Ishqbaazi tumse hi! OS 2

Hi Everyone,
My OS on NKK, got me a third price in this months OS competition. Here is the follow up story to that, since some of you wanted to know more.
Previous OS Link: Ishqbaazi Tum se OS link

OM 29th Early evening:
Annika is worried about how to get to the truth about Shivaay. Should she talk to Shakti papa ji about this? Should she tell Shivaay in the night before talking to Shakti papa ji. But she is afraid that because of NKK Shivaay will not be able to handle the truth of his birth.
Saahil, Saumya, Ru, Prinku and Annika decide to play some indoor games in OM. It is Saahil’s vacation and a Saturday and all are home.

Saahil: Annika didi let us play Dark Room Hide and Seek (DRHS). It has been such a long time since we have played it.
Annika, nodding her head cutely: Thik hai! (Ok!) Do you three know how to play (DRHS)? She says looking at the others?
Prinku, Ru and Sumo nod no in unison.

Annika: Ok so we select one room or a few rooms, cover up the windows, so no light can enter the room and turn off the lights in the room and shut the door. The denner has to enter the darkroom and try to find the others using touch and then identify the persons they find. If the denner identifies all the hidden persons accurately then the first person they identified takes the next den. And if the denner identifies people inaccurately then he/she has to be the denner again. You all got it? Shall we play DRHS?
Prinku, Ru, Sumo say yes!
Saahil excitedly: Yippee! Let’s pick the rooms!

They decide to use Shivika’s, Prinku’s bedroom and Shivaay’s study room for hiding, since they are on the same side of the house. The first den is taken by Annika because she knows the game the best. And they all start hiding, while Annika counts to 50.
Saahil and Prinku decide to hide in Shivaay’s study room under the study desk and behind a sofa respectively. While Rumya hide in Prinku’s room, with Ru hiding under her bed, and Sumo in the bathroom.

Annika shouts in a singsong voice: Ready or not, I am coming to find you!
She first goes and checks her own bedroom because she knows its nooks and crannies the best! After 10 mins of looking and feeling every hiding place through the dark. She decides no is there. So she goes into Prinku’s room next. She very easily finds out Prinku behind the sofa, by identifying an outline behind the sofa. She touches Prinku’s shoulders and figures out it’s her friend from the long earrings she is wearing.
Annika: Prinku! I found you!

Prinku: Now what am I to do since I am out?
Annika: You can wait in the hall or see me find the others and learn some tricks of the game.
She continues to search the room, at times using her hands as a guide. Saahil had cleverly placed a bunch of books besides him near the study table to give another shape form. Annika touches the books and smiles thinking clever Saahil, he remembers our tricks. He must be in this room. She continues further and pushes the chair away from the desk. She kneels down on the floor to access the area hidden by the chair. And she can vaguely make out Saahil’s tiny form. She touches his thin baby hands and says smilingly: Saahil!
Saahil: Didi, how do you always manage to find me!

Annika: Main teri Khidkitod didi hoon, toh mujhe toh tujhe dhoodhna hi tha. (I am your super-duper awesome elder sister, so I will always find you!)
Annika continues to search other parts of the room, like behind the library book shelf, behind other sofas, etc. After a few mins, she gives up to go into Prinku’s room.
Saahil and Prinku follow her too to see how she finds the other two.
They enter the room and close the door to prevent any light from entering. Annika first heads towards the bed to search under it. Seeing Annika approach the bed, Ru, cleverly slides out from the other side of where Annika is walking to, and quietly tries to stay below eye level and starts thinking where could he hide while Annika is searching under the bed. The instant Annika dives under the bed to search underneath it, Ru quickly slips into the bathroom.

