Discordance

Chapter Two

Akshara screamed as she ran to Manjari Aunty and hugged her tight "You came!!!" she exclaimed and not giving her a chance to respond, Akshara dragged her into the orphanage she was at currently, chattering at a thousand miles per hour.

"Akshu Akshu, you talk too fast for anyone to understand" Manjari gently chided the sweet girl in front of her making her giggle and bite her tongue. "Did your bade papa talk to you?" she asked innocently but she knew Akshara would tell her if he had because there was no filter when it came to this girl.

"To me? No what for?" Akshara bounced on her feet, never still this one, Manjari thought.

Manjari was about to open her mouth and tell her about Abhimanyu's Rishta but before she could do just that, Akshara's phone rang

"Oh look he is calling me now." Akshara said turning her phone's screen towards Manjari Aunty.

"Hi bade papa" she whispered, her previous playfulness gone completely which Manjari did not miss, her hackles rose, a surge of protectiveness for this sweet girl rising within her heart. She could faintly hear Manish Bhaisahab asking Akshara to come home urgently and that he needed to talk to her causing Akshara to stutter out a yes and hastily cutting the call.

"He umm he said he has to talk to me" Akshara whispered in a daze, wringing her hands in front of her. Being in her bade papa's vicinity was always so taxing mentally because try as she might, she somehow always disappointed him.

"I'm sorry I won't be able to introduce you to the new kid today Aunty but maybe one of the staff members can bring you along with them? I need to go" she murmured, not meeting Manjari's eyes. What was wrong? she wondered because somehow suddenly the bright, enthusiastic girl looked like she had swallowed a bitter lemon.

Whispering a quiet bye she ran out of there like bats were chasing her, leaving Manjari staring after her.

That night Akshara went to the ghats to quiet her soul her heart in a turmoil, how could Bade Papa do this? She had always known that he didn't really like her but this was too far even for him. Was she this much of a trouble to him? She quietly asked the night sky hoping someone would help her understand where she had gone wrong.

"Mumma Paapa, why does he hate me?" she asked the stars and like always they kept blinking. Grabbing her knees to her chest, akshara rocked herself slowly trying to ease the turmoil within her as soft sobs escaped her mouth, unheard by anyone. She was warned not to tell Kairav, Vansh or Rishi bhaiya about this so she really had nobody to talk to, except her parents.

"You will be meeting Abhimanyu Birla as a marriage prospect, and you will do everything in your power to secure this assimilation of the two families. Convince him with whatever you need to do but make sure he says yes. Don't fuck it up Akshara" Bade papa had said to her the moment she had walked into his study, a place she was particularly unwelcome from since she was little.

Her world had fallen apart and she was sure it was the sheer shock of his statement that she had even bothered to reply because she was taught not to speak in front of him and everyone who knew Akshara knew how much she loved to talk. "But I'm not ready yet" she had whispered.

"I don't care, be ready. This alliance with the Birlas will help the Goenka industry a lot and don't you want to help Kairav be successful?" he had hit the bull's eye because her three brothers were her Achilles heel but even this was too much of a sacrifice for them.

She opened her mouth to argue but bade papa handed her a document indicating with his fingers for her to open it. Her jaw dropped when she saw the document as tears gathered in her eyes "why?" she stuttered staring at him through watery eyes. The document stated that if she wasn't able to secure the alliance with the Birlas, her bade papa would end the funding for this year to her program with the government. A program so near and dear for her that he knew he had Akshara right where he wanted.