CherriesOnTheCake - Ishqbaaz One Shots

3. Anubandha

Anubandha means legal agreement.
I might split this story out and add to it later as I have so many ideas!

-/-

Two weeks after she's served divorce papers Annika receives an unexpected visit from a lawyer.

"Shivaay Singh Oberoi." He offers his hand at the door and she stares at it for a beat before tentatively taking it in hers. He doesn't even blink at the bloodstained bandage wrapped around her left wrist.

She's a mess. The house is a mess. The last thing Annika needs is a visit from a gorgeous man in a designer suit to rub in how much of a failure she is. But she lets him in, leads him into her living room, and offers him a drink.

"There's no tea or coffee in the house but I have almond milk, whiskey, or water."

"Almond milk." Oberoi says with a confidence that suggests he would have asked for that even if Annika had a fully stocked pantry. "Warm. Two sugars. A sprinkle of cinnamon if you have it."

When Annika returns ten minutes later with milk for him and water for herself there are four thin grey folders neatly arranged on her coffee table.

Oberoi smiles when she offers up his drink but it's perfunctory. After he takes a sip the smile fades into a weary grimace as if he took off a mask. "Jet lag," he explains when she stares at him, "I flew in from Sydney just to see you."

"You didn't have to," Annika says softly. "I don't need a lawyer."

He takes another, longer sip that leaves a residue of cinnamon on his lips briefly before he licks it off — there's something about the brief glimpse of his pink tongue, the white gleam of his teeth, the way his blue eyes examine her as if she's a puzzle, that makes her feel uncomfortable.

"Look Ms Bajaj..."

"Mrs Rana," Annika corrects gently as she takes the seat next to his, "I'm not divorced yet."

"Do you want to be?" It's the first time anyone has asked her that question and it makes her uncomfortable enough to lose her confidence. She lowers her eyes but knows instinctively that Oberoi hasn't. His gaze feels heavy against her skin; possessive; almost as if he's claiming her which is ridiculous because they're strangers.

Perhaps Gauri was right when she said three years without sex had driven her mad.

"It doesn't matter what I want." Annika takes her glass from the tray and downs half of it in one go. "Vikram needs to divorce me to be able to marry his girlfriend," she grimaces, "I won't stand in the way of that."

"That's a lot of love," Oberoi says quietly, "for a man who transferred every penny out of your joint savings account three days after moving out."

Annika closes her eyes briefly before turning to look at him. She didn't know but it's not entirely unexpected. Vikram had always blamed Annika for the divorce, right from the start, and stopped even basic courtesies in those last few days before he moved permanently to Mumbai.

Oberoi has a complicated expression on his face; something between pity, anger, and frustration that she doesn't have the first clue how to translate.

"You had five carores in your account last month. My team did some digging and it seems he has already used it to buy a house in his girlfriend's name. Do you know what means?"

He sighs when she doesn't say anything.  "It means you face a lifetime in court to try and get back your share."

"It's his money," she sighs. "He earned it. He can spend it how he wants."

"That's not how marriage works. You were his wife, his responsibility. He needs to take care of you."

"As I said already, I don't care."

"Perhaps if you had cared more," he drawls, "he might not have left."

"Perhaps, but it's all too late now. I just want to end this sorry chapter of my life." She  rubs a hand through the the end of her ponytail before standing up. "I'm sorry you travelled all this way for nothing, Mr Oberoi."

When Annika tries to walk away he scoffs loudly. That's her only warning before an iron grip around her wrist sends her careening down onto his lap. Oberoi's body, she notices absently as she blinks up at him in shock, is soft. After spending years getting used to Vikram's firm gym toned body it's different enough to make her freeze.  "What are you doing?"

"Your husband's girlfriend was my wife." His eyes darken as he inches closer. "She divorced me three years ago, a month after aborting our baby, and let me believe all this time that it was my fault. I didn't even know there was another man until your father approached mine with your divorce."

"So you want to use my divorce to get revenge?"

"No," his gaze lowers to her lips, "I want to give you your rights."

Annika frowns.

"Your wife snatched away the only rights that ever mattered to me," she says wearily. "There's nothing left any more except money. I don't want that."

"Ex wife," he corrects with a genuine smile that adds yet another dimension of attractiveness to his already handsome face. She takes a deep breath to try and clear her mind of those kinds of thoughts but then freezes when his eyes snap down briefly to her breasts. "Your father has given me carte blanche to deal with you however I wish. If you won't take your rights from him then I will make you accept them from me."

Then before she can react, before she can even think to stop him, he kisses her. It hurts because he uses teeth, and presses too hard, and grips her wrist so tightly she is certain to get bruises — but Annika hasn't been kissed in years.  She responds instinctively, kissing back wildly until he pulls away just enough to allow both of them to catch their breath.

"Let me stay tonight."

"So this was all an elborate plan to get revenge on your wife by seducing me," she breathes against his kiss-swollen lips.

"Please," he breathes against her mouth and she makes either the worst decision of her life or the best.

"A night wouldn't be enough." His dark eyes seem to glitter with a light of their own before he presses a line of warm kisses to her throat that makes Annika arch her back wantonly. The second her chest rises his free hand settles warm and heavy against her breast. "I would need longer."

"Not a problem."