Falling for You

Chapter 25 - Not Even 12 Hours

Akshara backed away from Abhimanyu, creating a distance between them Abhimanyu followed suite, reluctantly. His brain screamed to pull Akshara into his arms and tell the entire world she was his. But he held back, respecting Akshara's wishes. For now.

"Akshara!" Krishika called out for her, rushing to towards Akshara.

"Watch her foot!" Abhimanyu instructed sternly, interrupting Krishika's reunion session with Akshara.

Krishika paused in her steps, looking towards Abhimanyu, confused by his sudden concern for Akshara but adhered to the authority in his voice, not wanting to get into yelled at by him.

"Hi, Krish." Akshara smiled at her friend nervously, hoping Krishika couldn't guess from her face what had transpired between Abhimanyu and her.

Akshara's heart literally felt like it was going to burst with joy for her and Abhimanyu but she was also nervous because she didn't want anyone finding out about her and Abhimanyu's relationship. So she did her best to play it cool.

She made the mistake of glancing towards Abhimanyu, only to see the tic of his jaw as his lips were pressed in a firm line. Unhappy. He looked unhappy. Was he mad at her? For trying to keep their love —their relationship a secret?

"Hey, Aksh. Are you hurt bad?"

"No, I just slipped and scraped my ankle."

Neil and Siddharth walked further into the shed as well. Siddharth moved closer to Akshara, leaving Abhimanyu miffed. An automatically low growl erupted from his chest only to have it simmered down by Akshara sneakily shaking her head at him, her eyes pleading with him to not create a scene.

"Bhai." Neil wrapped his hand around Abhimanyu's shoulders, giving him a side hug. "I'm glad you are okay."

Neil then turned around towards Akshara. "You too, Akshara. No more evening walks on the forest trails for you."

"He's right Akshara. That was quite irresponsible of you." Professor Gupta reprimanded, raising his voice at Akshara, just as Abhimanyu clenched his jaw, trying to remain calm. "Do you know what could've happened to you out in the wild? You could have been animal bait. Not to mention the pouring rain..."

Abhimanyu noticed Akshara lowering her head in shame and decided to to take charge. "But nothing happened, Sir. She is fine. Safe." Abhimanyu jumped to Akshara's defense, not letting another word out of his professor's mouth upset her.

"But..."

"But nothing, Sir. She is fine. Nothing happened. You yelling at her now won't help. She made an honest mistake. We would have come back to camp yesterday itself had it not started raining. And you would've never found out happened. So please stop yelling at her." Abhimanyu explained calmly but sternly, his protective mode in full swing, not giving anyone another chance to raise their voice or point a finger Akshara again.

Professor Gupta looked between Abhimanyu and Akshara before finally nodding his head. "I am glad you are safe. You better thank Abhimanyu here for going after you."

Akshara nodded her head in shame, biting her lower lip. "Yes, Sir."

With that, Professor Gupta walked out of the shed, leaving the four students behind. Krishika wrapped her arms around Akshara's shoulders, helping her to stand up. Abhimanyu bit his tongue until he could taste blood to act as a reminder to not move forward and help Akshara and stake his claim. She wanted to keep their relationship a secret and he had to respect her wishes.

"Can you walk?" Neil asked Akshara, glancing down at her foot.

"Yeah. I can. It doesn't hurt anymore. It just stings a little bit I can walk." She replied, stabilizing herself on her own two feet.