Twin Flames: a YRKKH Abhira ff

Chapter 13

TW: MENTION OF PARENTAL PHYSICAL ABUSE!!!! PLEASE SKIP THIS CHAPTER IF IT IS TOO TRIGGERING FOR YOU

Abhimanyu owned an apartment within the vicinity of the Birla hospital and that is where he spent most of his time when he wasn't working or at the charity organization which he ran with Parth Bhai. Abhimanyu's apartment was mostly bare sparing minimal furniture but he liked it like that, too much clutter and color caused him extreme annoyance. He liked no emotions, both  in people and in  things near him. He liked his apartment dark and desolate like his heart. 

It was Friday night and Abhimanyu was lying on his back on his bed wide awake. The thought of stepping foot into that godforsaken place tomorrow filled him with dread. He hated visiting the place that had given him nothing but trauma, every wall of the house was painted with his silent screams and agony . No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help the images that began flashing in his head. 

" No..No.. please... not tonight.. I need one night of peace and quiet" he screamed internally at his brain as flashes of his father the great Harsh Birla hitting his mother and him filled his mind on a loop. His father always took the image of a monster in his head and the older Abhimanyu could no nothing but watch from the sidelines as he saw image after image and instance after instance where even the smallest things would set his father off and Manjari and himself would bear the brunt of his short fused temper. when Abhimanyu was only 5years old he saw his father cause Manjari so much harm that his small 5 year old self tried to stand as a shield between his father and mother. This caused Harsh to lose what little handle he had on his sanity and beat the young child so much that Tauji had to rush him to the hospital with multiple broken bones. From then on, all of Abhimanyu's childhood was a shrouded in a deep color of black where the abuse happened often, the mother and son clinging to each other. Once, Neil and Anisha were born when Abhimanyu was only 7, he vowed to himself that his younger precious siblings would never go through the same childhood he had and so he did everything in his power to save them from the same fate as him. Luckily, his father once in the middle of his historic rage flew too close to the sun and had a cardiac arrest amidst his rage fit and was rushed to the hospital by his Tauji, Taiji and Bua where he was pronounced dead. His siblings thankfully never saw the abuse and always saw the monster as a good father and Abhimanyu never had it in him to correct them as they were so young and he wanted them to have that sense of security. 

He still got nightmares almost daily and sleep was ever elusive making the great doctor forever grouchy. He had locked his emotions so tight within him that nothing ever came out except a deep rooted hatred for him "family" who stood by and let this happen to him and his mom because of some misplaced family values. The way his mom was treated was so inhumane that Abhimanyu could never have a big heart like his mom and forgive his tauji taiji and buaji or his Dadi who was alive back then and supported all his fathers antics.

Even through all this, Abhi could never bring himself to hate his mom because he knew she had nowhere to go. Manjari had no finances of her own, and the one time she had tried to complain against Harsh after young Abhi had to take a week off from school because of a head laceration courtesy of her husband, Dadi had made all members of the family prove Manjari a liar. Abhi knew how Manjari had so much love for her husband and he saw that same love take a big toll on her and become her prison and he vowed himself to never fall in love or talk about love. All he wanted was to become the best at everything so he could  spit on his father's hypothetical grave and prove to the late Harshvardhan that he was a better doctor, better businessman and a better human being than him. 

******Next morning****

Abhimanyu reluctantly made his way inside the house with heavy steps. He saw the house decked in decorations to the nine for the pooja happening in a few hours and he vowed to himself that he would definitely fuck off from the house before the guests could surround him and ask him for medical advice or worse, pawn their poor daughters on him for shaadi nonsense.  He saw his mom around the dining table and went in to hug his mom from behind. 

"Abhi, tu aa gaya?" (Abhi, you came?) Manjari asked as she fluffed his hair and smoothed out the lines on his forehead . "Did you eat? you're not sleeping properly are you? come sit I made dal chawal for you for lunch..." she said pulling out a chair. 

"Maa, I can't stay for long you know na ?" and continued with a hurried "But how could i say no to your dal chawal, Manju" he said after he saw his mother's face fall. 

Abhimanyu went stock still as he heard his Tauji and Taiji come downstairs. He heard his tauji ask him "Abhimanyu beta how are you ?" but Abhimanyu refused to answer and began eating his food. He knew his mother was uncomfortable and wanted to keep the peace. She looked at him imploring eyes to please not create a scene and Abhi knew he could never say no to her. He merely nodded at his taiji but didn't even bother to look at his tauji. He had heard from his mom that taiji had tried everything in her power to stand up for her but she too was a victim of misogyny and patriarchy and their MIL was too strict for her to do anything. Abhi could maybe forgive his Taiji but he would never forgive or forget what his Tauji had done, all the secret back door hospital admittances to ensure nobody could say anything etc. He smirked into his lunch plate knowing how they had to be nice to him now as they needed him to maintain the family's finances as all of them were under his name and control. Tauji's business had shut down a while back and he had become bitter and often verbally took it out on Parth Bhai for not being like Abhi. 

Abhi would never let anything happen to his Parth Bhai, Shefali bhabhi or young Nishtha and not just because of his mom who would hate the family to be divided, especially all  6 of her children now going on 7 with Kairav. He saw Parth bhai tense as he took his seat at the table and Abhi gave him a solitary eye roll for the drama that was about to ensue.  As the rest of the family slowly began filtering in to grab lunch the chatter around the table became loud with Anisha excitedly talking about the pooja. Everyone let her take the reins and pitched in when needed with Manjari excitedly filling in. Poojas and all the taam jhaam were Manju's jam..He ate his lunch hurriedly and began to think of an escape plan. After lunch once everyone was gathered in the main living room, Abhi started to say his goodbyes but Anisha and his other siblings dragged him upstairs to chat and the ladies asked him to wait until the guests began arriving and spend some time with them. Abhi felt claustrophobic in the house but painted on a brave indulgent smile on his face for Anisha and Nishtha. All the siblings were gathered in Manjari's room, their usual hangout spot and spoke about the pooja . "You know I met Kairav's sisters yesterday. They are so sweet and welcoming, you guys will love them" he heard Anisha say and this pulled Abhimanyu out of his thoughts immediately. 

"Aarohi and what was her name? Akshara right?" He asked Anisha with a rapid heartbeat. All his siblings turned to him in shock because in all their hangout sessions Abhimanyu had not once contributed anything to their conversations willingly. He always answered if they asked anything worthy of an answer. 

"SWEET? WHAT SWEET? DEVIL.. she is so rude Anisha are you crazy?" Neil said loudly to Anisha causing everyone's attention to turn to him 

"Abhi you fucking moron.. what the hell is up with you?" Abhi muttered to himself and vacantly listened to Neil go on and on about Aarohi? He wasn't sure and didn't particularly care about what Aarohi had done to his idiotic brother as long as she was a good surgeon she could be whatever she wanted to be outside of that... 

In all the conversation Abhimanyu didn't realize that he hadn't thought once about the claustrophobic feeling that generally encompassed him ever since Anisha had started talking about Goenka siblings..