ShivOmRu SS ~ Cross Connections

Chapter 24

11:23a.m. [Shivayiiii - get Om and Priks and come out in the backyard like NOWWW]

11:25a.m. [Why cartoon, what happened?]

11:26a.m. [Uff this serious you monkey!! Come now else I will tell mom that you're Shivay and not Rudra. Hmph.]

11:28a.m. [Okay fine woman. Coming!]

When Om, Shivay and Priyanka reached the backyard, Mallika hurriedly took them towards the balcony attached to Anika's room, they saw the door wide open and Shivay rushed inside - only to find it empty. He looked at Mallika questioningly.

"Oyi, where is your di?" he asked her.

"Exactly Einstine! Di has run away!!" Mallika replied in excitement - "Isn't it proof enough that she loves you??" she laughed.

"Genius! If she had run away for Shivay, wouldn't she have called him??" asked Om exasperated. With that her face fell. "Om then where did di go???" asked Mallika panicking. "Maybe I should tell mom that di has run away with an unidentified entity. MOMMM" Mallika had just begun screaming when Shivay grabbed her and shut her mouth.

"Honestly Om, how do you plan to handle this one here?" asked Shivay earnestly, then he turned to Mallika, "Oyi cartoon, shut up - let's just lock this door from outside and try and look for Anika? What if she is around only?" he asked reasonably. A worried Mallika and Priyanka instantly agreed, and together then jumped off the fence with Om and Shivay and decided to search the nearby area for her.

When Soumya entered Anika's house, Shiela saw her and stared in disbelief - Anika had told her about Somz's transformation but never did she think it was so drastic! Soumya beta' was all that escaped her mouth when she saw her - Soumya went to her and hugged her and then turned around to introduce Rudra. "Aunty ji, this is my..." but Shiela peered at Rudra sternly and replied, "I know him, I heard a lot about him - just wondering why he is here though" she spoke darkly, it was obvious to her that this lost looking boy was Shivay for sure, who else remained in her daughter's gang of friends to turn up anyway?

Soumya smiled awkwardly not understanding why the usually cheerful Shiela aunty looked so displeased to see Rudra, she stupidly tried stirring the awkwardness back to norma, "Err..I hope you've heard good things about him" and Rudra shot her a confused look.

"Not necessarily betaji, but today is a holy day, my darling daughter is going to perform the first ceremony of her wedding with her beau - everyone is welcome to wish them goodluck" with that she motioned them to come in and she left. Soumya stood there awkwardly wondering what on earth was Shiela aunty talking about.

"Err..Soumya for some reason Priyanka's badi ma doesn't like me I think" Rudra spoke. Soumya convinced him that it must be a confusion and urged Rudra to follow her, they needed to meet Anika and sort her confusion. As Soumya knocked Anika's room, she heard Anika answering from inside, Soumya didn't respond, she just opened the door and barged in, as Rudra towed behind her.

"You sore loser, how dare you do this without even telling me!!!" she barked in anger.

"Oh Somu, I am soo glad to see you, I am so sorry, I should have told you at least - I soo need you here" brawled Anika, somehow seeing Somu there felt like she was closer to something related to Shivay, the silent knot in her heart she as ignoring was starting to loosen just by the mere presence of his sister.

"I HATE YOU ANNE!!" she hissed.

"Oh I love you too Somu" Anika kept mumbling and hugging her in relief. Soumya kept quiet, she was pacified seeing Anika's listless state.

"Why are you doing this Anne? You know this won't make you any happier! Did Om break your heart?" she whispered.

"Om? Why no..Oh no Somu, it's a long story - there is no time for it now - just know that Om and Mallika are happily together and I am very happy for them" as Soumya gaped at her, she just hugged Soumya and then hugged Rudra too, she was feeling high and low at the same time seeing them all there.

"Is there no way you are going to backout of this roka Anne? Are you happy?" asked Soumya in a scrutinizing tone.

"Ye---yes.." Anika stammered, but before she could talk further, Shiela called her outside.

"Yes Ma" she replied and ran away from there as Soumya sighed and crashed on her bed staring at Rudra.

"Where were you beta?" her mother asked concerned, she knew Soumya and "Shivay" were in her room, she wanted to ensure her daughter could take it - when Anika came out unperturbed, Shiela was surprised, wasn't her daughter head over heels about that Shivay boy, then why was she so unperturbed? Did she really move on? Well seems like she did - And Shiela wasn't complaining.

"Beta, did you see your friends? How nice of them to turn up in such short notice nah?" Shiela asked, clearly not bringing up Shivay's topic.

"Yes ma, Soumya and Om I would have understood, but even Rudra - I guess it will be fun" she smiled half heartedly - well if she was compromising anyway, it was better she was doing so with a friend like Dev who understood her and himself has been on her shoes - it would be that bit less difficult to forget Shivay now - wherever he was.