Discordance

Chapter Sixty-One

She was singing in the shower again, that's how happy her night with Abhimanyu made her. She had to sneak out so as not to get caught by the family which was so silly that both her and Abhimanyu kept giggling and tickling each other as he came to drop her off to her car after multiple pouty kisses and sneaky touches. The world wouldn't have ended if she was caught but she just didn't want to deal with the why's and what's. However, unfortunately for them, her father-in-law found them right by her car as he was coming back from the hospital but the only thing he did was to zip his lips and whistle as he walked by them, patting Akshara on the back as he passed her by, making Akshara groan and hide her face into Abhimanyu's chest.

"He is uh different with you" Abhimanyu had addressed and Akshara couldn't stop her mouth from moving and gently rebuking him "he could be with you too, if you tried."

"Hmm" is all he had said before grinning devilishly and bending his head down to kiss her, but she knew in her heart it was to avoid talking about it which was fine by her. One thing she had learned from Abhimanyu was to be patient and give the one they love time to come to terms with their own feelings so that's what she would do with him but she also wouldn't let a single chance go to fix this between her husband and her father-in-law who she liked a lot too. 

As she got out of the shower, an idea struck her and she rushed to her phone to find the number she was desperately looking for. While Abhimanyu had forgiven her, she still felt slightly bereft and wanted to do something nice for her to show him how much he was valued and appreciated. Finally she found the wedding planner's number and chewed on her thumbnail as the phone rang waiting to be picked up.

"Hello" the woman answered stonily and Akshara had to bite back a giggle because while she wasn't worried about it, she was pretty sure that Shanaya was slightly in love with her husband and why wouldn't she be? He was perfect.

Tamping down her laugh a little, Akshara responded kindly "hi Shanaya" she paused briefly but couldn't help being slightly petty "This is Akshara...um Akshara Birla?" she could practically feel Shanaya's eye roll from the other end of the line but she prattled on "I actually have a favor to ask of you. I know tonight's mehendi is supposed to be a surprise and all but could you possibly fit in a little time between the mehendi function for a small surprise from me to Abhimanyu?"

She heard a loud reluctant sigh but Shanaya was intrigued enough to ask "I don't know, Abhi has been very specific in what he wants and any changes will upset him." Bitch. Did she not realize that "Abhi" was doing this for her, and he would never deny her anything?

"I understand, but I'm sure ABHI would understand. We don't have to tell him about this, it is a surprise after all. So what do you think? It'll be 10 minutes tops." after a lot of back and forth Shanaya finally agreed to Akshara's plan and said she would make the arrangements for her before cutting the call off, not even waiting for Akshara to say her goodbyes.

But now Akshara had bigger problems considering what she had just signed herself up for and the panic was settling in thinking of exposing herself like this in front of all their friends and family, whose sole attention would be on Akshara. She wanted to desperately hide in Abhimanyu's neck but since that wasn't an option, she screamed silently into the pillow for a good few minutes before calling Diksha to ask her to get dressed with her so she wasn't by herself and so she could pry a bit about the whole Nimay thing.

Akshara had pretty much forced Abhimanyu to invite his friends to the rest of their festivities citing how unfair it was that she had most of the people she loved but he hadn't invited his friends yet, to not make her uncomfortable. It was about time he started thinking about himself as well and his happiness. She threw a quick glance at her phone and impulsively decided to change the home screen to his handsome face. Giggling like a teen, she picked the one picture out where he was laughing at something, his eyes squinty from the sun and lips spread wide, head thrown back. Shivering slightly with joy he brought her, Akshara stared at the picture for a second, slightly in disbelief that someone like him could love her so and brighten her day up just by his mere existence.