Saahil and Prinku observe this quick movement of Ru and start giggling.
Annika gets suspicious. Something is up. She had almost heard a click, so she wonders if someone hiding in the cupboard. She approaches the cupboard, opens the doors and starts checking inside with her hands touching any shape that seems like a human form.
While in the bathroom, as Ru enters the bathroom, because he is in a hurry and its dark he fails to walk carefully in the bathroom and slips and almost ends up falling, but Sumo catches hold of his hands to prevent his fall, but alas the floor is too slippery and she ends up falling on top of Ru. Their cute music plays in the background.
While they share an eye-lock for a few seconds…. Ru suddenly realises the seeping wetness of the bathroom floor completely making his shirt wet. He clears his throat to break the spell. Sumo, puts her finger on his lips and whispers: What are u doing Annika di will hear us?
Ru whispers back: Please get up, my clothes are wet from this water.
Both get up slowly. And Sumo wonders where the two of them could hide if Annika di comes? While Ru is thinking, I almost want to be found out, and go change my clothes.
And right then the door of the bathroom opens…
Annika after thoroughly searching the cupboards and finding no one there, thinks the next possible place could be the bathroom, since the click could have been the bathroom door.
As she enters the bathroom, she can easily see two forms in the bathroom and from their shapes she identifies them. She just goes and taps Ru’s shoulders and says, Ru and then heads towards Saumya and pats her back and says Saumya!

They all get out of the dark room. And Saahil says to Prinku it’s your turn now to be the denner di.
Ru excuses himself from this round to change his clothes. While the other three head out to hide, as Prinku begins her countdown.
Saahil this time heads towards Prinku’s room for hiding. While Annika heads towards Shivaay’s study and Saumya towards Shivika room.

Prinku shouts: 50 done! And starts searching. She first heads towards Shivika room thinking last time no one hid here, so I am sure this time someone will be in this room.
Shivaay’s study:
Annika pushes the book shelf slightly so that she can hide in the gap between the book shelf and the study table beside it. She place the chair in front of her to hide herself further from sight.
Just as she hears Prinku shouting, she hears someone enter the room. Thinking its Prinku, she wonders, oh no! I will be the first to be found out!

But she breathes a sigh of relief when she hears the person.
Shakti on the phone: Kaamini, tum kahan ho? Kitne hafton se mein tumhe dhondh raha hoon. (Kamini where are you? I have been searching for you since many weeks).
Annika wonders, why is Shakti papaji talking to that cheepdi (cheap) Kaamini aunty?
Shakti: Main tumhe ek paisa aur nahin dene wala hoon. Tumne apney bete Shivaay ko maarke jo neech harkat ki hai, main usey nahin bhoolne wala! Tum aise kaise Shivaay ko maar sakti ho? Ma ki mamta nahi to maya bhi nahi hai tumme? Hello.. Kaamini…

(I am not going to give even 1 paisa to you. You have stooped too low, by trying to kill your own son Shivaay! How could you even think of killing your own son! Even if you don’t feel any motherly love towards him, don’t you even have a heart? Hello..Kaamini…)
Annika, feels uncomfortable eavesdropping on Shakti papaji, so she pushes the chair and emerges from her hiding place.
Seeing her suddenly appear, Shakti gets startled.

Annika: Papaji, I need to talk to you uregently! Please wait for me here, I’ll be right back.
She rushes out of the room, and finds that Prinku and Saumya are heading towards the study. She says: Girls, I am not feeling well, please can I take a time out and rest in this room for a few mins.

Before they can show any concern for her, she turns them around from the room and moves them towards Prinku’s room. Why don’t you find Saahil and then when Ru joins you continue the game in the other two rooms? I just need to drink some water and rest for a bit, then I will be better. Don’t worry.
Sumo and Prinku start protesting, but Annika says: Stop! I won’t listen to you. I am alright. See you in a few mins. The two shrug their shoulders and seeing that Annika di won’t relent, they continue with the game.

As they enter Prinku’s room for searching Saahil, Annika heads to the study. She says: Shakti Papaji, I heard your conversation with Kaamini and I was going to ask you about Shivaay Mahi myself.
Then she narrates to him the incidents that led to her discovery of Shivaay’s secret.
Papaji, how is it possible that Kaamini is Shivaay’s mother. And if Shivaay and Mahi are your sons why haven’t you raised them both? Why does Pinky aunty think Shivaay is her son?
Shakti in shock that Annika knows the truth. He ashamedly says: Annika beta! You don’t know for 33 years I had hoped to share this shameful secret with someone. But unfortunately, I never could muster up the courage to tell the truth to anyone.

