"Who?" asked Shivay without realizing.
"You" repeated Om patiently through gritted teeth.
"Om if this is some kind of a joke you're pulling out on me, let me tell you this isn't funny - I am damn serious" he almost growled.
"It is a joke Shivay - the way she has selflessly loved you, it is a joke. You deserved none of that but you still got it - it is a joke indeed - and you know the biggest joke? That is, without any fault of hers she is being pulled into a loveless marriage whereas you get to fool around happily with my miserable excuse for a cousin - Tia" Om finished bitterly.
"No" Shivay replied softly in disbelief.
"See, that's how easy it is for you to escape - just deny the truth on the face" spat Om. But Shivay didn't mind - for the first time ever since he came, when he looked at Om, Om felt he was positively earnest.
"Om, we've been apart for too long now - you don't know a lot of things bro - I love Anika - I do, I do, I do. Just that I always thought she loved you - she always stood up for you against me even - I hated you for that more than anything else - I am sorry" he mumbled.
Om looked at him triumphantly for a second - but his face darkened the moment he realized that even though his plan had finally worked it was a bit too late.
"You're late Shivay - you have ruined her alright - her roka is tomorrow with a guy named Dev Suri" he told him softly - Shivay looked too disgruntled at being reminded of Anika's impending roka - he just sat back defeated, and mumbled to himself, "It's all my doing - how did I not see it in good time - I always loved Anika always!"
"Bro, you've not exactly lost everything, YET. I mean there is a great chance that you will in another one day, but you have twenty-four hours on you - instead of settling on my couch like a jacket potato, buck up - we've gotta roka to ruin in Delhi" he smiled as Shivay looked up at him astonished.
"You're...you're going to help me?" he asked surprised. After how he had behaved with Om in the recent past, the chances of him helping him seemed nil.
"Yes I will - two reasons - for one, you're the best hope I have of keeping Anika happy as she can't be happy with any other man - and for two, you're my best bud" he smiled and opened his arm to hug Shivay. A pleasantly surprised Shivay hugged Om and realized how big a fool he had been throughout the semester - here Om was trying every way possible to make him realize he loved Anika and he was out there waiting for an opportunity to pile on him.
"Om, I promise you two things - for starters, I will keep Anika happy for life and never leave her side - and for main-course, I will let you return that punch on my jaw very soon." With that they two best friends re-united and Shivay decided to join Om in Anika's roka with that Dev.
On their way out of his apartment, Shivay casually mentioned, "And oh, your miserable excuse for a cousin and I have broken up few weeks back - I dumped her - I had found out her true colours"
Om laughed, he was surprised that he didn't feel one bit sorry for Tia, and Shivay was right, her true colours were horrible indeed. "Did it go smooth?" he enquired curiously.
"Not quite, given that now I am a rockstar in making - but she did scream at the end, that she always knew Daksh was a better choice" Shivay chuckled.
***
Anika was sitting in her bedroom, Mallika was taking out her outfit for the next day - as she constantly chirped about her di's impending perfect and romantic roka - she chatted without realizing as usual that the other person was completely zoned out - she discussed the perfect jewellery, hairstyle and make-up. But Anika wasn't listening. Everything seemed to have happened in a flash ever since that fateful night with Shivay and Om - she had come home in a dishevelled fashion to find her ma waiting for her - for a moment all her worry was gone and she came to hug her - but in her warm and secure embrace lost all self-restraints - she weeped like a baby girl unable to contain herself - first her mother thought she had got emotional seeing her, but soon she realized there was something else too - she made Anika sit and spoke to her soothingly and Anika couldn't hold all this inside herself for long - she ended up telling everything to her mother and soon after Shiela called Mallika over to her place too - with both her girls sitting in front of her, she cleared all the confusion between them and both girls had hugged till they cried - from the way Om had helped Anika, Shiela was sure Om was a nice man, so she wasn't worried about Mallika - what worried her was her Anika's future - it didn't look too good - this Shivay was obviously irresponsible and had hurt her daughter a lot already, and her daughter seemed to be hopelessly in love with him - no if there was no future, this couldn't go on she had thought - and the only way Anika could be kept happy was by making her move on - yes if she got her engaged to someone suitable, then the sense of responsibility towards the man would force her to move on - that was the only way, Shiela had thought satisfied - having decided that, it wasn't difficult - she always had a boy in her radar for Anika, it was her childhood best friend Neetu's son Dev - he was a little older than Anika, well educated and had recently started working - in fact a few weeks back Neetu was saying that she was looking for a bride for him - now Shiela had decided to take their friendship forward.
Since then there was no looking back - Shiela had brought her girls back with her to Delhi and soon Dev and his parents had come to visit them - Dev liked her from the very start - and convincing Anika wasn't too difficult for Shiela either - she knew everything so she convinced her that if there was a way to revive life after everything, it was this way - Anika accepted reluctantly - Dev was nice - had she not been in love with Shivay, maybe today she would have been sitting here excitedly waiting for her and Dev's roka - who knows she sighed.
