Forbidden Love

Part 7

Akshara Goenka:

As soon as the plane landed, Akshu dashed to the front and waited for the door to open.  She kept looking at her watch, trying to calm her nerves. She was supposed to be back in Mumbai the night before but due to bad weather, her flight got rerouted to Delhi and didn't depart until 4 am.  She now only had a hour to get out of the airport and get to her campus on the other side of the city and she knew Dr. Grouchy Birla was going to roast her if she was even a second late. 

She didn't have any plans to go back to Udaipur until her class ended but Friday around noon, her sister Aarohi called her to tell her that Mimi was unwell and hospitalized.  Mimi was her great-grandmother and Akshu was extremely close to her.  Mimi was getting older so Akshu was always anxious of something happening. If Akshu was honest, she was always anxious about losing someone as she had already lost so much in 20 years of her life. Akshu couldn't stop herself and took the night flight to Udaipur.  She spent the whole weekend with Mimi and thankfully, Mimi was able to get discharged Sunday morning. Akshu was sure she was sure she would make it to Mumbai on time but here she was. 

Akshu took a cab and requested the driver to hurry to the campus. As soon as the cab got there, Akshu grabbed her bag and ran to the class. She looked at the time as she reached Dr. Birla's room. 15 minutes late. "You are so dead, Akshu!" Akshu rushed inside breathlessly to see Dr. Birla in middle of a lesson.  Dr. Birla looked at her in surprise and stared at her for few seconds before saying anything.
"Miss Arora, can you please get a bottle of water for your friend?" Dr. Birla said to Neha without taking his eyes off from Akshu. Neha reached into her bag and gave a water bottle to Akshu who quickly drank it. "Miss Goenka, please take a seat and see me after class." Dr. Birla turned around to go back to writing on the board leaving Akshu standing there, stunned.
"Sir?" Did Dr. Birla really not blast her for being so late? Was he going to tell her off after class? Then why did he not kick her out?
"Miss Goenka, we will talk after class. Please take a seat now."
Akshu went and sat between Neha and Jai who both looked at her in surprise. Akshu tried to pay attention worrying about what Dr. Birla was going say to her afterwards.

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Abhimanyu Birla:

When Abhi came to the campus that morning, he was disappointed to see Akshara not waiting there.  A little too disappointed. He just told himself it was because he was so used to having her there for the last two weeks and she was probably running a little late. His disappointment soon turned into worry when she didn't show up by the time class started. Mr. Patel had said someone in her family was not well. He hoped whoever it was, they were better now. What if that meant Akshara wouldn't come to class for a few days? He chided himself for being so silly. Why did it matter to him if she came to class or not? In the last two weeks, they had said exactly three things to each other.

Abhi decided he will get her number from the records and call her to make sure she will come back to class.  She was a bright student and Abhi didn't want her semester to go to waste. Yes, that's what was his main worry.  Despite not liking some of his students, he still wanted them to succeed and he liked Akshara. As a student only, of course.  She was intelligent, focused and serious about her studies. He was still thinking about her when he heard something behind and turned around to find her standing there.

At first he couldn't believe it really was her. She had her hair up in a bun and was wearing a pair of jeans with an oversized hoodie.  She looked like she didn't sleep all night and was standing there out of breath. She was beautiful. Abhi never noticed before how beautiful she really was. But why was Abhi even thinking that? She was his student. Abhi got out of his thoughts and seeing the fearful look on her face, asked her friend to get a bottle of water. He would talk to her later. Later when he himself knew what he was going to say. Because he didn't know now. All he wanted to do now was giving her a hug and tell her how glad he was to see her but that made no sense to him. He didn't know why he was even thinking that.

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Akshara Goenka:

Akshu stayed in her seat when the class ended and waited for everyone to leave before walking to Dr. Birla's desk. She watched him erase the board before turning around to look at her. Akshu gulped and started to speak. "I'm really sorry, sir! I'm sorry for being late. I know you don't like late-comer but I promise this won't happen again."
"Is everything okay at home, Akshara?" Dr. Birla asked her gently.
"Sorry?" Akshu was confused.
"Mr. Patel said someone in your family is unwell so you had to go back home. Is everything okay?"
Akshu stared at him.  Did Dr. Grouchy Birla actually have a heart? "Mimi. My great-grandmother was hospitalized but she's fine now. Thank you."
"Good. You didn't miss anything so no worries. I'll see you in class tomorrow." Abhi smiled at her before gathering his bag and walking out leaving Akshu stand there in shock.

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