The Birlas' - IKSHANA

Chapter - 21: Retrospection

At Akshara's Udaipur Residence:

Abhinav, with the help of staff, got Akshara to lay on her bed. He sat there reminiscing what happened at the pub. All he could recollect was a beautiful family having a good, fun time, celebrating the success of their own. He couldn't stop himself from remembering all the moments they couldn't celebrate for one reason or the other. The ones that they celebrated didn't actually feel like celebrations. Those mandatory parties and social gatherings were never going to take the place a real, cozy, family celebration which he terribly missed.

He didn't want that for Abhir. He once considered him his son and always had a soft spot for him. He was the only one who made him feel like a father. He also knew that he would never be proud of what he is letting or rather helping transpire. He just hoped that Abhimanyu Birla's son learnt the art of survival from his father because he will need it for sure. Akshara changed drastically with time and that was not something Abhir should be handling.

She convinced herself that she was working on her flaws but he knew that she was working hard to find ways to conceal them or give enough reasons to oversee them. She actually never accepted her mistakes. She just lamented on her decisions because of the bad consequences. She started looking at life like a board game with good moves and bad moves. At least he thought that she became like that after losing Abhir.

He tried explaining her but he could never stand up to her and she had a mastery in guilt tripping a person for hurting her when all they wanted was her well being. As long as things went her way, she is the most understanding person on planet earth but the moment her moves don't land the blow where she wants them to, she can be very difficult. Drinking wasn't something he ever supported. He wasn't against occasional drinks but he was against the addiction.

He emotionally blackmailed her into enrolling into a therapy to get rid of it as suggested by one of the managers who was worried for her reputation. Well, it ended with her emotionally manipulating him into begging her to give up therapy. Her display of excruciating pain and bizarre descriptions did the trick on him. In retrospect, he felt he should have stood his ground. Not just in this one instance, may be all throughout their marriage. Alas! It's too late to make amends now. He had to just suck up and stick with her. There was no two ways about it. Because, in his world, that is what true love meant.

At Birla House:

Everyone was super tired, and the kids were already droopy with sleep. Neil held on to Abhir while Abhimanyu guided Roohi.

"Champ! Change karke so jao. You are sweaty from all the dancing. Come on" Neil pushed Abhir to change as soon as they reached Abhir's room.

"Chachu yaar! Ek din aise so jaunga toh kya hojayega? Aur aapse toh zyada hygienic freak hoon main!" he whined.

Neil smiled. The boy had all the sass wrapped up somewhere within. Only when he lets loose, it comes out. He was tempted to see what all he could get Abhir to speak in this mood.

"Dikh raha hain. Mujhe lazy bol raha tha na. Tujhe akhir meri hi help lagi. Hain na?" he goaded, raising his imaginary collar.

"Main aaja tha apne aapne aap uper! Aapko hi help karni thi meri. Maine mangi kya? Uper se ginwa rahe ho. How shallow!" he snickered.