Discordance

Chapter Forty- Three

Diksha was okay!!! Akshara could bring her home that evening. While she was very happy for her friend who was still shaken to her core and would have a long difficult journey ahead to recovery, she still couldn't understand why she was this miserable about the prospect of leaving Birla hospital behind.

She had made bold claims that she wouldn't look back once Diksha was out but now since the day when they had brought Diksha back to the room, she had not seen HIM around. He had looked as miserable as she felt and that forlorn face of his was printed on her mind. She didn't care, yet why did she tear up just thinking about him. In a fit of rage she had said she never wanted to see his face again, what if he took it literally? And why wouldn't he. She wasn't angry anymore, she was just unfeeling but she would have given an arm and a leg to see him and make sure he was okay in this moment.

Her friend kept asking her if she was okay but Akshara lied smoothly telling her she had just been worried about her, and the few times Divya had visited she too kept glancing at Akshara as if waiting for an imminent breakdown. She constantly felt like there was something inside her chest that was willing to break free and it was sheer torture to get through every waking moment, only for the torture to increase tenfold in the quiet of the night when aggravatingly enough, all she could think about was Abhimanyu smiling at her, him telling her he loved her and the way he always took care of her like she was something precious to him.

She had this need to check up on Abhimanyu just once before she left the hospital in a few hours and she discreetly tried to roam around hoping for a glimpse of him. Her heart kept asking her mind why she felt the need to do so considering how much she claimed to hate him but just something was amiss, and her delusion told her that if she saw him once everything would be ok and she could go back to disliking him.

Akshara was crossing a quiet corridor when she ran into someone's chest and immediately she closed her eyes hoping it was Abhimanyu. However, the smell was all wrong, her shoulders slumped, it wasn't him.

"Akshu yaar, are you ok? I have been meaning to talk to you. What is this about you and Dr. birla? It is a lie right?" Aryan said as he braced Akshara, grabbing her arms. His touch was wrong, his smell was wrong, nobody could be Abhimanyu. A sob tore through her throat that maybe from now on, every time she looked anywhere she would always expect Abhimanyu to be around, only to be disappointed. Why wasn't he here? She thought childishly as sobs escaped her mouth. She hadn't even realized when Aryan had hugged her because the worry that something was wrong with Abhimanyu had consumed her mind. She had asked him to never show his face to her and it felt like she had cursed him somehow. he had to be ok!

"If you don't let my wife go this instance, I will break your fucking arms." THAT VOICE. SHE KNEW THAT VOICE!

Instantly Aryan's hand dropped, and he mumbled something that sounded a lot like sorry before turning around and running away. The joy at seeing Abhimanyu after a few days brought fresh tears into her eyes, she tried to choke back her sobs, but it wasn't working.

"Please don't cry." He whispered in a tortured voice as he came to stand next to her and he smelled like home and all hers, but she couldn't have him and that thought made her heart bleed.

"Can we have a timeout? I just need to hold you for 5 minutes." he asked and finally Akshara looked up into his wounded eyes, the breath catching in her throat. How did he still look so stunning even when he was clearly miserable? His mouth was turned down, his eyes were deep and dark, and his cheeks looked sunken.

"ok" she nodded hesitantly and immediately Abhimanyu widened his arms waiting for her to step into his embrace. The moment her head touched his chest, it felt like all the worlds had righted. Everything was right.