YEAR: 2023.

Anika's heart automatically started to beat fast when she saw the news about the famous MLA in her channel. Every Intern around her started to praise her but more than getting proud, she got hell tensed in tension.

"Our CEO definitely had guts to expose this MLA from the ruling party..." – Mohan, her intern told with pride. But Anika didn't reply to any of that. Instead of asked everyone to pack their bags as they were leaving for Chennai in a few minutes. She called the headquarters and tried to get information about Aru, but none of them responded to her. She felt hell irritated. She really wants to throw her phone show her frustration threw the phone. But the amount of money she spends on her phone stopped her from doing that. She packed her bags with large frustration; she really had no idea why she's caring this much for her. But she didn't want to waste her time thinking about that, but desperately wanted to know about Arushi at any cost. She immediately took her phone and called Khushi on her phone.

"Khushi Ma'am... How are you?" – Anika exclaimed after she attended the call in her second ring. But she caught her with the tone and asked her straightly come to the point. Anika straightly asked for Avinash's personal number which jerked Khushi for a while.

"Ani... WHY YOU WANT HIS NUMBER?" – Khushi asked her back in a cold tone, Anika expected the reaction from her as still coping her from come out of the heartbreak. She even said okay for the arranged marriage to her parents but she couldn't move on. She still has his personal number but she didn't call him.

"Actually, I want to know about Aru... I mean Arushi, Don't know what happened to her, It had been five hours, she didn't give any interviews after that why became suspicious..." Anika said to Khushi who was hell confused with her care and love for the one whom she never met in her life. 

"Is it? But i think you're taking too much tension about Aru di... She will be fine, ya... Maybe she's not giving interviews due to security reasons..." Khushi tried to console her but she wasn't ready to hear anything but want her to confirm. 

"She's your boss, RIGHT..." Khushi asked her. 

"You know i love everything about that company, Except hierarchy structure..." - Anika exclaimed. 

"Okay, I will not call him, But message him only to know about Aru di..." - Khushi said and rested her phone. Ani desperately waited for the call but she got the screenshot in return. 

Khushi: Hi... Aru di is fine? - 6.55 PM.

Avinash: Hi Khushi, how r u? - 6.55 PM.

Khushi: I asked about ARUSHI DIDI... Is she fine? - 6.56 PM. 

Avinash: Accident... Now fine! With small bruises...  - 6.57 PM. 

Khushi:  Why i am feeling like you're hiding something big from me? - 6.57 PM. 

Avinash:  You started to recognize through chat also, whether i am hiding something from you or not.  - 6.58 PM.

Khushi: WHAT HAPPENED TO ARU DI? - 6.59 PM.

Avinash: She got kidnapped and someone saved her When we go to that place, everyone left and some were injured... - 7.00 PM.

Khushi:  WHAT? WHO DID THAT?  -7.01 PM.

Avinash: You can guess who would have done that... - 7.01 PM.

Khushi: Thankfully, God sent someone to saved her... BUT whose that?  - 7.02 PM

Avinash: She is disturbed... She's saying it's dad who saved her... - 7.02 PM

Khushi:  I think she's in trauma, Take care of her. -7.03 PM.

Avinash: Yeah... And thanks for asking.  - 7.03 PM. 

Anika couldn't think anything else other than Arushi, Tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes. Even though she couldn't recognize the meaning, her heart started to ache to the core. On the very next second, Khushi called Anika. Anika attended the call, but she was silent didn't say anything. Being there with Anika as full support, Khushi could relate to everything. In her heart, she always had a soft corner for Arushi and Avinash. But she never thought that news will disturb her to this extent. 

"Hey, ani... Relax..." - Khushi tried to calm her off. 

"I knew it... Something will happen like this... Who asked her to go out of the house without any security... Stubborn exactly like her father..." - Anika bust-out in anger without keeping track of her words? 

"Father? Do you know about her father?" -  Khushi asked her. 

"Who is talking about her father?" - Anika asked her in confusion as She couldn't recall what she was talking about.

"You... While before..." - Khushi said. 

"Is it?" - Anika asked and got immersed in thought. 

"Leave it... now tell me, Do you got any reply to your mail about the new project which you sent before three days?" - Khushi asked her and tried to divert her. 

"Ah... I got a mail today morning But didn't open it yet..." - Anika replied in an uninterested tone. 

