Discordance

Chapter Thirty- Seven

Abhimanyu woke up at his regular time and the first thought in his head was of Akshara, the few days apart had instilled a deep rooted fear in him and he wasn't sure if he could ever stop his pulse from racing and worrying that she was gone, leaving him behind. But when she moaned and covered her ears to ward off the blaring alarm noise he smiled fondly down at her small form, covering her wandering legs with their blanket he hurried out to the gym needing to let all his anger and aggression go.

He was annoyed when his anger at her family did not dissipate even a tad, even as he took a colder than normal shower, his blood was still boiling but he needed to curb his emotions. He would not make her worry or worse be the one to placate him when it was about her and how she was mistreated. He had given himself all of yesterday to rage and scream but how could he be the one needing her to pacify him when she was right in the eye of the storm?

Getting dressed for work, it was still too early for her to be awake, his need to talk to her would have to wait. He sat next to her on the bed grinning at her spread out form, how in the hell did she manage to twist the sheets and the blanket in the barely 90 minutes he was gone, he would never know. She looked so angelic as her hair fanned out behind her, her lips pouted in annoyance probably from the sliver of light filtering through the curtains and a small frown between her brows. His eyes stopped at her bandaged hand bent at an angle as her face rested on it and he wanted to cry or scream again.

She had been so brave yesterday but he wished he could forgive and forget as easily as her, his brain kept conjuring the image of her face twisted in pain as her bade papa hurt her and her saying she was used to it. Nobody should be used to this, especially not his Akshara. Smoothing her brow gently with his thumb he absentmindedly traced the high points of her cheek, absentmindedly staring at her bandaged hand wishing he was as strong as his wife, who dealt with everything so easily with the most beautiful smile on her face.

Suddenly her exquisite eyes opened, and she blinked up at him trying to get her bearings before she graced him with that beautiful slow smile. Her shyness had still not caught up to her, her brain probably still scrambled with sleep and boy was he glad to get this uninhibited version of her for a few moments as much as he loved her shyness.

"You're still here" she said groaning grumpily making him crack a smile down at her.

"yeah, I was about to leave" he said gulping back his tears and pulling his hand away from her face but to his surprise Akshara's hand sneaked in behind his neck and pulled him down, smushing his face next to her hair into the pillow.

"5 minutes" she demanded so innocently that he nodded, his shirt would be ruined but it would be worth it as she wriggled closer, her body warm from sleep and within moments she was back to her dream like state, her arm holding him to her. Taking a long whiff of her vanilla scent, he kissed her neck once grinning because he definitely understood what the appeal was now. If she wasn't always hiding in his neck, he would be doing it to her but her comfort had to come first for him.

He had thought long and hard about her running away and he knew exactly what he had to do., prying himself away from her he shrugged the melancholy off and went to the hospital for a long day of work. Mid morning he asked her if she could meet him somewhere for a very late lunch as he wanted to show her something and smiled at her anticipated flurry of questions. He was nervous for what he was about to do but there was no world in which he would he would let her run away like she had done and stay in unsafe conditions. As long as he knew she was safe he would be ok.

She was waiting for him at one of the corner tables he had booked for them for lunch at a restaurant and he took a moment to stare at his wife, unnoticed by her, like a damn creep. She was wearing one of her dresses that left her arms bare and his pulse raced at the vision she made. She was wringing her hands over the table in nervousness and biting her lips as she kept glancing towards the entrance hoping he would conjure up out of thin air. God, he was so in love with her that he sometimes felt like his love was a tangible thing that he could touch and feel outside of his body.