Okay guys finally we are here with the new chapters. All those who aren't aware of the issue. My account was hacked and deleted. I somehow got it back and then posted the chapters one by one. I request all my readers to re-add the book in their reading list so that you get informed about the new chapters:)
Also if you are still reading let me know through your feedback :) Lots of love❤
Let's start.
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Quiddity
(n.) the essence of something
"So Shivaay I have a dare for you" said Annika all of a sudden as they were strolling through the vacant area of the ship deck club that opened toward the sea. Shivaay looked at her with a raised eyebrow, the bottle of the beer he was drinking held up in air.
"Now?" he asked looking around to see very few people, out there in the open. Mostly couples making out. Rest everyone was still inside the club enjoying.
"Yes, and if you do this. I'll do anything you want! So do you dare?" she asked taking a sip from her bottle and stepping a bit closer to him. Was it alcohol or he himself, Shivaay wasn't sure what made him so daring as he took a step toward her and asked with a little twisted smile "Anything you say?"
"Anything!" she repeated, her eyes sparkling with her trademark mischievous sin!
"Fine go-ahead Ms. Beasty Deshmukh, Dare accepted!"
Annika smirked, then pointed at a couple making out in one corner "You see those two teenagers? They are underage. The girl's name is Anisha Mahajan and the boy is Shravan Mehra---" before she could complete Shivaay interrupted.
"How the hell do you know their full names? Please Beasty, you knowing everything is getting creepy now" asked Shivaay, shaking his head in disbelief.
Annika chuckled "You see everyone gets a fake name here and they get it from the owner itself who I know personally. So, I kind of know every person here of course except the one who came here for the first time"
"How do you remember it all?"
"I have a literal photogenic memory. All I need is to see or read something and I will remember it for lifetime. It's kind of natural in me and have always been. Dad said it was God gifted" shrugged off Annika and Shivaay sighed "You know, I can't tell you how jealous of you I am at this moment. Like why would God give you both an exceptional beauty and even more unattainable brain at the same time!"
"Did you just call me beautiful brother-in-law?" teased Annika, bumping him on his side that had the tipsy Shivaay almost lose his balance.
"hahaha as if you didn't knew you were beautiful. You don't need its validation either from me or someone else" he replied bumping in her side while rolling his eyes.
"You are definitely drunk" Annika chuckled, then shook her head "Anyway back to the dare. So do anything but make the boy runaway from the girl. That's your dare!"
"Huh?" Shivaay looked at her dumbfounded, then at the teenage couple and cringed seeing them kiss "Do I really need to do something like that? They seem---kind---of---busy?"
"Well, you accept the dare or not?" asked Annika "or is Shivaay Singh Oberoi backing out from a challenge?"
He looked at her with a frown "Never, wait and watch Annika Jayant Deshmukh" He put the beer bottle down, corrected his appearance and walked up to the couple while Annika looked on with a curious smile lightening on her face. She was so looking forward to see the mischievous Shivaay inside the always stiff, trying to do the right thing Shivaay Singh Oberoi.
Shivaay shared one last look with Annika before turning back at the couple and giving a loud fake cough to break their make-out. The teenagers separated awkwardly and looked at Shivaay who masked his face with an angry expression.
"Anu? So, this is what you do in name of night studies with friends?" He started and the girl look half confused, half dumbfounded.
"Anu? you know him?" The boy looked at the girl wide eyes who seem to have lost her own voice, before she could reply, Shivaay continued "Of course now she wouldn't even know her brother?"
"Brother?" a little squeak left the girl's mouth while the boy looked terrified "Anisha, you never told me you have a brother?"
"Because I don----" before the girl could complete, Shivaay again interrupted, the time his voice loud and scary, he held the boy's collar "What do you mean? -------Leave that. Should I call your parents Shravan and tell them where you are and that you brought an underage into an illegal night club?"
The boy breath got stuck in his throat, sweat could literally be seen all over his face. He very slowly pulled away from Shivaay "I am so sorry Bhai, please don't call at home" and without a second look he ran away leaving behind Anisha who kept calling his name.
"You aren't my brother. I don't have a brother" said Anisha turning toward Shivaay who gave her a boyish grin "I am not your brother but I am like your brother so take it as an advice. You aren't in the age to drink or even come inside a night club. Focus on your studies and Career Anisha!"
With this he gave a small wave, a big smile and before Anisha could even progress what he said, he ran to Annika, held her hand and dragging her ran out of the club. They kept running, holding hand until they reached an empty beach lit only by the corals.
They stopped, falling down on the knees, panting heavily. Then looked at each other and burst out laughing. The euphoria felt so heavy that both of them literally fell in the sand laughing like maniac, with Shivaay holding Annika, her eyes almost had tears laughing this wildly.
