Shivika: Journey Till Our Hearts

|| 1. The Marriage ||

She was suddenly held by her shoulders and was asked to sit on the couch.

"Shivaay, ab toh Tia ka sundar chehra dikha de" Annika heard Pinky's aunty over enthusiastic and loud voice and she crossed her fingers.

In the next minute, she felt her veil being lifted off and she closed her eyes fearing the outcome.
And all she could hear were shocked gasps and the variety of questions being hurled at Shivaay.

"Shivaay, why is Annika here and where is Tia?" Pinky asked, shock dripping from her voice.

"Is this some new game plan Shivaay because honestly it isn't good" Om said with a plain voice but by now, Annika had learnt to understand the actual emotions behind his words.

"Don't be quiet Shivaay? Say something" Tej prodded.

"Is the relationship of marriage a joke to you Billu?" Dadi asked meekly and everyone in the room went quiet.

"Speak up Billu. Your silence is only making everyone in this room raise more questions on you"

"Kya jawaab du dadi. Should I say that Tia thought of running away from the marriage suddenly with nothing a letter left for me. Or that I had to marry to save the family's reputation and business. And that I had no one else but Annika to ask. What all questions do you want answers for?" He said exasperatedly.

"Ye tu kya bol raha hai Shivaay? Why will Tia run away from her own wedding? She loves you"  Pinky was still in denial about the whole matter.

"She never loved me mom. And I think both of us knew it. But yes, I never expected her to run away from her wedding in such a manner" Shivaay replied.

"There must be some misunderstanding Shivaay. Did you cross check everything before coming to decision" Shakti finally intervened.

"Of course dad. She never wanted the marriage and I have detectives behind her and her mother. But it will take some time before we find out the whole truth. Try to understand my viewpoint also"

"And so you thought that forcing a girl to marry you to save the so-called family reputation and business is okay?" Om said and his taunt directly hurt his elder brother's heart.

"I didn't force her Om" Shivaay spoke after a brief minute of silence. "I explained the whole matter to her and requested her to be the bride. We both agreed on the circumstantial marriage"

Ouch, that hurt. Annika's heart said. Though her mind was saying that even she had agreed on it being one, then why was it hurting her. But, she had to concentrate back on Shivaay as he was still trying to explain his point of view.

"That doesn't make your actions right bhaiya. I am really disappointed in you" Rudra said and Shivaay's heart broke. Of all the things in the world, the only thing he couldn't bear was his brothers getting disappointed in him or getting displeased by him. And here, they were feeling both.

"Om, Rudra, trust me. He really didn't force me and I knew what I was getting into" Annika finally decided to speak when she saw the matter affecting Shivaay a lot.

"But didi, he didn't do the right thing. He could have informed us. We could have postponed the date or tried to find Tia. All in all, we could have found some solution" Rudra said sadly.

"I of course tried finding her Rudy and what was I going to tell you. A lot of things were going on and I had to come up with a solution fast. And  I did the best thing I could think of"

"Force or no force Shivaay, you are wrong and we won't be a part of this. We really respect you Annika and trust us, we will always be there for you. We promise you that you won't face any issues here"  Om said to Annika and exited the hall with Rudra closely following him. Shivaay called out to them but they just ignored him.

"Shivaay, I am happy that you thought about this family and business, but what you did was really wrong beta" Tej said solemnly and patted Shivaay's shoulder.

"Exactly Shivaay. Annika is a very self respecting girl and for you to do something like this with her is totally unacceptable" Janvi also chipped in.

Seeing all of this, Annika was about to say something but stopped when she noticed Shivaay nodding to her in negative. She will definitely clear things out, but before that, she needs to talk to Shivaay.

"Shivaay, I am not in favor of what you did but we can't punish Annika for you mistake. I promise you that meri bacchi" Dadi said and caressed Annika's face. By her adressal to him, Shivaay really felt hurt but by now, he had really become an expert in masking his emotions and he did just that.

"Listen, we can discuss about this later. And since she is your wife Shivaay, it is your responsibility to make her feel comfortable. Take car of her and we will talk tomorrow morning. Everyone go to your rooms" Dadi ordered and no one could defy the elderly lady. So everyone left leaving only Annika and Shivaay.