Shivaay forwarded the plate filled with delicacies, towards Anika.

S- Come Let's eat together.

Shivaay said and Anika looked at him in shock.

A- I.....I... Can't......

Anika said while stammering in fear.

S- Why?

Anika looked down in fear.

A- I'm.... I'm ..... Wid...widow... I ....don't... Have .... rights... To.....eat.... This.... Food.

Anika said in fear and Shivaay noticed her discomfort.

S- But it's not your fault thay you're a widow. Why are you living like this? Like a servant to your in-laws, eating this rubbish, dry food. There's no doubt that you're very intelligent, then why don't you study and live a better life?

Anika looked at him with teary eyes.

A- Because I can't. This is my fault that their son died, because of my bad luck and I'm serving them to remove my guilt and I can't live a better life because I can't disappoint my parents. They've already told me not to embarrass them anymore.

Anika said as tears escaped from her eyes. Shivaay felt bad for her and he felt an unknown pain in his heart.

He moved his hand towards her to wipe her tears but Anika immediately backed away so that he couldn't touch her as it's a sin to touch widows but Shivaay thought that she was uncomfortable Because of his presence. He smiled sadly.

S- Look Anika, this isn't your fault that your husband died. Just because you were married to him, it doesn't make you responsible for his death. I don't know how he died but these rituals which you follow are just a way for those orthodox people to feel better, to feed their male egos by punishing an innocent woman. So just stop punishing yourself because of those people. You should start living your life in a better way.

Anika looked at him innocently.

A- Won't god punish my family if I live my life happily?

Anika asked him innocently as her family and her in-laws told her that if she doesn't follow traditions of a widow, God will punish them for her ill-deeds.

Shivaay smiled sadly and shook his head in negative.

S- No. Why would god punish someone who wants to live a better life? These orthodox rituals were made by humans, not God. They can't bear anyone's happiness that's why they made these stupid rituals.

Shivaay said and Anika nodded her head with a small smile.

A- So...ummm... Can.... I.....?

She stopped abruptly and Shivaay looked at her in Confusion.

S- So can you what?

Shivaay asked her softly and Anika looked at him hesitantly.

A- So can I eat these?

Anika asked him while pointing towards his plate and Shivaay nodded his head with a chuckle.

S- Of Course. You can eat it.

Shivaay removed the dry chapati from her plate and served half of his food on her plate and Anika's eyes glittered with excitement.

She made a morsel and looked at Shivaay as if Asking for permission if she should eat it or not. Shivaay smiled and nodded his head.

Anika ate the first morsel and she closed her eyes in bliss and as soon as she opened her eyes, they were filled with tears.

Shivaay got worried after looking at her tears.

S- What happened? Is it not good?

Anika shook her head in negative.

A- It's good. It's just that I ate this type of food after 2 years.

Anika said as tears made their way through her cheeks and Shivaay smiled at her with admiration.

S- Now you'll have this food daily including 3 time meal.

Anika looked at him in shock.

A- But....

S- No buts. I'll bring this food for you everyday and we can eat together.

Anika's eyes glittered with happiness.

A- Really?

Shivaay nodded his head and Anika smiled widely but soon her smile faded.

A- But what if someone got to know? They'll get very angry especially Maaji.

S- Don't worry about that. I'll manage that. And in front of your family, we can talk in English as I don't think anyone knows English in the family.

Anika shook her head in negative and smiled.

S- Great. This will be our little secret.

Shivaay said and Anika nodded her head with a smile.

S- So tell me about yourself.

A- Uh.. I studied till 12th class and then my parents got me married when I was 17. After a month of my marriage, my husband got into an accident and passed away. My parents refused to take me back so here I am. I really wanted to study but I guess those were just dreams.

S- Who says you can't study now?

Anika looked at him in Confusion.

A- I can't go to city. It's not possible.

S- But who says you have to go to city to study? You can study from here also.

Shivaay said and Anika looked at him in shock.

A- What? How?

Shivaay immediately took out his iPad from his jacket and forwarded it towards her.

A- What's this?

S- This is ipad. You can study here. Okay, first tell me if you're interested in any courses.

A- I always wanted to become a lawyer.I wanted to fight for those people who couldn't fight for themselves. Look at the irony, here I cannot fight for myself too.

Anika said sadly and Shivaay felt bad for her.

S- It's not your fault. You're very brave Anika and you can be an inspiration for many women.

Anika smiled at him.

S- There are some online courses for law studies. Let me enroll you into Oberoi's University of law.

Shivaay enrolled her name in the university and Anika looked at him in shock.

A- You're Oberoi. Is it your...?

Anika asked him in shock and Shivaay chuckled nervously.

S- Yeah. My grandfather was a Chief justice and he opened this University and after he passed away, he gave this University to me.

Anika smiled at him and nodded her head.

S- Done. Now you can chose your class time and you'll be automatically connected to the class, you can also make notes here in this ipad.

Shivaay taught her everything on the iPad and Anika being a quick learner, got a hang of Everything.

She looked at him with teary eyes.

A- Thank you for doing this for me. Nobody ever did something like that.

Anika said while joining her hands on front of him.

Shivaay immediately held her hands and Anika looked at him in shock. Shivaay immediately removed his hands from hers after looking at her expression.

S- You don't have to thank me. You deserve a better life and I'm just helping you so please don't thank me.

Shivaay said and Anika nodded her head.

Suddenly they heard a noise from outside the door and Anika got worried if someone saw them together.

A- I think you should go. It won't be good if someone saw you here.

Shivaay nodded his head as he didn't want Anika to land in some trouble because of him.

He slowly unlocked the hut door and looked around and saw a stray dog, playing with some branch. He and Anika sighed in relief and Shivaay left for the haveli.

Anika washed her plate and went to bed.

It was the first time in 2 years when she slept with a wide smile on her face.

Hello everyone.🤗🤗

Here you go with the next chapter.😁😁

How was it?😊😊