Discordance

Chapter Eighteen

Akshara almost never woke up before 9 unless she had to be somewhere and she was definitely not a morning person, so usually by the time she was up Abhimanyu was halfway through his day but for some reason today her eyes opened earlier than usual, the rising sun filtering in shining on her face which was surprising because the couch was thankfully positioned away from the sun. She tried to block it out with a pillow but it was to no avail.

Groaning she got up before looking around in shocked surprise, had she fallen asleep on Abhimanyu's bed? Why had he not moved her? If she was here, where had he slept? The thoughts ran through her mind in rapid fire succession, but her questions were immediately answered when she saw Abhimanyu on the couch, half of his body hanging out of position. She never had the opportunity to watch him sleep and now she couldn't help but let out a giggle before hastily covering her mouth when she saw Abhimanyu snoring softly, his mouth hanging open and feet dangling on the floor. She stopped short when she realized that he had taken off his shirt from last night. Softly padding over closer to him, she gave him a onceover.

All those hours in the gym surely paid off because his uncovered chest looked like it was carved out of stone, each muscle separated and defined well. Sure he belonged to someone else, but there was no harm in looking right? Cheeks blazing she gave him a onceover before immediately putting her palms on her heated cheeks to calm herself down. Suddenly before she could blink and turn away one of his hands snaked out and pulled her waist in making her fall into his chest, the wind knocked out of her.

"if you're going to look, monkey, you might as well do it up close." His voice was hoarse from sleep and for some reason goosebumps broke all over Akshara's arm.

"I- umm I wasn't looking" she stammered before steeling her spine "you're in my spot" she said mutinously, his answering laugh stirred the hair on her head. Her arms couldn't support her body anymore and with a loud uff she dropped her face onto his chest. It was so warm and comfortable that Akshara in her groggy state wanted to cuddle up and sleep some more. What are you doing Akshara? She asked herself before immediately pulling away, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Monster" she huffed throwing a cushion on his face on her way to the bathroom, his loud booming laugh involuntarily causing the smile to stretch on her face.

By the time she got dressed and hurried down, everyone was already at the breakfast table. Quietly taking a seat next to Abhimanyu, Akshara pulled her plate towards her smiling gratefully at him when he inched the glass of juice closer to her.

"Akshu beta, it has been 3 months since your wedding and I was thinking that it'll be great if we kept a pooja at the house just so some of our relatives and family friends could know you better, would that be okay?" Manjari asked and Akshara's glass froze on its way to her mouth. She looked so hopeful that Akshara didn't have the heart to say no.

She nodded hesitantly only for her body to freeze at her next words, "Great, you will let your family know right? I will officially call them of course but if you give them a head's up it'll be great." Her entire world felt like it was crumbling and the fragile peace she had felt recently was gone with the wind. She jerked when she felt Abhimanyu sneak his hand under the table and entwine their hands together, she looked up at him in desperation, his hand was the only thing keeping her tethered as everything kept floating away.

"You know I haven't spoken to your Bade papa in a while, why don't I call him?" he whispered, and she had to gulp past the large stone lodged in her throat, he would do this for her? Without knowing the details, he simply jumped in to save her. Not even her brothers dared to do this when Bade Papa sometimes made snarky comments about her in their presence, which was rare in itself. Sometimes Rishi bhai would glare at him but that was the extent of it all, however, to be fair, her brothers had always remained blissfully unaware.