“I know it’s not the truth,because the truth is something else…”
Annika looked at him bewildered. She was extremely confused.
She thought…
How? How does he know? When I had told him the reasons earlier, he seemed to have believed them… but now?
“How do you know that ?” Anika asked not knowing what else she should be saying…
Shivay walked towards her
“Anika, I’m an illegitimate son”
“What?!! Who… who told you that?”
She couldn’t believe Shivay actually got to know the truth. What disturbed her more was his unexpected reaction. But then Shivay continued…
“Exactly Anika… this is how you are. You ask questions… you are not someone to believe in something just like that. It’s not possible that Daksh came to you and said that Om is illegitimate, and you just left with him. You must have asked for proof. That’s exactly how I know,that what you said was not true.”
Anika was shocked… Shivay had used that statement as a demo, not realising the weight it held. She kept quite and looked at him in disbelief. Shivay misinterpreted her look as that of confusion so he went on explaining
“He couldn’t have shown you a proof Anika, the chip is with me remember?
At first I thought they might be having another copy, but when I thought hard… I knew that can’t be, because then Mrs. Kapoor could have simply allowed the video go viral to destroy us, instead of working so hard behind making plans.”
Anika now understood how he knew,her earlier said reasons were not true… but what next? How will she confess the actual truth?
Seeing her struggle Shivaay spoke up again “Anika, even if u don’t tell me the truth… I have my ways to find it out”
thinking about his appointment with Mrs. Kapoor.
“No. I don’t want u to know it from someone else.”
“I don’t think you want me to know it at all”
There was a bitterness in his tone and Anika couldn’t deny it, he was right.
She gathered all the courage she had…
“Shivay… do you… do you remember what exactly Daima told you?”
She knew this stammering is going to continue for a little while now.
“Yes I do” Shivay replied
“What did she say?”
“It won’t help Anika.I know this is not it, you got to know about Om only after everything was over… while ‘chatting’ with Mrs. Kapoor”
“Shivay just answer me..”
“She said the elder son of Mr. Oberoi is illegitimate.”
“Did she take Om’s name?”
Shivay was going impatient…
“No, but that’s what it means… where are you going with this…”
“Shivay just… please just listen to me calmly and answer me. She did not take Om’s name, it was Mrs. Kapoor who concluded it.”
She paused to breathe and calmed her voice…
“Shivay… Daima had said ‘the elder son’…”
Anika’s order to be calm sounded meaningful and thus Shivay had obeyed it and listened to her patiently. He was trying to understand her words but couldn’t or maybe he didn’t want to.
Anika walked to him and held him as if she knew he’ll be needing support to stand thereafter.
“Shivay… who is the elder son of Oberois?”
Shivay opened his mouth to answer but closed it soon. He was looking down and a frown grew on his face. He looked up at Anika with wide eyes… He did not want to go wherever this conversation was taking him. But he had to face the reality… the words rolled off his tongue
“I… I am the eldest son of Oberois…”
Anika’s expression told him the rest.
He held his heart and stumbled when Anika tightened her grip.
He looked at Anika with disbelief “How… how do you know this?”
“Kamini aunty…”
“She… she is my mother?”
Anika did not need to answer.
Shivay’s eyes went bloodshot red in moments… he got off Anika’s hold and hurried out of the room…
Anika couldn’t leave him alone… she followed
“Shivay… Shivay… stop… Shivay please…”
She reached near him and tried to stop him but he was too strong. She knew she won’t be able to hold him in place and thus tried to talk him over… “Shivay where are you going?”
“To know the truth, to Mom and Dad…”
He stopped abruptly
“…or whoever they are to me”
He started walking again
“But Shivay they are not here… ”
That made him stop.
He looked around helplessly, feeling restless!!
“Shivay… please look at me… Shivay please…”
Anika held his face and was trying to make him look at her. Tears made it difficult for her to see.
She knew if they stood there in the corridor any longer then OmRu might suddenly show up. She dragged him to the room with great difficulty and made him sit on the bed.
She stood right infront of him cupping his face up and leaned her own face towards his.
She had no idea if any such words existed which could make him feel better right now…
“Shivay…”
That was all she could come up with.
Although his face was directed towards hers,he was looking somewhere else till then. Finally he looked up into her eyes… which spoke legions.
Pulling her close he hugged her tight… so tight that it was hurting Anika,but she didn’t care. His face was resting on her chest and her arms went around him immediately. He cried… he cried heavily… a sight which she had never experienced before.
His tears and the pain in them seemed like seeping into her chest going down her heart- Literally and Emotionally.
She kissed his head several times in the span.
He was no more crying but she still felt the sobs on her br*ast. The grip had loosened. She released him too and knelt down infront of him carressing his face and wiping his tears away.
He had pain written all over his face!!