"Ms. Sheshadri... Forget you're researching on it for the past two years least bothering about anything... so keep the phone online and open the mail..." - Khushi asked her. Keeping the phone in speaker, she started to read the mail. 

"It's from the core team... Not from Arushi..."- Anika said with slight disappointment. 

"What did they say? come on, Finger crossed" - Khushi asked her. 

"We are appreciating your interest in the new show regarding the ancient history of India. Even though it won't attract most of the audience, We are asking you to personally visit the headquarters and explain the whole on your own." - Anika told in a shocking tone. 

"What? they are calling you to Bangalore?" - Khushi exclaimed in a phone. 

"Yeah, But Bangalore..." - Anika repeated her words in a scared tone recalling the happiest and saddest part of the 

"Ani... Relax... I am repeating the words which you told me when i decided to leave the job because of him... Remember, Personal fears tend to put end to our life... But we made our career, Even our fears have no right to destroy it... It was your words... But it's coming from me... You built your career, You can't resist the opportunity merely because you can't face that city again..." - Khushi asked her. 

"But his Memories have the intensity to break me again..." - Anika said. 

"Didn't your heart become tired of recalling it and hurting again?" - Khushi asked. Anika chuckled.

"I know I have no right to say this, but go to Bangalore, Face your fear, come back home relaxed..." - Khushi said. Anika said OKAY to her but again going to Banglore was like touching the death and come for anika. She had the happiest moment there as well, her saddest moment. But more than her career, she had to go for Arushi, to meet her. 

"This time you aren't supposed to fall weak, Ani..." - She said to herself and booked the tickets for her to Bangalore. 

She packed her bags, And went to the hotel's reception, and accompanied her interns all the way back to Chennai. After dropping everyone personally at their home, she decided to go back to her home but she was hell worried about the travel hours. Because during these four hours she has nothing to think about, either about her work or her research and she knew well about her heart, where it will go when she has time for herself. Even though she hates it will go behind him, think about him, Think about their moments together, and finally thinks about the phrase which still hurts her like it happened yesterday.

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Year:  2019. 

Life is the hardest game because of two reasons, It didn't have a 'pause' button and Sometimes fate hacks the game. 

Likewise, Fate again hacked Shivaay's life by Rescuing him and killing his parents in an accident on their way back from Coimbatore to Chennai. There were no hopes left with doctors when his cerebrum deeply hurt, But Shivaay came back to his life as a miracle. In the doctor's language, it's a medical miracle but according to fate, he didn't finish any of his works in the world. He kept under observation for the whole three days. Anika with her father rushed to the hospital in Trichy in four hours, but she couldn't cope with her tears when she saw him in the ICU and His Parents in a lifeless state. 

Time passed, but Shivaay didn't get consciousness but the hospital rituals asked everyone to perform their last rituals as their bodies weren't in good condition to keep for long. During that time, some of the family members including Tej were presented and hurried to the hospital authorities to give the bodies for the last rituals but her teary eyes looked through the transparent glass of ICU where Shivaay was lying unconsciously. She requested her father, her father got a soft corner for Shivaay when he accompanied anika during the flood time. And also, he sensed Shivaay was sincere in his relationship with anika. 

"Doctor said, Shivaay will gain his consciousness within today... can't you wait till that" - Aadhiya, Anika's father requested Tej who taunted him back, He didn't have anything to say but looked at anika helplessly who knew what to do, wiping off her tears, she went towards him. 

"Uncle, I know you're one of the VIPs in India, And I also know, journalists out there waiting like a voracious dog for the news..." - Anika said in a cold tone. 

"If i send the video of taunting my father were enough for them to tell that you're the person behind their murder, even though it's not true..." - Anika warned him, Tej's eyes went wide in shock. Eventually, he had to stop taking the topic. But he didn't fail to glare at anika who looked at shivaay desperately through the transparent glass. 

After waiting for the whole four desperately shivaay opened his eyes in a jerk. But couldn't able to process anything because of his brain injury, He neither able to speak nor able to move his head. The scene of the accident played continuously in his head. Anika had mixed feelings, But she knew he will be going to break apart after knowing about his parents death. But Upto her surprise, Shivaay's badi ma, Tej's wife broke like her. Unlike her husband. 