When I was in college, I and Kaamini loved each other and I wanted to marry her. So we got secretly engaged in our college days. But because Kamini’s parents were poor, my father didn’t want us to be married. And after college Kaamini had moved away from Mumbai to Delhi with her parents. Many years later, father fixed my marriage to Pinky because her parents had a lot of property and she was an only child. Also our business was in trouble and we needed the money. Father had tried setting up Tej ji’s marriage, but Tej bhaiyya ended up eloping with Janvi. So I had to help my father with marrying into a rich family.
I was mostly happy in our marriage, but a few months into our marriage I had a huge fight with Pinky, because of her jealous behaviour towards my showing any affection or kindness towards my mother or bhabhi.

I stormed out of the house and started on my first pilgrimage to Trimbakeshwar. That’s where I met Kaamini unexpectedly, and we started an affair. It lasted only for a few months, because when I told Kaamini that I would divorce Pinky and leave all my ancestral rights and NKK for her, she refused to be with me. That’s when I realised her motivation to be with me was because of my property. So I broke off all relations with her.
But 8 months after our affair had ended, she lands up in my office and tells me of her pregnancy.
It so happened that Pinky was pregnant at the same time. So I couldn’t leave Pinky with her delivery due in a few weeks. We were constantly fighting during Pinky’s pregnancy because of her mood swings and my obligation towards Kaamini. And because Pinky was missing her parents, we went to Punjab for her delivery.

One day, I had walked out from a fight with Pinky and was heading for a pilgrimage trip to Rishikesh, but a call from Kaamini came through.

Somehow Kaamini had followed me there and called me to meet with her. She wanted to know what I would do after she delivered. And how I would take care of the baby? I promised to send her some money regularly for child care. And we signed up a contract that she wanted drawn up. While we were wrapping up our meeting, she went into labour. Not knowing any other place than Pinky’s doctor, I took her to the Pehchaan nursing home, where she gave birth to the twins.
As I was leaving the nursing home, Pinky’s mother called me as she was in labour too. When Pinky finally arrived at the hospital, she had to undergo a caesarean because of breech position. But despite the operation, the baby was still-born. Only I knew of the dead baby, because Pinky’s father was away on a business trip, and her mother had gone to a nearby mandir to pray for Pinky and the baby.

I had been going back and forth between Kaamini and Pinky during the whole time of Pinky’s delivery. And I overheard Kaamini complain to the nurse on how she will raise 2 kids, as it is 1 kid was going to be a strain for her. In that instant I decided, that I would take one of Kaamini’s kids and raise him as Pinky’s and my child. That way Pinky and her family would never have to suffer the death of our child. And Kaamini’s problem would also be solved.
That’s how I ended up separating the twins Shivaay and Mahi. And Kaamini agreed to give me one of our sons, because she never was not prepared to raise any kid, let alone 2.

Now in hind-sight I wish I had taken both my sons away from Kaamini and her horribly negative influence. I think she insisted on keeping one of our sons with her, so that she could use him to keep extracting money from me. Over the years I have sent money to her, by showing failing businesses to Tej and hidden the truth from everyone. But when Shivaay started working and finally took over my part of the business 5 years back, that’s when I stopped sending money to Kaamini. By then I figured Mahi was old enough to take care of his mom.

Annika had been listening to everything with a shocked expression. And all she was thinking of was how to tell Shivaay this story. The two had been so much involved with the story that, they failed to notice Rudra who had entered the room for hiding from Saumya. So he ended up hearing the tail end of the conversation about Shivaay and Mahi and Kaamini.

Ru clears his throat to make his presence felt. Annika and Shakti papaji are shocked to see Ru. Annika wonders, Yeh raita toh phailta hi ja raha hai! (This problem just seems to be expanding endlessly).

Part 3 (To be posted in a few days) precap: Truth revealed to Shivaay and Om.