The transformation of the always still and soundless Oberoi Mansion into a noisy fish market indicated that the duo had arrived. I had purposely been attending my phone calls near the entrance hoping Rudra would force me to join them when they reached. As I was walked towards the entrance to get a better look at the two, the sight I perceived made me stop dead in my tracks.
I simply couldn’t put words together to describe her beauty and knew that even the biggest words from the Oxford dictionary wouldn’t be apt. I watched as she ran up to Badi Maa and engulfed her in a hug while purposely kicking Rudra in the process yet claiming it to be an accident. I admired her childish behavior a lot, but not more than the twinkle that would spark in her eyes whenever she tried getting away with her little mischievous acts.
I realized that I had been continuously staring at her and mentally scolded myself while lowering my gaze. The last thing I wanted was her to think of me as a creepy stalker.
A few seconds later I heard Rudra say, “See! There’s Bhaiya. HE will definitely take my side, just wait and watch!” As I heard the sounds of the footsteps and laughter increase, I realized that my heart was suddenly pumping faster than usual. It always did that whenever Anika was nearby.
I looked up to see the two right in front of me with Anika’s eyes twinkling again. I reminded myself to breathe and asked Rudra what the matter was.
“Bhaiya look at this Anika! She’s spreading rumours that she almost died because of my driving and the sad part is that my very own mother chose to believe her over me. ”Rudra started while making his all-time favorite crying face. “But Bhaiya remember? All for one, one for all, you will always support me right?”
In any other situation, I would have closed my eyes and trusted her, supported her, but because Rudra was on the other side this time, I was helpless. I went up to Rudra, put my arm around his shoulder and said, “Of course I will believe you Rudra, don’t worry.”
I watched Rudra’s face light up as she rolled her eyes and muttered something life “Ufh! I can’t handle this much love.” She looked cute while doing her drama. “Shivaay, you have officially gone mad! M A D – mad. Think about something else for at least once.” I ordered myself as quietly as I could.
Rudra then started saying the golden words I had wanted to hear, “Bhaiya, since you are home today, you have to join us! I won’t hear any excuses okay?”
“Okay I’ll join you both for a while.” I replied with a smile. Seeing Rudra’s face expression turn into one of complete shock, I decided to add a few words to justify myself and not make my behavior seem too odd, “I mean, I’m done with most of the work I had piled up for today so I guess I can join you two for a little while.”
I’m not sure if it was my pure imagination or reality, but I saw Anika’s face light up for a fraction of a second before she but her *normal and unaffected* face back on. Hoping it wasn’t my imagination, I headed with the disastrous duo towards Rudra’s room.
“Did you just say Snake and Ladder’s?” I asked Rudra completely shocked. “Seeee! I told you that Shivaay was boring and would never agree.” Anika chided.
“No, there’s nothing wrong in playing Snake and Ladder’s, even though we are mature adults, we can play games like these.” I said while trying to convince myself as I didn’t want Anika to think I was boring.
“Haha see! Bhaiya is not boring.” teased Rudra and so the game started.
Who knew a game like Snake and Ladder’s could be so fun? I had never laughed this much before. To make the moment even more special, Anika was sitting just an inch away from me which made it really easy for me to glance at her every once in a while. The way she laughed made me fall for her even more and the way she cheated was completely praise worthy. She was in the lead (only because she had cheated at least 27 times) with me a bit behind and Rudra last. Although I had complained to Rudra a few times when I caught her cheating, I had let her get away with it a couple of times as her tricks really amazed me. No wonder Rudra had never won a single game against her.
While we were playing, the Americano I had called for arrived. Suddenly, I saw that Ramesh was about to slip and thus the steaming hot coffee was going to spill on Anika; but I couldn’t let anything happen to her.
Even though I was initially furious at Ramesh, seeing Anika sitting very close to me, tending to my blisters with utmost care made all the anger filler in me get replaced with unlimited love. In fact, I had even mentally made a note to give Ramesh a bonus this time. I didn’t need any excuse to admire her now, as she was right in front of me, constantly scolding me by repeating the same lines again and again, “Why did you get in the middle? Look at how horrifying these blisters are!” I wondered how she managed to look this charming even in such a heated, angry mode.
“Bhaiya you seriously are a super hero! The way you saved Anika in the blink of an eye was soo cool!” Rudra said with complete fascination. I gave a cheeky smile and taunted Anika, “You know Rudra, most people say thank you on such occasions, but all I got to hear was just an earful of scolding. Sad isn’t it?”
She looked up and shot me an angry glare. I wanted to look into those eyes forever.
“It’s done, but put ointment on it regularly.” She said coldly. “Rudra I’ll should leave now, it’s getting late.”
“Awwh.” Rudra said with sadness filled in his tone and expression.
Even though I was feeling gloomier than Rudra, I couldn’t express it. All I managed to say was, “Bye.”
To my surprise, she gave me a quick hug and whispered thankyou in my ears with the sweetest tone I had ever heard before waving bye to the two of us.
I remember leaving Rudra’s room in a trance. I had absolutely no idea on how to react and still couldn’t believe that she had actually hugged me. After pacing the room rapidly for a while, I went to terrace, took a deep breath and sat with my eyes closed and the moments I spent with her today flashing through my mind.
Author’s Note:
And so there’s another episode of the lovely Shivaay being head over heels for Anika. I’m sorry for not replying to all of your comments, but I really do appreciate every single one and absolutely love the response I am getting. I never expected such an overwhelming response. Thankyou to every single one of you and I promise on reply to all the comments this time 🙂
I wanted to add, my story won’t have many complicated hurdles. It will just be a simple story which isn’t getting completed because Anika’s faith in Love needs to be restored, which can only be done when Shivaay speaks up. However, Shivaay just doesn’t know how to express himself. How Shivaay learns to express himself and makes Anika believe that history won’t repeat itself is what will form the rest of the story. Even though the problems seem quite small, they can be big enough to keep two people apart…