Flares of jealousy. Anshi/ Shivika OS (AN on page 6)

Rudra was walking out towards his car when his phone rang. He saw the name on the screen and smiled. It was O.

"itni jaldi mujhe miss kar rahe ho?" he said imitating a girl like voice.

"Rudra, Mazak mat karo." He heard omkara's serious voice and stopped in his stride.

"kuch hua hai kya?" he asked worried.

"Shivay kaha hai?"

"he left, panch minute pehle, tumhare exhibition ke liye. Kyun?"

"shit!" he heard Om curse and then the line went off. Rudra stared at his phone for a moment and then immediately ran to his car.

As soon as Shivay entered he was turned around at the door by Omkara. He looked at him confused.

"tum kar kya rahe ho?" Shivay asked him.

He saw Omkara look past him over his shoulder and frowned. He was about to turn around when Omkara pulled his attention.

"Shivay agar main tumse kahoon ki piche mud ke mat dekhna toh kya tum meri baat manoge?"

Shivay's frown deepened and he turned around to see what exactly Om was looking at.

He heard Omkara mumble a Of course not' but his attention was on the girl he could see standing there. Dressed in a black top and blue jeans with him. Anika. She was staring at a painting with a light smile. The light from the wall to her right was creating a halo around her form and for a moment Shivay had imagined her as a divine entity, pure and pious beyond his reach. But then he remembered who she actually was.

"woh yahan kya kar rahi hai?" Shivay asked out loud.

Omkara sighed. "I don't know Shivay. shayad maine hi usse invite kiya hoga." He said in thought.

Shivay turned to look at him. there was some weird emotion in those blue orbs that belonged to his brother but he could not name it.

Shivay turned back to look at her and slowly made his way to where she was standing.

Om walked behind Shivay worried about his reaction.

When they reached her they saw her smiling at one of his paintings.

"bohot sudar hai." She said and turned to face Om. He smiled and thanked her. then her eyes met his and she gave him a superior look and turned back to the painting.

Shivay narrowed his eyes. Om caught his breath.

Shivay started to ask her, "tum yahan..." but before he could finish he saw her turn back to him and a huge smile light up her face.

He looked at her totally confused. Why was she smiling at him like that? he kept staring at her as she walked to him and then past him. his eyebrows drew together. She hadn't smiled at him. he looked on still waiting for her to reach her destination and then froze.

He felt a sudden rage overcome all his senses to the point that he could feel the heat from his own body. Not only had she ignored him but she had walked past him with that brilliant smile to him. Siddhart Vikram Rana. The man he couldn't stand.

Om could clearly see the change in his brother's expression from stunned to furious. And he cursed mentally. He didn't know how Anika knew Siddhart and right now he didn't even care. his brother was his priority.

As soon as Rudra entered the gallery his eyes started searching the crowd to spot the long black hair which he knew belonged to his brother. When he saw him standing in isolation leaning against a wall he hurried to him and caught hold of his shoulder.

"what the hell O? aapne call cut kyun kiya? Bhaiya ke bare mein kyun puch rahe the?" he fired at his brother.

Om didn't look at him which made Rudra frown. Omkara was staring at something so he followed his gaze and saw his Shivay bhaiya standing under a gloomy looking painting. Was that a green monster in that one? Rudra thought, squinting his eyes to get a better look at the painting. Then he realised that he had come here worried for his Shivay bhaiya. But his Bhaiya seemed fine. Rather he seemed like he was in his lion mode ready to pounce on some poor lamb.

He turned back to Om and tapped him on his shoulder as a reminder that he still hadn't answered his questions.

"maine call kiya tha kyunki I was worried about how Shivay would react on seeing Anika here."

"and?"

"kuch nahi hua." Om said and then on second though added, "well Abhi tak toh nahi."

"kuch hona chahiye kya O?" Rudra asked him confused. He turned to take a look at his Bhaiya and saw him narrow his eyes at something. He searched around to see what was it that was displeasing his Bhaiya and his eyes fell on Anika di, laughing at something Siddhart Vikram Rana said. Wait! Siddhart Vikram Rana!? How in the world did that happen?

"who...who...Anika di uske saath kya kar rahi hai?" Rudra fumbled out.

"bachpan ke dost hai." Om said mindlessly.

"Anika di aur woh "the one who must not be named" yahan kya kar raha hai? Who bhi together?" Rudra asked scared.

"the one who must not be named?" Om asked with a raised eyebrow.

"O. harry potter nahi dekhi kya?" Rudra said in a whisper.

"nahi" Omkara whispered back.

"waise hum whisper kyun kar rahe hai?" he asked Rudra still whispering.

"pata nahi O." Rudra said confused.

