SEAL THE DEAL

chapter 36

Abhi:-"Is she gone yet?" he asked shakily as his head whirred around to face the intercom screen again, his movements restless and perturbed. A stertorous breath crashed past his lips when he saw that his mother hadn't miraculously vanished like he'd hoped and wished she would
have, "I can't -"

Mani:-"Listen to me, abhishek!"
Manisha was sick of being interrupted and ignored and she was desperate to grab his hand before he tumbled off a steep mountain. Abhishek stared at her with wide eyes, and in two swift strides, she was standing in front of him, commanding all of his attention and all of his focus.
"Look at me," she said softly, placing her hands on his hot and flustered cheeks, trying to bring him back to her, "You can't run away from your mother forever. You can't run away from your past forever," she murmured with affection dripping from her voice, nodding when he looked at her uncertainly, a silent reassurance that he was going to be okay and that
nothing was going to happen and that he was going to make it through this.

Abhishek leaned into her soothing touch and collapsed into her infinite warmth, his
sprinting heart starting to come off its dangerous high and the blaring red sirens in his head starting to quieten just a bit when he looked into her eyes. He didn't break away from her gaze as he cupped her face, overcome by the imperative need to confirm that she is there, to confirm that she is a tangible being who was there
for him and hadn't left him alone.
Leaning his forehead fondly against hers and closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, then another one and then one more.

Abhi:-"I don't want to see her...I feel like a broken twelve year old when I look at her. Everything I've tried so hard to forget, it hits me like a truck when I look at her," he muttered, hating the way he had to clench his jaw with as much pressure as he could muster just to keep himself from cracking into a million pieces.

Manisha's entire being was aching for abhishek. She wasn't even standing in his shoes yet she felt dizzy so she couldn't even begin to imagine how he actually felt. She felt just as helpless as she always did because all she wanted to do was take his pain away, but she didn't even know if there was a way she could do that.

In that split second, she was faced with a difficult decision and she didn't know which path was the right one to take; but in that split second, she decided to go with her heart.

Mani:-"All those questions you just asked, only she can answer them. Don't you want to hear what she has to say? Don't you want any explanations?" She asked gently, wondering if she really were doing the right thing by pushing him in this direction.
Manisha felt abhishek flinch against her before he released a tired sigh,

Abhi:-"It's only going to hurt me more. I don't want to hurt anymore,"
He sounded extremely exhausted, as if he didn't have any more feelings left inside him to uselessly burn up anymore. It was the same defeated voice she heard two weeks ago and prayed that she would never have to hear again. She pulled away so that she could look at him properly. She needed him to look at her properly. She wound her arms around him, stroking the nape of his neck in a manner that was nothing but calming,

Mani:-"What if ten years down the line, you regret turning her away? Wouldn't you like to get some closure so that you can move on?"

She saw a flicker of hesitation battling with the resolute determination, her words were
getting through to him and she could tell that he was considering what she was putting on the table.
Abhishek found it hard to believe that she was seriously suggesting what he thought, especially because she is aware of precisely what his sentiments about the subject were. And he really wanted to run away again, he wanted to escape this situation and dodge the punch but as he gazed at her, he knew that fleeing wasn't an option anymore.