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***
"How many did you count?" Shivaay asked. Not so long ago they had decided on counting the stars as a way to pass the night. As boring as it was, seeing how and why the answers vary from person to person could be interesting too.
"One thousand three hundred and forty-nine," she replied. Her eyes were fixated upon the black sky shining due to the half-moon. They were no longer searching for a star in particular; she rather saw them as a whole, awing at how they all made the sky look so beautiful.
"Really?"
She nodded. "If you don't believe me, count it yourself."
Shivaay chuckled when sooner or later he understood her joke. She was certainly an amazing person to be with. Like a closed book with whom the more you talk, the more you know.
"And you?"
"What?"
"How many did you count?"
"Not as much as you, just five hundred twenty-six," he replied.
"Seriously?"
"Count them if you don't believe me," he offered.
Annika laughed seeing how he played her own card on her.
"You certainly have no sense of humor of your own," she remarked. However she would soon go on to regret what she said and taking him to be offended, she apologized.
Lack of response scared her to a certain extent while he went on to say that, "These city skies won't let you see so many stars. In books, we read that there are an infinite amount of stars. In Mumbai, you can barely catch sight of more than ten due to all the pollution. Sometimes there are none. We are lucky today"
"Silly but true, as a fourth-grader, I did try counting all of them," Annika shared.
"Why am I not surprised?" a chuckle escaped his lips.
After long, Annika glanced sideways to peek at Shivaay. She could barely see his face in the darkness around. She felt him laughing or at least giggling. When a tress of her hair fell on the side of her face, almost covering her view, she quickly brushed them aside as if it would make her view better.
A loud yawn covered her ears. Shivaay had his eyes closed. She looked for her phone to check the time. The last time she saw it was when Shivaay snatched it to decline her friend's call. Damn! She owed her friend an apology. Courtesy: SSO
She shied away when she recalled how he demanded her attention. If it were someone else, she might have argued. Shivaay seemed too cute when he did it. It was strange how all the things he did which if done by another person would have gained a different reaction from her. In three months he managed to own a special place in her heart. Only if she knew how to define that special place.
This time she yawned herself. Squeezing her eyes, she tried to see Shivaay's state, who sat beside her. He was in a similar sleepy state. Only that his eyes were closed and hers weren't. She shook him as gently as she could.
"Huh?" he looked around him to find the source of intrusion to his sleep.
"It's been late. We shall head back to our room. And do you know where my phone is? I can't seem to find it. The last time I saw it was in your hands," she said.
Shivaay meandered his hands in search of her phone. His left hand slipped inside the pocket of his trousers and he was able to find her cellphone there.
"Here you go," he handed it to her.
She grabbed her phone immediately and checked for the time. Her eyes widened in shock. It was two going on three.
"It's almost two and a half. No wonder we are feeling sleepy," she stood up from the swing. While she stretched, Shivaay lazily got up from the swing and checked his phone for any early morning meetings the following day. He could not afford the lack of sleep in an early morning meeting.
***
Annika had a peaceful sleep that night. Her time with Shivaay had nothing extravagant, no fancy celebrations, no gift-giving, not even a cake. It was special. And it was special because it was with a special person. Her heart beats raised at the very thought of it. He said that the heart was a mere oxygen pumping organ that circulated blood. Then why was it so excited at the thought of him?
Shivaay slept soundly beside her once assured that he had no meetings scheduled before half-past ten the following day. It gave him a chance to wake up lazily and perhaps also to have breakfast with Annika.
***
"Office on Saturday?" Annika grumbled. She tried hard to hide her disappointment over him working on a Saturday and unfortunately could not. He seemed pretty chilled about the same. He had his plans set: breakfast with Annika, office, return home, a small, private celebration, dinner, and sleep. A stoic Shivaay successfully failed to see the emotions in her face or decode the despondency in her voice.
"I have important work. Please understand yaar," he tucked in his shirt and proceeded to wear a tuxedo.
Annika nodded. She did not want to, however, she could not force him to do something he did not want just because she wanted to.
