DESTINED TOGETHER

Chapter 23 - Growing distance

Three days. It has been three days since that fateful night. Three days since they last were Devil in disguise and Troublemaker. Three days since they last bantered, fought or laughed on random unfunny things.

Abhimanyu busied himself with work, he managed to leave home early and come home late and when he came Akshara would be already asleep. He would stare at her with longing because he simply missed his best friend but he knew she wouldn't even want to face him after what he did. So, he would sleep quietly to not make things awkward than it already was and leave earlier than he should in the morning.

Akshara would pretend to sleep when her flatmate came home and would feel his eyes on her but wouldn't dare to open her eyes, afraid of seeing disappointment in his gaze. She had so many things to say, so many things to ask and yet she was afraid to hear his answers as it can ruin their friendship. And losing Abhi as her friend was the last thing she wanted. The mere thought was unbearable.

One thing that was constant was the coffee he made her before leaving to hospital, either in the kettle for her to heat up or on her bedside table. She sometimes wanted to yell because his distance was ruining her peace of mind slowly and steadily. She missed their silly arguments, banters and fights.

She missed them arguing for the Tv : her to watch one of her series and him to watch a sport channel, she missed him commenting on her photographs, and her whining about complicated medical terms. She missed him messing up her hair casually when she'd just finished combing, she missed their early morning races for the bathroom or him annoying her by knocking on the door when she took too long. She missed him preparing meals with her helping him while blabbering about her day and asking about his. She missed cleaning the flat together and intentionally messing up each other's space just to annoy the hell out of each other. She missed those little bedtime talks before where they would forget all their fights to just be each other's confidents before falling asleep.

In these three days, she'd realised the place he'd in her life and how it seemed almost impossible to be away from him. She missed her frenemy, her best friend more than anything and—Aren't you already losing him slowly?

And there came the thought that has been bugging her since last night. It occurred to her out of nowhere when she was editing on of her pics, lost in her thoughts, that lead to only one person, Abhi. The more she felt the distance grew between them, the more the realisation hit her.

Was she losing Abhi slowly?

Their dynamics started to change in the past three days. They were avoiding each other like two plagues and she couldn't help but feel that they were losing whatever they had build over the past months. And she loathed the idea of losing what they had, whatever it was.

Her biggest fear has always been rejection and losing her dear ones. She lost her mother at a very young age and her father had been her only pillar all her life. Despite having a big family to call hers, she never really got their love and her greatest wish was to be rightfully accepted by them one day, reunite her father with them.

Till now, her world started and ended with her father. But then, Abhimanyu entered her world and in a span of two months, he changed everything in her world. And she'd only started realizing how much he changed. Now, it was too late to go back to square one and all she wanted was to protect their friendship at any cost.

Hence, Akshara gave him the space and time he wanted. However, she didn't realize until last night that by doing this, she was slowly and painfully losing him. She feared that one day they would become two mere strangers sharing an apartment and honestly, even when they were both strangers, she had never felt that way. They started out with a bang from day one, they were both stubborn people who couldn't compromise nor get along and yet they were both the most chaotic people to be around. And the familiarity she had felt back then was fading now.