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It was during dinner when all the youngsters were gattered , chatting on some random things.

Ra - haan ,  I know shivaay is the master chef in this house and annika ?  do you cook too?

A- mein ? I actually know

Before even she could  say anything further  , she heard shivaay  clearing his throat twice all of a sudden  . She watched him through the corner of her eyes and then faced Ragini again .

A- sach kahun tho I cook like a disaster !

Widening her eyes , she expressed this while all just laughed in response .

Ra - I can relate yaar , even I'm zero in cooking but pata nahi how this gauri alone turned out like this . Times when my mom used to compare me with her  ...! Urghh! I hate you for that dear sister .

Ragini pretended to throw a  punch on gauri who moved aside claiming to have escaped from that hit.

A- haina !! Gauri is the best .

R - but bhabi , the other day you were praising baiya's cooking skills much that you were certainly ready to buy him a bangle as present . Remember?!

He giggled mentioning this and annika spoke immediately .

A- haan ! That dish was really on top of the world. Deka ? Cooking alone isn't important, you have to find some good hearted foodies like me who are ready to give praise speeches all day . Foodies nahi hai tho cook karke kya fayda?

Shivaay smiled grasping the way she entirely turned the topic to her side , while she raised her invisible collar and smirked stating it.

' This girl is really an alien ' he thought.

G - Ragini , ek aur ...?

Logic of people who serve , this question hardly means anything to them because they would have already filled the plate with full of food. Gauri was doing the same  ,to much of Ragini's horror .

R- oh my god , Itna kuch ! Gauri ,tum

A- arey , it must be either right or left . Hamein cooking tho nahi aathi , so we can atleast do the other option heartily right ? Kaao na .

Annika nudged her shoulder and insisted for Ragini's face turned bewildered.

Ra- annika , do you really speak like , so much always ?!

S- you won't believe me Ragini, it's just a trailer .

Came an instant reply from shivaay who peeped ahead of annika to catch Ragini's  sight .  Annika just shrugged and continued eating , well , she doesn't want to defend herself because he was saying the truth and maybe she accepted that.

Om- lagtha hai , trailers are only for us but shivaay alone gets to watch the full movie always . Haina annika ?

Doing an hifi with Rudra , Om grinned muttering this and shivaay rolled his eyes with a smile .

A- ok guys , I agree. I do talk a lot but mein kya karoon ? Aisehi hoon mein !

Ra - but sach mei yaar , I've never seen anyone like you !

She exclaimed widening her eyes .

A- thank you ! Ab kaalo . Kuch nahi hoga kaalo , if diet is the problem then you can extend a mile further when you jog tomorrow.

Annika affirmed watching her sceptical eyes and Ragini just let a chuckle after hearing her tip . Indeed , an entirely different being she is . It's not even a day since they both met but Ragini could already feel a good friend in her already  .

That's how annika is .

Just when annika was quietly emptying her plate , she saw her mobile vibrating with a call. She gulped noticing the caller id . Thank God everyone around were busy in their own conversions. She silently picked the mobile and sprinted to the kitchen .

A- wrong timing monkey .

She whisper yelled at once when she swiped the green .

Ad- annika , log hello bolthey hain pehle par tum

A - acha acha , hello Mr. Monkey ! Now tell me what's it ?

Faking a sugary tone in her first sentence she rushed him to reply soon.

Ad- matlab ? I found three missed calls from you . Tum batao what's it?

There was silence when annika realized for what she had actually called him before .

Ad- hello annika ?

A- hmm , I'm there .

Ad - phone pe there hona kaafi nahi hai , baath bi karna chahiye madam .

A- chup , jyada mat kar ! I've a shocking news for you so be prepared. Inhale and exhale first , drink some water .

Ad- what even? Your precautions are more scary,  now jaldi batao kya baath hai ?

A- I was speaking to mom today , she said

Her eyes popped out when she noticed shivaay making his way inside the kitchen.

A-  ek minute ,stay in the line .

She whispered and hid the mobile behind  . By then shivaay was already inside , washing his hands in the basin.

S- what are you doing here annika ?

Watching her who was  dancing like  snake , he questioned.

A- uhh vo , I was... hungry so thought to find something.. in here .

Her stammers couldn't just stop . Hearing this irrelevant reason he watched her indifferently as if she's some  weird piece of thing  .

S- seriously annika? For your kind information you were actually having your dinner a few minutes back . You leave that and roam here claiming to be hungry  . What even !

Annika gulped cringing on the idiotic reason she had just blabbered.

A- no you got me wrong, I came to pick the juice bottle .

She tried all faces to act fine and normal as she walked upto the refrigerator and opened it .

Shivaay who certainly didn't get satisfied with her answer just shrugged it off. Just then he watched her to have been pressing her palm on the kitchen slab when she peeped inside the fridge.