"Bye," he left as soon as he got dressed.
Annika sat on the bed with a very disappointed and almost crying face. Last night Shivaay made her feel accompanied. The small talk they shared boosted her enthusiasm. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. Not because of Shivaay but for someone else. Of course, Shivaay could not sacrifice his whole day of work for her. It was she who wanted to be on someone's priority list. The one person who made her his priority until last year was no longer on this earth. Her tears slipped down her cheek and fell on the backside of her palm. On this day, after a long time, she let herself miss her father.
***
"Happy birthday," Omkara, Kalyani, and Priyanka entered the room with a few cards and flowers when she was busy talking to her friend whose call Shivaay had declined the night before. A smile found her lips seeing them with a small cake and all the props and decors essential on a birthday.
"Come in," she welcomed them inside her room and soon she was showered with a bunch of gifts.
Her eyes first went on Priyanka. She looked a lot less depressed compared to how she was back in the hospital after she tried to waste her life for a mere guy.
"Thank you," Annika received the gift from Kalyani with a bright smile. She was soon surprised with an unexpected hug from the elderly lady. Her arms took their time to wrap around her grandmother-in-law.
Priyanka failed to perceive the sudden change in Annika's expression. On the other hand, Omkara's lips curved upwards seeing the exchange between his Dadi and Bhabhi.
"Now we know why Rudra arranged for a party last night. Dude got a chance to invite his so-called friends, especially the girls who are after him only because he is an Oberoi," Omkara remarked.
Annika's lips thinned. She got reminded of Shivaay's faith through Omkara's sentence. It was something she thoroughly despised yet could do very little about it. Had she been someone like Dev or Mallika, he would walk over her body without an ounce of guilt. Her palm rolled into a fist thinking about the same. Her jaw clenched, afraid of the gravity of the situation. Until now she knew no way to convince a person as adamant as Shivaay to see beyond the world of lineage.
"Bhabhi," Priyanka's voice brought her back to focus on the small celebration they were having.
***
Only when the sun reached below the horizon, Annika's husband stepped inside the mansion. His face owned not even a tad bit of disappointment having missed more than half of his wife's special day. She wanted to convince herself saying it was not realistic for someone to spend an entire day with her leaving behind all the important work yet the most delicate corner of her heart remained unconvinced.
"Hey," he quickly muttered a greeting while going through the closet in search of something to wear.
She whispered a "hi."
"You sound off," she was glad he noticed but unfortunately he could not do much about the same as of now.
"Nothing, maybe a bit tired because of all the studying I did," she lied.
"Oh yes, how is your course going?"
"Just fine. I was thinking why don't I start coming to the office more often. That way I will learn something hands-on and my time will be spent in a better way," she shared.
He nodded in agreement. His shoulders slumped, his hands placed on the chair kept in front of the dressing table got some motion when he heard a loud noise coming from downstairs.
"Don't tell me Rudra has arranged for another party," he sounded the opposite of hopeful. Quite contrarily his face showed no sign of disappointment. Yet.
"Not that I am aware of," she shrugged her shoulders. His lips curved a bit upwards after receiving the reply he wanted.
"Do you usually have parties on your birthdays?" he queried. Annika gave him a look he couldn't decode, so he added, "I mean like I told you, sometimes I throw parties on my birthdays for the sake of it. Associates come in, we mingle around and it creates a good space for networking. Judging based on what I know about you, you might like having parties with your friends. Am I right?" he leaned more onto the chair he was holding onto. His eyebrows twitched. A few quiet sighs that escaped his lips went unnoticed by Annika.
"I am an alien to the type of parties you are describing. Until last year when I was in London, I did spend my special day with my near and dear ones. Now do you see anyone special in Mumbai?" the words left her lips at the speed of a bullet train. Shivaay left his hold on the chair. His feet struggled to keep himself at his place.
"And me?"
Annika's eyes dilated, her fingers opened and closed, and her breathing thickened as she tried to find an apt answer to his question. He left her on her birthday, that too when it was a weekend. He was special for her, but she was not special for him. Or at least he showed no gesture that could make her believe that she was.