He was mumbling something but nothing made sense.
He went for his phone and dialed Pinky and Shakti’s no. One by one. Unreachable.
“They still haven’t landed”
Anika explained.
She stood up and placed a long kiss on his forehead with all the love she had… He closed his eyes and took it in.
He wanted to believe in it… he wanted to believe in whatever the kiss was making him feel, that ‘Everything will be alright’, that ‘he’s not alone’ but then…whatever he had believed in till date,became a lie in moments… then how can he expect this to be true? A sudden anger kindled within him… he suddenly stood up and pressed Anika against the wall and shouted at her
“Don’t!!!”
Anika was confused with the sudden change in him. She kept a hand on his cheek and realised his temperature had rose. He was having fever.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t make me feel that you love…”
His voice was rising with every single word but then it suddenly turned to whisper,and instead of an order it became more like a question…
“That you love me…”
A surprise came up in Anika’s eyes… this was the first time he mentioned love infront of her or acknowledged her actions as that of love,but she did not expect it now… she did not expect it to be this way… Shivay was asking her not to love him. She knew he was in pain but the immense pain which his words gave her was hard to hide. She knew her replies are not going to help this conversation. Her hand fell from his cheek and she looked down.
His fingers dug harder into her arms and she flinched in pain. When she opened her eyes,Shivay was standing close to her. Too close.
“I’ve grown up believing in relationships…believing the Oberoi blood in me and you today are telling me it’s all a lie.The relations which I’ve grown up in… turns to be a lie within moments… why the hell do you feel I’ll believe in us? In our relation? It’s a lie… it’s all a lie”
Anika couldn’t believe her ears… the strongest thing in their relationship was the honesty in it and the faith they had in it!! Shivay lost the faith.
She then realised that this revelation had made him doubt all his relations he has ever made.
Shivay was standing a breath a part but she still found him far from her…
He released her with a jerk a turned around.
Tears flowed down her cheeks out of pain- one from her arms which were red now and the other from deep down within.
She looked down and spoke feebly with blurry eyes “Because it’s your own creation. The relations which according to you are a lie now, is not something you have by choice, it’s by chance…you haven’t created them,you recieved it.You haven’t witnessed or worked hard to get into it.
But this…Us…we have worked hard to make this happen, we have witnessed it growing day by day…it’s our creation,we haven’t been gifted this.Us…we have chosen to be us…you yourself chose to be a part of this Us!! Till date you used to believe yourself to be their son, you used to believe that they own you, and now when it’s being called a lie…it hurts, I understand you are hurt.
It’s been long now Shivay since when I believed that you are the first and the only one who could look at me and say ‘she’s mine’, that you own me…don’t call it a lie, please….” She fell hard on ground and cried there kneeling
“Pease don’t…”
All this time Shivay was staring at her, his anger moulded into guilt followed by compassion. He ran towards her when she fell.
He held her hand and pulled her from the ground directly into an embrace.
No apology was required… Anika already knew what he felt!!
IN THEIR ROOM
Kamini looked between the two swollen faces and knew something has happened
“What’s wrong Shivay? Why have you called me so urgently?” She looked at Anika too in case Shivay doesn’t answer, she was the one who would. Instead of answering… Shivay replied with questions…
“Am I? Am I… Are you my..”
He couldn’t say it, Anika looked at him with empathy, Kamini soon realised the matter. She suppressed her growing smile immediately and pretended to be angry on Anika
“Why did you tell him? Why couldn’t you keep it to yourself?”
Anika looked at her with disbelief…
“Answer me…”
Shivay barked.
Kamini sighed and replied
“Yes Shivay… I’m the one who gave you birth… I don’t know whether I can call myself your mother but I am the one who kept you in her womb for 9 months”
Even after knowing the truth Shivay begged for a miracle but it did not happen. Anika was right!!
“I’m sorry Shivay, Shakti asked me to keep it as a secret, I was too young then.”
“Leave…”
He did not shout at her but had put enough force that Kamini obeyed at once.
He started packing bags.
“What are you doing Shivay?”
Anika asked…
“I am leaving Oberoi Mansion”
Her eyes went wide at that..
“Shivay your relation with this family is not just that of blood… it’s much more. You have not stayed with them this long,out of courtesy. You love them. They are emotionally attached to you more than blood and no matter what you care about them too.”
“Exactly… I care about them… and my living in this house will bring an insult to my…. to their family”
SHIVAAY:
I could no more call it my family, I knew Anika cares for me n I know she understands my love for them which is making her worry more about me. I felt the need to explain it to her,
“I can’t wait for this secret to come out!! I am an… I’m an illegitimate son and should have no right to stay in this reputed family.”
“Fine,then I’m coming with you.”
“Why?” I asked… not understanding why she’s always upto taking my struggles upon her.
