Waterworks || A ShivIka OS
The Oberoi Mansion was deserted.
For once, Shivaay wasn't privy to any animated fights between Rudra and Saumya, his mother's indignant Oh my mata, or Tia's over-the-top American accent, and now that he thought of it, her simpering Shivaay Baby either. Not even the dull scraping of pottery that Om usually contributed to the usual uproar of the house could be heard.
Shivaay Singh Oberoi was glad.
Oberoi Industries, and their CEO, Tej Singh Oberoi were being named the guest of honour at a charity venture, because his uncle had issued a more than generous donation to their fund. Not out of the goodness of his heart, but rather, because Tej was successfully trying to impress the foreign branch of their company, who, unsurprisingly, were looking to invest in a corporate firm. Thus, most of the family had attended the function too, as a desperate intervention to curb anymore inane rumours about the Oberoi empire. The media had had a field day with the Malika controversy, and the last thing they needed was more dedication from the press.
Omkara had refused to make an appearance, muttering something under his breath about not wanting to glorify blood-sucking corporate leeches. Always the saint, the artist had instead taken Saumya to the art hub, promising to fulfil her long-held desire to eat the dosa there. Between an assortment of fresh clay, and a menagerie of blank canvasses, Shivaay didn't really know when his brother had had the time to try dosa. He, for one, would never try street food. The delicate Oberoi palate (he was a proud epicurean) would not be able to handle such sacrilege.
Head pounding, Shivaay dropped his files on the study room table and made his way towards his room. It had been a taxing day at work, and, as happened on the rare occasion, he was way too exhausted to work. Sidhaarth Vikram Rana was vying for the same Italian clients as he was, and as unfortunate as it was, he was too close to succeeding. Shivaay smirked darkly; trust Rana to go back to his usual, slippery self even after the huge favour he had done him. Getting him married to Shivaay's escapist ex-girlfriend had been a task, and a part of him had hoped that some of the bad blood between the Oberoi's and the Rana's would die down. But it hadn't, and instead, the Rana Group seemed even more hell-bent on ruining any prospect of profit that the Oberoi's were seeking.
Well, two could play this game. After all, he was Shivaay Singh Oberoi - the king of using people and India's most effectual master manipulator.
But not today. All he wanted to do at this very moment was down three expressos, alongside a multitude of medication (he needed to be on top of his game to destroy Rana tomorrow). He was going to make that Siddharth Vikram Rana wish that he had never decided to challenge him. He was going to -
And that's when he heard it.
Or rather, her.
Of course, when he had revelled in the fact that the house was empty, he had forgotten about his infuriating wedding planner.
"You would think that the stupid Oberoi's would be able to afford a fully functioning water system!"
His jaw dropped, and his feet unwillingly carried him towards his bathroom, where the raucous yelling, and the unmistakable sound of dripping water was coming from.
The sight that greeted him was quite unimaginable.
Annika was currently lying on her stomach on the bathroom floor, head craning under the open bathroom cabinet, evidently fiddling with the pipes inside, which as it seemed, were leaking. But he had noticed this in one sweep of his eyes. Rather, his vision was preoccupied with hungrily tracing the curves of her body; her sheer navy blouse was now quite revealing, as Annika was being showered lightly on by the rebellious water conduits. He had a ridiculous urge to push away the strands of loose curls that had made way onto her face, and as much as he tried to convince himself that it was because he hated mess, it was to no avail.
She annoyed him so much that sometimes, all Shivaay wanted to do was bang his head repeatedly against a wall. But he couldn't deny that he was also drawn to her, like a moth is drawn to a flame.
That's exactly what she was; a flame. She was enigmatic, a kaleidoscope of colours that were uncontrollable, and as much as Shivaay Singh Oberoi loved control, he loved her immunity to it even more. No, he didn't love her, of course he didn't. It was just raring attraction that he had learned to control well. When she was in the room, all he could do was stare at her, her every movement, every nonsensical thing she did had become the bane of his existence. He had decided that it was extremely unhealthy, and he was pretty much at the end of his tether with his younger brothers' relentless teasing. So he had taken to leaving before he saw her in the morning, and coming back after she had left. Although, he reminded himself, he didn't really need to. He knew how to exercise self control, and so when his need for her had reached it's peak, he had internally yelled at himself to stop acting like Rudra.
