Making You Mine

twenty three - it happened once, on accident

Abhimanyu tapped his foot on the ground, under the dining table, anxiously, uneasily as his eyes kept darting towards Akshara. Akshara's face was sullen and her eyes were detached, lifeless, vacant.

Ever since Akshara had left his office, they hadn't spoken a word to each other. When Abhimanyu had walked into their room, Akshara had been in the bathroom, taking a shower.

When Akshara had walked out of the shower, Abhimanyu had tried to talk to her. But she excused herself from the room saying she needed to give Rosa special instructions for breakfast. And Abhimanyu had let her go too.

He was aware she needed some space because that's all she had asked for. Space. Space to think —to understand —to react. And he was more than happy to give her the space she required.

But he wasn't willing for her to purposely ignore him. To purposely find ways to avoid him. No. He wasn't going to let her avoid him. Not anymore.

"Try some orange juice. It's freshly squeezed." Abhimanyu mentioned casually, trying to calm his nerves as he made small talk.

"Okay." Akshara simply responded, dryly, not blinking an inch as she poured the orange juice into a glass.

Feeling antsy and unhappy with Akshara's lack of response, Abhimanyu tried to keep the conversation going. "What are your plans for today?"

"I don't know. You tell me. What are my plans for today?" Akshara responded, aimlessly pitching her fork through the scrambled eggs on her plate.

Abhmanyu zipped his mouth shut, trying to keep himself calm and composed but failed. "I do not appreciate you speaking to me with that condescending tone and attitude."

"Oh, but isn't this what you always wanted? Me to be your obedient little plaything? Agreeing with whatever you wanted? Just keep saying 'Yes, Abhimanyu, whatever you say." And now that I am, you're unhappy?"

"That's not what I wanted." Abhimanyu grit his teeth, trying his best to keep his anger at bay.

"Isn't it? You wanted to control me, control what I did, who I met, control how I lived my life, and now that I am surrendering myself to you, giving you all the control over my life, you're unhappy? So then what do you want from Abhimanyu?"

"I...I just want things to go back to normal." He replied, frustration marring the frown lines on his face.

"Normal? What is normal to you, Abhimanyu? Tell me. So I can confine to it." Akshara retorted, bitterly.

Abhimanyu gave Akshara one last glance. Broken. She was absolutely shattered, her trust in him shaken, he could feel it. For the first time, he could see a hint of hatred in her eyes for him.

"I'll be back, late. I have some important paperwork to complete and meetings to attend. I'll be busy." He explained, before getting up from the table, getting ready to leave.

Like muscle memory, he bent down to give Akshara a goodbye kiss but stopped himself when he watched Akshara close her eyes, in anticipation, waiting for him to kiss her. His eyes traced the outline of her lips, and the frowning of her brows as his mind played the scenes of yesterday like a flashback in his mind.

Akshara waited and waited in anticipation for a kiss that never came. When she felt no movement from Abhimanyu, she opened her eyes to find him walking away from her and towards the exit.

Dazed, ashamed, thankful and yet somewhat disappointed by the lack of intimacy, Akshara looked down at the plate of food on the table and closed her eyes. She took a few deep calming breaths, trying to get her heartbeat under control.

She hated fighting with Abhimanyu. But she had no other option. Confused. Never in her life had she been so confused. And even now, she didn't know what her next steps should be.

~*~

The entire day for Abhimanyu had been a whirlwind. He wasn't able to pay attention to anything. He felt nothing short of a zombie as he went about his day aimlessly, zoned out, distracted.

For a man whose sole focus was work, the entirety of his day was spent thinking about anything and everything but work.

Akshara.

He knew she was hurting. He knew she was angry. Mad. But it was her hallow, vacant eyes, the obedience she showed for his orders, the lifelessness, the indifference that bothered him.

Mostly, it was her avoiding him, avoiding touching or being touched by him, avoiding the intimacy he knew they both craved that bothered him.

He needed to bring the intimacy back. He needed to get his Akshara back.

Abhimanyu stepped on the accelerometer in a bid to get home to Akshara, faster. Abhimanyu's eyes flew to the screen in his Mercedes-Benz to see it was just about 8pm.

Maybe he could surprise her with dinner? Yes, that's what he'll do. Take Akshara to dinner in a fancy restaurant, like their first date. Refresh the memories.

Or maybe a mini get away? To Paris perhaps? She'd enjoy having dinner on top of the Eiffel Tower. Who was he kidding? Of course, she would enjoy dinner on top of Eiffel Tower.

He needed to get a sense of normalcy back in their life.

Normalcy.

Normal.

What is normal to you, Abhimanyu? Akshara's words rang in his ears as the excited smile disappeared from his face and instead was replaced by a frown.

Normal. What was his normal? Even he didn't know.

He thought his life was normal before he met Akshara. And then his normal shifted. Changed. Expanded. Grew. Then his normal was Akshara. Akshara but on his own terms. And now?

What was his normal?

Or rather, what was his new normal?

~*~

Akshara was brought out of her thoughts by the shrill ringing of her cellphone. She checked to see who was calling and it was an unknown number.

Feeling her heart beating and a sudden sense of unease rifle through her stomach, she answered the phone.

"Hello?" She sat up straight on the bed.

"Akshara. Ma'am?"

"Yes, speaking." She said, hesitantly, unsurely.

"Ma'am. It's me, Sanjay. Abhimanyu Sir's assistant. Sir...Abhimanyu...he had an accident." Sanjay's voice was nervous, broken, scared.

Scared. Sanjay was scared. No, no, no, this couldn't be good! Akshara thought of the worse possible case scenarios.

She felt as if her heart was stuck in her throat and she suddenly felt wind being knocked out of her windpipe. "Oh my god! Is he okay?"

"We don't know yet, Ma'am. He's in the operation theatre but the doctors say he is critical condition. His entire burst up into flames."

No, it couldn't be! Her Abhimanyu had to be okay. Please, please, please, please let my be Abhimanyu okay, Akshara prayed hard, looking down at the ring Abhimanyu had given her when he proposed.

"Where is he right now?"

"City Hospital."

"I'm coming there right now! Don't leave until I get there!" Akshara ordered, before ending the call. She wiped the tears from her eyes, trying to calm herself down.

Don't worry Abhimanyu, I'm coming! Akshara promised, as she got up from the bed to go for a quick change of clothes before she rushed out the door to get to he Abhimanyu.

Please, please, please, please let my be Abhimanyu okay, she chanted like a mantra as she sat inside the car and told the driver to start driving towards City Hospital.