Omkara rolled his eyes. "who sab chodo. Baat ye hai ki maine Anika se pucha ki who Siddhart ko kaise janti hai."

Rudra turned to him curious.

"bachpan mein jab Anika orphanage mein thi tab Siddhart apne dad ke saath aaya tha to give donation there. Tab dono mile aur dost ban gaye."

"di orphanage mein thi?" Rudra asked getting sad.

Omkara looked down at him aand smiled lightly at his brother's adorable face and ruffled his hair to pull him in a side hug.

"don't worry. Who uska past tha. Now she is happy. See look at her laughing there." Om said to cheer up his brother.

Rudra looked up to see Anika laughing loudly at something Siddhart had told her.

"what are you looking at Shivay?" Omkara asked as he stood being Shivay. Shivay turned to see both his brothers looking at him. one wiggling his eyebrows and the other giving him a knowing smile.

"one of your paintings." He offered.

"which one? the blue or the grey?" Omkara asked looking over his head.

He was about to turn around to take a look just to say one of the colours when Rudra said to him, "bhaiya, aap itni der se usse dekh rahe the aur aap itna bhi nahi bata sakte?"

"usse kisse?" Shivay asked getting defensive.

"painting ko bhaiya." Rudra said with mirth and then gave Omkara a look. Omkara just covered his mouth subtly to hide his smile.

"blue." Shivay said just to shut them up.

"sure" both drawled out and then Om said, "continue staring. Usse. I mean painting ko." And they both walked away. when Shivya turned he realised both his brothers had asked hi m a trick question. There was no painting there at all. And then he heard that sound. Her laughter.

It felt musical but when he saw her laugh at someone else other than him he could literally see everything red. That was the degree to which he was pissed. From the moment Anika had walked past him to that Rana, she hadn't even glanced in his direction. And worse, she was laughing and giving him smiles which annoyed him to no end. Those laughs, those smiles which she never even gave him a glimpse to, were being showered on that Rana and he felt like kicking his ass out of here.

This was an Art gallery. His brother's that too and he didn't want their annoying laughs to disturb the serenity of this place. Yes that was why he was angry, he told himself.

He saw her point something on that Rana's shoulder. He unconsciously took a step forward with the intention of coming between them when he saw her put her hand on that Rana's shoulder to flick whatever was there away.

Ha had had enough. Now he had to do something.

Anika had gone to get water when she felt someone pull her inside the fire escape. She realised that the form pulling her up the stairs belong to Shivay Singh Oberoi and she relaxed a bit from her panicked frenzy.

She saw him push the door to the terrace open and as soon as they were in the broad daylight she yanked her hand away.

"aap yeh ya kar rahe hai?" she asked him irritated.

"tum yahan kya kar rahi ho?" he asked her back.

Anika narrowed her eyes at him, "kyun yahan kahi board lagaya hai kya, Anika not allowed'?"

"khud ko itni importance mat do." Shivay said doing his signature step of setting his hair.

"importance main nahi aap de rahe hai." She said and then imitated his own step.

"main kyun dunga tumhe importance." Shivay blurted out, "mujhe tumse koi pharak nahi padta."

"toh phir aap humesha mujhse ye sare sawal kyun karte rehte hai? Yahan kyun ho, wahan kyun, ho? Is duniya main kyun ho? Naam kya hai? Ghar kahan hai? Gharwale kahan hai? Nashte mein kya khaya?"

"yeh maine kab pucha?" Shivay interrupted her.

"pucha nahi toh ab puch lenge." She stated.

"aapki jankari ke liye bata doon ki maine aloo puri kahyi thi." She informed it.

"and why am I not surprised?" Shivay said to himself rolling his eyes.

"kya kaha aapne?" she asked coming closer to him. this made Shiavy take two steps back.

Regaining his composure he said, "aloo kha kah kar tum bhi aloo banti ja rahi ho."

"itna notice karte hai aap mujhe?" She asked him sweetly just to mock him.

"main tume notice kyun karunga. Mujhe tumse koi.."

"pharak nahi padta." She completed his sentence. "isilye hum abhi yahan khade hai?" she asked totally unimpressed.

Shivay fumbled. Why had he pulled her up like this?

"agar koi baat nahi hai toh main wapas jati hoon apne dost ke pas."

That got his rage back again. as she was walking past him he caught onto her wrist and pulled her back. Anika stumbled in front of him and balanced herself. She looked up at him glaring daggers.

"aap shayad meri chameli ka kamal bhool gaye hai. Himmat kaise hui aapki aisa karne ki?"

"himmat kaise hui tumhari aisa karne ki?" Shivay asked her back angrily.

Anika looked at him confused. Had she broken something this morning in his house. she tried to rewind everything. No she hadn't. she checked his clothes for wetness or stains of gobbar but no that was not present too. So what exactly had she done?

