The Wedding Whisperer

Chapter 16: The Unexpected Proposal

"Akshara," Abhimanyu's voice cut through her haze, and she looked in his direction as he walked toward her.

She wiped the edge of her eyes and looked away, not wanting him to see her in such a vulnerable state. "Hey."

"Akshara, why are you here?" He stopped less than a foot from her and waited for a few moments. When she kept her eyes lowered, he stepped closer and gently raised her chin with his finger. "What's wrong?"

She blinked away the tears and looked at him. "It was beautiful. Thank you for your kind words."

He smirked. "You know why it was beautiful? Because you poured your heart and soul into everything. I don't know if I would have thought of doing something like this for my own family. You made the magic happen tonight. The tears of joy, the undying smiles, and the hearts filled with endless happiness—you were the reason for it all. That beautiful heart of yours has only known how to give and not take. Time for you to accept the affection and not question it."

She smiled, taking in the intensity of the moment as they looked into each other's eyes. "I guess I will have to learn to accept it and not question it."

A distant pop from a firework cut through the moment they shared, and she lowered her eyes. "I should get back."

Akshara's heart was still pounding when she returned to the main event area and saw almost all of the guests on the dance floor, including her team. She blinked, unable to believe that her team leads and a few others had mingled with the marriage party and were having fun.

The look of joy on their faces brought warmth to her chest, and she let out a sigh of relief. Maybe she was too tight on her rules about mingling with the clients.

Was Abhimanyu right about her not being able to accept the love she was getting from people around her?

Before she could think either way, she saw a man bolt toward the group on the dance floor, a camera in hand.

"Security. Stop him," she ordered, pointing at the man who was taking pictures of the party as he trotted around before being slammed to the ground and having his camera confiscated.

"Please check all the other areas," she said to the security team as she saw the man being taken away. Good thing no other guests noticed him.

She scanned the area and then the dance floor, spotting Abhimanyu immediately—his head inches over everyone else as he tried to waltz with his grandmother. Memories of the blissful moments surfaced, but the harsh reality of all the fun coming to an end in a couple of days was hard to forget.

She took a deep breath and told herself she could not change her ways because of one affectionate family who treated her team with respect.

At the end of the day, they were still employees and would never become friends, irrespective of how much they bonded. The only thought she could hope for was that she would get to work with the family again or work with someone like Anisha's family.

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The next morning was a slow one, especially after the dancing had continued well into the night from the Sangeet event. It was the day of the wedding, and the last pre-wedding ceremony was the ritual of applying turmeric to the bride and groom.

Since both families were staying at the same resort, the events were running in parallel. Akshara checked on the groom's side of the event and was heading back to the bride's celebration when she heard a lot of shouting and laughing. She walked by one of the pools at the resort, wondering what the commotion was about, and that's when she saw Abhimanyu being chased by a group of people.