SEAL THE DEAL

chapter 20

Abhi:-"You might have been the first, but I'm going to be the last, and that's what really matters,right?" Abhishek replied without missing a beat, gently pulling manisha closer to him.

Ashish's eyebrow twitched and it was obvious that Abhishek had managed to irritate himbdespite his efforts to conceal it. It was also obvious that Abhishek wasn't even the slightest bit jealous or bothered at all.

Ashish:-"Fair enough," he shrugged, stopping the waiter who was whizzing past him. He placed his now empty champagne chute onto the waiter's tray and grabbed another one before he turned back to her, "I'll admit, you two look nice together, but we looked better ,didn't we?"

The conceited smile never left his face, and abhishek seriously wondered what the fuck this guy's problem was.

Mani:-"Ashish, stop," she murmured, closing her eyes as she took another shaky breath, aware of the fact that she was in a very public setting - literally at her fucking engagement party - and could not afford to lose her composure right now.

Abhishek glanced at manisha, observing how she was trying her best to keep herself together and it struck a powerful chord inside him. Anger overcame him and he felt the imperative need to make the stupid boy in front of him pay for the shit that was spewing out of his mouth.

Before he could say anything though, Ashish took the opportunity to speak up,

Ashish:-"You know, there's one thing that doesn't quite add up. The articles say the two of you have been together for a year. That was just a month after we broke up. Did you really get over me and
move on that fast? After everything we went through together? I have to say, I'm a little hurt," he said with a pout on his face and the fakest sadness in his voice.

Abhishek almost scoffed, he couldn't believe the audacity of this guy. He glanced at manisha again, his heart sinking when he saw her looking down at the floor as she clutched onto his hand almost desperately. He wondered where the real she that he'd gotten to know was; the real manisha that always spoke her mind, the real manisha that he was slowly starting to grow fond
of. It scared him to see the version of her next to him right now; the version who couldn't find her voice, the version who wasn't speaking up for herself, the version who couldn't even bring herself to lift her head.

Abhishek was finding it increasingly difficult to bear with the intolerable guy in front of him, and he was also finding it increasingly difficult to watch she silently suffering,

Abhi:-"Somebody had to come in and help take out the trash as soon as possible...and I was more than happy to
be that someone," he responded with a challenging grin, giving Ashish a taste of his own medicine.

Abhishek revelled in the fact that his response made that stupid shit-eating grin on Ashish's face falter and his expression darken.

Ashish:-"Ah," he laughed, recovering from the blow fairly quickly as the arrogant smile
returned to his lips, "Clearly you weren't too successful, considering it's still right next to
you," he bit back, leisurely sipping on his champagne without a care in the world.

Abhishek saw red and his free hand clenched into a fist. If it wasn't for her hand that was tucked into his and the faint orchestra music floating through the air that made sure he didn't forget where he was or whose eyes were on him, God knows he would have punched Ashish square in the jaw and made him regret ever even looking at manisha.

Abhi:-"Don't you dare talk about my fiancée like that," he warned, his voice seething as it dipped to a tone that was dangerously low and dangerously dark.

Ashish's signature arrogant smirk danced around on his lips and abhishek had to
physically stop himself from lunging at him. He tried to count to ten and he tried to calm the fire burning inside him, but he heard a barely audible sniffle come from next to him and he knew he was close to tipping over the edge.

Abhishek leaned forward until his mouth was next to Ashish's ear, "The exit's on your left and it would be in your best interests to leave before I stop giving a shit about where we are and drag you out of here myself, you fucking dump,"
Ashish laughed shamelessly and put the now-empty champagne chute on the tray of another passing waiter, smiled towards manisha and abhishek mockingly and sending a final victorious smirk her way before he sauntered out of the room.

Abhishek glanced at manisha, feeling a bit concerned because she hadn't uttered a single word in the past three minutes and he didn't know what to do.

He'd figured that she'd need a little time to recover from the disastrous encounter that he guessed she hadn't been prepared for, and he wanted to shield her from any prying eyes before they could notice the state she is in.

He'd decided to lead her away from the room for a breather once he'd made sure that her dumb ex had securely left the premises, and the two of them was currently standing on one of the many balconies of the hotel. Manisha absence at the party wasn't going to raise any alarm bells either because karan had kept a watchful eye on the situation and had
nodded in understanding when Abhishek silently gestured that he was going to head out of the room with her.

To say that she was shaken up after Ashish had popped up out of nowhere and cornered she was sort of an understatement. She regretted the fact that she'd overreacted a little, but she had just been so overwhelmed, especially with the party and the people and the pressure
of putting on an act, and seeing Ashish had just been the cherry on top. She hadn't
anticipated something like this at all and because she really wasn't mentally prepared to face him after everything that had happened between the two of them, she'd just frozen up completely.

It was even worse for manisha because she hadn't seen him or heard from him ever since she'd finally decided to put herself first and break up with him after the hell that he'd put her through.

Manisha gazed up at the autumn night sky and wondered why Ashish had to reappear in front of her now and rip open all the wounds that had just finished healing...but were still a little sore to touch.

"Manisha?"
She whipped her head around to face Abhishek. She could see the tinges of worry on his face, and she felt herself shooting him a small smile despite everything.

Abhishek could see that her smile didn't quite reach her eyes but he chose not to comment on it. The very last thing he wanted to do was make her feel forced to offer any explanations. Instead, he chose to remain quiet and put his arms on the railing, tilting his chin upwards to look up at the clouds floating above him. As he stood there next to her, he just hoped that his
company was somewhat comforting enough.

Manisha took a deep breath, trying to grab all her strings and pull herself together, trying to assure herself that tonight's confrontation with Ashish was a trivial incident that shouldn't be allowed to have even the tiniest effect on her current life.