***
Sitting in the cafe and sipping cappuccino, Daksh looked at Tia thoughtfully - as she pledged her love for him and her mistake for taking pity on Shivay for the sake of his career and leaving him - Daksh was sure Tia was lying, but his parents were really disheartened to hear that Mallika had left him - when they questioned her, she had told them how he had left her in the first place - the relationship between both the families had soured considerably - now after a few weeks, his parents were again on his back to choose a girl and get settled in life - Tia was a good fit for him - she was pretty and gelled in easily, she was a prize to show-off at parties, she had everything needed for being a perfect trophy wife -only she was sly too - that didn't bother him - when was he planning to not rave around after his wedding anyway? He sighed in satisfaction as reached a conclusion in his mind.
"Okay Tia, I am ready to give this another shot - but there is something you've got to do too" he told Tia shrewdly.
"Anything love" replied Tia with all the earnestness she could muster on her fake face.
"No more dating honey, we've gotta get engaged in a few weeks - you game?" he smiled at Tia's vacant expression.
***
"Hi!" Soumya said as she opened the door to her apartment for the second time today. It was Rudra. As she let him inside, she had a slight blush on.
"You, here at his hour? Anything up?" she asked softly.
"Err.. yes. The EPL finals on, wanted company to watch - you er..still follow it?" he asked cautiously and quickly turned to glance at her television screen - sure enough, the EPL was on.
"Of course I still follow, come on in" she smiled happily and led Rudra to his ever familiar den - Rudra sat down comfortably and started watching the match as Soumya sat there curiously watching him - she had forgotten about the match now - Rudra seemed more gripping - she felt this insane attraction towards him - she remembered their passionate embrace in the middle of the football field - then after their relation had soured, only after playing football recently did their friendship resurrect enough for them to at least look at each other in the eye. Football seemed to be the greatest shipper of their relationship so far she thought smiling, and as she sat there, she realized even today it was football that got Rudra to her doorstep - as she sat there thinking and smiling at Rudra, he happened to glance at her - she was caught off guard and mumbled embarrassed.
"You err, want to call Priyanka here too? She can join us you know - you will like it" she said not looking into his eyes.
"Priyanka has gone to attend Anika's roka in Delhi" he replied awkwardly.
As the meaning of the sentence seemed to hit Soumya in a full blow, she gasped in shock - so that was why she was doing a bunk? Anika's roka? And she had never told her? As anger flared inside her, she got up abruptly. Rudra stood up too.
"Soumya what happened?"
"Nothing you watch the match, I gotta go inside and pack"she replied through gritted teeth.
"Pack?" he asked surprised.
"I am off to Delhi with the first flight tomorrow - my roomie can't get hitched without informing me - and Om? He hid this too?" she asked surprised.
"Somz, I mean err..Soumya - Om isnt the guy who she is having the roka with" he replied awkwardly. He continued as Soumya's head shot up with even more shock.
"It's somebody else - it's an arranged wedding" he replied.
Soumya stared at him and suddenly realized something was amiss, Anika wasn't the kind to date one and marry another - she never seemed to emotionally incline with Om anyway and even while with Om, she had seen her looking at Shivay longingly, now she was suddenly getting hitched to someone completely random and she hadn't informed her too? Something was amiss and she would find out.
"Rudra, please book my ticket to Delhi in the first flight tomorrow - I gotta roka to stop before it's too late" she hissed.
"Soumya, that can be risky you know, it's not a family gathering, it's a ceremony preceeding a wedding, no one likes outsider intervention here"he tried to convince her, but she refused to see sense - sensing trouble Rudra decided to join her too - just in case there was trouble he thought.
***
When Om and Shivay reached Delhi, the first thing Om did was call up Mallika and asked her to meet him at the earliest - he said it was important and she needed to meet him well before their house woke up to arrange for the roka that was due that day.
Mallika was surprised, she knew Om was joining them for the roka, but he wasn't due until afternoon. Then what was he doing in Delhi at 5am in the morning? But eventually she agreed. And in the early hours of the morning, when her family was just about stirring in their sleep, she pulled on a hoodie and left the house to see Om - before leaving she left a note next to her di's pillow.
"Di I will be back soon - please cover up before ma - it's urgent!! Malli"
When Mallika met Om, she was startled to see Shivay with him, "Omkara, what is this man doing here?" she asked sternly. Om and Shivay took it as their queue to start rambling and after a lot of complicated explanations, they explained the situation to her - after looking hard at Shivay for a few seconds, Mallika's face broke into a mischievous smile.
"You idiot!! What took you so long?? My di has been waiting forever now! Okay don't waste your time on this samosa and come with me, we gotta roka to stop at the earliest!"
As Shivay and Om with a relief on their face followed, they were happy to know they had one more accomplice in this mission - mission Anika ko roko - (mission stop Anika).
While going to Anika's Shivay couldn't hold on to his excitement, he was going to see Anika after all most three weeks and not only that he was also going to propose to her - it felt right in all the ways, Tia's didn't feel right he thought - nervous though he still was, he was still feeling better with friends by his side - I am coming Anika - he thought and smiled.