Being the heiress of one of the richest businesses in India was not something Annika Vardhan Kabeer felt proud of. Having lost her mother at childbirth, she is raised single-handedly by her father, who means the world to her. Her outlook of life is...
Annika was about to open the door to the backseat of the car when she noticed Shivaay on the driving seat. She then opened the front door and sat on the passenger seat. Shivaay passed her a nice smile which she ignored and put on her seatbelt. Shivaay frowned because his smile wasn't returned and accelerated the gear of the car to drive out of the mansion.
***
Much to Shivaay's disappointment, Annika was quiet throughout the ride. She didn't even ask him where they were heading to. All this made him doubt why he was tolling so much after her.
And then, he recalled his earlier conversation with Gayatri bua. He was doing it so he could introduce his rich, smart, and beautiful wife to society and shut mouths of a few chatterboxes.
***
"We are here!" Shivaay held open the car door for her to step out. Finally, Annika noticed her surroundings. It looked like a seaside. The sound of waves reached her ears.
She stepped out. Seaside was one of her favorite places. She loved witnessing the relaxing waves, listening to the music they would create after hitting the shore, and sensing the chilly air come in contact with her skin. She wanted to thank Shivaay for bringing her there.
However, her feet took her closer to the shore and she forgot everything. A sweet smile played on her lips after days. It felt like magic: as if with every wave Poseidon, the Greek god for the sea, was providing her with hope.
In the meanwhile, Shivaay reached the trunk of his car and got a cardboard box filled with cell phones. He abused Khanna in his mind for not getting a classier thing for him to carry the phones. With the big cardboard box in his hand, he felt like some package delivery man.
Through her peripheral vision, she saw Shivaay standing beside her. She looked at Shivaay with little smile blooming in her face. Shivaay felt satisfied. His earlier smile wasn't unreturned for long then.
Annika eventually noticed the box situated beside Shivaay's feet.
"What is this for?" a curious Annika asked pointing at the box.
"Oh, these" Shivaay turned to the box, "these are for you."
He showed her the contents of the box.
"So many phones?" she expressed her wonder.
"Break these!" he instructed.
Annika gave him a look that asked if he was an alien. He, on the other, crossed his arms across his chest and maintained his straight face.
"Why?"
"You are well aware of my cranky nature I assume?" he asked to which she nodded.
"So," he continued, "whenever my anger gets too much to cope up with, I break phones and release it."
Annika was sure that she married an alien after hearing that statement. She knew Shivaay not so much, but however much she knew made her doubt if breaking phones was enough to reduce his anger.
"I am not!"
"Why?" he asked.
"One, this is stupid. And two, it's a waste of money."
"We are rich." he pointed out.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean we waste things. There are still people in this world who can't afford food, let alone these stupid smartphones of yours and here you are wasting your money just because you have lots of it."
Shivaay was grouchy about the fact that she was disagreeing with him and chose to royally ignore the fact that after many days she was talking like a normal human.
"Why should I care if others can afford food, phone, whatever or not? I want you to release your anger. Breaking phones is the smartest solution he got."
Oh, she was so returning home to look up the thesaurus for the meaning of smart.
"How do you do this?" she asked
"It's simple," he threw a phone in the air. Annika followed it through her eyes to eventually see it dead. The reason for its death was murder and its graveyard was one of the rocks.
"Now you shall try it once," he offered.
"Why?"
"To release your anger."
"How do you know that I am angry? Shivaay, we are very different. You may use your anger to express yourself, I don't."
"I beg to disagree," Shivaay said, "every person has a bit of anger. You do too. You just don't express."
"I don't understand," she said.
"Look, there are seven infamous stages of grief," he explained, "Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Testing and Acceptance. You are past the first two stages. However, because you are unable to express your anger, you are skipping the Anger and Bargaining stages and sinking into Depression straight. Don't do that. If you skip that, it's psychologically proven that you will have a hard time getting over depression and passing the last two stages of Testing and Acceptance."
Annika let his words sink in.
"This morning you asked me to let nature run its course. Now I am asking you to do the same. Let your anger come out. No one will judge you, no one will question you, I promise."
Annika stared at him for a while before taking the phone from his hand and banging it on the ground. She took a second one and threw it in the water. A third one blew its last breath seconds after.
As soon as she killed the fifth phone in a row, she wrapped her arms around Shivaay. He could feel her tears soaking in his shirt. Then he did something that was beyond himself. He returned the hug.
A kiss was placed on her hair. He did it because he wanted to. In fact, reflecting over the hug they shared made him wonder if he did all this for showing-off his trophy wife or simply for her goodwill?
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Precap: "Sorry but Mr. Oberoi said he doesn't want to meet anyone without an appointment," the receptionist said without knowing that Annika was Shivaay's wife.
"Tell your Mr. Oberoi that if I want, I can buy his whole company," Annika replied with confidence in her voice but anxiety in her heart.
