Abhimanyu and Akshara stilled at the bottom of the stairwell, awkwardly looking around the room at the numerous pairs of eyes staring back at them, following their every move.
"Why is everyone staring at us?" Akshara whispered, tilting her head towards Abhimanyu.
Abhimanyu's grip on Akshara's bare lower back tightened, not appreciating the lustful and envious gazes of the men and women in attendance around them.
"Oh no reason. They're just unable to come to terms with the fact that I'm actually off the market and married." To a stunning and gorgeous woman.
Akshara turned around and furrowed her brows at Abhimanyu. "The paparazzi videos from the courthouse when we got married weren't convincing?"
"They thought it was a sick joke I was playing to fool them."
"Aren't we though? Fooling them, that is?"
"Hi, I'm Dr. Parth Birla, Abhimanyu's cousin." Before Abhimanyu could respond, he was interrupted by Parth making his way up to Abhimanyu and Akshara.
Akshara glanced down at Parth's extended hand, waiting on her to slip her hand through. Beside her, she felt Abhimanyu's fingers digging into her waist whilst simultaneously feeling his jaw lock as he glared at Parth.
"Hi. Akshara. Akshara Abhimanyu Birla." She quickly slid her hand in and out of Parth's palm, not leaving him enough time to wrap his fingers around her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Akshara. It's finally good to be able to put a face to the name. We were beginning to suspect if Abhimanyu even had a wife with the way he was keeping you hidden tightly under the wraps." Parth ushered out, taking a mild jab at Abhimanyu.
"I told Shefali bhabhi to keep you locked up and hidden from the world but yet here you are." Abhimanyu mumbled, perking Akshara's ears up at the sly bitter remarks coming out of her husband's mouth.
"I assure you I'm 100% real." Akshara feigned her laughter, trying to keep both her husband and her husband's brother from creating a ruckus.
"So tell me, how'd you two meet? Abhinanyu of course won't tell me, so my only hope is you now, Akshara."
"We would love to tell you, Parth but the thing is, we don't want to." Abhimanyu replied, sarcastically. Without waiting or a reply, Abhimanyu let go off Akshara's waist and interlocked his fingers with hers, dragging her beside him and away from Parth.
"Wow, he really is a sleaze-bag." Akshara whispered to Abhimanyu, once they were a safe distance away.
"And you've barely been near him for more than a few seconds. How is it you can figure out how much of a pervert he is but no one else?" Abhimanyu replied, appalled at how many people Parth had managed to fool.
Akshara still felt disgusted at the way Parth's eyes had roamed all over her body. His lustful gaze, making her feel uncomfortable —nothing fazed her. She'd noticed everything.
She glanced at Abhimanyu and smiled softly. For a man who was a womanizer, a playboy, with women falling at his feet, a part of her was happy, elated even at how protective he was of her. He didn't want her talking to Parth or asking questions about him, and now she understood why. He was protecting her from that pervert.
"Come, let me introduce you to the interns." Abhimanyu offered, dragging Akshara forward.
"What about the board members? Shouldn't we meet them first?"
"No, we don't want to look too desperate for their validation. Everything needs to happen organically."
"Okay. I trust you." Akshara mentioned casually following behind Abhimanyu.
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.
Paying close attention to what the group of people were whispering about, he heard the word "gold digger, waitress and video," circle around. That was enough to tell him what they were talking about.
Abhimanyu he felt his jaw tick and he glanced down at Akshara. Feeling his anger rising, Abhinanyu hold on Akshara's hand tightened, interlocking his long fingers with her petite ones.
"Excuse us." Abhimanyu excused them from the group of interns and took her to the side, knowing full well all pairs of eyes from the table where Parth was standing were watching their every move.
"Do you know them?" He asked her; dragging her to a corner of the room, away from prying eyes, even though he knew it was futile because they were everywhere.
"Yes. That man over there," Abhimanyu followed Akshara's sight of vision as she nodded pointedly towards Akash Singh Roy. "When I used to work as a server at the restaurant, he used to frequent there. He's very well connected in the corporate world, is an heir to Roy Textiles. Also explains why he's here."
"Akshara!" Abhimanyu grit out, wanting to get Akshara back onto the topic of importance.
"He would come in with his friends, create a huge mess and then ever leave a tip. Once when I refused to serve him anymore alcohol, that bruised his ego. And after that, he somehow got a hold of my number and he would constantly keep calling me, requesting that I be the one to serve him."
"He started harassing you."
Akshara nodded her head. "Yes. And one day he held my hand without my consent and refused to let me go. So I slapped him. After that, he was banned from the restaurant. And funnily, it wasn't because he was harassing me, no, of course not. It was because he was becoming a nuisance to the other wealthy patrons." Akshara confessed, bitterly.
