Shivaay POV
I watched through the glass as the doctors tried to revive my little brother. Tears silently rolled down my face.
My phone vibrated silently in my hand. I picked the call.
“Yes Kile. Is it true what she claims?”
Kile stuttered. “Sir, it is your brother’s child.”
“Send me the address.”
Suddenly, a doctor came out. I cut the call and went to the doctor. “Doctor, is he okay?”
The Doctor had an expression that said what I had believed. “I am sorry Mr. Oberoi but your brother has slipped into a coma.”
My hands trembled. How would I call home and inform them.
Suddenly, my phone vibrated.
{Maple street 78, Block 830}
It was time to visit the witch that destroyed the Oberois.
As I walked out of the hospital, my phone rang.
“Hello?” I picked it up.
I heard a sob and I did not know how to react. I stopped at the entrance. “Badima…”
She interrupted. “I asked you to take care of him. And what about the child? Is it true?”
How could I tell her that it was?
“It is, isn’t it?” Came her spontaneous question. “I want my son’s child. No matter what. Get the child from that girl.”
“Yes Badima, as you wish.” Badima cut the call soon after.
I walked to the car as I remembered the last time my brother called me just before the accidents.
————
Flashback
“Bhaiya!” He had said frantically as soon as I picked the call.
“What happened, Rudra? Are you okay? Why are you crying?”
I heard him try to hold back his tears. “Bhaiya, Annie is after me again. She claims that it is my child that she has.”
I took a deep breathe.
“What does she want?”
“She wants me to marry her.”
Suddenly, I heard a horn.
“Are you driving?” I asked a bit annoyed. I always told him not to talk on the phone while driving.
But the next thing I heard was a crash.”
Flashback ends
—————
This had been 5 days back.
Soon after the media had leaked that Rudra was seriously injured, she had messaged me about the kid. She had demanded money. I had told her to get lost. We had had many girls send us such messages.
Then 3 days back as I stood at the door of the ICU, she had sent me a picture of the child. She looked exactly like Rudra with the sparkling eyes. I had asked Kile to check the details.
Annie Richand did not have an amazing reputation. She was known to play escort to several big shots. Her character was something that could be questioned.
Annie Raichand, you will pay for what you did to my brother.
Anika POV
“Annie, you are not serious, are you?”
My sister gave me a look that proved me wrong. She was dead serious. “Anika, I can’t look after a baby. Besides, she was just supposed to be my ticket but he doesn’t even want to accept her. So what is the point?”
“But Shivani is a baby. She needs you. How can you possibly think of giving her away?” I protested.
She looked at me with her eyes rimmed with makeup. “It is easy, darling. I will just give her up. Move on to the next man.” She replied nonchalantly.
I gasped. “Rudra is fighting for his life in a hospital and you were after him just a few days back. This is his child. You owe him that much.” I told her glancing at the cradle where my darling niece lay unaware of the storm that was coming into my life.
I owe him nothing!’ She scowled. You seem to be forgetting that he refused to acknowledge her as his child.’ She paced the room angrily. “The Oberoi men are not known for their ability to remain loyal to their women. Look at his father.”
“I should have known that before I listened to you and kept her. I should have just got her aborted. Now I have stretch marks.” She whined as she paused in front of the mirror.
I glanced at the magazine on the table. It after all had the Rudra Singh Oberoi posing with women draped over his arms. Everyone in New York knew about the Playboy. His brother was after all the Shivaay Singh Oberoi, CEO of the Oberoi Enterprises. No girl in the whole of New York ever denied anything to Rudra.
“Do the Oberois know about your intention to give their child up for adoption?” I asked her.
Annie turned back to face me. “I messaged his brother 5 days ago but he refused to acknowledge Shivani as his brother’s child. So I sent a photo of her.”
Annie gave me an annoyed look. “As far as I’m concerned, I want nothing more to do with the Oberois. I gave them a chance to claim Shivani but they brushed me off. That’s why I’m leaving now.”
Leaving? Where was she going now?
“What?”
“Yes my dear sister, I am leaving to Sydney in 1 hour.”
“But what about Shivani? She is only 3 months old.” I shouted, my heart stopped.
Annie gave a dismissive shrug of one shoulder.
“I am sure you can look after her. You do it all the time anyway. Besides, it’s clear she loves you more than me, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t hand her over to you temporarily. You can take care of her until someone adopts her.”
My stomach clenched. Could this really be the sister that held my hand tightly as we had been tossed from one foster home to the other? How could she be so withdrawn from the child that she had carried for 8 months? And even after that, she had been with her for 3 months.
“Look” I tried to reason with her “I know you’re disappointed that you could not marry him but Shivani is your baby, Annie. And now that Rudra is not.…” I fumbled unsure what to say.
Annie turned on her furiously. “Why are you fumbling Anika? He is in a coma and as good as dead.”
I swallowed the snide comment waiting to drip out of my mouth. “Annie, people do wake up from a coma.”
“Well, I hope he does not.” She replied snidely.
I gasped. “You surely don’t mean that?”
Annie’s features twisted in hatred. “Of course I mean it.”
She tossed her hair over one shoulder and looked back at her sister.
“I have a chance at a new life with Raj Malhotra in Sydney. He loves me. I’d be a fool to let it slip out of my hands. And if I play my cards right he might even ask me to marry him.’
“Have you told him about Shivani?” Crossing my fingers behind my back. Hoping that my sister had not completely lost her old self.
Annie rolled her eyes and my spirits deflated. “Are you nuts? Of course I didn’t tell him. He thinks Shivani is your baby.”
