The Marriage Contract

32 - Mr and Mrs Birla

Abhimanyu and Akshara stepped into the cool ballroom which had its air conditioning firing at full speed. They smiled, pretending to be a happy couple in love —that is until Abhimanyu's eye caught the scene unfolding in front of him.

"What the f..." He mumbled only to have Akshara slap her hand across his mouth fizzling out the last word of hai colourful language.

"Manners!" She whispered harshly, knowing full well what Abhimanyu was referring to.

"What is she doing here? With him?!" His eyes widened in shock and it was at that moment Abhimanyu realized where heart attacks got their name because they really were sudden and it did feel like your entire body was being attacked by unknown forces.

Right in front of his eyes, Sir —his father, that sir leaned in and placed a not so chaste kiss on Richa's cheek. Richa, the woman who micromanaged Abhimanyu and Akshara's fake marriage arrangement.

Abhimanyu mind reeled back to the time he had called Richa up in the middle of the night inquiring about Akshara's whereabouts only to hear a man breathing heavily in the background while simultaneously hearing the squeaking of the bed springs —a sound he was all too familiar with.

Suddenly Abhimanyu felt like he was going to be sick, as he felt his face grow pale and his throat clogging up and he tried his best to not regurgitate the snacks he'd munched on earlier.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Abhimanyu grumbled, trying not to dry heave.

"Abhimanyu, stop being dramatic. Your father can date whomever he wants."

"What I heard that day over the phone was more than just a date."

"I thought you said they were just grabbing a bite to eat?" Akshara recalled the blurry details of last night.

"Yeah, it wasn't food which they were eating." He really needed bleach to clean out his ears and eyes. He'd heard his father having sex over the phone —that was enough to leave a permanent scar on anyone's mind.

Akshara's mouth formed an O as she came to terms with what Abhimanyu was trying to say. Now what the heck was she supposed to say? "Umm..."

"I can't believe I heard my father having sex." He really was going to go into shock or be the newest heart patient at Birla Hospital.

"On the plus side, you at least didn't see them having sex?" Akshara offered, smiling sweetly.

Abhimanyu glared at Akshara. "Was that supposed to be funny? Because it's really not."

Before Akshara could reply, Harshvardhan and Richa walked up them, holding hands.

"Abhimanyu, Akshara, you both remember Richa?"

"Yes, we do, but it seems like you've forgotten." Abhimanyu nipped back, unhappily.

Richa raised her eyebrows pointedly. "Nice to see you two again, Abhimanyu. Akshara."

"Hello, Richa. How are you?" Akshara passed wary glances towards Abhimanyu.

"I'm good. And you?"

"Same." Akshara replied, hesitantly.

"Come Abhimanyu, Akshara. Let's go. We don't want to keep the board waiting. It's time we made introductions." Harshvardhan ushered them forwards, towards the group of board members and their spouses seated at one table.

"Hello Mr. Iyer, Mrs. Iyer. This is..."

"The notorious Dr. Abhimanyu Birla. Who doesn't know him?" Mr. Iyer interrupted Harshvardhan mid sentence.