CHAND 〡 ABHIRA

hum

As soon as Abhimanyu had finished showing Ritvik to his room and helping him settle in, he had made his way back to his room hoping to find Akshara still there. The rational part of him knew that she might have gone to her room as she might need space but the wishful part of him wanted her to be near him after the scare of tonight. 

When he walked into his room, he could hear the shower from his connecting bathroom. Surprised at the fact that she was willing to use his room, he tried to supress the glee at the prospect of her being comfortable with him. Instead he decided to run downstairs and make her something to eat. 

As he was hustles around, he hears the sound of her light footsteps treading into the kitchen and turns around, as their eyes meet he notices her heave a sigh of relief and wastes no time in moving closer towards him. 

She's in a baby blue night gown with the ends of her hair damp with moisture and her eyes still downcast. 

"Akshara you should rest upstairs" he says and she looks down at her fingers. 

"I was scared" she whispers and he almost doesn't hear her, "And i didn't want to be alone"

It hits him then how foolish he had been, and he mentally slaps himself and quickly apologies, "I'm sorry I should have... I was just-" he gestures around to the kitchen and she understands. 

She feels her heart soften at his efforts and tries her best to smile at him, "It's completely fine" she pauses for a beat and fiddles with her fingers before awkwardly asking, "is it okay if i don't spend the night alone in my room? like i mean if i sleep in yours"

"of course, i was hoping you would" he replies automatically, before it takes him a couple of seconds to realize his words and cringes before correcting himself, "i mean i didn't want you to sleep alone after tonight nothing weird like-

Akshara however seems to find his awkwardness amusing and chuckles wholeheartedly at him , which this causes him to smile in pride of finally making her happy even if it lasted a few seconds. 

He scratches the nape of his neck before turning around to face the stove and stir the noodles. she moves to the kitchen counter on the side of the stove and props herself on it as she watches him. they share a peaceful silence and akshara realizes that around him, she hasn't shuddered or thought about the previous events of the night at all. 

Their relationship had been strange, when they had met on the train never had they imagined themselves to be in a contractual arranged marriage a couple of days after. Granted that during their interactions during the wedding, she had felt something between them or at least a tiny part of her had hoped there was but things quickly changed from playful banter and blossoming friendship to amicable house mates after their marriage. 

As she observed his handsome features she had accepted that she was attracted to him till some extent but knew that it would be nothing more than that, she just found him attractive and she found many other people attractive too so it didn't mean anything. 

However she figured that now would be a good time to tell him about Ritvik, since she wanted to become closer than they were right now as it would make life easier. "Abhimanyu, I know you don't know about Ritvik completely but-

"he's an old flame or lover?" he asks, without meeting her eyes. 

"no its nothing along those lines at all" she emphasizes on the 'at all', "he's a close friend. I've known him for a while, that's it"

He nods signalling her to continue and she does, "He's in a hard situation and he's left his house so for the past few days I've been trying to help him get back on his feet. His family isn't the best and his father is powerful and cruel enough to make sure that he doesn't get a job anywhere reputable or up to his standards. It's been hard for him, so I was hoping he would be able to stay for just two to three days here"