SEAL THE DEAL

chapter 31

Abhishek felt a new high tide of emotions rolling over him at the sincerity that was dripping from her words. Those words were exactly what his heart needed to be told and exactly what his ears wanted to hear, and there was something so intimate about this exchange that he felt small fireworks bursting in the back of his mind.

She could have stayed like that for eternity, she could have stayed trapped in his embrace forever, but she detached herself from the arms that had begun feeling like home to her because she knew that the chances of Abhishek falling sick was drastically increasing with every second that he spent in his soaked state.

Manisha grabbed her own pajamas from where she thrown them on her bed earlier,

Mani:-"Come downstairs when you're done, I'll fix some hot chocolate for us," she smiled fondly, sending him one last fleeting look of encouragement before she inched towards the door and left the room.

---
After getting changed and washing up in one of the bathrooms downstairs, manisha stepped into the kitchen with her wet hair wrapped in a towel and her feet clad in the fluffiest slippers she owned. She opened the fridge to retrieve a bottle of milk and a canister of whipped cream, after which she reached into the pantry to fetch the cocoa powder. She took two mugs out of the cupboard and then her body relied on muscle memory as she moved because her mind was busy analysing the events of the past one hour. Manisha was aching to know what must have happened to cause Abhishek, who was easily one of the most resilient people she had grown to know, to crumble so miserably right in front of
Her eyes.

Was it something to do with Golden? Had something bad happened to his company? Or had he gotten into a heated argument with his father about something? She stood over the stove as her worries consumed her, occasionally stirring the milk in the pan as she waited for it to come to a boil.

She absentmindedly put her phone on the counter next to the stove when she come in,
and when her gaze fell on it now, she picked it up and unlocked it out of habit more than
anything else.

Thank God she did though because when the screen lit up, it revealed that she had 28
messages from 2 chats and 10 missed calls. Manisha eyes widened and she stood up straighter, a sense of dread crawling under her skin as she checked her call log first.

There were 5 missed calls from karan, 3 from harsh and shockingly, 2 from Abhishek's father. Manisha really didn't know what to make of the missed calls so she decided to open her unread text messages and check what was going on there first.

Manisha tapped the most recent chat, which was a group chat called 'Untitled' that had definitely not existed when she left her house to go to Abhishek.she discovered that it was a group consisting of karan, harsh and manisha, and with a puzzled frown on her face, she began reading the messages.

[00:52] Harsh: Is Abhishek with either of you??? His dad just text me saying that he
left and he doesn't know where he is??? Wtf is going on
[00:54] Harsh: Where the hell are you two
[00:55] Harsh: Guuuyyysss!!!!!
[00:57] Harsh: Can one of you answer before I lose my shit
[00:58] karan: he's not at my place
[00:58] harsh: Oh boy
[00:58] karan: just got off the phone with his dad, he called me...abhi's mother turned
up at their doorstep a while ago

Manisha nearly dropped her phone after reading that last text, her eyes almost falling out of their sockets as she read over it once more, twice more, and everything instantly clicked together and fell in place. She read over the messages a third time as a dizzying mix of understanding and horror dawned upon her.

No wonder Abhishek had acted like the world had been snatched away from below his feet; his biggest wound had been ripped open without any warning after all. With a hand over her mouth, she mustered up the will to continue reading.

[00:59] Harsh: NO FUCKING WAY!!
[00:59] karan: abhi obviously didn't take it too well...
[01:00] Harsh: Well of course he didn't!!!! Can't believe she decided to show up
now...wtf...
[01:00] karan: his dad's really worried, he can't get through to him
[01:00] harsh: I can't either, I've been trying for the past ten minutes, he isn't
picking up :/
[01:01] karan: i don't know where else he could have gone this late
[01:01] karan: i'm really, really worried about him, god, i hope he's okay
[01:02] Harsh: manishaaa!!!
[01:02] Harsh: Has Abhishek got in touch with you by any chance?
[01:02] karan: fucking hell i can't take this
[01:03] Harsh: Where are you Manishaa????
[01:03] harsh: Now why aren't you answering the phone either??!!
[01:04] karan: i'm really hoping abhi's with manisha
[01:04] karan: you know what he's like, he can't cope with things like this alone
[01:04] karan: he acts all tough and cool but he always needs somebody to be with him
when he's down and he isn't with either of us and i'm freaking the fuck out
[01:05] harsh: He'll be okay
[01:05] karan: it's thunderstorming outside and i'm just praying he's okay
[01:06] harsh: I really just wish he'd answer the bloody phone...
[01:06] harsh: All we can do is wait, for either abhi or Manisha to reply
[01:07] karan: if that isn't within the next 15 minutes i might have a stroke

A deep sigh left her lips. She was 3 minutes late. Manisha cursed herself for switching her phone to silent mode after she ended the call with Abhishek and not thinking to check it until now. Her fingers flew over the keyboard and she typed up a reply as fast as she could, hoping that karan hadn't actually had a stroke.

[01:25] manisha: i'm so, so, so sorry for the late reply!!! and i'm even more sorry for
making both of you worry, god, you must have been going insane
[01:25] Manisha: you don't need to worry, Abhishek's been with me for the past half an hour, and he's at my place now
She conveniently withheld the part about how abhishek had looked like somebody had sucked his soul out of him when she had gotten to him and how he'd sobbed on her shoulder as she helplessly tried to comfort him because she didn't want to worry both of them any more.

She chewed on her bottom lip, her heart and mind competing in a race while she
attempted to come to terms with the information she just learned and piece together the things that she didn't know before but knew now.

Abhishek's mother had returned. She'd come back and she'd suddenly turned up in front of him after being absent in his life for more than a decade. Without any warning at all. And that had clearly uprooted the very core of Abhishek's being.

Before she could think any further, her phone screen lit up briefly and caught her
attention, signalling that she just received another text message.
[01:26] karan: thank god!!! please take care of him manisha, i mean i know you will...idk
if he's told you about this yet, but his mother's a really sore spot for him and i can't even imagine what he's going through right now

Manisha couldn't help but smile at the concern that had managed to seep into karan's tone even through text, and she penned a reply that would hopefully make him relax a little.
[01:26] Manisha: don't worry too much and get some rest, i'm here for him and he's in safe hands, and i promise I'll do my best ♡
[01:27] karan: i know he is :) i'll check up on him tomorrow morning, good night Manisha.

She quickly glanced at the pan on the stove with a start, she almost forgotten that she was supposed to be watching over the milk. Manisha sighed in relief when she saw that the milk was just starting to simmer and she gently stirred its contents before she turned back to her phone.