Discordance

Chapter Ninety-Three

Akshara had to bribe Neil to get him to agree to a late night delivery order and thankfully her in-laws were asleep and since they were the only ones who knew in the house, it wasn't that difficult to bribe Neil and Nishtha with a slumber party in her room. She even let them pick the movie, smiling at their petty sibling fights. As they waited for the food, Akshara had to become a mediator between the two young Birla members and she gave up after a while letting them bicker as they watched the movie.

Sighing softly, she stroked her belly absentmindedly because watching Abhimanyu with his siblings and just the family in itself interact with one another made her heart twinge with grief because she had never had that and she desperately wanted her babies to have this kind of a bond where the house was filled with laughter and joy.

A loud shriek from Nishtha made Akshara startle as she jumped around, moving her wild eyes to see what had caused Nishta's reaction only to dissolve into a fit of giggles because Nishta's overreaction was because the food was downstairs. Sitting up with excitement, Akshara waited with bated breath to devour her food but before Neil could come back, her phone rang with Abhimanyu's ringtone and she heavily rolled her eyes before picking up, crossing her fingers hoping that he didn't ask about her dinner.

"Heyyyy..ssup?" she said casually into the phone, biting her tongue when her voice came put guiltier than she would have liked

"What are you doing?" he asked and Akshara could almost picture his face, his brows scrunched as he tugged the hair at the nape of his neck and the vision made a shiver run down her spine, she hadn't realized how much she missed him until she heard his voice over the phone, there was something so serene in the way he spoke to her, a tone he reserved only for her.

"Nothing" she said, twirling the tassels over the throw blanket between her fingers, tugging it "just hanging out, you know, missing you etc." she said, clamping her lips together to hide her smile, a smile that dropped instantly when he said "uhuh" in a wary tone "so there is no food delivery guy hanging out by the front gates right now?"

Crap. In desperation she looked at Nishtha, wildly moving her hands in the air to tell her that they had been caught but because Nishtha didn't know why she wasn't allowed to have outside food, she just shrugged in confusion. "I- it wasn't me, it was Neil, he insisted! I didn't even want anything, why would I go against your wishes?" she prattled on hoping against hope that he would buy it but who was she kidding? Hearing his scoff over the phone told her that he definitely had not bought it but she couldn't quite tell if he was annoyed or just plain old exasperated with her.

"Monkey you-" his voice trailed off but before Akshara could say anything, they both paused as they heard a knock on Abhimanyu's hotel room door. "let me see who it is but don't you dare hang up because I still have a bone to pick with you." Pouting at his words, Akshara let him deal with whatever he had to deal with, her breath coming up short when she heard a familiar voice filter through the phone, noooo way....she wouldn't??? Akshara thought, a fissure of anger running through her veins but her suspicions were confirmed when Abhimanyu came back to the phone after a few exchange of words.

She was so so angry that a fine mist of red was coating her eyes and she was sure she would burst a coronary, she had never ever been this angry.

"Who was it?" she spat out, not even bothering to hide the annoyance from Abhimanyu. Had he lied to her?

"It was uh Rutu. I don't know what she is doing here. Apparently she was called by the board to assist me and then take over once I come back home because I had said I was only available for one day, since I didn't want to leave you." Oh. Fuck. Off.

She trusted Abhimanyu and there was no point in being mad at him and making him worry about her but she couldn't deal with the fact that he was all alone in a different city, staying at a hotel and potentially spend time with that witch. She was so riled up that she didn't even feel guilty for calling her a witch.