Annika stared out of the window, her eyes heavy and her head swirling with several thoughts which only led her head paining, she was stressed and anxious. The atmosphere in the car felt quite dense, the sounds of the traffic heard in the background. When she looked at Shivaay, he had his eyes focused on the road, but a frown on his face said otherwise, like he was thinking too much, like she was.

Annika was grateful to have him drive her back home, it would have been hundred times harder to head home if she went there on her own. "Thankyou Shivaay, I -" Before she could have completed the sentence he interrupted. "Hey, you need not need to thank me, I understand your situation and if someone else were in your place, I still would have done the same for them" Annika couldn't help but smile, he was such a great human being, if only the world was full of people like him, it would have been a better place.

Annika found herself calling Gauri to inform her about her sudden departure and explaining the situation back at her home, Gauri tried her best to cheer up her best friend and telling her that it was all going to be alright, she wanted to accompany her but her job was holding her back, she had already exhausted her number of holidays for the month, and she didn't regretted doing so until now.

Shivaay glanced at Annika, it worried him to see Annika so dense and he hated that he couldn't form the correct words to make her feel better. So he did what he could do, he let his hand find hers, intertwining their fingers. Annika felt a headache crawling at the back of her head. "Take a nap Annika, you look tired" She sighed heavily. How was she supposed to sleep when there was so much going on inside her head? She shook her head, feeling his grip tightening.

"Annika, I know it's hard for you to fall asleep but then, you need some rest before you go hours without falling asleep. I'll wake you up once we're there" Annika did consider his words, sighing, she closed her eyes, trying her best not to think about the surgery. It felt hard to not have thoughts about her father lying on the hospital bed with tubes attached to his body, to think of her mother's scared face and the antiseptic smell of the hospital which she loathed the most.

Shivaay watched her through his corner of the eye, her chest heaving up and down, wondering what all was going inside the head of hers. He kept his eyes glued to the road. If he looked at her one more time, his urge to hold her while she slept and soothe her pain would come back again, and right now, he didn't want to pull over and do that.

After several minutes, he decided to stop over for some food, and Annika immediately hopped off, she was about to tell him to pull over as she couldn't control her muscles down there anymore. "I'll be here when you come out" Shivaay said, as he saw her disappear into the washroom at the backside of the shop. He looked around, grabbing some chips packets and some candies.

After he was done paying the bill, he took his phone out, only to find messages from his clients and one from Khanna. He shoved the phone inside as soon as he looked at Annika walking towards him. Her eyes were swollen, hair tied in a messy bun and her body drained of energy. Shivaay let out a brief sigh, he hated that he couldn't do anything to make her feel a little better.

"Are you hungry?" He asked, looking over at her while she shook her head. Shivaay intertwined his fingers with hers, she looked up, biting her bottom lip, her tears ready to pour out any second now. Feeling a tug at ther chin, which was now being lifted up by Shivaay's index finger, she cursed herself inwardly as the years rolled down her cheeks.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's alright, don't hold yourself back" Shivaay assured her, fingers still laced together, he gathered her into his arms and she let herself let loose, not holding herself back. She clutched his shirt, the tears of hers, making his shirt wet and as soon as she realised it, she backed away. "I'm sorry, I -" Shivaay caught her looking at his shirt.

"Annika, don't you apologize, you stupid little girl. Come here" Shivaay caught her arm, bringing her closer to him one more time. And this time she let out a deep sigh, how could she ever express to him how grateful she was to have him here. Annika relaxed, feeling his warmth over her skin, his steady heartbeat giving her some needed peace.

"I'll here for you, always"

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Within an hour, they were here. Annika had tried to get some sleep but could only manage to sleep for a few minutes, Shivaay couldn't help but be worried for her. Annika was anxious to get inside her house and see her father, she shook her head, refusing to think negatively about anything.

"You can call me anytime, you know that, right? Call me at the middle of the night or at the middle of my meeting, I'll pick up your call, alright? Just, don't overthink before calling me" Shivaay tucked a hair strand behind her ear, her almond shaped eyes, meeting his.