It was nothing but residual lust - he had managed to convince himself of that a while ago. As soon as he got married to Tia, and she stopped being everywhere he looked, he would forget Annika like the nobody that she was. Still, a part of him hoped that she would meet his feelings halfway, but expecting the absurdly clueless woman to understand his feelings was almost laughable.
It wasn't unrequited, he knew that at least. Well, he didn't know, but surely he hadn't imagined the longing in her eyes when he had caught her mid-fall a few days ago. And she had called his eyes beautiful. That had to count for something, right?
Shivaay couldn't possibly be the only one feeling like this, he refused to believe it.
He snapped out of his thoughts as the object of his vexation roared exceptionally loudly, dragging herself up to kneel in front of the cupboard, still glaring at the pipes inside.
"I can't believe that - "
"Annika."
She froze. Surely she was imagining the familiar voice. It couldn't be him, the voice that had just spoken seemed to have had underlying mirth to it. And Mr Bagad Billa Singh Oberoi didn't know how to laugh. Well, he did, and Annika couldn't repudiate the fact that it was insanely attractive when he did, but he couldn't be home yet. He came home in the evening, and the last time she had checked her watch it had been 1pm exactly. Her eyes moved hesitantly towards the watch on her wrist, and she cursed herself. She had spent so long trying to fix this goddamned tap, that unknowingly, she had forfeited five whole hours to the task.
"Annika, what are you doing?"
This time she looked up at him, and unwillingly met his eyes. He was leaning against the door frame languidly, looking handsome in a way that somehow only the aristocratic knew how to. Shivaay Singh Oberoi looked glorious in his own way, even with the dark rings under his eyes and the untidy hair, as he surveyed her intently. Annika suddenly felt quite self-conscious, and stood hastily to match his stature.
And she did what she always did to control her raging emotions around him.
With a sharp intake of breath, Annika launched into an incensed diatribe.
"I don't understand, Billu Ji. Is your family even rich? I'm not rich, as we both know, and even my tap works better than this one! I haven't seen such a horribly leaky tap in ages! I swear to god, if I got my hands on the plumber that installed this stupid water system, I would use chameli to beat the absolute shit out of his sorry body! I always tell Dadi that you Oberoi's spend way too much money on the wrong things!"
For a second, he was overwhelmed with the amount of force she had managed to impart into a discussion about a leaking tap, but again, this was Annika. Of course she liked dealing with extremities.
Ignoring her, he strode towards where she was now standing, conveniently blocking the open cupboard door.
"Move." His order was quite weary, and the usual commanding tone in his voice seemed to have faded away. Nevertheless, Annika was determined in her own stance, her ego still quite intact after five wasted hours.
"I don't need your help! "
"Oh, really?" His brow quirked in amusement, lightly pushing her away as he crouched on the floor to examine the source of the dripping water. Annika also crouched down beside him, insistently hissing into his ear in indignation.
"I'll have you known that this is quite easy compared to the feats I've achieved. You know, this one time, I single-handedly fought off this wild bull that had made its way into the market. I just grabbed my chameli and waved it at him and before you know it, he - "
She trailed off as she noticed that her companion had stood up again, leaning on the edge of the bathroom vanity as he gazed at her fixatedly.
"You're staring at me." Annika said, internally cringing as she realised that her voice was suddenly very hoarse.
"Huh?" Shivaay suddenly shook his head, looking around in confusion. Annika took this as a cue to retain her original position on the floor as she reached back into the cupboard.
"I said... oh nevermind! Where was I?"
She said this while twisting the knob of the pipe which had abruptly started dripping even more consistently. Annika kept twisting it, hoping that the leaking would stop soon as there was a dull ache in her wrist from the repeated tightening.
