His Inconvenient Bride | ✔️

| liii: first of firsts |

"Take this," he gave me the bottle opener but I had opened it with just my thumb.

Years of experience, you see.

Vihaan chuckled and used the opener to open his bottle instead. I clinked my bottle with his and gulped down the cool liquid. The bitter aftertaste of weird felt surprisingly good and refreshing. It had been over months since I had downed any kind of alcohol.

"Ah, this feels good," I groaned as I took another sip. The beer somehow activated my senses and got me out of the lingering sad thoughts.

"You must have seriously missed this," Vihaan chuckled again and I smiled at him. "It's been months, so yeah."

"Where were you?" I asked him the question that was revolving inside of my head for a long time.

"I was out doing your work," he shrugged and I frowned at his answer.

"What do you mean?"

"I just came back after arresting Dr. Prapti Nair," the mouth of the beer bottle stopped near my mouth as it hung down in shock. With wide eyes I looked at him to confirm what he was saying was true.

"Why—"

"Because talking would have done nothing, Akanksha," he said, interrupting me. "You have no evidence against her to prove that she was giving you those medicines. If you went over to talk to her, the ball would have been in her court. She would have pressed charges against you for defamation and also consuming unprescribed medicines," he gulped down a sip of the bear as he paused to catch a breath.

I cursed myself mentally for sometimes going over the board. Emotions and investigations don't go together. I should have known that. God, I was going to make such a huge blunder at such a crucial point in the case.

"She could have used your condition in her favour to get out of the mess. And god forbid, if that would have happened, it would have been difficult to get you out of the case. Hence, for now, it's even better to not put your name forward," I nodded in understanding and agreed without an argument.

I got what he was saying. The last thing I wanted at this time was to get arrested over false charges.

"Then why did you arrest her?"

"Illegal drug supply, false prescriptions, bribes and what not. I had the team investigate all of it in an hour. She would be in jail for a long time," Even better. That sounded really good to my ears. Though it didn't bring me satisfaction as to why she gave me those medicines, I was happy that she would be paying the price for her wrong deeds.

"I was thinking of starting my therapy to regain my lost memories after we go back to Jaipur," I heard Vihaan tsk as he didn't look like he was agreeing to do it.

"Ah, about that," he took a pregnant pause, making my steady heart beat fast. "I spoke to Aadya before I came here. I told her about your case and she told me that though it is a good way of regaining memory, there might be a chance that you may face side effects, which includes the formation of new false memories," That made sense. I had read about it on the internet which makes me think that given the PTSD and anxiety issues I have, it would not be advisable to carry out this process.

"Oh, she also told me to tell you that she's angry at you for not telling her sooner," Darn that woman. The moment I would return back, that she-devil would sit over my head to demand answers. No wonder why she didn't message me today like she usually did. Not even memes or reels over Instagram.

"Okay," I mumbled in agreement.

"And—" looks like he wasn't finished yet. "Chirag told me what happened to you yesterday at the cabin," he paused momentarily and looked at me. I looked away, taking a sip of my beer. "After all of this ends, I want you to go for therapy and cure your anxiety," my heart fluttered with gentleness he had told me those words and I couldn't help but nod in response.