She gasped and jumped aside when he pulled her hand away and replaced a knife which lied there on the slab , to it's stand . He was certainly holding her hand which had the mobile clasped along . A feared look surrounded her face.

S- practise to even look what's around you annika , careful .

Muttering this he straightly marched out .

He definitely knew how clumsy she can get at situations .

She exhaled deeply and blinked hard. Not that she can't speak with Adi infront of him , he never controls her in this . But today's topic is different and he would always belong to charu's side  , so being idle is safe. 

Ad - hello ? Annika ?

A- haan haan, sorry , shivaay aagya tho

He interrupted her in the middle and started .

Ad - Ohhoo, Prince ke saath romance and all haan !

His sweet dragged sentence made her mentally stab him already .

A- your chappal! Will you even listen to me ?

Ad - ok finger on my lips , ab bolo.

Pretending like an obedient child he stayed quite , then she started mentioning about all which her mother had said when she called her this afternoon .

There was a clear silence when she finished. 

A- Adi ?

Ad - hmm.

A- say something monkey .

Ad - why is your sister like this annika ?

Annika's reaction changed listening to his completely hurt voice , she can certainly imagine his dull tragic face now .

A- Adi , we can do something yaar . Don't  fall sad , please. 

Ad- she never understands me , thab bi aur ab bi ! Why is she so stubborn?

His cracked up voice said it all that she herself  had the same gloomy reaction on her face . It's obvious within friends, if one cries and stays sad we tend to have the same sort of reaction even when we are in process of consoling them. It certainly happens without one's own knowledge. The reaction just spreads .

A- hey Adi , listen . Everything is going to be ok . What happened now ? They've just spoken about that right ? Marriage is still long miles away , and don't worry . I won't accept anyone as my jiju rather you , ek minute , do I have to address you as jiju after you marry my behna? Adi jiju...yuck!

She mimicked sweetly to call him like that and immediately shook her head with a cringed face .

Ad - meri jagathmatha, please let my marriage happen first . Then I won't  bother if you even call me by any animal's name . Happy?! Yahan title card hi itna bada trouble mei hai and you already are thinking of the climax .

Annika grinned  for succeeding in her plan of diverting him.

Shivaay found her tossing on all sides when he laid beside her . What happened to the mighty sleepyhead today ? She seemed zoned out , worried in her thoughts .

Indeed , she was worried about Adi .

She was actually looking at him but all her mind and thoughts were surrounded by something else.

S- anni ,

His sudden voice brought her back , she blinked once before responding .

A- hmm ?

S- are you hiding anything from me ?

At once she started coughing before grabbing the bottle from the table aside .

A- aisa kuch nahi hai shivaay .

She answered after gulping some water down while he had a blunt reaction  on his face .

S - I hope it's true . Because , if we start keeping secrets between us, one day we'll definitely burst on it . And I certainly would never want to fight with you annika .

Admitting this , he flipped to the other side and closed his eyes .

His clear calm voice shouted how serious  he was about this . If it was something else she would have spoken to him already , but knowing that he would solely  stand by charu in this case she hardly wanted to open up her worries about Adi to him.

' I'm sorry shivaay '  she said to herself seeing his sleeping figure .

The next day morning Rudra came running to Shivika's room .

R- baiya !!

Annika almost wriggled by herself and spoiled her own liner which looked like some  thick worm running over her eyelids .

A - Rudy , you just brought a volcano with your voice man .

She shook her head and let a deep sigh in process of correcting the liner.

R- bhabi , where's baiya ?

A- I don't know , maybe with pinky aunty . Vaise baath kya hai ? You seem excited .

She smiled turning her sight from the mirror till him while he had a constant grin on his face .

R- vo , my final semester results has come . I cleared all the subjects in first class !

A- wow  ,  That's an amazing news Rudra . Congratulations !

She hugged him sideways and wished with a happy face .

R- thank you bhabi .

A- so I have to deliberately stop and ask to know about this , does your baiya alone possess the rights to know such good news first ?

R- ohh bhabi , it's nothing like that . I was going to tell you too .Actually baiya had promised me that he will introduce me to his friend who is a big entrepreneur in the automobile sector if I complete my UG with good grades .

A- but automobiles is nowhere connected to the subject which you've studied in college right ? I mean your UG .

R- I know bhabi,  but I'm more interested in automobiles . Baiya said that he would help me , and

A- Rudy , shall I say something?

She stopped him in the middle and asked .

R- ji ,

A- stop looking for shivaay's help in everything. Especially your carrier .  Whatever it is , decide by yourself,  speak to your papa about it and finish it up . Don't bring it to shivaay and leave him in trouble. 

Rudra was totally taken aback by her words that he certainly didn't know how to react to it .

At the same time , shivaay who reached there heard everything when  he walked inside the room .

He looked at annika in bewilderment.