Shivaay realised too late what was about to happen, and he quickly moved away, while yelling.
"Annika, you're loosening it, not tightening!"
"What? I don't understand...aagh!"
From inside the cabinet, the pipe burst, and in a cruel twist of fate, so did the corresponding tap on the sink above it. Two harsh streams of water pealed from both places, inundating an unfortunate Annika who was stuck in the middle of the situation. Shivaay decided that it was time to move her away, because as it seemed, she was still in shock from the flood of cold water that was currently on the path to drowning her. As he moved towards her, she herself, in a frenzied state, pulled him towards her.
Annika buried her face in his chest, grappling for the lapels on his jacket in a desperate attempt to shield herself from the water. Instead of entangling himself from wet embrace, he let himself relax, surprisingly content with the feeling of her soft body against his.
"What are you doing, Billu Ji? Help me!" She yelled, after what seemed like the eternity for which both of them had stood in the violent fountain of soak. He couldn't reply, because, much to her disbelief, he burst into laughter.
She watched as his face contorted in amusement, and she felt her heart flutter when he heard the deep rumble of mirth that he was exerting.
"Have you actually lost it? Why on earth are you laughing?!"
"Because for once, you're the one soaking wet, and unlike you, I'm pretty dry, see?"
"Are you really going to start this? Two can play this game, Mr Shivaay Singh Oberoi!"
With this, she finally moved out of their loose embrace and subjected him to the outpour of water, which until then, she had been attacked with solely.
Now she was laughing as the man before her stopped laughing, instead looking extremely panicked as he mourned the loss of his favourite Armani suit.
"Annika! What the heck - "
But soon remnants of his smile swept back onto his face as he watched Annika laugh vivaciously, almost like a young child, finally being allowed some candy. His attraction to her came back to a forefront as he couldn't help making his way closer to her, watching her longingly as she flailed her arms around wildly, jumping around in the rain of the leaking pipes.
As her arms accidently hit his shoulder, he finally moved from his intent stupor, grabbing her wrists with a strange sort of reflex action, instinctively pulling her closer to his chest again.
They were back in the same position that they had been before, but this time, Annika relaxed into his grip. The spraying water now just in the background, Shivaay and Annika were too wrapped up in their proximity to care about how soaked both of them were.
Both of them could feel the heat in the air, and they were both so captivated with each other, that months of mutual longing had finally made an appearance.
Annika could feel a blush coming on, and thus, avoiding his desperate gaze she distracted herself by attempting to redo the button of his blazer. Her hands sliding up his jacket again, she had naively aroused the man further.
Letting go of her wrists, he snaked his arms around her waist, drawing her even closer. In sync, her arms moved up around his neck, but she couldn't meet his eyes.
"Look at me, Annika." Shivaay said huskily, moving a hand away from her waist to slowly prop her chin so that she was finally eye level with him.
Her large eyes met his icy ones, but today, they seemed to be filled with a warmth she had rarely seen. They had a silent understanding in that moment, and as both of them slowly leaned into a chaste kiss, Shivaay Singh Oberoi felt as free as he could remember in ages.
Just as his lips had managed to brush hers, Annika's eyes had widened at a sight behind his shoulder. She had promptly pushed him away, and ran out of the bathroom as fast as she could, brushing past the youngest Oberoi brother as she did. Shivaay turned to his brother slowly, dreading the imminent discussion he was about to be included in.
"Oh my mata!"
Rudra Singh Oberoi clapped his hand across his open mouth in shock and glee. He couldn't wait to tell O about this, Shivaay Bhaiya and Annika Di were having a passionate make-out session in his bathroom. Why they were both soaked with water though, he had no idea. They could've just moved it to the bedroom, but no.
They had taken to initiating kisses under the spell of tap water, was their need for each other so intense that they couldn't wait for monsoon season?
Rudra shook his head in amazement.
Sometimes, they took their infatuation with water too far.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
