The Marriage Contract

30 - To Trust is To Honour

Abhimanyu's steps came to an abrupt halt, with Akshara bumping into him from behind. "You trust me?" Abhmanyu reiterated, trying to confirm if that is actually what Akshara said. She trusted him.

"Umm, yes I do. Why're you so shocked?"

Abhimanyu turned around and glanced at her with a hint of gentle softness in his eyes. Trust. Very rarely did anyone trust him. But Akshara's trust —it meant something. And the fact that she trusted him made him happy. Very, very happy.

"Nothing." Abhimanyu's lips curved up into a smile before he turned around and began walking towards the table where his interns were.

~*~

As they made their way towards the table where all the interns were situated, Akshara felt various pairs of eyes following her every move. She felt as if she was being watched like a hawk.

"Akshara, this is Dr. Rohan. My junior." Abhimanyu made the introductions.

"Hi, nice to meet you, Dr. Rohan." Akshara smiled at Dr. Rohan who glanced at her with wide eyes, smitten by Akshara's grace, beauty and poise.

"Ss...same. Akshara! Ma'am! Akshara ma'am! Nice you to meet too!" Dr. Rohan fumbled, nervously. "I mean, nice to meet you...too." The man was visibly shaking, mesmerized by Akshara's beauty but equally ready to wet his pants by the amused glare his senior, Dr. Abhimanyu Birla was giving him.

"Why so nervous, Dr. Rohan?" Abhimanyu questioned, amused at Dr. Rohan's antics.

"Nervous? No! Sir! Doctor! Not at all nervous!" Dr. Rohan denied, downing the entirety of his drink in one gulp.

"And this is Dr. Barkha and Dr. Aakriti, junior interns, looking to specialize in cardiology." Abhimanyu let Dr. Rohan be and introduced the two girls standing at the table to Akshara. "And as you all know, this is my wife, Akshara."

Akshara watched the stars of hope diminish in the two girls eyes. It was very evident that they had a crush on Abhimanyu. Who wouldn't? But if they were just harboring a crush on Abhimanyu, that meant Abhimanyu hadn't gotten around to adding their names to the little invisible black book of his. And that chunk of knowledge brought a sense of peace and solace to Akshara's mind.

"Hello, Ma'am." The girls greeted her in unison.

"Hi." She smiled at them, strengthening her grasp  on Abhimanyu's hand.

As Akshara glanced around the room, she saw Parth had taken shelter amongst a crowd of people about his age, men and women alike who were glancing in her and Abhimanyu's direction whilst whispering snidely amongst themselves.

And amongst those elites, she witnessed familiar faces. A very familiar face from the time she worked at the restaurant. A patron who'd frequent the establishment quite a few times a week. A patron, whose name she clearly remembered. Akash Singh Roy. The man she had slapped in front of other visiting patrons for being rude, demanding and entitled prick.

Trying not to get affected by the constant whispering and sly glances at her, she turned around to face Abhimanyu and the rest of the interns. She desperately wanted to tell Abhimanyu about Akash but then she remembered how important of a day this was for him.

Today was Abhimanyu's day. Her concerns could wait. Thus, she put on her best smile and began tuning in on the conversation the interns were having among themselves. However, her eyes kept darting back to the group of people especially Akash and Parth who had gotten overtly chummy suddenly.

Abhimanyu turned around to see Akshara lowering her lashes, looking down at the floor, avoiding eye contact as he noticed a group of people whispering amongst themselves as kept glancing towards her.