S - annika , my brother wants to take help from me . What do you think is actually wrong in this ?

His voice did possess a sort of anger which she didn't fail to grasp.

A- you can't just run lending your hand to everyone shivaay .

S- stop it annika ! Rudra mera bhai hai . He's not anyone and everyone.

She wriggled a bit hearing his sudden high pitched voice when he shouted back .

R- baiya , baiya please calm down.

Rudra pressed his hold on shivaay's shoulder .

He just glared at annika continuously.

S- tum jao Rudy . I'll talk to you later.

He replied composing himself . Rudra let a nod before walking out .

His sight was still fixed on her who in turn  was also watching him in keen.

A- shivaay ,

Before she could even speak anything he just quietly picked his laptop and rushed out ignoring her completely.

She bit her lip and swallowed the lump in her throat . Without wasting any further minute,  she went to Rudra's room .

A- Rudy.

She stood by the door and knocked .

R- aayiye bhabi.

Her sight got fixed on his hand with which he had pulled her inside  like a small kid . She then watched pinky  who was standing behind Rudra with a plate of sweets . It's ok , Whatever it is , she  wanted to do what she had thought to .

A- I , I'm sorry Rudra

R - please bhabi , It's ok . If you don't like then , I won't bother baiya in such things anymore .

Immediately she shook her head and pressed her hold within his clutch .

Pinky just stayed a silent spectator as she was trying to know about the actual problem going on .

A- aisa nahi hai Rudy , why will I want to stand a barrier between you both ? I'm always happy with you being your baiya's favourite baby brother  !  It , it's about Tej uncle , I'm worried of .

Rudra watched her intently when she admitted.

A- uncle would never want his son to turn down business and choose anything else over it. And if he comes to know that shivaay stands a hand along with you , he would totally blame him for that. And shivaay ...pata nahi he can handle anything but a mere harsh word from uncle , he becomes sensitive. He gets hurt easily , that's why I wanted to stop you from getting his help . Try speaking with your father about it first , tell him what you want , make him understand . I'm sure he'd listen to you ....And once again, I'm sorry Rudra ,I know I acted really selfish .

R- selfish ? You fought with baiya for his sake and you think that you're selfish ?

She watched him confusedly as he smiled questioning her .

And pinky clearly looked surprised with annika's words.  Indeed , somewhere in her heart she felt happy that her son's wife cares and feels for him this much . Annika's emotions seemed very truthful .

R- today I understood who you are bhabi , please don't be sorry for anything. Mein papa se baath kartha hoon , I promise . And haan choti maa , sweets sirf mera results ke liye nahi I want to celebrate for getting the best bhabi too! Dijiye ,

He pulled the plate from her and fed a big piece of the sweet to annika who didn't react much to anything then .

She was still feeling disturbed somewhere. This is so not her. Without thinking about Rudy's emotions she started denying him saying such things before a while . Why she even did that ? It was a private matter between the brothers and it's Rudra's rights to claim anything from shivaay . She should never stand and oppose that but she actually did it .

Even if Rudra had understood her now , wasn't she totally out of her character then ? Like , there's always a point of patience in her when she takes time to think and work with her words fearing that she doesn't  hurt others even unknowingly.  But today,  she just blurted out things right on his face  .

She didn't like this change which occurs so naturally when her heart claimed concern on shivaay over everyone. Because in this process , Rudra might have been hurt if he hadn't tried to understand what she has to say .

S- what are you saying mom ?

He questioned her again , unable to believe her words.

P- yes shivaay , I'm telling the truth . Rudra told me about what happened in your room a while ago . She actually behaved like that , for your sake . So that jethji doesn't start blaming you for everything like always . She didn't do anything wrong shivaay .... I'm actually happy to say this  , today there's someone else in your life  to care for you , even more than I  myslef or your papa might do.

She admitted caressing his cheek who's mind and heart was already occupied by some other thoughts .

Indeed , to be a special soul in someone's life certainly sprouts up different kind of feelings for that person. 

And annika is incredibly playing with his heart like anything for him to just go nil of  words to express what he certainly feels . 

The detailed point is , she herself is unaware of what impact she tends to create in him .

A serious girl , when she finds someone who calms her spirit and quiets her  busy thoughts , will love you so fiercely , it will defy even her own logic and reasoning  💘

Precap

Shivaay kisses annika's forehead.

Charu slaps annika .

Chapter dedicated to DiwakarMisra   Annanyaabitha   PriyaModak      Butterfly1606   ❤

How was it guys?

Honest reviews plss. I've typed this chapter with what all came to my mind , don't know how it came out finally.  So kindly be frank with your views , negative comments are also accepted.

I know this chapter had a less of shivika scenes in it , don't worry,  upcoming will have more of them 😁

So the promo content is going to happen in the next few chapters  , curious ? Well , I'm curious ;)

If possible try reading my book,  We collide to combine.

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