Silent Whispers

Chapter 9: Prove Me Wrong

"You are supposed to respect your elders Anjali!" he retorted sarcastically. "Don't you remember anything Nani taught you?"

"You are not older than me!"

"Of course I am! Ask Nani."

Anjali turned expectantly towards Devyani, who despite being aware of the change of topic, played along. "Akash was born first," she said with an apologetic smile.

"By five minutes!" Anjali exclaimed. "That doesn't count."

Akash smirked triumphantly. "Yes, it does. Maybe you should start calling me Bhai."

"In your dreams! Besides, aren't you getting late for your flight?"

"You wanna kick me out so quickly?"

"Yes! The sooner you leave, the sooner I can work... in peace."

"You mean scribbling in that book of yours?"

"It's called a blueprint. And for your kind information, I got a renovation project."

Akash raised an eyebrow. "Who would give you a project? Are you sure they are not blind?"

"Ha ha... no, they are not blind. Unlike you, they actually recognize a talented person when they see one."

"Talented? And you?"

Devyani cut off Anjali's retort. "Enough you two! Akash – are all your bags packed?"

He nodded.

"Okay, I will tell Hari Prakash to load them in the car. The driver will drop you off at the airport."

Anjali was surprised, but waited for Devyani to leave before asking, "Isn't Khushi dropping you off?"

Akash shook his head, the mention of his girlfriend reminding him of his complicated relationship. Simply put, ever since her interview at AR Designs, Khushi was ignoring him. He knew she got the job, just as he predicted; Arnav confirmed it himself. And yet, her elation at getting her dream job didn't appear to override her anger at him for hiding his identity.

Of course, her reaction was expected. He had lied to her, not once, but on multiple occasions. And yet, Akash had hoped, she would at least give him a chance to explain why he did what he did.

But she didn't. Instead, she chose to avoid the whole thing altogether. And strangely enough, Akash wasn't surprised. It was in Khushi's nature to turn away every time things got a bit difficult – he had seen her do it for two whole years now. Today was no exception either.

"Akash?" Anjali said, interrupting his train of thoughts. "Is everything alright?"

He let out a sigh and got up to leave. "Yeah... Khushi is busy with her new job, so that's why she is not coming to drop me off."

"Do you want me to come?"

Akash looked at his sister, touched to see the concern etched on her face. No matter how much they argued, at the end of the day, they were inseparable.

"Are you actually regretting me leaving?" he asked jokingly.

"I always do... remember when we were in school and you went to Bangalore for some competition?"

He smiled at the memory. "Yeah... and you cried so much that Babuji had to literally bring you there to see me."

Anjali laughed. "I guess I do whine a lot."

"Only because you are allowed to."

Moved, she pulled him into an affectionate hug. "I'm actually going to miss you."