Precious (Shivaay and Anika) Episode 25

Hi guys 🙂 I know I’m late today and sorry for that… Thanks for your support over the 25 episodes of Precious. I’m definitely gonna miss you guys when this ends 🙂
Warning for readers: There aren’t too many dialogues today. This episode is dedicated to Shivika only and there’s no Om’s point of view today either.
Request by author: Please don’t think about the really mad and annoying Shivaay in today’s show while reading this episode. This may ruin your reading experience and you may end up confused about whether to love the guy or just kill him. It was personally very difficult for me to write this part after watching the show. I definitely wanted to not write it today, but I have a kind of deadline to finish this ff. So, this might be the second last episode. So guys, this might be your second last chance to tell me anything you may want to. 🙂
Link to last episode: https://tellyupdates.com/precious-shivaay-anika-episode-24

Episode 25: Precious

ANIKA’S POINT OF VIEW

What a day it had been! It was after such a long time that I had spent a day without any worries. I had enjoyed myself a lot. It wasn’t the luxurious car in which I was seated, or the expensive hotel we had come to now. It was solely because of the person I was with. He seemed to take away my concerns and let me be the normal girl that I was. Drinking tea by the roadside, letting the wind blow in my hair, watching him laugh out in his charismatic carefree way… it was the best day of my life.
As sundown grew nearer, he even asked me if I was cold. Ignoring my “Nope”, he just held the light jacket around my shoulders, waiting for me to put it on. We had driven around the Marine drive, watching the sun glow red, and had come to The Oberoi by twilight. I had looked at myself, wondering if I was underdressed for such a posh hotel. Shivaay had held my hand again, pulling me towards the elevator. We got off at the top floor, and I was told that we had to climb the stairs to go to the terrace. I was confounded at this, and I refused to move an inch. “Why are you dragging me around?” I asked irritated with him.

He made a tired kind of face, looking at me as if I was a disobedient kid. He came around to stand behind me and pushed me ahead, making me walk forcibly. Opening the door of the terrace, I walked towards the edge. It was almost dusk now. The view in front of me was something out of a fairytale. Far below, the Queen’s necklace glittered, and the horizon was painted in various hues of red, orange, purple, blue and golden. The ocean appeared calmer from here, and the crowd below was otherworldly. The world I had seen all my life, before I met him, wasn’t this beautiful at all. For some reason, I thought about Shivaay’s lake. And the words he had said to me that night.

Standing here, I realized that I loved him. This man, who had driven me crazy out of his sheer obstinacy, had become my lifeline now. Everything about him affected me. Even Ishu had said to me before leaving. “You keep mumbling his name in your sleep! Have you even noticed how you move around him? Whenever he’s around, you guys unconsciously adjust your positions with respect to each other’s. I don’t know about you, but in my language, it’s called Love; with a capital L!” I thought about all the dangerous situations I’ve encountered recently, and I admitted that he was the one I worried for and wanted to be safe. In all the happy occasions, I wanted him to be there to share it with me. Then there was the other day I was thinking of him while singing. I decided not to fight against my own feelings. He was the world to me now. And I felt better and lighter by just admitting the truth to myself.
Now that he knew the real me and everything else about my life, which no one else had, I think he wouldn’t ask me that question again. He always placed blood, lineage and family first. I had none, or one too many actually! I sighed at my hopeless love. I shouldn’t be too greedy after all, I thought to myself.

I turned around, saying “Shivaay” to see those green-blue eyes flecked with golden so near to mine, as he simultaneously said, “Anika”. His face dripped with warm love and my heartbeat took off like a helicopter in response to his closeness. I so wanted to lean in and feel those slightly parted pink lips.
We moved back a little, as he reigned in his feelings and I did the same. I couldn’t take off my eyes from his, which had now taken on a look of friendly mischief. He tilted his head a little lower, signing me to look down and pulled out a blue velvet box. He gave me a superior smile and lights started glowing one by one behind him. It was now that I noticed the whole place. A canopy of blue glittering lights and flowers in all possible colours over a table for two was set in a background of twinkling lights. I was totally knocked for six!
Shivaay got down on one knee and shrugged at me, opening the little box for me to see. My lips trembled at the very sight in front of me. Shivaay was staring up at me from his wide eyes framed in dark lashes. But there was another thing too. Nestled in blue satin was the prettiest ring I had ever seen. An intricate web of platinum was channeled into an ‘S’ along the band, in the center of which a lone solitaire glittered, throwing off coloured lights in different directions. He held up another box for me, and I took it with trembling hands. It was becoming difficult for me to see as my eyes brimmed over. He stood back up immediately, full of concern. He wiped away those warm tears, all the while looking at me and fretting about the reason for those waterworks, searching for something to say. I smiled at him through my wet eyes, as I looked at a very similar band that he had gotten for himself. The box in my hand housed another ring that had a platinum web forming an ‘A’ in the center, only with a tiny shiny stone set in it.

Fraught with emotions, I looked up at him while he held my face between his hands. “You finally managed to make it the most romantic moment ever!” I managed to tease him. He looked on confused for a minute before laughing tentatively. I looked at the ring he still held in his hand and I felt his eyes bore a hole in my head. I felt my face heat up as he lifted up my head so that I was looking into those blue oceans again. “Anika, you’re the most precious to me. And I love you. Will you marry me?”
I was kinda choked up with emotions right now. I tried speaking, but no sound came out. I settled with nodding until I found my voice, and when I did, I breathed, “Yes.”

SHIVAAY’S POINT OF VIEW

I felt as if I had won the world. For some weird reason, I remembered Dadi’s words. “In Ishqbaazi, you must fall to rise and accept defeat to feel the joy of victory!”
SHE HAD SAID YES! The world could go to hell now, as I was in my own planet now, with my Anika. I could literally feel my face light up as I slid the ring on her third finger. Just seeing it there gave me a sense of happiness that I had never experienced before. I lifted her hands to my lips, kissing it softly before looking at her abashed face. She grinned at me, showing off her uneven teeth in her pretty smile. Her eyes said it all as she too slid my ring on my finger, where it belonged. I held her one hand, while cupping her face with another and planted a kiss on her forehead. As I pulled back, I saw her light lavender eyelids closed, the dark eyelashes still wet and her pink lips parted, trembling a little. As she opened her eyes slowly, like dawn breaking out after a long, cold night, and she smiled up at me again.

Slowly I moved closer to her and she clutched my shirt tighter as I hugged her tight. I was worried that I might not be able to hold myself back if I once tasted the forbidden fruit. I knew she may laugh at me for years if she finds out that I’m so old fashioned! The thought made me joyful; she would be around for years to laugh at me and make me laugh with her. When we finally pulled away, I couldn’t resist myself, and I gave her a peck on the nose, winking at her disbelief and annoyance. I pulled her against me again, relishing the feeling of actually having her head nestled into my neck. Standing entwined like this, I made myself a promise. Come hell or high water, I’ll always love and protect her; the one person that was my own and had accepted me as hers!
“I love you too, Shivaay”, she murmured into my neck and my heart skipped a beat, before breaking out in a dance of joy.

PRECAP: Shivaay and Anika go back home. Shivaay holds her hand whereas she keeps pulling it back. Reactions by OmRu and Dadi leave Anika shocked.

Keep smiling people 🙂 I’ll save the really long farewell speech for tomorrow or day after tomorrow when I post the last episode of Precious 🙂
Bye Bye…