I stared at her in alarm. “How can you even consider the possibility of marrying the man without telling him of your past?”
Annie gave me a cutting look. “Raj wouldn’t have considered being involved with me at all if I’d told him anything like that. He fell for my “childlike innocent” eyes, and I’m going to keep it that way. Even if I have to lie through my teeth every day.”
“But surely if he really loves you…..”
Annie interrupted “Look, Anika, I don’t want to have the sort of life our mother had. Be in love with a man who never loved her and kept hoping for the rest of her life while he frolicked from one woman to another. On top of that, she left us in one of those horrible foster homes. I want to have money and stability and I can’t have that with this kid.”
I could see pain in her eyes. Maybe if i reasoned with her, she would stay.
“But Annie, not all men are like Dad. There are good men too like….”
She glared me to stop. “Like the Prince Charmings in the books you read. Anika, all men are the same. Look at Rudra……he has a fiancé….what was her name…..ah yes….Soumya Kapoor. There are no Prince Charmings in this world. Open your eyes.”
She dumped Shivani’s changing bag next to the cradle, the soft thump.” You were the one who talked me out of getting rid of the pregnancy, so I think it’s only fair you get to look after her now until I can find a private adoption candidate.”
“Private adoption?” I stiffened.
Annie gave me a look that made me shudder. There are people out there who will pay big money for a cute little baby. I want to make sure I get the best deal I can. Think of the money they would be prepared to pay.”
Anger flared in me. “How can you do this to your own child?”
“It’s none of your business what I do,” Annie said. “She’s my child, not yours.”
“Let me adopt her” I pleaded. I can do it. “I’m a blood relative, which would make it so much easier, surely?”
Annie smirked. “Aww….how sweet. Do you even have a penny?” Her eyes glinted with unmistakable greed.
My heart clenched and the little hope that I had to see the orphaned child who earned for love disappeared. She had becoming a conniving, nasty woman, who only saw money.
“You’re so selfish.” I hissed.
“Not selfish deary.”realistic.” Annie spat back. “We may be identical but I’m not like you, Anika, and it’s high time you accepted it. I want to travel and I want the comfort of wealth and privilege around me. You can keep your long hours in that stupid pre-school you work at while I find a wealthy man.
I lofted my chin in pride. “I enjoy my work. I help improve the lives of children. Help them seeing a better future than you and I did.
“Well, that boring life of virtue is for you. I can’t wait to attend all those prima galas that Raj keeps talking about. Gowns, Wine, limos…..that is the life I want.” Annie said dreamily.
“I can’t believe you’re simply going to walk away from your responsibilities. Shivani isn’t some sort of toy you can just throw after use. She’s a baby, for God’s sake. Doesn’t that mean anything to you at all?” I said.
“No.” Annie’s cold brown eyes clashed with my furious ones. “It means absolutely nothing to me. I told you, I don’t want her.” She picked her bag and, rummaging in it, handed me a document folder. “Here is her birth certificate and passport; keep them safe for when it’s time to hand her over.” She hoisted her handbag back on to her shoulder and turned for the door grabbing her suitcase.
“Annie, wait.” I tried to reason with her one last time glancing at the cradle in desperation.
“Would Mama want you to do this?”
Annie paused near the door. I held my breathe.
“She should have thought of that before she put us in the foster home. Bye bye Deary.”
Annie opened the door and, with one last glance. She slammed the door waking Shivani, who started to whimper.
I rushed to her and lifted. “Don’t worry Shivi. Maasi is here. Don’t worry Maasi ki jaan.” I said as I rocked her back to sleep.
I glanced at the door wishing my sister would walk back in. But if I had learnt anything in the last 23 years about my sister, she never looked back. She had created so much disruption that if she did, she would have too many broken pieces to pick up.
Shivani began to nuzzle against me and I felt my heart flood with love. She couldn’t bear the thought of her niece being given away.
“What if things went as planned by Annie and Shivani’s childhood ended up like mine and Annie’s?” I trembled. I remembered it all too well. The regular change of families, some of the placements a whole lot less desirable. How can I stand and watch the same thing happen to Shivani? Or what if she got sucked into the nasty world of child trafficking?”
I know how the legal adoption system worked but this private process made me feel very uneasy. “What if someone totally unsuitable offered her sister a huge amount of money? What sort of screening process would the prospective parents go through?” As I voiced my thoughts out loud I shuddered.
Suddenly, Shivani started crying again. I felt my hand go cold.
“Aww Baby. Maasi will change you.” I whispered. I laid her gently on the bed. As I removed her clothes, I saw small bruises on her back. My heart ached as I saw they were the exact size of my hands. Why had she done this? Did she not understand pain, she and I went through? How could she do the same thing, we had suffered?
“I cannot let Shivani go to anyone. I will keep her. She will be my baby girl. I will convince Annie. If nothing worked I will take her to court as a last resort.”
I bit my nails, a bad habit that was a result of my time at one of the foster homes. It would not be easy. I would have to find a childcare for when I am at the pre-school. And that too one that would be in her budget.
I looked down at the bundle now fast asleep. My chest squeezed at the thought of her anywhere but my arms.
I would be Shivani’s mother and anyone who thought differently can go to hell.
Then I heard a knock.
Had she come back?
Note: This is based on a fan fiction I read some time back. I do not remember it. I read the book also that she recommended.
I know I made Anika more docile compared to the show. But she shares some characteristics with that of the show.
Shivaay is well…….Shivaay.
So basically only Shivaay and Rudra are in New York. The rest of the Oberois are back in India.
Annie and Anika are twins. But they are as different as night and day.
I hope you all liked it. Please review.