She helped shivaay and take him to the Wheeling chair, But he held Anika's hand and refused to leave her hand for any cost. Even though he couldn't speak, couldn't respond to anything to anyone, He held her palms and refused to leave them. Tears crossed her eyes. Everyone who presented their wondered about her identity. But Anika accompanied him, at Least caring about society and what will other people think about her. Her father neither stopped her nor appreciated her, wholeheartedly. 

She came to Chennai with shivaay and his family except for tej who came with the pinky and shakti's dead bodies. They reached their house. Everything was happening too fast. He neither shed tears nor reacted anything looking at his dead parents, The last rituals happened but shivaay didn't react to anything. But anika didn't leave him, Even though people started to gossip about them, she didn't leave his side. Her father didn't allow her to stay the night in their house. Anika understood his point of view and just come back to her house only in night and stayed with him for the rest of the day. 

After the whole week, Shivaay started to respond, Tears crossed his eyes while looking at his parents portraits hanging on the wall. Anika saw him crying from the doorstep of his hall, Tears welled up in her eyes, But she neither went towards him nor consoled him. She stagnated near the doorstep and let him cry aloud and pour all his emotions out. But when he stood up from his place without any support, she automatically ran towards him and supported him. 

"Careful" - Anika exclaimed while wrapping her arms around his shoulders and supported him. He looked at her and then looked at the portrait. 

"You know, Ani... While we are in Coimbatore, I made up all my courage and told him, I got a job in A.N Enterprises After doing three months internship over there..." - shivaay told me. 

"You know what his reaction was?" - He looked at Anika and asked her. She nodded no. 

"He was happy... Surprisingly..." - Shivaay told while smiling. 

"You know what he said..." - Shivaay asked her. 

"He asked me to follow my destiny and he felt unbelievably bad for punishing me for his selfish reasons... And, he said, He will always support me on my every decision..." - Shivaay said While caressing the picture.

"He said he trusts me..." - He said. 

"But, why? It's me... Always..." - He asked, she nodded no and side-hugged him. Before Anika's visit, He felt alone and depressed as his family members left him alone in the house and went. But when anika came and supported him. He recognized his universe revolves around her. He wished to die when he come to know about the news about his parents' death. But when he saw anika nearer to him. That thought flew away in the wind, And when she made him lay in Her lap. He comes to know about his priority which is only her happiness. And he was ready to do anything to see the smile in her face. 

":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"

Dear son, 

Before you write about your nightmare in your letter, your sister told me everything. You're right, It's not just a nightmare. It's a spark of the future more like a warning. Please Shivaay, don't ever forget, even though we look like them, we behave like them. we do not belong to them. they are different and we are different. And our life is unpredictable, they can find us and kill us anytime. And please don't drag that girl into this game. We have an intensity to save us. but she has nothing, Neither powers nor strength. I know you're hurt. But you must stop this for her sake. 

with love,

Your mom. 

":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"":*:"

Year: 2023

Place: Bangalore.

Time: 4.00 PM.

Arushi opened her eyes in a jerk in the hospital bed, Only to find her father. But He was not nearby. Aru tried to move from her bed but her body suddenly became too heavy and it became difficult for her to get down. But she pulled out the saline strings which was attached in her veins and dragged herself towards the door. But the nurse caught her and dragged her back to the bed. 

"Leave.. me... Achha... ACHHAAAA" - Aru started to call her dad in her high-weak tone. Hearing her sound, Everyone, Includes Ritwik, Om, Avi, Gauri and jahaan rushed there to her ward. She was jerking and continuously calling Accha. 

Gauri came to her side and caressed her hair, "it's Accha, I sensed him... He... touched... me, He...held...me, He...kissed...my...forehead, It's my Acchha... Please... call... him" - Aru cried while hugging Gauri. Except for Gauri, everyone thought she was imagining the events.

"Baby! Relax... Nothing happened..." - Ritwik said while hugging her tightly. 

"But it was accha..." - She cried helplessly. Seeing her crying, Jahaan came to her side and sat on the bed, Aru wiped off her eyes in an instant. Jahaan looked at her with welled-up eyes.

"Hey! I am fine" - Aru tried to console her while scratching her next. Jahaan immediately stopped her from scratching her neck and hugged her in an instant. More than getting happy, Arushi was confused. Because only her dad stops her from scratching her neck as he hates that. And nobody even noticed her habit. But when jahaan did the same, she felt a part of her father in her. And when she kissed her forehead, she again felt her father in her. And she felt assured that Jahaan has some connections with her father. 

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To be continued...