Chapter 41

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It had been a couple of days and Abhimanyu hadn't had any openings to go see Akshara and while he spoke to her daily over the phone and via texts, it was few and far in between because she was mostly resting or surrounded by family. He didn't have any excuses to go see her and him wanting to "check up" on her would have been far from the norm since he was never known to have any vested interest in anyone besides his mother and sometimes his siblings. Anything out of the ordinary would raise everyone's suspicions and while he didn't care about it, he cared about Akshu who he knew would be the one people would ask questions to. He couldn't even pretend to visit under the garb of his MD since Aarohi was already taking care of her medically. He was growing antsy with this need to go see her once with his own eyes to ascertain her wellbeing, he could barely sleep and eat with worry even after her multiple reassurances that she was ok. He missed her so terribly that he felt like he saw her smiling face wherever he looked.

It was about 4 days since she had been brought home and as luck would have it when Abhi went to see his mother for lunch after one of his night shifts, his mom wondered out loud if she should go visit Akshara and check up on her. Abhi wasn't aware that his mother wanted to go visit to check what his reaction would be apart from checking up on the sweet girl and lo and behold, Abhi fell right into her trap. He tried to keep his face impassive but Manjari could definitely tell the subtle shift in his demeanor was from excitement of getting to see her. She really needed to check with Neil to see if he knew something, he was the easiest to fold after all Manjarai mused to herself.
"So Abhi beta, if you're not too tired will you take me to the Goenka villa? I just want to say hi to Akshara, she is such a sweet girl and she has always gone out of her way to be nice to me" Manjari sent out her feeler. Abhi couldn't contain his excitement and while he tried to keep his face blank, his heart sped up from excitement. Yes , yes, a thousand times yes!!
"Uh yeah, sure. We'll leave now?" He spat out, his food forgotten. Manjari grinned internally because every day she could see her son do things he had never done before and while she didn't have proof that Akshu was the catalyst, her mom senses were tingling.

