Discordance

Chapter Thirteen

Abhimanyu drove back to the hospital still in a daze after dropping Akshara and her friend off at the shelter. How could he have so blinded by rage? All the times he had been rude and dismissed her were flashing through his mind and he felt embarrassed and guilt. No, he had to find answers. She was correct in not letting him in, why should she trust him?

He wasn't like this, it was only when it came to her that he acted unhinged and audacious. His own mother was a housewife so how dare he question her and her lifestyle choices. She was absolutely valid in doubting his ethics. Abhimanyu entered the Birla hospital annoyed and disappointed with himself.

"Can you send Nurse Sharda to my cabin urgently?" he asked one of the staff and hoped that his tone held enough gravity that the guy would hurry up. At least he would get some answers now!

When she knocked and came in, Abhimanyu immediately tore into it "What the hell was that? I was blindsided when the minister and the commissioner showed up. Who is Akshara?" your wife, his conscience whispered but he immediately shushed it down.

"Sir, how do you not know? She has been working with the hospital for about a year now. A brave, sweet girl!" Abhimanyu's mouth was open in shock as his heart raced, "Harsh Sir has formed an alliance with her organization.."

Abhimanyu's ears immediately perked up at that, "Organization? What organization."

"Sir it is called 'Seva', the foundation Akshu established under the Minister's party. You should look it up, it is amazing, the things she had done so far is just so astonishing." Abhimanyu nodded wanting her to hurry, his head was spinning. "She is a social worker who helps the local women's shelter, the orphanage and sometimes patients who need external funding. She works closely with the police and us to get everyone the help they need. What a bright young girl, sir I have seen her wait with patient's families for days and not going home, she works 80 hour weeks."

Abhimanyu couldn't bear to hear any more, his guilt eating away a hole in his gut. "Ok thanks" he murmured cutting her Akshara is great spiel early and dismissing her. He wanted to scream and also throw up but his brain kept conjuring up the image of Akshara's scared face every time he yelled at her unprovoked. He had to fix it, not because of his guilt but because no woman should've felt this scared in an enclosed space with a man like this. Especially not the gentle and sweet Akshara. He suddenly didn't feel like going home knowing that Akshara wouldn't be around to crumple his sheets or throw her shoes near his side of the bed so he would stumble on them in the morning and cuss her out.

He reluctantly made his way home and the empty bedroom walls were closing in on him, he paced around looking at his room and realized that the pink and glitter was simply just a part of his life now. Groaning and not knowing how to fix what he had broken, Abhimanyu saw her little suitcase where still some of her clothes were shoved and felt a trickle of shame run through his spine. Hastily moving around, he began to empty out some space in the closet as her side as well as counter tops before slowly moving all her belongings to it's appropriate place in his room. He finally looked around hoping something would change within him looking at her stuff mixed with his but all he felt was guilt and shame.

With a twisting gut, Abhimanyu went downstairs to seek his family. He played a game with Neil in their common room but all he could think about was Akshara. Shooting her a text to remind her about her painkillers he hoped she would reply but she left him on read and it made the hole in his gut bigger. He had done it to her when she was probably willing to tell him about her life and he had crapped all over it so he probably deserved it but damn if it didn't hurt.

"Abhi?" his mother asked making her way over to her sons and he felt like he couldn't meet her eyes, so when she took a seat at the couch he immediately crawled over and buried his head into her lap. "Is everything ok?" and Abhimanyu couldn't lie, he shook his head in her lap "I messed up really bad." He said as he felt a tear fall from his eye onto his mother's saree.