Discordance

Chapter Three

"Akshara's family is coming over tonight to see you" Manjari's voice came through the phone making Abhimanyu groan. Already? Why were they in such a hurry.

"yeah whatever" he declared, he hated the name Akshara. He wasn't sure why she was stirring up all these emotions within him but something about the way his family was talking about her made her different than all the others and he had to make sure he nipped this in the bud.

He was sure like all the others she was going to be a rich, spoilt girl who had no ambition except to become Mrs. Abhimanyu Birla and like hell would he let that happen.He would make sure she ran for the hills, he was going to weave a story so deep that she would have no choice but to reject him.

His resolution intact, Abhimanyu walked into his house later that evening purposefully delaying his arrival after the Goenkas to make sure she understood how little he cared about her. Not bothering to look at her, he introduced himself to everyone and took a seat at a spot farthest away from where she was sitting, making sure he had no view of her or her, him. He didn't want to give any indications to her or her family that he was into this.

"Abhi beta, would you show Akshara around the house?" Harshvardhan piped up and Abhi knew he was fucked. Normally his mother would pull stunts like this and he would squirm his way out of it but he couldn't say no to his father, no matter what. He had learned his lesson from that one time. Nodding stony faced, he got up not looking in her direction and stepped away from the group. When he heard her quick intake of breath behind him, it for some reason annoyed the shit out of him.

Abhimanyu took the stairs two at a time grinning to himself when she probably had to scramble to follow him. He really wasn't sure where this mean streak was coming from but he needed his family to take off the 'I love Akshara' blindfold they had on or things would get terrible for him. He got a whiff of warm vanilla and spices as she got closer to him and for some reason that enraged him further. He had sweet stuff!

Coming to an abrupt halt by the balcony on the floor he shared with Parth Bhai and Shefali Bhabhi he pushed the doors open walking ahead of her. Coming to stand besides the ledge resting his forearms on it, he finally glanced up at her side profile and he felt a flutter in his heart which he abruptly dismissed as annoyance. Quickly glancing away, not wanting to catalogue any of her features further, he let her stew in silence.

It boiled his blood that she let him be quiet, not fidgeting nor trying to make conversation. Normally they all caved within the first 5 minutes of silence, desperately trying to make conversation but she just stayed quiet. Suddenly Abhimanyu was the one stewing in silence his annoyance through the roof, who the hell did she think she was? Beating him at his own game.

Clearing his throat loudly he spat out with as much bitterness as he could muster "Listen, what is your name?" from the corner of his eye he could see her mouth twist into a grimace. Point one for me, he grinned internally. When she opened her mouth to tell him her name he waved his hand around "It doesn't matter" he could tell from his glance that she was biting her cheek probably hard enough to not give him an ugly retort. God forbid she had a spine! His mom sure knew how to pick them.

"Whatever your name is, you need to say no to this alliance" he saw her hands grip the ledge tightly and grinned again, fuck yeah another point for you Dr. Birla. What had gotten into him? He never got angry or upset but somehow he wanted to scream and yell in frustration at her right now, especially when she still remained quiet. Could she even talk, he wondered briefly before immediately feeling guilty for being so irrational in his anger that he was making such jabs, even if they were in his head.

In his haste to make her see sense he continued "You will have to say no, because my mom for some reason loves you." 

"Why?" she asked simply, her tone even but something about her voice made a shudder run through his spine, he was sure it was irritation, not willing to delve deeper.