Abhimanyu looked over at Akash and saw the despicable smirk lining his lips, making Abhimanyu's anger turn up a full notch.
"Why is it that you have all the weirdos chasing you?" Abhimanyu scoffed, reaching the edge of his calm, composed and pleasant demeanor as he gripped Akshara's hand.
Akshara looked up in surprise as Abhimanyu walked in front of her, dragging Akshara behind him towards the group of people, including Akash who were passing snide remarks on her.
"Hi, if there is something you'd like to know, you can just ask us straight up instead of whispering about it like neighborhood gossipers who're up to no good." Abhimanyu spit out, standing in front of the group of vile and vapid attendees as Akshara's shield.
"Abhimanyu, we weren't gossiping. We were just making chit chat." Parth answered whilst Abhimanyu continued to glare at Akash —his main target.
Akshara gripped Abhimanyu's hand, her eyes roaming around the ballroom to see Abhimanyu's little knight in shining armor act had caught the eye of the rest of the people in attending. Including who looked the board members who seemed a bit keen to know what was going on.
"Abhimanyu, let's go. Please." She whispered, not wanting things to escalate for Abhimanyu.
"No, no. I heard you guys whispering words such as 'gold digger' and 'waitress' so I'd really like to know what you all were saying about my wife."
An awkward and uneasy silence blanketed over the table. Abhimanyu glared at each and every person standing, who had the audacity to make snide remarks about Akshara behind her back but were now acting like run off the mill saints.
"I was just telling them I've seen Akshara somewhere before." Akash mentioned putting an end to the silence.
"Yes, she used to work as a waitress at Panache. A restaurant you used to frequent quite often she tells me." Abhimanyu bit out, not letting any of Akash's remarks slide.
Akash eyes darted between Abhimanyu and Akshara and Akshara witnessed a flash of anger rummaging through his eyes.
"Yes, before anyone questions, Akshara used to work as a waitress at Panache, a very upscale restaurant which I'm sure you've all visited or at least had dinner at once. And she may even have served any one of you." Abhimanyu announced, glaring at everyone, pointedly.
"Abhi...," Akshara whispered, trying to soothe the anger bubbling on the surface of Abhimanyu's tongue.
"So yes, she may not be financially well off, and might as well be a gold digger —which I assure you, she is not. So how does her being or not being a gold digger affect any of you in the slightest? Is it your money that she's trying to get her hands on? It's my money and I can do whatever the fuck I want with it. What if I wanted to marry a gold digger? Still, that is my fucking choice. So you all best keep my Akshara's name out of your filthy mouths." Abhimanyu raised his finger in warning, seething at every single person who dared to make her feel inferior.
Akshara glanced at Abhimanyu's locked jaw as he glared at the group of people, anger radiating off his body and fire burning in his large, hazel eyes. She felt a soft smile creep up at the corners of her mouth and her cheeks flushed as she watched Abhimanyu defend her, feeling a small tinge of pride.
"Akshara is a better person than any of you could ever dream of becoming. So try to become like her first before you comment on her." He added with finality, before turning his back to the set of shocked faces whose mouths were left agape at the sight of his rage.
Never. Never once in their lives had they ever seen Abhimanyu Birla become so angry, so unhinged in defense of any person. But Akshara, she was different —and today, everyone around him felt it too.
As Abhimanyu dragged Akshara away from the group elite socialites, Akshara's eyes wavered to the people around them who had stopped to watch the scene unfold in front of them.
Suddenly, Akshara felt shame wash over herself. The board members had to have seen Abhimanyu arguing with the attendees. What if that confrontation with Akash worked against his favour? Akshara's mind started working in overdrive as she thought of the worst possible case scenarios for Abhimanyu. What if the board thought of Abhimanyu as being temperamental who had anger issues?
"Abhimanyu, you shouldn't have created a scene like that." Akshara whispered, sharing her fears with him.
Abhimanyu stilled in his steps as he let go of her hand with one swift move and turned around to face her. "Created a scene?" He asked, his anger flaring up again.
"The board. They might use what happened back there as a reason to disqualify you from the CEO candidate position." She explained, hesitantly, calmly.
Abhimanyu shook his head, trying to keep his cool. "The board? Unbelievable! You care about what the fucking board thinks? Well guess what, Akshara, I care about what other people think of you much more than what the board thinks of me. I don't like the thought of anyone demeaning you." Abhimanyu confessed in heated anger, miffed with Akshara.
Without waiting for a response, Abhimanyu turned on his heel, flung open the button to his blazer and stomped out of the room and towards the balcony, leaving Akshara standing in the middle of the ballroom, pondering in confusion about where she went wrong.