The Marriage Contract

33 - Risky Moves and Dancing Grooves

Abhimanyu pulled Akshara towards him roughly, "I don't like secrets."

Akshara searched his eyes to see a strange restlessness dancing along the tips of his pupils. "He was thanking me for helping you." She admitted.

"Oh please. That man would never thank you."

"He did. It's up to you to believe it or not." She shrugged her shoulders.

Abhimanyu stared into her eyes, searching for any signs of deception and came up blank. "I trust you."

"Then you should trust him too. He's your father, you know."

"Sperm donor isn't the same as a father."

"He cares for you."

"He cares for no one but himself." He growled, bitterly.

Akshara could sense Abhimanyu harboring feelings of anger and hurt directed towards his father. He hid his soft, emotional interior within the hardened, sarcastic shell of his exterior.

"Sometimes things aren't as they appear, Abhimanyu."

"And sometimes things are exactly as they appear. Don't let him fool you."

Akshara gave Abhimanyu a soft smile, knowing there was no point of arguing with him. "Okay," She replied, ceasing the conversation.

As they continued to sway to the music, Akshara looked around the ballroom to see many women staring at her distastefully, some of them glaring at her in pure envy.

"So, how many women have you slept with here?" She asked him, changing the topic.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Sorry. A more appropriate question would be whom have you not slept with in this room? Because the way every single woman is staring at me, I feel like I'm either going to be a part of a very active catfight or end up getting murdered on the spot. Seriously, I can just feel every single woman plotting to kill me a hundred different ways right about now."

Abhimanyu chuckled, "Oh please."

"No, seriously, look around the room."

Abhimanyu followed Akshara's gaze as they twirled around in a circle only to see Akshara was not exaggerating. Every single woman in the room was glaring at Akshara ready to throw daggers at her.

"You're right. I suggest you make a run for it or else you'll find yourself on the front page headline of tomorrow's newspaper 'Death by stiletto'.

"Death by stiletto? Oh god! My worst nightmare." Akshara squealed, making Abhimanyu chuckle as he stated intently at the curve of her lips.

"How did you know about the children's wing and the charity ward? I don't remember ever tell ln you about them?" He furrowed his brows and finally asked her the question which was dancing in the back of his head for quite some time.

"When I was getting ready earlier this evening, I was scavenging through the closet and the file with the proposal for the children's wing and charity initiatives fell onto the ground. I know I shouldn't have peeked but my curiosity got the best of me and I snooped." She admitted, bashfully.

"Snooping is a bad habit." He chastised.

"I know. Sorry. But I couldn't stop myself. As I read through the proposal, eventually I realized why it was so important for you that you become CEO. Because being a CEO will give you the chance to turn your proposal, your initiatives into a reality. And I wanted to see it happen you know, your ideas turn into reality."

"It was risky, you know, what you did back there." Abhimanyu pointed out, his voice deceptively low.

"You call it risky, I call it bold." Akshara grinned.