Bruises| Abhira FF ✔️

CHAPTER 32

Third Person's POV

He stood there numb, trying to figure out how to explain all of this to his daughter. He didn't plan to have Rhea in his life, but now that she has become a part of it, he was finding it hard to overcome the fear of losing her.

"Rhea... I-" Before he could say anything more, Rhea ran away towards her room. Abhimanyu started following her behind, only to be stopped by Akshara.

"Don't. She won't listen to you at this moment. Let me handle this." Akshara told him, and he nodded as she followed Rhea to her room.

"Why are you still here? Just leave!" he glared at Tara as she stood there unbothered.

"Who's this girl anyway?" Tara asked, referring to Akshara.

"She's my wife, and you better stay away from her!" Abhimanyu yelled, and she scoffed.

"Like I'll believe." she shook her head.

"I don't care if you do or not!" Abhimanyu shot back.

"Admit it, Abhimanyu. You can't keep Rhea happy. Just give her back to me." she said.

"Never! Now get out of here, or I'll call the guards." he threatened her.

"Fine. But I'm not backing off." she replied with a smirk before walking out of the house.

"Rhea.... Baby, where are you?" Akshara asked as she entered Rhea's room.

"Rhee?" she checked under the bed but didn't find her until she heard light sniffles. She moved towards the cupboard and opened it and found her curled up in there.

"Rhee.... come on, get out of there!" Akshara reached for her hand and pulled her out of the cupboard. She then scooped her in her arms and went to sit on the bed with Rhea on her lap.

"Stop crying, baby." Akshara said, wiping away her tears.

"Papa doesn't love me." Rhea stated between her hiccups.

"Hey.... there's nothing like that. Your papa loves you the most." Akshara replied.

"But... but... he said he never wanted me." she looked at Akshara with teary eyes.

"Rhea... You know your papa. He doesn't know what he's he talking about when he gets angry. He didn't mean any of that." Akshara told her as she herself felt like crying, seeing Rhea in this state.

"Why is he mad?" she asked, wiping away her tears with her little hands.

"Uhh... Rhea, do you remember when that kid in school stole your red-head doll?" Akshara asked, and she nodded.

"And you cried because she was your favourite. Papa is mad, too, because someone is trying to steal his doll away from him." Akshara told her, and she looked at her confused.

"So we can buy him a new one. Like you bought me a new red-haired doll." Rhea suggested, and akshu shook her head.

"We can't, Rhee. You get dolls like these only once in a lifetime. You can't afford to lose them." Akshara told her.

"Come on, get back to sleep." Akshara said as she put Rhea under the covers and started stroking her hair lightly.

"Akshu?" Rhea opened her eyes to look at her.

"What was Mama doing here?" she asked. Akshara wasn't sure what to answer her yet as she didn't want Rhea to have a bad image of her mother.

"She was here to wish you a happy birthday." Akshara replied.

"But I don't want her here. I don't wanna go back with her." Rhea told her.

"You aren't going anywhere. Now close your eyes and go to sleep. We'll talk about the rest in the morning." Akshara told her, and she immediately shut her eyes close.

"How's she?" Abhimanyu asked as soon as he saw Akshara appear in the living room.

"She's asleep. I did what I could. She'll be better in the morning, hopefully." Akshara replied.

"Thanks. I just... don't want her to hate me. There are enough people for that job." he let out a sadistic chuckle.

"I don't know what's going on right now, and I get it if you don't want to tell me, but... it's gonna be okay." she said as she sat beside him on the couch.

"I'll tell you when the time is right. I just want you to focus on Rhea right now." he told her, and she nodded.

"Wanna go out for ice cream?" she asked, and he frowned at her.

"Ice-cream? At this time?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah! I know there's an ice-cream parlour nearby." she replied.

"Fine. But we're walking. I'm not in the mood to drive." he rolled his eyes as he saw her stand up from the couch.

"No problem at all!" she replied, and he shook his head with a chuckle.

"Go get changed first. We're not going out as Kristoff and Anna." he told her, and she chuckled.

"You did what???" he laughed out loud at something she did in her childhood.

After almost spending half an hour deciding on flavors, they both were now on their way back with ice cream of two different flavors in their hands.

"I know, right?" she shrugged her shoulders proudly.

"Man... Gotta say, you were a mischievous girl back then." he shook his head with a chuckle, and she winked at him.

"What about you? Got some stories about your childhood?" she asked and saw the smile fade away from his face immediately.

"My childhood wasn't that exciting. I was sent to boarding school at the age of ten. Then, I spent my college life abroad. I never got to spend time with my parents, and when I finally had the time, they were no more." he told her, and she gave him a sympathetic look as she unconsciously held his hand in order to console him, and he gripped her hand firmly with a half smile.

Before she could reply anything, her phone went off.

"Hello?" she attended the call as Abhimanyu looked on.

"Am I speaking to Ms. Akshara?" the lady asked.

"Yes. Sorry I didn't recognize you." she replied.

"Ms. Akshara, your father got into an accident." the lady told her.

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