Annika fell on her bed in Kabeer Mansion with a thud. Her heart was as empty as the mansion at the moment. She trusted Shivaay. She was falling in love. Her dreams featured him these days. He chose to break it. There were a bunch of second thoughts in her mind. Could his behavior only be due to his anger or he saw husband and wife relation as purely physical?
How could he do that to her? If she didn't push him, where would they be right now? True to his name, Shivaay destroyed everything: her confidence, her trust, and their relation. Now every time he comes close to her, she will be scared. How will he bring her out of the mess he created himself?
She didn't know. The bedsheet soaked her tears by then. What was the future of their relationship? As far as she understood tonight, Shivaay sees a wife as someone he can come close to. He doesn't understand the meaning of a wife or a marriage. In that case, how will she ever live with him?
Her phone kept ringing. She thought it was Shivaay. A part of her heart wanted to run and answer the call as soon as possible. The other part was angry, sad, and uncaring. It wanted to ignore even the tiniest of Shivaay's thought let alone a phone call. Amidst the battle of two parts of her heart, her body won as exhaustion lulled her to sleep.
***
A week later
"I have been asking you since a week. What did you do that bhabhi left to not come back?" Om asked at the breakfast table one not-so-fine morning.
Shivaay did not answer and put two sugar cubes in his coffee.
"She isn't even answering our calls," Rudra added.
Shivaay's whole attention was in stirring sugar into his coffee as if there was no other important work.
"When was the last time you talked to her?" Om asked.
"Why is she not answering any of our calls?" it was Rudra.
Shivaay sipped from his cup. He heaved a disappointed sigh.
"What did you do?" Om half yelled this time around.
"Enough!" Shivaay banged his right hand on the table. His phone joined the six others in a pile of dead phones Khanna created over the week. The count of other broken items was even higher.
"If she wants to come, she will. If she wants to pick up the calls, she will. And if you guys are so worried, then you know her address, you can go and check."
He grabbed his laptop bag and proceeded to the driveway.
"What is this O? Prinku isn't eating, Bhaiya's mood is the worst I have seen. This week was the worst." Rudra said.
Om stared at Shivaay's retreating figure as he spoke, "I don't know about Prinku, but Shivaay's mood isn't getting any better until bhabhi comes back."
"Right O. Around bhabhi, bhaiya was changing albeit slowly. Then boom. Bhabhi left and bhaiya's mood worsened. We can ask bhaiya to bring bhabhi back, but in the end, it's up to them, right?"
Om nodded, "Let's go and check on Prinku. Shivaay vents out his anger by breaking things here and there; our poor sister only cries."
Rudra agreed and followed Om to Priyanka's room.
***
Slow jazz music played in the stereo, two burnt toasts, an egg, and a cup of espresso graced Annika's breakfast table that morning. Sachets of desirable alternatives and sugar cubes lied just a foot away from her. Yet, she chose to give her tongue the bitter taste just like she had been over the last six days.
A notification popped up on her phone. Amidst the thousand text messages Om and Rudra sent over the week, there was a reminder of her MBA class that was subject to begin in an hour. Her heart fluttered. She looked forward to the end of the class already with the hope that perhaps today, things will change.
Talking about change, the unusual phone call disturbed her again. Every time it was a different number. She picked up, barged a hello a thousand times. No one replied from the other side.
"Strange man," she remarked. How she believed it was a man, only she knew.
***
Sharp at one, Annika came out of her class. The black car was at its spot. She lingered a little longer at her place and kept staring at the inanimate object. The hazel eyes stared back which she couldn't tell because of the tinted windshield.
Getting to her car was another task. Her feet would walk in the direction of the car but her eyes remained too stubborn to break contact with the black car or perhaps its blue-eyed owner.
Annika wiped her teary eyes. Her hopes were shattered today as well. But then, why had she build up hopes when she decided that her husband knew not the meaning of a relationship like marriage?
The black car followed her till the gate of her mansion. As soon as she entered through the door, the car left too.
"He cares for you a lot," a feminine voice said, "then why are you and him separated?"
"Only I know how much he cares," Annika replied, "One change and he turns devil from an angel in seconds."
"And you honestly don't need to guard me in this home twenty-four by seven, Srishti, I can take care of myself," she added.
"Sorry, but that's my job. Mr. Oberoi's strict orders," Srishti replied.
"Your job is in Oberoi Industries security team not here," Annika pointed out.
"Boss gets the last word," Srishti stated. Seeing her expressions, Annika could imagine how Shivaay had got Srishti to guard her.
"Your Mr. Oberoi! He only knows how to give orders," Annika remarked.
"He cares about you that's why he asked me to live with you and protect you. He could have sent one of his men for this job but there was a chance you would have felt odd. See he thinks so deeply about your comfort," Srishti went on.
Annika wondered if Srishti would say the same if she knew the reason behind her leaving Shivaay. But that was for no one else to know.
