Due to Be Married || Shivika AU SS

two

"Annie, please!" Mallika Choudary begged. "No, Mal," Annika said defiantly. Mallika pouted. 

"Would you two help?" she asked angrily to Gauri and Bhavya, who'd been standing behind her with blank expressions for the past twenty minutes. Gauri shrugged. "I don't think we can do much, Malli Di. If she doesn't want to come, we can't force her." 

"Oh, we absolutely can force her," Mallika argued. She turned back to the closed door. "Annie, I'm giving you ten minutes. By the time your minutes run up, you will open this door in a beautiful dress, or else—" 

"Or else, what?" Annika snapped from the other side. Mallika looked around the Trivedi's living room, when her eyes finally fell on the perfect thing to blackmail her best friend with. "Or else I'm taking all your Harry Potter books and burning them on the terrace," she grinned. She heard gasps from Gauri and Bhavya, but they were almost like whispers compared to Annika's. She sounded like she was going to choke on shock. 

"You wouldn't dare, Mal," she said dangerously. Mallika simply strode over to the bookshelf and traced the spines of all seven of Annika's prized Harry Potter books. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, the Goblet of Fire, the Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince, and of course, the Deathly Hallows," Mallika read aloud. Annika whined. She knew Mallika wasn't kidding, and was also dangerously close to her books, because she wouldn't have been able to list all the titles in order if that wasn't true. 

"OKAY, FINE! Don't touch them!" she shouted and rushed into her closet. Oh, how exasperating her best friend was. 

Mallika squealed and clapped her hands. Gauri and Bhavya simply exchanged looks of shock. What sorcery was this? Annika had agreed to go out? 

In a brief second, Mallika was beside the two girls. She leaned in close and whispered in Bhavya's ears. "Do you have it?" she asked to which Bhavya rolled her eyes. "Yes, Malli Di. I haven't misplaced it in the two minutes since you last asked me." 

Bhavya reached into her small bag and pulled out a bottle with some purple colored liquid swirling about. "I must say. Rudy is incompetent when it comes to everything else in life, but his fruit punch is absolutely striking!" Bhavya praised. 

"And it is exactly what we need! Ri, you've called your lovely patidev and asked him to meet us, riiiight?" Mallika asked. It was Gauri's turn to roll her eyes. "He's not my husband yet, Di. And yes, everything is going according to our plan." 

Bhavya's bubbling curiosity had finally brewed her nearly insane. "Why are we doing this, Malli Di? You and Didi have been secretive enough." 

Mallika and Gauri's faces dawned with the same shade of pain. Their gazes turned to the locked door, behind which a beautiful soul had been deprived of light. "Today is May 16th. Annika Di's wedding anniversary," Gauri said. Mallika whipped her head at Gauri. "It was supposed to be. It is not," she snarled. 

"Di was going to get married?" Bhavya asked in shock. "But it's better she didn't. She deserves better than that moron who didn't have enough guts to stand by her when she needed him most." 

"It wasn't all his fault, Malli Di. Shivaay Jiju wasn't even—" 

"He's not your damn Jiju, Gauri. And there will be no mention of that bastard tonight. I don't want Annie to cry, remembering someone who was never worth her tears," Mallika said decisively. 

"Is this good enough for you all?" Annika asked from the door. The three turned to look at her. She was in a sleek black gown that traveled to the floor luxuriously. Her often straight black hair was cascading down her back in loose waves. Her face was done up with light makeup and kohl played up her almond-brown eyes. 

"Di, you look gorgeous!" Gauri and Bhavya chorused, but Mallika remained silent. Her gaze was stuck at the dress. With a voice cold enough to send chills down someone's spine, she delivered her opinion in only one word. "Change." 

Her command was enough to draw confused looks from the other two, but Mallika ignored them. "No, Mal. I like this," came Annika's firm reply. "Annika, change," Mallika repeated. Gauri and Bhavya were left shook. They had almost never heard Mallika call Annika by her full name, and especially not so dangerously. 

Gauri followed Mallika's glare to the object of her anger—Annika's beautiful black gown. Suddenly, her mind clicked into place. Of course, Annika remembered that it was the day she almost got married. And she would obviously choose to wear something that reminded her of him. What better to serve this purpose than a gown gifted by him for her to wear on her bachelorette party? 

Now, Gauri was one of the lucky few that knew the whole truth behind Annika's marriage being called off. It angered her, somewhere in her heart, that everyone—especially Mallika—misunderstood Shivaay because of whatever happened. She could neither blame Annika nor Shivaay for what had taken place one year ago, but to witness firsthand, the hate that Mallika carried for Shivaay was frustrating. 

It depleted her strength, her restrain to just shout out what had truly occurred. But of course, she had been sworn in, had she not?

"Malli Di, I think Di should wear whatever she's comfortable in. Besides, who are we to stop her?" Gauri tried being the diplomat. "We are her best friends, and well-wishers. Knowing this, Annika is going to go change," Mallika said, fisting up her anger as best she could. "Best friends should respect the others' choices, or they are not worthy of such a title," Annika retorted. 

"Di, we're running late," Bhavya chirped, not quite sure what all the fuss was about. 

Mallika and Annika's staredown was put on hold for some time, then, because it was finally time for Mallika's plan to be in action. Tonight, she prayed Annika was spared from the bitter memories of the past. And what better way to forget your sorrows, than to drown them in alcohol?