Hlo darlings
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An unexpected storm is thousand times more tolerable than the one you knew about. That storm sets your heart at a faster pace, faster than you can handle. You know that the storm is dangerous and that it would lead to an unmanageable chaos. You want to stop it, delay it, and get it done with sooner but you can do none of it but await it approach you.
Shivaay Singh Oberoi was that storm and Anika was like a passenger who had no shelter and awaiting the storm by looking at the dark grey sky, under the shelter of a tree. That tree happened to be Kalyani Singh Oberoi who was on the point of leaving after thanking her for nth time for removing the veil of her so called broken trust from her eyes.
Shivaay had followed his Dadi till the car where the driver was waiting and Anika took the opportunity to rush back to her room where she had locked Gauri and Rudra.
“How could you just go, locking me up with this angry bird, Anika didi ? I was scared to death. She kept babbling with an angry expression on her face. I was...”
Rudra’s babbling was mercilessly interrupted by Gauri’s angry glare. She too wanted to vent her frustration at Anika for locking her up with a cry baby but the look of panic on her friend’s face was all it took for her to stay quiet.
Gauri held Rudra by his wrist and dragged him to the door and pushed him out of the room. But before she could get back to Anika to ask what the matter was, Shivaay came back and pushed Rudra and Gauri put of his way before dragging Anika out of the room.
Ignoring Gauri’s shouts and Rudra’s baby like complaint about shoving him out of the way like a used can, Shivaay dragged Anika towards his car.
Anika would’ve been scared stiff at the mere mention of getting out of the security of her house in this heavy stormy night with the prospect of a heavy rain but she cared less about that seeing Shivaay’s face bearing a bland expression. What that bland expression meant or what it was masking was beyond her imagination.
When the car stopped infront of the office she was not surprised but merely relieved that atleast they were not stuck in the middle of the city due to rain which was by now pouring like cats and dogs.
She was being dragged effortlessly despite the gentle hold on her wrist but the gentle hold was just in contrast to the look on Shivaay’s face. He looked hard like a rock, his eyes an icy blue mixed with grey that made him look all the more distant from the Sweet Singh Oberoi she so often encountered.
The penthouse looked inviting after seeing the mess the city had become in this heavy rain. But the mess that she had created was going to bear the remaining, unpleasant half of the fruit of her deed.
“How did you go to Oberoi Mansion ?”
Straight to the point ! Anika thought as she stared at him like a scapegoat looking at the butcher, he won’t slaughter her she knew that but what about the trust she had broken ? How was he going to react to that ?
“Difficult answer ? I’ll frame the question in other words. Did you inform Om or Gauri or Rudra before you left ?”
This was difficult than the first one. What do they say ? Out of the fire into the frying pan !
“Leave that. Did Khanna know where you were ?”
There ! He was making it difficult for her. This one she had to answer. His tone held the indication that either way her dear Khanna bhaiya was going to pay for what she did.
“Don’t say anything to him. It was entirely my plan and my decision to go there and without telling anyone. Khanna bhaiya was just helping me to enter. I was just...”
Her eyes widened as she realised what he was doing, he was trying to get it all out and she was just doing that.
“So your Khanna bhaiya did get to know everything way too earlier than I knew and he chose to stay quiet ?”
“Shi-- Shivaay I-- I couldn’t think of anything else. It-- it was because of m-- me that you-- your Dadi stopped talking to you. I just w--wanted you to be h-- happy. And it-- it was not Khanna bhaiya’s fault. I-- I had asked him to h-hide it fr-- from you.”
Anika had rightly thought of him as a storm, he was as blind to her tears as a storm might be to what came into its way. His rage was blinding him to the fear in her voice, the misery of breaking his trust. He was blind to the fact that she was crying and scared. The happiness of gaining his Dadi’s forgiveness was overpowered by the fear of loosing his love. All those what ifs were blinding him to her sorrow.
“You don’t know me, Anika.”
There was a smile on his face, not the soft, rare smile reserved for her that could make her heart leap but a nasty, mocking smile. The smile vanished and he threw a glass vase on the floor.
“Sh-- Shivaay...” The quivering of her lips and her wobbly voice did not stir his heart at that moment. He turned his face away for a moment and then turned around to go to his room.
Anika’s hand on his wrist couldn’t stop him, instead he pushed her. Had she expected this from him, she would’ve been prepared to handle the force but she had not expected him to be so harsh to her. After all these days of him being so sweet and gentle, this was like waking up abruptly from a beautiful dream to a nightmarish reality.
The gasp escaping her mouth was loud and so was the sound when she fell on the floor, knocking a small table lying beside the sofa whose vase was already broken by him, the remnants of which were now piercing her palms.
She was scared to let him come near her because the situation was only too similar to her. It wasn’t before a very long time when he had made her walk on similar glass strewn floor and had stepped on her hand quite mercilessly.
It wasn’t her fault if she forgot for the moment all what he did all these days to protect her.