His eyes suddenly noticed her and it seem like everything froze, it suddenly struck him how beautiful and somewhere even soft she actually was. Her hairs were blowing carelessly in the wind, rich and dark like the night. He had the oddest impulse to touch them, to feel, to see if they are just as soft as they looked. Her lips quivered with a laughter; he had never seen before. He had seen her laugh before but it always felt so restrained, so resentful, so for the others. At this moment something made it feel so liberating, at this moment she was laughing because she wanted to, not for anyone else.
A sharp pinch in his chest made Shivaay put his palm over and he actually felt it. He felt it literally. His heart skipping a beat!
Warning him of its impending loss to the wrong girl!
"What are you looking?" asked Annika, stopping her own laughter which suddenly felt like a criminal offense to Shivaay. He shook his head and replied "nothing I just realized how reckless and crazy your company makes me!"
"And you love it" she replied lying on the sand and pointing at the place beside her "Lay down, let me show you some constellations and interesting facts about stars."
Shivaay smiled and settled down beside him, staring at the sky for a second before his eyes eventually turned back to Annika who was showing him some constellations, he just couldn't find himself being concerned about.
She turned toward him and looked at him with a confused frown seeing him smiling stupidly at her, then shook her head "You aren't interested right? Never mind. Now that your mood is better let's deal with the real-life problems. What are you going to do about this whole mess my dear sister created and I spilled?"
And there goes his smile, he turned his face toward the sky. Annika sighed. Keeping her head on one of her arms, she turned toward him and holding his chin from her other hand made him look at her "We need to face the reality, right? A momentous escape is great but not a runaway"
He released a breath "I don't know. Who am I to judge Mallika? I cheated on her. Whatever she and Sid had was before she was in relationship with me. I am being hypocrite by being angry on her." He then shook his head "But it just felt like I was living in a bubble where she actually loved me when all along I was just a source for her to move on from Sid."
"What are you going to do?" she asked, as he turned toward her lying on his arms gazing into her eyes.
"I don't know. What am I supposed to do? I don't have the right to break this relationship. I am the one who cheated." He then let out a mocking chuckle, a lingering pain in his beautiful eyes "Guess what? No matter how hard I try, I am the son of Shikhar Singh Oberoi and blood always show its presence."
Annika closed her eyes for a second listening that name before keeping her palm across his cheek "No Shivaay, you aren't and will never be like him. I agree even if I manipulated you, you did wrong but that doesn't just define who you are. What define you is that without a second thought, without thinking what Mallika would think about you, you accepted your mistakes. You confessed. It's a huge thing you know. This loyalty is a huge thing."
A flickering smile formed on his face as he chuckled "You are weird Annika, messing up my life and now helping me clear that mess?"
Annika shook her head "On an honest note Shivaay, I don't want you to get married to Mallika for my own obvious reasons-------" he interrupted her with a sigh "Because you have issues with her over past and can't seem to forgive her? Why Annika? When you could forgive and give second chance to someone like Nucino what worse could have your own sister did with you? Why couldn't you forget the past?"
Giving a small smile, she looked at the moon "Trust me Shivaay, my biggest failure in life is not being able to forget the brutes of my past. I dearly, dearly want to. For once I want to sleep without my mind recreating those horrid days again and again. For once I want to feel normal. But no matter what It never works you know why?" she turned toward him, her eyes locking with his "Because every person I love in present are the biggest reflection of the monsters of my past."
A moment of silence followed when he spoke up again "But I still know you and only you can do this. Annika----" he intertwined his finger with her "I won't ask what happened because I know you won't tell me but you know why I always get furious when you are mean to Mallika?"
"Because you love her a lot?" she said with an obvious chuckle to which he shook his head "No because you are the literal personification of power Annika. I don't know why Om feels you are broken. I don't feel so. You aren't broken. No matter what happened in the past, Annika Jayant Deshmukh can't be broken and even if she is, she has the very capability to rejoin herself without the support of a single person. It sounds weird you know but, I read about you when I started the business as how a young girl of just twenty-one years took over her family's small electric company and single-handily revolutionized it into the huge Umbra empire taking over the market like a storm. Weirdly you know who I related you to?"
Annika shook her head, somehow enchanted with his words. The way he sees her as an invincible force let out a real warm feeling inside her. Shivaay smiled and continued "I related you to the Goddess Adi shakti, I don't know why. I use to stare at your picture and there was something that was powerfully soft about you like Goddess Parvati and at the same time a wild power like the Goddess Kaali who could step over Mahakal itself. I literally would personify you as the humane version of the goddess."
Annika didn't realize that she was holding her breath, listening to him. His every word caught her in a stupor. Shivaay unaware of what his words were doing to her continued "That's why I was disappointed with the way you behaved with Mallika. Because for me you are a goddess and a goddess forgive every human who accept mistake and apologize."
He turned toward her again chuckling "I know, it's a stupid theory" A silence followed when Annika began speaking "You know Shivaay at this moment you reminded me of someone."
Shivaay chuckled sarcastically "An Ex?"