"If he cared, he would be here himself instead of sending you. He cares, not about me but his ego."
"Do you love him?" Srishti asked.
Annika shook her head.
"I miss him," she confessed, "I don't love him. I guess this is some sort of attachment I feel towards him. When you live with a person under the same roof, you tend to get attached to him or her. He and I shared the same room. Attachment was obvious, no?"
"I know this is not my place to ask, but why don't you go and talk to him? I am sure whatever issue or differences you have, you will be able to sort this out," Srishti said.
Annika did not reply. Had Shivaay not crossed the limit, she would go talk to him herself. This time around, he needed to come to her first.
***
Shivaay knocked on the door of Priyanka's room. She had the audacity to ignore him even after two minutes of constant knocking. Being Shivaay's family member had its perks. Shivaay remained unusually silent. Under any other circumstances, he would have talked to her that night itself. Annika's departure messed up a lot of things in his life.
"Prinku, I must talk to you. It's urgent," Shivaay finally said.
He entered the room when Priyanka did not reply. Her eyes shot up at his direction. He cared less. He wanted to talk; she needed to talk to him.
"I understand that you are upset about what happened a week ago. I am too, but it doesn't mean you stop living you life. Is a guy more than the family? Think about Om and Rudy at least. They want their sister back. Dadi should be back anytime now. I am sure she won't like seeing you this way," Shivaay explained.
"Bhaiya, you could have talked to Dev, right? What is your problem? He is a good guy," Priyanka stated her stance.
When Shivaay did not reply, she went on, "Leave Dev. It took you a week to talk to me."
"Prinku, I am tensed these days. There is so much stress in the air around me. I myself don't know why I took a week to come to you. I accept I should have come earlier, but better late than never," he said.
"That's not the answer to my question. Should I tell you why it took you a week? Because bhabhi is not here. Since she left, you changed. And that's my point, like you can't live without bhabhi, I cannot live without Dev."
"Who says I cannot live without her? Shivaay asked.
"You come out as obvious bhaiya," Priyanka said making Shivaay look away from her.
"I love Dev like you love bhabhi," Priyanka added and pat came his reply, "I don't love her."
"And don't compare my Annika with Dev," Shivaay warned, "I am pretty sure he was planning to take your share of money from Oberoi industries and leave you."
"Your Annika? She left you too, right? Why? She has everything: naam, khoon, khandan. Then why is that Dev still loves me and your Annika left to not come back?"
"Enough!" he screamed, "You are my sister and I love you. But you have no right to talk between me and my wife. Whatever happened, happened between us. Better stay out of it," Shivaay declared and prepared to leave.
Stopping at the doorway, he reiterated, "And I don't want to hear Dev's name in this house again."
Priyanka made a determined face as soon as Shivaay left.
***
He banged the door of his room once he entered inside. This very place: he disliked his own room somewhat. Here he committed the grave mistake. Had he controlled himself that one time, Annika would be here with him. She would keep him in one piece. She would help him keeping the family together. She was good in convincing anyone and anything. If she was with him, he won't feel so lonely, Priyanka would be convinced by now, Rudra won't have to see this day.
He took out his phone. This was seventh phone he used in the last week. Opening his drive, he opened one of the many photos of Annika that he clicked during their Matheran visit. After the third day, he figured out it was easier to keep the photos in drive rather than asking Khanna to retrieve the data after he broke his phones each morning. He never thought his impulsive act will turn out to be so useful.
Her features were soothing. He sighed. If her photo could calm him to this degree, what would happen if she was here herself? Perhaps for the first time in his life he could keep aside his ego to apoogize and try to talk to her?
Was he so far in their relation that he could prioritize her over his elephant-sized ego?
Before he answered the question asked by himself, there was some relentless knocking on his door. Concerned, he opened the door.
"What's up?" he asked a distressed Rudra. Rudra was hardly ever that way, so his teary eyes and sweaty forehead alarmed Shivaay.
"Prinku," he panted, "Prinku.
***
Hours later with chatters of breaking articles and yelling at the doctors and nurses in the background, Rudra called his sister-in-law.
Annika stared at her mobile screen flashing Rudra's name continuously. Either Om or Rudra were calling her constantly since the last two hours.
Only if their brother could call her once. She was dying for that moment.
Having no other idea, she finally answered Rudra's call the next time her phone rang.
"Rudra why are you—"
He didn't let her finish and had his say, "Bhabhi, Prinku tried to suicide. Bhaiya is a mess. Please reach the hospital asap."
The thought of Rudra's bhaiya being a mess worried her more than Priyanka's attempt at suicide. She could imagine that. After all, by now she knew very well what he could do when situations went out of his hand.
The matter of debate was should she reach out to him or not?
How far do you think Shivaay and Annika are in their relationship?
Precap: A heated argument; Kalyani comes back