Akshnav ff: Ik Fasana

Chapter 2: Her decision

"Hello to you too! I'm Akshara Goenka," I said, forwarding my hand for a handshake.

3 months later

I chuckled remembering the old Akshara. The crush I had on him. Ah. After the first meeting with Abhimanyu, I met him again in Manali and my crush on him intensified. And when Abhimanyu's rishta came for Aarohi, I was heartbroken. That's when I realized I love him or now I can say I liked him. But that was a misunderstanding. Abhimanyu had sent a rishta for me and not for Aaru. I was ecstatic when he cleared the confusion.

Our Tilak happened that day. We tried to talk to each other every day so we could get to know each other. Two months later, we had gotten engaged. Everything was fine until I realized I might not love him.

The realization started when I got jealous, spotting Abhimanyu and Aarohi together. I questioned Abhimanyu, and we had a nasty fight. I got in my car, and to manofy me Abhimanyu sat in the passenger seat. I was driving when a kid came in front of my car. To save the kid Abhimanyu rotated the steering wheel in another direction, and we crashed into the tree. The kid was fine. His mother took him in her arms and kissed all over his face. His mother thanked us and checked up on us. We went home but did not realize that someone else was hit by the car as well.

At night, Abhimanyu informed me Manjari Aunty had gotten into an accident. That too from my car. I had come to the hospital and came to know Aunty was injured mildly but had passed out. If Neil wasn't with her then it would've been hard to save her. I tried staying with Abhimanyu, but he was outright rude to me.

I ignored his behaviour knowing he was angry and cared for his mother. But, after that encounter whenever we met. I didn't feel the butterflies in my stomach. I didn't feel anything for him.

I didn't want to cheat and not give a hundred percent. But, I was confused. That's when I asked a co-worker about her take on thinking you are in love and later not having any feelings. I didn't tell everything. But told her how I liked this guy who is my fiancé and when he was a little pissed at me, I couldn't feel anything for him.

Her reply was. "Akshara what you had for this person was an infatuation and when he did not fit in the ideal picture of your future partner, your attraction for him was over. Love takes time. I'm not saying you shouldn't marry him. Marry him keeping in mind that you'd have to give your best in this relationship and slowly build your relationship with him. Love isn't what is shown in the media. And liking someone and marrying him isn't a bad thing. It's like dating but after marriage."

When I pondered over her answer I realized I don't feel anything for him, and I don't want to hurt his feelings by continuing this relationship. He likes me, but my infatuation for him is over and if I marry him I'd not only be cheating on him but myself as well.

Today, I decided that I was gonna break our engagement. The following day when I clocked out. I drove to Birla Mansion. I pulled aside and parked my car, I rang the doorbell. A house helper answered the door.

"Akshara madam. Andar aaye. (Come inside.)"

I smiled in an attempt to hide my anxiousness. I stepped into the foyer and walked to the living room.

Manjari Aunty, sitting on the couch looked up and smiled warmly.

"Akshara beta." She set the book aside on the sofa and stood up. Walking up to me she hugged me. I hugged her back. I felt so bad about the step I was gonna take.

"Namaste Aunty."

"Aunty nahi Maa bulao." She insisted.

I forced a smile, and we sat on the sofa as the housekeeper served us tea.

I hesitated before speaking. "I wanted to talk to both of the families about a decision I have made.

"I can tell my family about it when I go home but I'm here to tell you guys about my decision."

"Sure, go ahead," Manjari Aunty said.

"Not alone, when everyone comes."

"Okay. They'll be home in a couple of minutes."

We waited and chatted for a while when the housekeeper answered the door, and the whole family came inside.

"What a surprise Akshara!" Abhimanyu exclaimed.

"Namaste." I greeted everyone.

They sat on the couch and waited in anticipation.

I gathered all the courage and said, "I have decided to break the engagement."

I closed my eyes after I dropped the bomb and opened it. Abhimanyu looked angry and fisted his hands, trying to calm down his anger.

"Why?" He asked calmly to my surprise.

"Because I don't feel anything towards you anymore. I thought I loved you but I don't. And neither do you Abhimanyu. What we have is an attraction towards each other. I don't want to keep any false promises. So I'm breaking off the engagement.

I quickly stood up and ran out of the entrance and sat in my car. My heartbeat was high. I was practically shaking.

You did it Akshu.

When I came home, I informed my family about my decision and went to my room. I couldn't take a confrontation at the moment.

The next day, I took a flight to Kausali. After checking out my luggage, I walked up to the man who was holding a construction paper with my name on it. He had a checkered shirt on with blue jeans. His hair was raked to the side, and his beard had a five o'clock shadow.

"Hey, I'm Akshara Goenka and you?"

"Abhinav Sharma."

A/N:

How was the chapter?

This chapter was written twice.

I had written about 1000 words but I didn't like the way the chapter was written so I deleted it and wrote something else. This chapter had a lot of telling but it'll be shown in "Roohdaaryian".