A Silent Abhira

Chapter 2

Abhira, on the hand, didn't sleep the entire night. She lay awake, bracing herself for the days to come, shoring up her mental and emotional defences. Being awake the whole night had the unfortunate side effect of giving her too much time to process everything that had happened to her since entering the Poddar house, and she had come to a few discomforting conclusions.

She thought to herself, 'First, I'll probably never be given even the most basic amount of respect in this house. Every small thing that happens is blamed on me, be it Rohit going missing, Charu and Krish wanting to follow their dreams, Ruhi being upset, plans getting ruined, everything. I'm always on the defensive, but no one even bothers to listen. Second, so many of the Poddars seem to have a split personality? Ruhi, obviously, who oscillates between being overly friendly and psychotic, especially regarding her B-Nanu and sometimes, Armaan. Vidya maa and Manisha chachi also can't seem to decide whether they like me or not, either supporting or taunting me depending on their moods. I mean, Manisha chachi has been a bit nicer to me the past few days but who knows how long it'll last. And I can't even begin to understand Dadisa, she's too unpredictable for me to read, I still can't believe she agreed for my pooja idea, especially since I came up with it. Otherwise knowing her, she'd have figured a way to make it seem like it was hers or someone else's idea just to spite me. And Armaan? He confuses me too, especially regarding Ruhi. Trying to understand their so-called friendship gives me a headache, I don't even want to think about it now. But you know what, I'm just tired. I'm tired of constantly trying to defend my self-respect in every situation. I'm tired of trying to manage my college life and work life while being forced to take up house and family responsibilities. Especially because those responsibilities could be easily given to the bahus who are actually free to carry them out, the ones in the house not rushing from home to college to office to home every day. And I hate that I've to do all this knowing that they don't even consider me part of the family. I'm not even allowed to sit at the dining table with them, but I need to make their food? Unbelievable.'

Abhira lay there on her side, staring at the wall in front of her, feeling like a part of her was broken. She felt like the walls were closing in on her and an overwhelming sense of despair came over her. Despair that despite constantly telling Armaan that all she had left was her self-respect and she would never put that at stake, it seemed like her dignity was getting eroded after all. She'd become the Poddar family punching bag, and her supporters weren't strong enough to truly take a stand for her. There was only so much she could tolerate.

Armaan rolled over onto his back, and she flinched at the sudden movement. That small distraction from her depressing thoughts allowed her to calm down and shift her focus onto more constructive actions. 'Okay, I'm stuck here. I can't let myself be broken down any further. But what can I do about it? There's no point trying to make any close relations here, I'll be leaving eventually. Armaan is a so-so friend who hasn't been that reliable off late. It's time to really just throw myself into my studies and work. Distance myself from all these bonds I've made with Armaan, the cousin gang, Par Nanu, everyone. It'll be tough, but I'll do it. A new day, a new Abhira.'

At the crack of dawn, after resolving to be a new version of herself, Abhira got out bed, the earliest she had over woken up and started her day's routine. Morning ablutions done, she went down to perform the expected 'Poddar bahu duty' of preparing a breakfast spread for everybody (except herself), while ensuring she kept the kitchen spick and span. Duty completed, she went back to the room to get ready for her long day ahead. She changed into her office attire, slung her bag on her shoulder, and quietly left the room without waking Armaan up. Her first step at distancing herself from the Poddar family and focusing only on what was important to her independence had gone off well.

Abhira's first stop for the day was her college. She attended her morning classes, ignored Armaan's calls, submitted her assignments, grabbed a quick bite for lunch. She continued to ignore Armaan's calls but texted him just to say she was busy and to stop calling her, and then headed off to the office for her internship. Her case work was light this time and she was free to go early for a change, but she had no desire to go back to the Poddar house so quickly, so she went back to her college to complete her work in the library and delay her return to the house. But soon enough, the stillness of the college library started to unnerve her. With her hectic schedule, she was able to forget Yuvraj's threatening presence for a while, but with the vast oppressive silence of the library, she thought she could constantly feel his eyes on her, his presence around her, waiting for an opportune moment to strike again. Feeling too restless to remain there, she left for Poddar house.