Just this once she could be forgiven for fearing the Beast Singh Oberoi in him despite the guilt, sorrow and anger for himself clear on his face, and the tears.
“Ani-- Anika I...”
“I want to go home.”
The voice didn’t sound like hers. It was wooden, having a silky edge to it. She quite ignored that his voice was trying to talk to her with the same gentleness that she liked.
Perhaps he guessed that he had, in the fit of rage, done a terrible mistake because he got up and disappeared into a room and came back within a few minutes with a box in his hand.
She tried to pull her hand back from his grip but he held it, holding a cotton swab dabbed in antiseptic that he had no courage to put on the wound for it would burn and hurt. The fact that he himself had hurt her made him feel like a pathetic bipolar.
“I thought you had changed, but you still are the same, hiding away this side of yours but still the same. Hurting me and then tending to my wounds. I-- I had started to think that I was-- I thought you had atleast started to consider me as a friend but-but that was your guilt and nothing else.”
His furious denial and miserable tears that were a rare sight were wasted on her for now. She stopped him just as he opened his mouth to say something.
“I want to go back.”
Ignoring his stretched helping hand she marched ahead although her legs felt like jelly, as if she would wobble anytime and she hated herself for still believing that he would hold her and support her if she did.
The thunder and lightening didn’t scare her but her own feelings did. She had the urge to fling her arms around him and tell him that she loved him way too much to tolerate all this anymore and that, he should go away so that she could try to forget him. Out of sight out of mind, she wanted that to happen.
The house gave the false appearance of being quiet and peaceful from outside when actually, from inside it was on fire, what with Rudra’s useless chatter that his Shivaay bhaiya had left with his bhabi to spend time with her, leaving him here, and with Gauri and Om’s Shutups and stop its.
Gauri was constantly nagging Om to call his brother and ask him where he had taken her friend and also she was continously glancing the window that overlooked the street.
“I’ll book an appointment for you with an ENT specialist, for you’re deaf that you can’t hear me say that his phone is out of coverage area.”
This not very pleasant remark had the potential to bring a tornado in the house but Gauri was already at the door, opening it to admit a pale faced Anika and Shivaay whose face depicted such sorrow that for a minute Gauri wanted to ask him what had happened.
She had no chance to do so, ofcourse, because Anika went to her room, locked it up and changed into her night clothes before admitting Gauri into the room and locking it up once again. She took a quick glance at Shivaay standing there in the hope of getting to talk to her just the way he had tried throughout their way back home but she didn’t give him a chance.
Gauri fussed for several minutes to know what was the matter and why were her hands hurt but she got no answer. She wanted to persuade Anika to have her dinner but to no avail. All she recieved was an icy glare from Anika when she wanted to go out and ask from the blue eyed Oberoi what had he done this time. So that presently, Gauri, for once had to stay quiet and let Anika sleep.
Only she didn’t sleep at once. Even Gauri who was quite worried, dozed off but she laid awake, thinking about Shivaay and trying to sort her muddled thoughts but it was useless because the crowning this muddle was one thought that she loved him like nothing else in the world.
Shivaay, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep. What he did to her today was unintentional but it wasn’t the justification. The fact that he was worried as hell bore no justification for his beastly behaviour with her. Had he not promised himself to protect her from everything else and from himself ? In the bid to protect her from others he failed to realise that he needed to hold himself in check, that he was hurting her and he shouldn’t.
Her wounded palms haunted him so that his hands itched to be hurt. He was glad that he succeeded in keeping Om and Rudra away from himself so that there was no one to stop him from doing what he wanted to do, what could satisfy him.
The sleepless night had no effect upon Anika other than the red, puffy eyes and red nose. She looked around to see if Shivaay was there but he was not and she chided herself for being disappointed.
She found the security following the auto she had taken and sighed and gulped the lump formed in her throat. Her loving heart wanted him to try to talk to her. She herself had asked him to stay away was the fact she chose not to look at. She merely looked at the fact that he didn’t try once more in the morning.
The day wore on with her usual work routine except Shivaay’s several visits. By mid day she was frustrated for not having had a glimpse of him.
She messed up with her work and Mrs. Leena found it unbelievable that such an efficient girl like Anika could make silly mistakes like not preparing the right order and not preparing an order at all.
The dear child, she reflected, was not feeling well. The red nose and puffy eyes indicated a severe cold and it was better for Anika that Mrs Leena thought so, because in a minute or two she was going to need an excuse.
Passing by the table where two girls sat over their coffee discussing the private life of their much in demand boss, she wished she hadn’t heard the bit about his affair with the famous model whose name wasn’t either mentioned or she failed to hear.
The mug of coffee she was holding to give to Mrs. Leena dropped from her hand and that was the last straw to the tears she was holding back since morning. Mrs. Leena looked at her from the other corner of the room and she came to her and whisked her away before she could turn into a mess of hysterics and grab unnecessary attention.
“I knew since the moment you came this morning that you weren’t well. I told you to take rest since you’ve even hurt your hands. Why didn’t you tell me that you don’t feel well ? It’s okay. I’ll manage on my own now. You just go home and sleep your head off. I’ll call a taxi for you.”
