Discordance

Chapter Thirty-Three

Maybe it was the alcohol talking but Abhimanyu knew that was a copout, his wife looked so fucking gorgeous under the twinkling lights, her cheeks flushed pink and eyes bright as she cuddled up next to him in one of the dresses he had picked out that he felt a thrill run down his spine.

"Hey monkey" he whispered conspiratorially, and he almost forgot what he wanted to say when she looked at him like this, with this slight hesitation like he was going to ruin her but also with this hope like he would take all her pain away and it always tore him to shreds. He jerked out of it when she elbowed him in the ribs gently wriggling her eyebrows. Oh right!

"I was going to say I really really like you" he breathed out in a rush and chuckled loudly when as expected her cheeks turned pink and she smacked his chest lightly

"Abhimanyuuu" she whined before running away to get away from him, leaving him alone and maybe that was the opportunity her brothers were waiting for because they surrounded him on the mattress he was sitting on

"So" Rishi said and Abhimanyu had never been as grateful for the buzz of alcohol as in that moment.

"Sooo" he said stretching his leg out in front of him, tracing his finger on the lip of the glass

"Akshara seems happy, happier than I have ever seen her and I guess we have you to thank" it took him a moment to realize that Rishi was actually giving him a compliment, but what kind of praise was it if this was her being the happiest she had ever been because she still cried and she still had clouds of misery clinging on to the shadows in her eyes. Maybe he would get more insider info from them if he played his cards right.

"I'm trying, she is so hard to read." He muttered almost to himself, and Rishi scoffed "yeah, she will keep all her cards close to her chest so you will never know what she is going through."

"Look Abhimanyu, I'm going to be very honest with you" Kairav said pulling his attention away from Rishi, his tone held a skepticism that made Abhimanyu's pulse race. "Our family has been particularly unkind to Akshu and while we weren't directly involved, she has suffered a lot and to watch her be this happy is extremely heartwarming but also jarring because if she lost this, she wouldn't be able to bounce back. It was easy for her to let go of our family, but I don't think she will be able to let you, or your family go."

Abhimanyu felt his hackles rise at this, if Kairav was so aware of things why hadn't he done something to take his siter's pain away? He was about to say the exact same thing to him when Kairav hurriedly added on "I fucked up because I got a lot of responsibility at a young age and Akshara being the youngest and a girl had nothing in common with me and somehow her needs and wants were sidelined. I know things may never be the same between us but I will try, all I'm saying is that please take care of her with kid gloves. Don't make the same mistakes we did."

His mind was reeling at this, every day his wife and her past became more of a tangled mystery and somehow the more he dug, the deeper it ran. Was there no end to her sadness and pain? He looked over at the buffet table to see Akshara grinning with his mother who was trying to feed her something and Akshara was expertly evading it.

"She's eating better here, she looks healthier." Rishi whispered next to him in the silence and Abhimanyu stilled not knowing how openly he could talk to him. "Those two don't know, but I always knew" he said tilting his chin towards Vansh and Kairav who were pulled into a conversation by Neil.

Abhimanyu could only nod, he felt like he would be betraying Akshara if he spoke about this openly with her brothers. "Our bade papa ruined a lot of Akshara's innocence and while I hate that she is not with me where I can see her an protect her, I am glad she has you Abhimanyu." Rishi said clapping him on the back and Abhimanyu nodded at him "yeah, why didn't you stop him from forcing the marriage on her? I am obviously glad that she is my wife and I wouldn't give it up for anything in this world but she didn't deserve to be trapped with me, especially with her funding at stake. But what kind of brothers are you?" he couldn't help the bitterness lacing his tone.