The Marriage Contract

40 - My First Mistake

"Zaara Mehra. Her name was Zaara Mehra."

Akshara froze in her steps just as she heard Abhimanyu speak. Who was Zaara Mehra? Where was Zaara Mehra? The questions circulated in her head as she turned back to look at Abhimanyu, who wasn't looking at her but instead staring straight up ahead into oblivion.

"Zaara?" She asked, willing him to speak some more. Akshara went back and sat down on the floor beside Abhimanyu, her eyes blinking rapidly as she waited for him to continue.

"Zaara Mehra." The corners of his lips curved up into a small smile at the sound of her name. "We were both 18. She was the first, the only girl I loved...or so I thought. I had no idea what love was you see, but I knew what I felt for Zaara was...different. We were in the same University together, met during first year. Both wanting to be doctors. Surgeons in fact. You know, young love." He scoffed, remembering Zaara.

Akshara focused on Abhimanyu's eyes to see the pain that reflected clearly through them. It had been 10 years and yet he was still trying to heal from the wound Zaara had inflicted upon him. Akshara's heart began to break into little tiny pieces for him.

"We were friends first. Just friends. I was the dorky one. And she...she was the most beautiful girl in the world. At least to me she was. It took me 4 months to ask her out on a date. When she said yes to the date, you have no idea how happy she made me. We started dating soon thereafter. She was my first kiss you know. My first ever kiss." Abhimanyu felt his eyes growing moist at the recollection.

Abhimanyu tilted his head back and sighed. "But happiness for me doesn't last very long you see."

"What happened?" The small smile on Akshara's face disappeared and was replaced by a worried frown. She hated seeing Abhimanyu hurt, in pain, but she prepared herself for the rollercoaster of emotions she'd be facing.

"Parth Birla happened." He replied, bitterly.

"What did Parth do...?"

"You may think Parth and I have some foolish rivalry going on. And maybe you're right but there are only two people in the world I hold responsible for the person I am today. One is my cousin —Parth and the second...is my father."

"How? What did Parth or your father do?"

"When we were growing up, Parth always used to be the better looking, charming, popular one. I was the castaway, the loner, the dork. But I was also the smarter one. And that is why —because of my intelligence, I used to be his father, my Tauji's favourite child. But Parth couldn't handle that. So when we were 14, it was during an exam when Parth and the rest of the students of the class were passing around the answer sheet, trying to cheat. Only then, Parth rolled the answer sheet up in a ball and aimed it at me, purposely. The proctor saw and both him and I were called to the Principal's office."

"But didn't you say anything? Tell them that it wasn't you cheating but Parth?"

"I did. I told them it wasn't me who was cheating but when they opened the answer sheet, it had my handwriting in it. Parth had managed to forge my handwriting and after that I had no proof whatsoever of my innocence."

"Then what happened?"

"Then my great father showed up to school, reprimanding me for cheating. The school and he managed to work out a deal where the cheating scandal would not be affecting my academic record but I had to change schools. So my father did the only thing he could think of, he put me in boarding school."

"I'm so sorry, Abhimanyu." Akshara's heart broke as she listened to Abhimanyu talk about his life.

"Don't be. The 4 years I spent in boarding school had to have been the best years of my life. Away from the two people I hated most."