The Marriage Contract

70 - The Contractual Obligations

"I guess we all need to talk, don't we?" Richa's voice echoed in Akshara's brain, rendering her incapacitated.

No, no, no! Richa was not supposed to find out like this! What now? Akshara's mind went into overdrive and her hyperactive imagination began thinking of possible scenarios that could turn into reality.

"We can talk later, can't we? Akshara and I have work to do." Abhimanyu answered back to Richa, in his cold, carefree, nonchalant manner once his initial shock had worn off.

"No. I think you can spare us 5 minutes of your precious time." Richa glared at the two of them, unwilling to back off.

"Richa, please. We can do this later." Harshvardhan Birla tried to reason with his girlfriend in support of Abhimanyu and Akshara much to Abhimanyu's surprise.

"And by the way, what are you doing here anyways? You don't work here, unlike Akshara, and neither are you a patient here. Don't you have your own work to do? Or is Birla Hospital your new office now?" Abhimanyu questioned Richa dryly, slipping his hands in Akshara's and intertwining their fingers without a care in the world.

"How dare you talk to me like that?" Richa's face turned tomato red as she grappled for words to respond to Abhimanyu.

"Abhimanyu, please! You and Akshara can go ahead with your work. We will talk about this later." Harshvardhan tried to play mediator between the two sides.

"Yes, Abhi. Let's go." Akshara whispered, wanting to get out of this pickle of situation as soon as possible.

Abhimanyu felt Akshara's nervousness radiate off her shoulders and through the feeble grip of her fingers with his. He gazed over at her to see her looking at him —scared. Hesitant. He raised his eyebrows pointedly towards her. She shook her head, offering him a small smile.

"Let's talk now." Abhimanyu turned towards Richa and Harshvardhan Birla. He didn't want Akshara to spend the entire day thinking about the damned upcoming confrontation and contract with Richa.

"Good." Richa stated.

"My cabin." Abhimanyu dragged Akshara with him whilst Richa and Harshvardhan followed.

He could care less about what Richa had to say about the contract. He in fact had forgotten all about the contract until he saw the colour drain from Akshara's face when she came across Richa. But it was for the best. Now they could put the contract behind them, once and for all.

All he wanted was Akshara.

To hell with the money and the contract. Break it, tear it, burn it —he could give a shit.

~*~

"Come, sit." Abhimanyu pulled the chair out and turned it around for Akshara.

Akshara eyes darted between Abhimanyu and Richa nervously. However, she did as she was told and sat down on the chair facing Richa and Harshvardhan Birla.

"So now, what is it that you want to talk about?" Abhimanyu leaned against his desk, arms crossed, turning to look at Richa and Harshvardhan stood rooted to the ground. He hadn't even bothered to offer them a place to sit.

"Come on now, we haven't got all day." He raised his brows pointedly. He didn't care about what Richa or his father to say. But Akshara obviously did. Which means he had to care to —because it effected her.

"Akshara, you broke contract." Richa's voice was heated, tempered.

"We. Both she and I broke contract." Abhimanyu pointed out, taking the heat off Akshara. "It wasn't just her, I signed the contract too."