Falling in Love - A Shivika Romance ✔

47. Annika's Ruthe Piya

She sat there almost lifelessly. Her heart was no longer racing, her tears had dried up and her throat felt itchy. She picked up a glass of water from the desk and drank it. Her being revered the fact that the water meant for Shivaay was quenching her thirst. A smile appeared on her lips for the first time in a while. It surprised her how she linked the smallest of details to Shivaay. Her soul echoed her state of being in love.

***

Shivaay rushed inside the mansion and straightway entered his room ignoring a greeting from Omkara. He looked for Annika in the doorway. As per his knowledge, they were together. An angry, Annika-less Shivaay seemed suspicious.

He followed Shivaay and fell short of stops only when Shivaay closed the door right before he was about to enter. His hand ached to knock on the door, enter, and see Shivaay's state but worried if it was anyhow related to his married life for he had no right to interfere there.

Annika came to him.

"Bhabhi, what happened to him?" he asked her. Her eyes looked sore. Stains of dried tears were visible on her cheeks. It was more than obvious that she had been crying. Connecting Shivaay's mood to Annika's was not so difficult after that.

"If you need help, please tell," he passed her an assuring look and walked away. He figured out that the couple needed privacy. 

A wince grabbed their attention and Annika and Omkara stopped in their respective paths. They saw Priyanka standing in the hallway. Her state was no less than Annika's. Annika blinked her eyes and entered the room. Omkara walked to hold Priyanka.

"Why is everyone crying today?" he asked his sister. He felt clueless seeing his siblings like this.

***

When Annika entered the room Shivaay had already changed into the casual kurta-pajama that he wore at home. She observed how he looked keenly aware of her presence yet reacted like nothing had happened. Barring one fact that he had not yet slipped a single word from his mouth. She went to the washroom, freshened up, and sat on her side of the bed. 
He worked, worked, and worked. His eyes were glued to the screen of his laptop such that Annika could not see or feel the pain in them. She leaned to his side and placed her hand on his arm.

He stood up within a blink of an eye and pretended to be in search of something. Annika pursed her lips. She crawled to his side of the bed and then stood up just like he had moments ago. She mimicked his way of pretension. He stopped not liking the fact how she was following him like she had nothing better to do.

"What are you doing?" he cleared his throat. She smiled as he spoke to her for the first time in a while. She stepped closer to him which prompted him to take a step backward.

"What are you doing?" she asked back with a smirk plastered on her lips.

"I am looking for something," he picked up a magazine from the stand nearby and bent it in an unshapely manner as if taking out all his frustration on the poor inanimate object.

"Then I am looking for something too," she replied. Shivaay noticed how she smiled. He knew she was pulling stunts to get him to talk to her. He tore the magazine in his frustration and its pieces now lied on the floor.

"What are you looking for?" he crossed his arms. "I mean if I find it, I will give it to you. It is getting too chaotic here otherwise."

"Too chaotic? Your words! Anyways, I am looking for the same thing as you," she replied.

He nodded. "I am trying to find—" He freed his arms that were crossed against his chest till now. He failed to fabricate a lie in an instant.

"Yes, yes," she crossed her arms across her chest, now having an upper hand in their discussion, "I am trying to find the blank space that you were trying to find."