For once Anika was glad that Mrs. Leena did what she wanted to because she had no courage or energy to look into her own affairs.
Khanna was standing outside the office building along with other security men and trying to send the media people away who had gathered round for confirmation of the news about Shivaay Singh Oberoi’s affair. God only knew what his boss would do to the one who clicked the picture in an event that probably happened months ago and changed the story of a chance meeting into something too personal.
But presently Mrs. Leena grabbed his attention who was supporting Anika and popping her into a taxi. He couldn’t see them clearly but he had the uneasy feeling that something wasn’t right. His brotherly instincts led him away from the media people and he took his car to follow the taxi. It was a pity that he didn’t know where his boss was for only he could handle the situation most accurately if anything was wrong with Anika.
Anika walked to the house mechanically and he followed her silently. He didn’t know what was wrong with her, she was so lost that she didn’t even notice his presence.
When Gauri opened the door and admitted Anika in, he turned his attention to try his boss’s number in case he switched his phone on. And gladly, he did.
As usual, he wasn’t listened to completely because just with the sentence “Something was wrong with Anika.” the phone was cut.
“Anika ? What’s wrong ? You look like-- what’s the matter ?” Gauri had Anika’s face in her palms. Her face, she saw, was hot and red due to crying even if now her eyes were dry.
“I’m fine, Gauri. I want to stay alone.”
Even when Anika tried her best to control her voice, it wobbled and tears started flowing down her red cheeks once again. She was helpless, and she wanted to hold onto something so she won’t fall, literally as well as metaphorically and she held onto Gauri, hugging her as tight as her weak body allowed.
“I’m tired, Gauri, I’m so tired. I can’t have in my life anyone I love.”
“What’s the matter, Anika ? Who are you talking about ?”
Anika wasn’t ready to answer this question even if she wanted to do just that above everything else.
“Anika, I may not be as mature as you in solving my friend’s problems but I want to hear what’s troubling you, I want you to unburden yourself. You have to do it, it’s an order.”
Gauri’s voice choked with tears but she held them in check. How much ever she tried she couldn’t be strong enough to see her friend in pain and not cry.
“I-- I love him, Gauri, I-- love him so much th--that it hurts to see him with someone else.”
“Who, Anika ?”
Although she had an idea who that ‘he’ could be, Gauri wanted to know from Anika’s mouth and at the same time she wanted her guess to be wrong. It was not. She got to know as Anika’s teary eyes stared at nothing in particular and her mouth spoke the name Gauri did not want it to be.
Her friend had seen more than her share of bad days, more than her share of problems she had faced but this, unrequited love should not have been in her fate too.
“I-- I heard in-- in the office that-- that he was seen with-- with some model and-- and may be they are...”
Anika couldn’t say more than this because talking about him being in a relationship with some other woman was unbearable.
Gauri was speechless, how would she control her best friend when she had no inkling about the feelings of the man concerned ? On the other hand, she allowed herself the liberty of wishful thinking. May be the blue eyed Oberoi was also in love with Anika if he was living here to make sure of her safety ? May be he was not the same bad guy she wanted to protect Anika from ?
“An-- Anika, let’s go to our room. You should wash your face until I bring you a cup of coffee, it will make you feel better and later we’ll talk about whatever the matter is and what there is to be done.”
This command given in a brisk voice, was obeyed at once, absent mindedly though.
Gauri had her hand on the door handle of their room and the cup of coffee in the other hand when Shivaay barged into the house, huffing and puffing as if came running a marathon. She denied at once when he demanded to talk to Anika.
“You can’t meet her. She’s tired.”
For now it was better if he stayed away from Anika. He was not going to listen to her, it was written all over his arrogant face so she tried another way.
“I said you can’t meet her. She has cold and I’ve given her medicine and asked her to sleep.”
She could see the arrogant face turn into a worried one but he was still suspicious. Perhaps the man mistrusted her as much as she mistrusted him.
Shivaay pushed her aside as if she was a torn pillow and opened the door quite softly, in case Anika was actually sleeping, which she was.
Gauri’s worried face relaxed as she saw Anika’s sleeping figure on the bed whose forehead he was kissing, ignoring her or may be not even aware that she was gawking at him.
“Take care of her, I’ll be back in a few minutes after calling the doctor."
If Gauri couldn’t get the words out to deny this, it was very well because he wouldn’t have listened anyway. She would have to talk to the doctor in her own language to handle the situation.
Anika, unaware of all of this, was still lost in the touch of his lips on her forehead. She wasn’t asleep, but she had to do something so that Shivaay stays away from her for a little while. She was glad for hearing Gauri’s voice stopping him.
But then, she hadn’t expected the kiss. It was like waking up for a moment from a nightmare. The whole day was actually a nightmare and even if she wanted to heal her heart by giving herself some excuses, they all sounded so silly that she abandoned trying and actually slept being tired.
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