Hey guys I’m shaista, I’m new here and hope you enjoy my ff
And now
Ib 1
Shivay had a good mind to remind Anika once and for all that she was no more than an employee in that house. Her loud chatter, her obnoxious clumsiness, her constant flouncing around the house had to stop once and for all.
However,once in his room, before he could launch into one of his tirades, Anika handed him the bills. And Shivay being Shivay fell for the charm of numbers. When he resurfaced from his perusal of the calculations, he felt calmer. He looked up to see Anika leaning against the window. He tried to bring back some of his anger at her but…a gentle breeze was stirring her hair and the light from the garden cast strange shadows against her frame and Shivay found it difficult to breathe all of a sudden.
’Batayenge nahi kaun sa bada blunder kar diya hisaab rakhne mein?.’
He cleared his throat.
Anika continued, “Cheque aap kal likh dijiye. Bohut der ho gayi hai. Mujhey ab nikalna hai. Omkara bhi mere ghar ke taraf jaa raha hai toh lift bhi mil jayga…”
She had stepped away from the window and was now busying herself with gathering the folders and her bags. The sheer confidence in her that there would be no flaw in her work filled him with annoyance.
“Typical really”, Shivay sneered.” Kaam khatam nahi huya aur ghar jaane ke baatein shuru. Tumhara kaam important hai ya phir tumhari ghar jaana?”
“Dekhiye, aapko kya lagta hai main saara din yahan kya karti hoon! Ab raat ke iss time pe mein cheque lekey bhi karungi kya? Aur iss waqt mera ghar jaana hi mere liye sabse important hai!”
And with that she turned towards the door.
Shivay reached out to stop her to give a piece of his mind but caught her bag strap instead. The strap broke with a twang scattering beads of all colour across the floor.
“Pheyl gaya raita!”
Anika stared at the floor in dismay. Her attention was so caught by her ruined bag that she failed to notice the angry figure looming over her.
“Kaam karti ho yahan tum aur jitne time tumhe lagega, tumhe yahan rehna parega. Hasi mazak karne ke liye hum tumhe paise nahi dete!”
Anika stared into the steely blue eyes that sparkled with rage at the moment. Another bead dropped from the broken bag strap and clattered on the floor.
“Aapka problem kya hai? Saara din aapke jo bhi frustrations hota hai woh nikalne ke liye kya mein hi milti hoon? Aur aapke problem agar mujhse hai toh Chikni ka isme kya galti? Kushti karne ke liye mere bag hi mili thi?!”
Then to her mind she muttered, ‘Ab toh Omkara ke saath jaana bhi nahi ho payega. Itni saare beads uthate uthate toh raat hi nikal jayega’
Anika tried to go round Shivay and pick up some of the scattered beads when his hand gripped her by her shoulders and pinned her against the wall.
“Mere bhai se door raho, samjhi tum?! Pehchaan hai kya tumhari ki tum jaagey jaagey sapney dekhne lagey ho? Shayad tum bhul rahi ho ke Om jaise bhi hai, woh Oberoi hai. Aur tum? Pura naam bhi baatane se inkaar karti ho. Agar Om ko faasane ki koshish ki toh mujhse bura koi nahi hoga. Don’t think I don’t understand why you come to our house every day looking like this!”
Her ruined bag forgotten, Anika bristled with rage and humiliation.This man was relentless! He simply needed an excuse! Any excuse that his diseased mind could come up with and off he would go–insulting her, humiliating her, hurting her.
She tried to wrench herself away from his grip. ‘Let me go.’
When he didn’t budge, she gave a fierce push that made him stumble backwards. “I said, let me go.” Her voice quivered with rage.
“Faasaane ki koshish?! Looking like this? Looking like what?! Tell me? Jo bhi mooh main aata hai bol jaate hai. Aapka matlab aakhir hai kya? Itni ghatiya kuch soch bhi kaise sakte hai aap?”
She hit him again, pushing him backwards. Shock was written across his face. As she raised her hand, he held it reflexively. In the consequent tussle, they both stumbled on a rug and landed on the floor. Shivay fell first and Anika landed on top of him- her hands caged between their bodies, her loose hair curtaining their faces. Bodies plastered to each other, legs tangled together, the two of them lay for a moment immobilised by this unfamiliar intimacy. Unthinkingly Shivay raised a hand to move a strand of her dangling hair that fell against his cheek. Anika started back with a jolt. She scrambled up somehow, blushing furiously.
Her hands trembled as she adjusted her dress and tried to fix her hair. His words still rang in her ears. The beads lying scattered across the floor seemed to mock her. Even after all this time, this was his opinion of her–a gold digger, desperate to attach herself to the Oberoi name and fortune.
“Anika.”
She looked at him. His cheeks were tinged with a reddish hue that she took for anger. His eyes revealed nothing. She picked up her bag and left the room. Somehow she stumbled out into the corridor. The bright lights seemed glaring to her. There was no comfort in light for Anika today. Like a wounded beast, she craved shadows at the moment- to hide herself, to lick her wounds. She managed to navigate her way through those maze like passages and reached the main door. No one was there and she punched the code and stepped out into the cool night air.
Aman, the guard who generally was on night duty was sitting on a chair. He got up on seeing her.
“Anika Madam, aap ghar jaa rahe hai?”
She nodded at him and was about to rush on but he called out to her to stop.
“Rukiye, hum taxi bula dete hai aapke liye.”
As she stood there waiting at Aman’s insistence,Omkara came out.
“Arrey, Anika. Tum yahan? Shivay ke saath kaam khatam ho gaya?”
The kindness in his voice made her eyes prickle with unshed tears. Shivay’s words came back to her with a force.
“Haan, ho gaya khatam.”
“Chalo phir, main tumhe drop kar deta hoon”
She gestured at Aman and said, “Taxi aa raha hai. Main chali jaungi.”
“Arrey,taxi main kyun?”
Soon under Omkara’s urgings, Anika found herself seated in his car.
Thankfully, once inside the close confines of the car, he did not push her to speak. The radio played on to hide the silence stretching between them and she hoped the darkness in the car would hide her tears.
Hope you guys enjoyed….please leave comments below ?
X shaista