She looked at me angrily as if this is the stupidest question she has ever heard
“Shivay I’m not married to this family, nor to the Oberoi title… I’m married to you!!”
I realised then it was indeed a stupid question.
I sighed, knowing no argument is going to stop her from doing it “Fine, then pack your bags too.”
IN THE LIVING ROOM
“Par Shivay puttar achanak aisa kya hogaya ki tu ghar chodne ki baat kar raha hai?”
“Bhaiyya please… stop keeping things to yourself!! Please tell us what’s the matter”
Not getting an answer from Shivay, Rudra ran to Anika
“Bhabhi you say… what’s the matter? A matter so big that it can’t be solved?”
She shot Rudra a sympathetic look.
“Shivaay, I don’t know why you are doing this… but whatever the problem is, I don’t think this is the right solution ” Janvi tried to convince him logically.
Unfortunately the decision had already been made.
Om,Tej and Priyanka stood there silently. Kamini appeared… “Shivaay you are leaving? ”
Shivay and Anika both looked at her surprised that she haven’t left the mansion yet.
“You haven’t left yet?” Shivay asked in a grim voice.
“No. I couldn’t, I knew the truth will affect you and you might end up doing something which you shouldn’t…like this one! You shouldn’t leave.”
This is the last thing Shivay wanted right now…Kamini to spill the truth infront of the rest.
Kamini’s words caught Tej’s attention
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Shivay still has the Oberoi blood. Shakti is still his father, and a child get’s his father’s surname…like that,he’s still an Oberoi son…So what if he has been nurtured in my womb instead of Pinky’s,that doesn’t mean he have to leave the Oberoi mansion.”
She paused to look at Shivay who had his eyes closed out of pain her words gave “Shivay they all have big hearts and they’ll all let you live here with the same importance you had before…”
Tej had always looked for a reason to insult Shivay, he couldn’t let go a chance as big as this…
“So… this is it… you are escaping because you got to know the truth. Of course… how could you handle it ‘The Great Shivay Singh Oberoi,buisinessman of the year’ is an illegitimate son of Shakti Singh Oberoi’. I don’t believe this… such a big lie… a cheat, and look at the irony,Pinky stays so possessive about you calling you ‘my son’, ‘my son’. It’s good that you are leaving ’cause you are an insult to our family and I understand why you were leaving, you were scared of this secret to come out… after all the great wall of Shivay doesn’t have the guts to face it!!”
Shivay stood there silently, gulping each word down his throat.
“Stop it Tej uncle. Yes Shivay is leaving… you know why ? Because he still cares for you all… just like you said he’s an insult to your family, Shivay thinks the same of himself and he can’t afford Oberois to get defamed because of him, and that’s exactly why he’s…”
“Oh Shut Up Anika!!” Tej interupted her
“Don’t dare to talk to me like that… don’t forget,you are talking to Tej Singh Oberoi… and you? You are no one… you are a roadside down town, low standard girl…”
Shivay spoke up this time ” Bade papa stop it, don’t talk to Anika like…”
“You keep your mouth shut! Don’t call me Bade papa, no body in this family is anything to you now!! There’s no place of someone in this family who is having illegitimate relations”
“Then what about your illegitimate relations with Swetlana Mr. Oberoi? You too shouldn’t be having a place in this family then, but still,here you are, standing amid all of us,having all the rights that any other family member here has…”
Tej’s anger had reached heights with Omkara’s remark but before he could answer, Om spoke again, this time to Shivay…
“Shivay, you turned out be like that boatman, who when finds that his boat is overloaded and might drown, sacrificed himself to save the boat and others on it,not knowing that they will never reach the land without him”
“At least they didn’t drown… and there’ll still be hope to reach a land.” Shivay replied instinctively knowing exactly what Om meant.
Om soon came up with a reply “Yes there’s a hope… but not when a storm approaches”
Shivay looked at Om with wet eyes…
“Stop it you both! I don’t care which boat you guys are talking about, but you are not leaving, that’s all.”
Saying that Rudra started picking their bags.
“No Rudra, don’t, don’t make it any harder for me”
“Hard?I thought it would be impossible for you…”
Rudra was crying heavily, Shivay turned towards him and kept a hand on his head “Take care…”
That was it. He didn’t look back, because he was scared to fall weak on his decision. The protests continued behind him…
Once out of the mansion, Shivay realised he had only thought of leaving the mansion, but never thought of where to go.
Anika seemed to read his thoughts. She placed a hand on his shoulder
“My place?”
Precap- Om and Rudra bring Pinky and Shakti to Anika’s place, where Shivay was.Shivay quotes Kamini’s words to them and Shakti confessed “Whatever Kamini said was true…”
How will OmRu bring Shivay back? Stay tuned!