A light in the flame

Chapter 12 - Part I : Who are you ?

Present

He placed her phone back in his breast pocket. She shot up from her seat, ready to pummel him with a pillow when the flight attendant came up to her.

"You feel better, miss ?"

She swallowed her rage. "Uh, yes, thank you," she said hoarsely.

As she gathered her things and made sure nothing had fallen out of her purse, Abhimanyu walked out with Johan and Mo on his heels, leaving her with Anokhi who had a large work bag over her shoulder.

She smiled sweetly at her. "Do you need help ?"

"I'am okay, thank you." Akshara smiled back at her.

" Akshara !"

Abhimanyu's shout set her teeth on edge. Anokhi's smile turned into a full-blown smile that pissed her off. She shot Anokhi a scathing look before she walked off the plane to find two Bentleys waiting for them. She ignored the car Abhimanyu stood next to and tried to board the one with Johan, and some other guards, but Anokhi took the last seat.

"Akshara, let's go," Abhimanyu said impatiently.

She stalked up to him as the other car pulled away. "Give me my phone now."

"Get in."

"Mrs. Birla ?"

She broke the staring contest with Abhimanyu to find Mo holding the back door open for her. Fine. The faster she got in, the quicker she would get home and hopefully find a solution to stay away from him. She settled in the back and sank into the buttery leather seats as Mo got behind the wheel. She was about to relax when Abhimanyu got into the back seat with her.

"Sit in the front," she ordered.

He ignored her and answered his phone.

This was the longest one-night stand in history. She closed her eyes and tried to block him out. Not much longer... They hit traffic (no surprise), and when Mo asked for her address, she glanced at Abhimanyu who was on his third call. She gave it reluctantly. Her leg began to bounce as they neared her apartment.

Her betu ... He is not emotionally prepared... In fact he only asked about his father once and never brought it up. She had promised him to tell him everything when he grew up. She even promised him that if he ever felt the need to meet his father she would do everything in her power to make him meet him.

He hugged her and made a pinky promise with her to tell her he will let her know. That was one year ago, and since then he never brought up this issue.

I guess life has other plans for us ...

Her phone landed in her lap getting her back to reality. She glanced at Abhimanyu who seemed to be absorbed in his call. She unlocked her phone and saw that she had forty-two voicemails, over one hundred missed calls, and two hundred unread texts. Fuck. She checked Kiara's message first. She is confused and worried. Akshara sighed.

She glanced at the barely moving traffic and shrugged. She let her know she'd be at her apartment in forty minutes and asked her to try to put the kids to bed earlier today. Hoping that she could put some sense into Abhimanyu without scaring the kids.

She also needs to convince him to let her talk to Abhir first ...

Abhimanyu ended his phone call and stared at her.

" Why did you cut your hair ?"

" Because I wanted to." Duh.

He started playing with her hair which is now reaching the middle of her throat. She wants to snap at him but she needs to be cool for her plan to succeed. She needs to buy time. In any way possible ...