A Flight of Love

Chapter 17 - Girls v/s Boys

"Can you stop?" Akshara grit out, her voice low.

"Stop what?"

"Abhimanyu, I'm being serious. It is not funny anymore."

"Funny?" Abhimanyu whispered back, harshly. "You want to talk about funny? Well, let's see. You leaving me in the middle of the night like a dirty secret that needed to be swept under the carpet was not funny."

Akshara looked around the dining table worriedly in case anyone had heard their conversation. "I thought we already talked about it." She bit back.

"You talked. I listened."

"Akshara, Abhimanyu, what are you guys whispering about?" Before Akshara could retort, Shefali interrupted their heated conversation.

"Oh, nothing. Just the formal hello hi." Why was lying becoming a second nature to her?

Shefali did not seem convinced but let it slide. No doubt Akshara was going to get grilled for this lie once they were alone in private.

"Manjiri, yeh Prashad kis liye?" Mahima asked.

"Woh kya hai na Didi, aaj bahut dino ke baad pura Parivaar saath hai. And shaadi ke functions be shuru hone ko hai. Toh main mandir jaa kar ek baar dono parivaaron ki sukh shanti ke liye puja karne gayi thi. Aur yeh bhi maang ne gayi thi ki yeh shaadi bahut aache se ho jaye."

"Haan, yeh baat bhi bilkul sahi kahi tumne Manjiri. Aaj bahut dino ke baad dono parivaaron ko ek saath dekh ke acha laga." Mimi agreed.

"And don't worry, Aunty. The wedding will go off without a hitch. Hum sab hai na." Akshara reassured.

Manjiri returned Akshara's reassuring smile with a soft smile of her own. Everyone then went back to chatting away amongst themselves and finishing the last remains of their dinner.

"So, Abhimanyu, Akshu tells me you both were on the same flight from New York to Dubai?" Akshara stared at her sister in mild shock. Shefali knew something was going on and she wasn't going to let the topic go.

"Ah, yes. I do believe we were seated beside each other."

Akshara's heartbeat was working on overdrive. Suddenly her palms felt sweaty. She prayed Abhimanyu didn't let out any extra information.

"Oh," Shefali said, stirring the rice in her plate, "And get you guys didn't talk to each other? It was a 12 hour flight wasn't it?"

Instinctively, Akshara's hands found Abhimanyu's thighs and she dug her nails in to the material of his jeans, trying to claw her way into his flesh, scared of his answer but also to signal a warning to not divulge too much information either.

Abhimanyu gave Akshara a side eye as his hand sneakily went under the table and covered hers, trying to free his thigh from her tight grasp. Akshara returned Abhimanyu's side eye while digging her nails deeper into his skin.

"We did more than just talk." Abhimanyu muttered, his voice low, staring at Akshara, knowing full well that no one else but she heard him.

Akshara pinched him on the thigh as a reflex action to his words, her eyes sparkling with anger as she stared back at him. Abhimanyu clutched Akshara's hand from pinching or digging her nails into his thigh any further and held it tightly under the table, not willing to let it go.

Akshara struggled to free her hand from Abhimanyu's grasp while trying to keep her facial expressions as stoic as she could as to not spark any questions.

"Sorry? What did you say Abhimanyu?" Shefali inquired.

Abhimanyu looked back at Shefali, "I was asking what did Akshara tell you?"