"Siddhart Vikram Rana mera sabse bade rival hai." Shivay said through gritted teeth.

"Raval?"Anika looked at him confused.

"Rival" Shivay said with force, "mera dushman."

"oh." Anika said understanding his meaning. But what he was angry about she still couldn't understand. And then it hit her.

She felt a sudden urge to slap the man in front of her.

"aapse ghatiya insaan maine aaj tak nahi dekha." She said with venom.

Shivay was taken by surprised. One moment she had been in thought and the very next second she had just flung an insult right to his face. he narrowed his eyes feeling his anger surface too.

"aap kehna chahte hi ki Siddhart ne meri kimat chukayi hai na. ki main uske liye kaam karti hoon." She said anger radiating from her body.

"tum kya keh rahi ho?" now Shivay was totally confused. And then he got the meaning of her words. He hadn't thought about it but no it simply because he knew Siddhart for a very long time. they had been rivals for so long that he knew with surety that no matter what Siddhart would never do this. For all the bad blood between them they had an unwritten pact to never get personal with each other. But that Anika didn't know.

"Anika..." he tried to reason with her but she put up her hand.

"humesha, jab mujhe lagne lagta hai ki shayad aap itne bure bhi nahi hai tab humesha aap kuch aisa kar dete hai ki maan lkarta hai aapko mein yehin se phek doon."

Shivay looked around just to be sure that he was not close to the edge. He didn't trust her.

"bhaad mein jaye aap." He heard her say and before he could stop her she had left. He felt a pain in his heart at her accusation and he clutched it. He hadn't accused her this time. she had. And he didn't like that feeling. He leaned on the closed door rubbing his chest to make that pang go away.

Anika stormed out the door but when she reached the bottom stair she turned to look back up at the closed door. She felt betrayed by him. he had always accused her but these days she had finally felt that something had changed between them. But she was wrong.

When Shivay came down he was immediately cornered by his brothers.

"O. tumnhe dekha?"

"kya Rudra?" Omkara said even though he knew what Rudra was talking about.

"abhi abhi do log yahan se bahar aaye hai."

"kaun do Rudra?"

Shivay froze. Had they saw him pull anika up. Had they saw her come out before him.

"ek ka naam hota hai S se shuru aur doosre ka naam hota hai A se shuru. S tall handsome gabaru jawan hai aur A ek bechari si ladki hai."

Shivay snorted at that. he knew who Rudra meant. And Anika was anything but bechari.

Rudra continued. "agar S ko doondna ho toh A ko doondo. S khudba khud mil jayega aas paas."

Shivay mentally slapped himself. He should have been careful

Shivay glared at Rudra. "shut up Rudra."

"aap mujhpar kyun ghusa ho rahe hai bhaiya. Main aapki baat thodi na kar raha hoon. Main toh uski aur Anika di ki baat kar raha hoon." He said and winked at Om.

"uski kiski?" Shivay asked suddenly interested.

"Siddhart ki." Rudra said and raised his hand for a high five but when Shivay just looked at him wide eyed he looked at Om who returned his High five. They both laughed and Shivay just narrowed his eyes. that Rana was not that tall. May be a one or two inch more than him. and he was definitely not as handsome as himself. He was also a gabaru jawan or whatever Rudra had said.

Both Om and Rudra were observing various expressions cross their brother's face and almost wanted to scream to him that he was obviously jealous. But their stubborn thick skulled brother wouldn't understand it till he realised it himself.

"mujhe ye piece lena hai." Siddhart told Omkara. Omkara smiled at him apologetically and said, "sorry Siddhart but this is not for sale. Yeh maine specially shivay ke liye banaya hai."

"oh I see." Siddhart said disappointed. Anika patted his arm.

Just then Shivay came there and his attention was drawn to Anika's hand touching Rana's arm.

He put on his business face with a small smirk and addressed Rana, "it's amazing ki humesha tumhe meri hi pasand ki hui cheezey pasand aati hai."

Siddhart took up the verbal jibe in good humour and retorted back, "kya karoon. Tumhe cheeze pasand toh aati hai par uski value der se samajh aati hai."

Shivay's eyes drifted to Anika. Eyeing her he said, "job hi ho. Meeri pasand ki hui cheeze meri ho jati hai. Aur jomera hai who chahe kitna bhi door jaye wapas mere pas hi aa jata hai."

Anika looked up at him surprised at his words and its implication. She didn't understand what he was talking about but she could see possessiveness in those blue eyes.

For a moment it felt like no one else existed there as they looked into each other's eyes. his boring into hers trying to see the answers to the questions his own new feelings were beginning to ask and hers staring back at him trying to understand what it was that was pulling her towards him.