"No, my father" replied Annika and his face turned serious "My father always has believed me to be his warrior. He said that there is nothing in the world that could beat me. He believed in me to withstand any storm."
"Well, that's pretty obvious" replied Shivaay with a light shrug "Anyone who have met you would think the same."
"Unfortunately, not. For most of the people who know me even a bit, I am a broken girl hiding the pain blah blah blah" said Annika, rolling her eyes "My pain is no one's fucking business but they just can't get this damn fact straight in their mind and understand that I don't need to be treated like a fragile flower."
Shivaay chuckled at her choice of words commenting, pinching her cheek "Beasty"
"You know you are so much like my father, holding on to values. Doing anything for the family. Loyal" She smiled at him "And the best part of you is despite your share of negativity in life, you came out as a great man. I mean be it Ales, Aditya or any other man I have met. They have somewhere let their life issues describe them, you on the other hand are a man of gold Shivaay. Something my father was"
"I can't believe you are praising me? I thought I didn't even have an ounce of respect in your eyes?" asked Shivaay, in pure disbelief,
"I do respect you a lot. I just love riling you up but that doesn't mean I don't respect you." She replied sharing a soft smile, it felt good to be open and honest.
"Anyway, coming back to the topic, so what are you going to do?" she asked and his face crinkled with stress as he replied "I can't break this relation at this point Annika, after cheating on her I don't hold that entitlement."
"Why don't you ask your brother Om? He seems an expert in these matters?'
"Om would just be stuck on the point that my feelings are for you which since you already know. I do feel for you" Annika looked at him, surprised at the admission "But I will never be more than just a plan for you and I am aware of it. He and others may call me dumb and idiot but I can't act on these feelings, I can't do what they poetically say follow your heart. I may be jammed up but I just can't."
"You aren't dumb to try to stay loyal to your commitment Shivaay" said Annika, gazing at the stars "It's easy to say follow your heart but what about the consequences? People desire stability in life Shivaay, a promising future. You have been through your own share of up and down and it's not wrong to settle for something that looks stable. It's easy for Om to say, follow your heart because you have given him the liability to do so while bearing the consequences yourself. You have given your brothers everything that they still believe in the idealistic world. You face the brunt of real world to let them live in theirs. So, whosoever says that you are dumb not to leave everything you have over something that you aren't sure about haven't have the real taste of world yet."
"I guess I am way to drunk, now that Annika Jayant Deshmukh is continuously praising me" he chuckled and she hit his arm laughing along "Don't get used to it. Mr. Goody two shoes."
"You tell me Annika what should I do? You know everything" he asked not looking at her, she took a glimpse of his moonlit face before replying "If you can't make this choice, give her the choice. Give her the choice between you and Siddharth."
"And what if she chose Siddharth?"
"You tell me?" She turned at him "What if she chose Siddharth?"
He took a minute "I'll be upset but I guess I will be happy to have a final closure. Also, that she gets to be with the man she wants."
Annika chuckled to which he looked at her with furrowed brown "What?" She shook her head replying "Nothing, it's just you don't get jealous or possessive when it come to your own fiancé. I mean you didn't even mention something as obvious as that you will be heartbroken."
"I---" he couldn't find words to which she changed the topic "Anyway, I am glad you could come to a decision. Shall we head home?" She stood up, dusting the sand and forwarding her hand to him. He looked at her for a second, feeling a relief surging inside him after this conversation before holding her palm and standing up.
The ride to the home was a comfortable silence with just Annika's random sarcastic comments over something or other. It was dusk by when they reached Oberoi Mansion. Getting down from the bike, Annika walked him up to the gate as he turned toward her with a serene smile "I know Annika, taking me out was a plan to rattle Mallika but---" he stopped as if weighing his words "But I really enjoyed the night. It was the most fun I have in years. So, thank you" He bend a bit and planted a soft lingering kiss on her right cheek.
"Good bye Beasty" he added with a small chuckle before turning on his heel and walking inside the mansion, whistling an unconscious tune.
Annika meanwhile froze in her place, his words hitting a chord. Plan? Of course, it was a plan to rattle Mallika. To show her how her own fiancé is happier with her. She was supposed to call Mallika, show her how Shivaay was dancing in the club right after their fight but she forgot? How could she forget something so trivial when she has a photogenic memory?
At that moment Clara's word rang in her head 'If even for one moment you forget all your plan in his happiness, for him. That moment you my girl remember are screwed badly by your feelings.'
Her eyes widened, heart skipped a beat while palm flew to the cheek where he kissed and the three words escaped her mouth
"I am screwed!"
yohoo
Surprised with the cliffhanger? 😂😂
Warning you don't get the hopes high, even if she accept she feels for him. Its real task for her to admit it to the man!
About the precap of Mallika, couldn't fit it here. Let's see it in the next chapter.
Precap: Another session of Dr. Rohit Sippy and AJD (missed him?) 🥺🤣