Since it was closer to noon, Vansh,  Kairav and Aarohi were all at work but the mother son duo was greeted warmly by the Goenka elders. Abhimanyu sat with them making small talk but his hands and feet were itching to get closer to Akshu, who his heart could feel so vividly. Without any prodding from him, Bade papa himself volunteered that Akshara was sleeping currently and while he was dejected to hear it he was also glad that she was getting some rest.
"Beta, we must thank you for all your help with Akshara. We don't know what we would have done without you" Abhimanyu realized with horror that Mimi was crying softly as she said this. He immediately got up from his seat and sat by her feet holding her hands , "Mimi please, it was my duty plus you guys are Anisha's family now. This was the least I could do" at his words a certain look crossed Mimi's eyes but he couldn't quite place what it was. Mimi had noticed how he had evaded calling them his family by extension, but what Mimi didn't know/realize was that Abhimanyu didn't even call his family his own!
"You know Abhimanyu, Aarohi had this brilliant idea of organizing a dinner here to thank you for all your help and that way we can also begin discussions for Kairav-Anisha's engagement" Mimi said stroking his hair.
"You really don't need to thank me Mimi but we can hold it for Kairav and Anisha. I'll be there!" While he didnt smile at her, his eyes did soften. Soon it was time for him and Manjari to leave and Abhimanyu was crushed that he couldn't even get a glimpse of her and his mood soured as they made their way to the front door followed by the Goenkas who had come to see them out. Abhimanyu suddenly felt a deep ache in his chest and he froze trying to decipher what it was. Within seconds he knew it was Akshara and he frantically turned around causing the Goenkas and Manjari to stare at him in shock. But he didn't have time to brief them, he had to get to Akshara. He wildly ran towards the guest room followed by everyone and when he burst into the room, he saw Akshara clutching her stomach doubled down in pain curled up on the floor. At his intrusion she looked up and he was gutted to see tears flowing from her eyes. He could hear everyone's questions and yells in the background but he dropped down to his knees next to her willing her to remove her hand and when she did, he saw streaks of blood on her palms.
Abhimanyu felt like he would have a panic attack but as he locked eyes with her, his sanity returned to him with a deep clarity. He immediately started firing instructions to everyone, threw his car keys at Bade papa asking him to send someone to get his medical bag to him. He calmly told everyone that she was fine and her stitches on one side just seemed to have opened. Once he had his bag, he asked everyone to leave so he could focus and have some privacy. From the corner of his eyes, he could see bade papa hesitate but he didn't have time to chat, he was laser focused on taking akshara's pain away who was moaning and crying softly. He heard Mimi tell everyone to leave Abhimanyu to it and shooed everyone out of the room alongside herself.
"Baby, what happened?" He whispered to her softly as he slid his hands under her body to lift her on to the bed from the floor. She moaned in pain at the jostling and sobbed causing his heart to break.
"I- I- I knew you were here and wanted to see you but I fell " she choked out amidst sobs. He could only let out a deep sigh, for he knew what she was feeling. He gently admonished her "Akshu..." "ok let me look ok baby? Hopefully it'll just be an easy fix" at her tearful nod he lifted her shirt and slid down her pants a little to get access to her navel.
"Ok it's only 2 small ones that seem to have opened, i can fix it with some strips I have. But you can't move and no getting out of bed unless you need to use the restroom" he started gathering supplies and tried to hurry as much as he could because he couldn't see her in pain. "it's hurting" a few more tears escaped her eyes. "i know baby, i'll be quick. It might smart a bit from the antiseptic, I'm sorry"
As gently as he could he cleaned the area and tried to hurry when he saw her eyes glazed over in pain. He worked in record speed and was done in minutes. He fixed her clothes, her palms and finally wiped her eyes but it was to no avail because more tears seeped out. He got up from the floor next to where she was lying down and wiped them again before kissing her gently, her lips soft from her tears. "It's ok, you're ok. I'm here. " He whispered against her lips. "I missed you so much but you have to take care of yourself baby so we can see each other more ok? No more taking your health lightly" his admission to missing her caused her crying to subside finally and she smiled softly at him. While it wasn't her special smile for him, he would take it if it meant she was getting better. He stroked her hair and gently removed some locks falling into her eyes and gave her one more quick kiss before walking to the door to let her family in who rushed in and crowded her bed.
"Some stitches ripped out and i fixed it but please ensure that she absolutely does not move from the bed for at least 3-4 days." At her groan he turned around and glared at her.
"Ok beta. We dont know how to thank you. How...how did you even know she had a fall?" Bade papa asked from where he was sitting next to her on the bed. Fuck, how would he answer ? With Aarohi he could at least be more open but how does one explain this insanity to normal people
"Uh I yelled BP did you not hear me?" Akshara finally muttered helpfully, still grimacing in pain. Abhimanyu sent her a thankful look but his eyes clashed with Mimi's who seemed to be looking at him with a renewed sense of something he couldn't quite place.
"Thank you for coming to check up on me Aunty, sorry about this" Akshara murmured from the bed causing Manjari to sit down on her other side and stroke her hair. "You scared us. Please take care of yourself" causing Akshara to nod as few more tears leaked out of the corner of her eyes which Manjari wiped lovingly.
"I want pyaaz kachori" Akshara piped up from the bed breaking his conversation with Bade papa.
"Absolutely not" Abhimanyu sternly replied before turning to Badi mumma. "Absolute no inflammatory foods for her Badi Ma, no fried food, no oily food, not ghee nothing, just plain khichdi with salt and turmeric -dahi or clear soups"
"You are a monster" She glared at him and he had to work hard to hide his grin at the affronted look on her face. "Akshara!!" Bade papa yelled at her for he was blissfully unaware of their dynamic. Even manjari was shocked at Akshara's outburst but she let out a sigh of relief when she saw Abhimanyu trying hard to hide his grin. Normally he would have yelled and stomped out after stating his sentence like it was law but ofcourse he wasn't going to do that to Akshara.
"I'll give you a small injection before I leave for the pain ok?"
"I'm not going to take it" she crossed her arms and stared at him mutinously. If they were alone he for sure would have laughed out loud but it was a testament to his will power that his face didn't show any emotions, but his eyes did.
"Abhimanyu i'm so sorry. Normally our akshu is the most well behaved one out of the 4, i dont know what has gotten into her" Badi Mumma murmured before sending a glare Akshara's way.
"Akshara you will do as he says and we were just talking about how we needed to host a dinner in a couple of days to thank him and here you are behaving like this." Bade papa admonished her with a stern whisper.
"I'm not going to talk to him and what is the point of dinner if I will have to eat khichdi. I won't go" she piped up "unless i can get kachori...." "AKSHARA!!!" her family yelled. She looked so cute when she was angry, all Abhi could think about was kissing the pout off of her face. He shook his head at her before getting out an injection and medicine. Everyone cleared the area for him and as he took her hand, the fight visibly left her body making him smirk. His little hellion!
Within moment the meds had taken affect and she was groggy and out of it, dead to the world. Abhimanyu stared at her sleeping form for a second, for she was too beautiful even in her current state. She was the bright light and he was a moth drawn to the flame.
He reluctantly had to walk out with the family but he desperately wanted to stay with her and hold her hand and maybe sneak in a couple of kisses. At least they'll get to see each other for dinner!! A small but necessary compensation, he thought.





Okay a small small update for you lovelies. I'm not totally happy with this chapter 'cause I didn't have enough time to write it but I'd obviously love your thoughts! 5 days until i'm back and can give you longer and better updates hopefully. <3

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