Discordance

Chapter Thirty-Five

Abhimanyu wasn't sure how many hours he slept but it couldn't have been a lot, yet he felt infinitesimally better waking up next to Akshara's beautiful face mushed into her pillow, her silky hair thrown behind her and an arm thrown over his waist. He had been drowning when he got home, yet the first hint of her subtle perfume had calmed him and brought him back to real life, back to her. So many people had told him it wasn't his fault, including his parents, his staff, heck even the girl's parents but he only believed it when she said it.

He traced a finger over the apple of her cheek and smiled softly when she nuzzled into his touch and sighed softly, she was so ravishing. He wanted to snuggle in with her but he had to hurry back to the hospital and his heart was torn leaving her there. Kissing her cheek gently, he covered her with the blanket before hightailing it out of there, he would talk to her once he was back that night and discuss everything with her.

There was some sort of a buzz within his blood which made him rush through his day, losing his patient had been tough, especially because it was a child but he had been trained for this and while the pain still smarted a bit, he had taken ample time to rest and recuperate and do the best by the rest of his patients. No, the buzz was to get back to her and discuss about her brothers and maybe tell her the depth of his feelings.

However that night when he went back home, his room was surprisingly empty and he couldn't pinpoint what was missing but something definitely felt off. She should have been home, she had told him as much, but their room was missing her scent, her warmth. He stomped down to see if maybe she was with his mom but his heart told him that something wasn't really right.

"Maa, have you seen Akshara?" he asked as he stepped into the kitchen and his mom walked up to him cupping his cheek

"You know she went to Jaipur this morning for some work, did you forget?" his blood ran cold at his mother's words

"Jaipur?" he asked in a daze, she hadn't told him or texted him about it.

"Yes, did she not tell you?" Manjari asked, her tone laced with apprehension as she gave Abhimayu the onceover, but he couldn't deal with his mother's disappointment right now.

"She did seem off and I asked her if it was because of what Dadi sa said last night but she brushed it off so I just assumed that she was ok and you had talked about it."

He felt a sliver of fear run through his body at that, what the fuck did this mean?

"What did she say?" Abhimanyu asked absentmindedly, his heart hurting at all the pain his monkey would be in and he hadn't even noticed.

"Abhimanyu you were there-" Manjari's voice trailed off but he didn't have time for his mother's hesitation. "Maa just tell me word from word dammit" he tried not to yell at his mother, she didn't deserve his anger.

His palms tightened into fists next to him as his mother recapped what had went down on the dining table and before that. Fuck, his poor monkey. His pulse raced and sweat broke out on his forehead and the back of his neck, something was definitely untoward.

"Why the hell did none of you stop her? You knew I was desolate and wasn't paying attention but you guys? You guys were all there" he growled, his anger felt misplaced because he wanted to punch a wall or something but his family did need to hear it.

"I know Abhi. Please don't be mad. Shefali was going to say something but you know how much Dadi sa bullies her too about not having a child yet, so mahima didi stopped it." Manjari said in a shaky voice but Abhimanyu did not care.

"I don't care about all of this, she will not step foot in this house and talk to my wife like that ever again. I failed Akshara, I keep failing her. What if she doesn't come back?" he asked in a distressed voice before dropping down on the couch in a thump, grabbing his head in his palms. His mother was likely trying to tell him that she would be back soon and she was okay etc but his mind kept circling around **What a clusterfuck, It's like everything in my life is going to shit, almost like I have someone's bad luck rubbing off on me**