He coughed which even she knew was fake. She was grateful to him for not making her answer the question. She moved from her place and acted like having some work near the bedside table.
"Do you want to go somewhere?" he asked to her disbelief. Her sharp ears caught music coming from Rudra's party downstairs which made her doubt what she heard in the very room she shared with Shivaay.
"What again?"
"I asked do you want to go somewhere. Don't pretend as if you didn't hear," he tried hard to not sound rude.
She cleared her throat before replying, "Where? I mean it's eight. If we go somewhere now, it will be late by the time we return."
"Tomorrow is Sunday."
"Still, like we didn't inform anyone," Annika tried to argue though she sincerely hoped she lost the half-cooked debate come this time.
"We are married. Why should we inform anyone?" he claimed.
"We live in a joint family. Do you have any idea how it works?" in quick steps she moved from the bedside table to near the curtains.
"No. But if I am not wrong, you are new to it too. Anyways, if Dadi reacts, I will talk to her," he assured.
She was taken aback by the fact that he knew exactly what worried her. She pretended to play with the curtains for no good reason. Was it written on her face?
***
The drive to Juhu beach was a long hour and a half ride due to traffic. Given that Juhu was an affluent area, there was an ample crowd in front of the houses of big celebrities. Shivaay sighed as soon as he stopped the car. Annika stiffened when his hand reached for her. She could not tell what he was about to do. From the back of her mind, she got flashes of the time when he asked her to be his wife in the most disgusting way. Her jaw clenched and her breathing almost stopped. Anger and fright took over her as she collapsed into a grave pit created by her mind.
Next, she saw him taking out a mask from the storage compartment right in front of the passenger seat. She breathed out a huge sigh of relief and stared at his face with her dilated eyes.
"I am allergic to sand. Rare but true," he shared while wearing the mask.
Annika gulped down. She was right to think that the past incident will come back to haunt her. It was easy to forgive but hard to forget. One move from Shivaay and they all came back from the backside of her mind.
"Annika," she looked at his side and learned that he was already out of the car and waiting for her.
Without sharing her thoughts, for the time being, she stepped out of the car and joined him to walk on the beach.
"If you are allergic, then why did you bring me here?" she sounded concerned.
"There is some unknown peace along the seaside. Remember once I took you to another seaside and asked you to throw phones to release your anger. Back then you became free of stress to some extent after visiting there. So I thought why don't we start our night travel with this," he replied.
"Start? Where else are we going?" she asked. Shivaay noticed the lack of surety in her voice. Her eyes were bent low so were her shoulders feeling heavy. The thought she left inside the car kept coming from the back of her mind. She decided to not share the same with Shivaay considering he would feel offended.
"I haven't decided," he replied, "We will drive and see. Do you want to go anywhere in particular?"
Annika shook her head. She noticed Shivaay's eyes on her. He had perhaps figured out the lack of enthusiasm in her behavior recently. She herself did not understand what happened and how those flashes came back when she thought they were buried somewhere.
"Annika!" he screamed. Despite the mask, it came out as loud as it could.
Her neck craned at his way. What had happened for him to shout like that?
"Sand!" he nervously uttered.
"In your nose?" she sounded more anxious than him, having thought that this sand will now trigger his allergic reaction.
"No, in my feet," he replied, still as calm as before making Annika sigh in relief. Her eyes traveled down to find him still wearing his shoes while she stood barefoot.
"It was obvious. Who walks on the sand wearing socks and shoes? See how I am walking barefoot," she pointed down at her feet, "I suggest you should take them off and walk barefoot."
"Are you serious? I don't walk barefoot in my home let alone here. You want me to walk without shoes in this polluted area!" he was annoyed.
"Fine, stay as you are. I am not available even if the sand magically travels from your feet to your nose," she stated and walked ahead of him. He quickly got rid of the shoes and socks, threw them behind a nearby medium-sized rock, and jogged down to catch up with her.
Precap: "What's his name?" he asked looking at the file in Annika's hand.
"Ved Arbahci," she lied