Shivaay could see his childhood in front of his eyes as he admired the swing. He could see himself a little boy with a little girl on that swing smiling at each other and then looking around the garden while sitting on the swing. A smile appeared on his face as he recalled the sweet memories related to that big iron swing. He got teary eyed as well. He saw a little boy hiding flowers behind his back and the girl smiling as she knew he had a great surprise. ‘Shivaayyy, you can’t catch me, see I run so fast,’ he heard the voice of a girl who was running around the swing, he smiled as he heard the voice from his past.

He saw his old smiling self running after that girl. ‘Don’t challenge Shivaay Singh Oberoi,’ he recalled himself saying this to that girl. ‘Your Anika is faster,’ said the girl and her foot twisted and she fell on the swing. ‘Aww what happened baby? He he,’ he saw his past self saying to Anika and kissing her forehead from standing behind her as she looked up at him. All this vanished in a blink of an eye. He walked away teary eyed towards the mansion with the all time nostalgia. As he reached the entrance of the mansion, he stopped.


He could hear her voice. ‘I want it na Shivaay,’ he heard her saying this. ‘No no it’s mine,’ he saw himself and her together again fighting over violin, they were snatching it continuously from each other. ‘Shivaay please,’ she said while snatching it but he snatched it away from her which resulted her finger to cut from its string. She started crying and he sucked her blood giving her relief as she cried. He bandaged it as well. ‘Ab theek hai na?’, he asked. She smiled and nodded in positive. Soon that memory too vanished from front of his eyes.

Someone tapped his shoulder from behind. ‘Anika,’ he said still in trance and turned to the person, it was Rudra. ‘What are you thinking bro? You are missing her a lot?’, he asked. ‘Yes, but I will get adjusted to it,’ he said and walked towards the stairs and stopped right there looking up towards his room. He was still expecting her to walk out of there and stand near the railing looking down at him and give him a warm smile and walk down the stairs towards him to welcome him with a warm hug. He so wanted to see those hazel eyes of her.
He walked upstairs towards his room and entered inside, he switched on the lights. Those cute photographs of him and her were all he gazed at. How beautiful were those days. He had hard time controlling himself. As the time came for lunch, he didn’t even eat properly and directly went to hospital to meet his mother. He stepped down the car in front of the hospital and went inside. He talked to the doctor who was treating her. ‘When will she be OK?’, he asked. ‘Within some days, then its OK, you can take her after some days,’ said the doctor.
‘Thank you so much,’ he replied. As the nurse went out of Pinky’s ward, she was partially conscious and so her gaze went on Shivaay, she moved her hands forward shaking them nodding in negative with scared expressions and her eyes widened. She again went unconscious. He came inside the ward and placed his hand on her arm. ‘Mom,’ he said softly and she opened her eyes, he smiled at her and his image went blurry in front of her, she started falling in unconsciousness again. ‘Mom, what’s happening to you? I can’t understand anything, mom, mom,’ he said as she again closed her eyes.

Nurse came inside. ‘Nurse, what’s wrong with her? Why is she so scared?’, he asked out of worry. ‘Don’t know what she sees again and again and goes unconscious, you go out, let her rest,’ she said and he went. He felt thirsty so he walked over to the coffee machine. He took a plastic disposable glass and kept it under the tap pressing the button of the machine and watched as the glass filled with coffee. He drank it slowly sitting on the bench.
He saw a couple walking hand in hand and they looked so much like him and Anika. They stepped inside the elevator as the door opened. As the door of the elevator closed, he gasped seeing Anika’s reflection sitting beside him, [Background music: la la la la la la lallalla, la la la la la la la la, hmmmmmm, hmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm] she had a constant smile plastered on her face, she had her head leaning on his shoulder and she was holding his bicep. A smile slowly spread on his lips as he saw her. How that hazel eyes perfectly matched her face, her lips, her smile, her cheeks, her hair, everything. He stared at the reflection for sometime smilingly.
His hand automatically lifted to touch her face while still staring at the reflection but all he felt was air. He turned his head to face her and she was there, sitting like an angel down to earth. ‘Anika,’ he said and she lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him while smiling, he didn’t blink his eyes in a fear that she may disappear. He touched her face and she closed her hazel eyes feeling his touch. He cupped her cheek and leaned towards her to kiss her. Unknowingly, his grip was loosening on the coffee cup.
His lips were about to touch her forehead and soon he realized it was an illusion. The coffee was about to fall and he held it on time. He looked around embarrassed of his earlier act that people might have been watching him but none were looking at him. ‘It felt so real, it felt as if she was really here, why isn’t it real? I never ever let anyone put garland on your photo, it broke my heart, I never believed you’re dead, I know you’re there, I know mom knows something I don’t,’ he said talking to Anika’s picture, his kanji aankho wali billi.