in a corner, with a stack of papers under the paperweight, which was shaped to look like a tuft of grass. A few pens were lying on the papers, but some had fallen onto the top of the bookshelf.

"Hello, sir." she tried to act as cool as she could. He raised his eye to look at her and then again got focused on the computer. She stood there awkwardly until Neil entered the office.

"Abhi. Have you got the files I sent you?" he asked, and then his gaze moved towards Akshara.

"I'm Neil. I'm the MD of this company. You must be akshara, the new secretary. Right?" he forwarded his hand towards her, and she shook his hand gently.

"Abhi, this is the girl Aarohi appointed as your secretary." Neil told him.

"I can see that. Aarohi is the only one with poor choices here." Abhimanyu glared at Neil. Akshara's eyes widened at his comment.

"Anyways, go bring me some coffee." he told her. Akshara looked at him with an unbelievable look, frozen on her spot.

"Didn't you listen? I want coffee!" Abhimanyu yelled, and she jumped back slightly.

"Y-es, sir!" she stuttered and left the room immediately as tears filled her eyes.

"Abhi. It's her first day. Go easy on her." Neil said, and Abhimanyu stood up from his chair.

"Call aarohi here." he ordered him.

"Aarohi? But why?" Neil asked.

"I said, call her!" he yelled again. Neil picked out his phone and dialled Aarohi's number.

"Is everything okay?" Aarohi asked, entering the office.

"What the fuck did you do?" Abhimanyu gritted his teeth.

"Excuse me?" Aarohi narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Who the hell is that girl, whom which you appointed as my secretary?" Abhimanyu shouted.

"That's Akshara!" she shrugged her shoulders.

"I know her name. Damn it! Was she the only one left for this job?" he asked.

"What's wrong with her?" Aarohi asked.

"I specifically asked you to just appoint the hot one. Look at her, from which angle do you find her hot? And her middle-class dressing!" Abhimanyu ran his hands through his hair in anger.

"Relax. You're making a huge deal out of it!" Aarohi told him.

"Relax? How could you even think that someone like her is suitable to be the secretary of 'The Abhimayu Birla'?" he yelled yet again.

"She's perfect in every way. She is confident. She is responsible. She knows how to handle situations." Aarohi explained.

"That's not enough, okay?" Abhimanyu told her, and neil looked at him.

"Why? Because she isn't like one of your whores?" Aarohi smirked at him, before he could reply anything the door opened revealing Akshara with a cup of coffee.

"Your coffee sir." she said placing the cup on the table.

"Thank you so much, akshara. You can go now." Aarohi flashed her a smile. She nodded and left the room.

"You know what, get the fuck out of my room." Abhimanyu glared at aarohi.

"Don't talk to her like that." Neil jumped into the conversation.

"Oh sorry neil. She might be your princess, but not mine." Abhimanyu mocked him, and he looked down.

"Now, both of you can leave." Abhi ordered as he returned back to his chair.

On her way to her cabin, her mind was full of confusion. Sitting back in her chair, she shed a few tears as the words of her step-father rang in her ears.'Except if the interview is for a coffee-maker.'

Maybe her step-father was right all along. She can never make big in her life. Her fate is just like her mother. She wiped away her tears and went back to work.

"Neil!" Aarohi called him from behind. He stopped and turned around to look at her.

"Look, I'm sorry for the other day. I didn't mean -" he cut her off.

"It's alright. I won't bother you from now on. Aarohi!"

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