"Thankyou, for dropping me here. I don't know how I'm going to go in and behave, I don't even know how -"

"Hey, shush. You don't need to thank me Annika, alright?" Annika gave him a quick nod, she didn't know what else she was supposed to say so they both sat in complete silence for two minutes before Annika decided to speak. "I'll get going. And Shivaay, take care, call me whenever you want. I'll keep you updated with dad's situation" Annika gave him a chaste kiss on his cheek and let her eyes linger on him for some more seconds before opening the car door and moving out.

"Take care Annika '' Shivaay spoke loud enough for her to hear and a small side formed on her lips, she waved at him one last time before turning towards her house. She clenched her fists tightly, trying to calm herself down. Closing her eyes, she collected herself back, with small steps, she slowly made her way to the front door.

Emotions whirling within, she knocked at the front door. Her eyes gazed up at her house, she could still hear the laughter of her and her father when she was little, playing in the front yard. Two year drops dropped down her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She had to be strong, for the sake of her mother. Annika whirled her head around, only to notice Shivaay was still there, his eyes trained on her, he raised his eyebrows, worried about her.

Annika shook her head, giving him a small smile, assuring him that she was alright. Shivaay sighed out, nodding his head back at her. He saw her knock at the door and then, when the door opened, he could see two hands around her back, assuming it was her mother. Shivaay started the engine, taking it as a cue to leave now.

Annika heard the engine roaring, knowing that now Shivaay was gone, she felt not so well. With her mother's arms still engulfing her, she felt safe and sound. "Come inside" Breaking apart, her mother said, Annika followed behind. Everything reminded her of her childhood memories. She never knew a day would come when she would be crying while reminiscing her memories.

"Where is Dad?" Her mother pointed upwards, Annika kept her handbag down on the couch. It was becoming dark outside and she knew, in a few hours, her father would be in the hospital, getting his surgery. With weak steps towards the room where her father was resting, Annika's heart beat increased. Any moment from now, her eyes would let out all the tears she had been holding in since long.

She stood outside the room, staring at thr closed door, her fingers shaking as she approached the door knob. Seeing her like this, her mother, Radha, came forward and did it herself. 'Go on' she mouthed her and Annika let herself in, slowly walking inside, trying her best not to make any noise so as to disturb her father and there he was, lying with several tubes in his nose and one attached to his arm. Annika bit her bottom lip hard, why did it have to be him? What had he done to deserve this?

Annika wiped the tear off the corner of her eye, Radha stood her wall supporting her back as she gazed at her daughter on the verge of breaking down. She moved toward her, holding her by the shoulder. Annika's eyes were fixed on the monitor sitting beside him, beeping every second, telling him that he was still there, breathing. "How? When? When did it start to become worse?" Annika questioned, turning away from the scene in front of her, not able to see the situation of her father.

She hated that she couldn't do anything about it but to wait for the surgery to happen, she was scared that the next second she blinked her eyes, he would vanish. "For three days, we contacted the doctor and he told us to go for surgery as soon as possible" Radha answered, leading her out of the room as Annika sniffled.

Upon reaching down, Annika sat down, her mind completely confused as to how to react. Radha sat down beside her, silence filling the air. "It's going to be alright, he is going to be alright, he has to. He has a beautiful daughter to look after and he promised that he will not go away until he sees you get married and see his grandchildren. Your dad is strong, don't worry, he will be okay" Radha brought Annika closer to her, letting her daughter's head fall onto her shoulder as she cried out.

Annika clutched to her mother's shoulder tightly, letting it all out. Radha wiped her own tears, seeing her daughter cry was the last thing she had wanted. "Come on, let me get you something to eat, you would be starving" Radha kissed Annika's head, wiping away the tears off her face with her thumb, she gave her a weak smile. Annika sighed out, playing with her fingers as she saw her mother get up and enter the kitchen.

"Everything will be alright, he will be alright" Annika assures herself and took a deep breath in, she had to be strong.

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Sorry for being MIA for so long. I had things going on and they kept piling up, and my writing block was a major issue too. I don't know if I'll be regular or not. It took be three months to write this chapter down, it might take me some more time to come back to writing. Sorry for the inconvenience, thankyou for sticking around. And 60k views? Damn, thankyou so much.