Twist in Time

Vulnerable

Akshara twiddled her fingers as she looked at Abhimanyu who was sitting in his seat and she was standing across from him in the conference room where everyone had gathered moments earlier. He was in deep thought and the silence was long.

"Sir-" she began, observing his expressions.

"Abhimanyu" he answered curtly.

Akshara's eyebrows scrunched up, "huh?"

"It's Abhimanyu - you always call me Abhimanyu, I don't know when you began with all the sir stuff" he muttered.

"Oh," Akshara replied, warmth spreading through her stomach as she felt her cheeks redden.

"Abhimanyu" she corrected herself, "are you mad?"

He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back into his chair. He really was tired, she noted.

"I want to be" he whispered slowly, "I want to be.. but the honest truth is that I would have done the exact same thing that you did.. and I understand why you did it the way that you did... and I mean the result is beyond exception, we have Roy Kapoor as an employee. It significantly reduces our competition"

Akshara smiled, pleased with his response.

Check mate Mr Abhimanyu Birla.

Her planning was working out easier than she expected.

"Then what's wrong?" Akshara asked noting that he still looked distressed.

He opened his eyes, his tired warm eyes looking straight at her and for a moment she felt like she was drowning. Losing herself in a world where she could run away from all her trauma. All her sorrows. To a place that felt like endless summer. Endless warmth.

"I don't like people questioning you Akshara... and I don't know why, it scares me" he said honestly, the purity shining out of his eyes.

Akshara's heart did a flip.

This she did not expect.

Oh, don't make this hard.

Oh please.

"I-" Akshara began biting her lip.

"You know what this means don't you?" Abhimanyu asked interrupting her.

She looked at him with another confused expression.

"It means I trust you... please don't misuse it" he said silently.

Oh the irony.

Akshara felt a pang of guilt.

And suddenly it all came over her.

How dare she ruin his life in the process of her revenge?

He had no idea what was coming.

But then her vision fell onto the board that hung behind him, proudly announcing 'BIRLA ENTERPRISES'.

And that reset the flame that was burning in her heart.

No.

It didn't matter.

She couldn't feel guilty for this, remembering his last name.

Akshara nodded, "I promise".

A moment passed between them and then Akshara decided it was time for her to leave. She had to exit this conversation as she slowly felt the world swallow her up. A second more and her guilt would completely consume her.

She hadn't anticipated this.

Feeling guilt.

She hadn't considered this when she had planned.