FF || In Search Of Silver Linings [A/N Pg15] - Page 3

Pm me please. Thoroughly loved it.

Very well written. I liked how you covered all the events. I see that you have put the Index. I like the chronology. From her supporters to the naysayers. Can't wait for more. I hope you encompass movement in time. Everybody has to heal, mostly Shivaay and Anika. Maybe the epilogue can be from Anika's pov.

Wow such a wonderful write up

Wow it was awesome...do update soon "

Part II | Rudra

'It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like the morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living.'

- F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

It had been a while since Annika had laughed.

The youngest counterpart of the Oberoi brotherhood, on the other hand, lived to laugh, and more importantly, to make others laugh. Most of his family weren't exactly one of the happiest that he had had the pleasure of knowing, so Rudra Singh Oberoi took it upon himself to make as many people happy as he could.

Laughter was a precious commodity these days, and one that he craved immensely. It had the strength to forgive and forget, and without any residual anger or pain. Because while confrontations had the tendency to leave everything out in the open, easy and available to be torn to shreds, laughter was a plea, a longing and a fulfilment all at once.

Laughter was a vulnerability too, but one that he had relied on his whole life.

It was a lifelong venture, a pursuit even, that he felt, at times like these, would go unresolved. At these times, he felt that he was infinitely childish, he found his own naivety frustrating and cursed himself for being so goddamn immature.

In the eyes of the world, too, Rudra was anything but mature.

The youngest son of the looming Oberoi empire, he was widely known to have made a sport of breaking hearts, and being arrogant, insensitive and an overall brat. Not to mention, he was seen to be more than slightly idiotic. The media had often made a spectacle of this procured view of his personality, and they had even taken to writing comparison articles of the Oberoi brothers for the contentment of the general public. Not that they stayed in print for too long, because Tej Singh Oberoi had adopted the sole duty of destroying every company that had dared.

But he, himself, had been on the lookout for these scandalous articles, and had more than once caught sight of the media's impression on him.

Rudra Singh Oberoi, the disappointment of the Oberoi family?

Shivaay Singh Oberoi cracks deals, while his younger brother breaks hearts?

Or his absolute favourite, Should Rudra Singh Oberoi take up art therapy with his talented elder brother, Omkara?

No, Rudra was nothing like his elder brothers, Shivaay and Omkara.

Shivaay, the shark of the business world, was both formidable yet extremely respected. Televisions, magazines and pretty much every corporate buff constantly boasted of his business intellect, and was even said to be possess more of an aptitude for the industry than his intimidatingly brilliant uncle, Tej Singh Oberoi. His other face, the one he reserved solely for his family was his endlessly compassionate, loving and dangerously protective side. Shivaay would kill for his family.

On the other hand, Omkara was an artist, a god- gifted one at that, and infinitely idealistic, he saw the beauty of the world around him, making him the media favourite. In fact, Omkara was constantly moving up Forbes Most Eligible Bachelor list, and after his breakup with Ridhimma, young women were practically hounding his art galleries to catch the attention of the long-haired humanitarian artistic gem that Om was. Indeed, he was one of the kindest men that he knew, but his hunger for justice, and his black-and-white thinking both inspired and terrified him. Not one to break rules like his brother Shivaay, Omkara would die for his family.

Next to them, Rudra was almost average, but he would honestly rather be average than possess any one of the darker facets that were integral to their formidable being.

Omkara's dependence on drugs reflected so heavily on the unavoidable part of their childhood, one that had been marred by resentment and broken bottles of exquisite liquor. Rudra loved his mother, but unbeknownst to the family, he had blamed his brother's addiction on her alcoholism. Maybe, if she had tried just a bit harder, maybe things wouldn't have stretched this far. He knew it was unfair, but being an Oberoi was unfair, and that thought was mockingly ridiculous in itself.

Rudra had realised that the darkest parts of his brothers' personalities were passed down to them, an unsolicited legacy, even.

He was thankful that he hadn't inherited his father's streamlined money-based belief system, the same personality trait that had ruined his eldest brother. Shivaay's deciduousness, his unyielding perceptions of the world, the reasons that had led to the failure of his marriage, even before either party had been given the chance to resolve their differences, or rather, their growing distances.

And finally, he had stumbled upon the problem that had been consuming him for weeks now, one that he had tried to run away from repeatedly, because the guilt of what his family, of what he had done, was too much to bear.

Rudra Singh Oberoi had broken many a heart before, and yet, just watching as his brother had broken his sister-in-law in front of his eyes had sickened him to the stomach.

The first three months of Shivaay and Annika's marriage had been terrible, even frightening to witness. His brother had managed to cross all boundaries when it came to his wife, and not in the way that Rudra had hoped.

Shivaay had treated Annika like an animal; open taunts about her family, or lack thereof, her supposedly wh**eish tendencies, her complete and utter inadequacy that made her even considering to become the eldest daughter-in-law of the Oberoi household, a comprehensive joke. And when he wasn't directing comments like these, laced with malicious intent, he completely ignored her, or even worse, flaunted Tia in front of the world, in front of her, as if showing her what she could never have.

It was then that Rudra decided that it was time he picked a side, a side that was not with his brother, which was a surprise in itself, because it was common knowledge that Rudra worshipped his eldest brother, and so had never, ever not seen reason behind what Shivaay did, let alone defy it.

But he loved his Annika Di, equally as much as he loved his brothers, and as he stood outside her room now, plate in hand, he wondered what exactly it was about this woman that made him love her so much.

It was everything.

When Annika had come into their lives, somewhere in the distant past that he could almost not remember, she had reformed everything. His family, still recovering from Tej's affair, Om's drug addiction, Shivaay's deal of a future marriage, Pinky and Jhanvi's unceasing arguments, had been overwhelmed by the hurricane that was Annika.

Suddenly, he couldn't remember not having her around, what with the constant laughter, the sheer happiness that was practically bouncing of the limestone walls of Oberoi Mansion. Her compassion for all of them, her care that went above and beyond what could be expected from a family member them self, Annika Di had carved a space into even the stoniest of hearts, even into Tej Singh Oberoi's.

She wasn't a hurricane; she was an angel.

His family's angel. His brother's angel.

Indeed, the youngest Oberoi brother believed in angels with unrivalled faith.

As a child, his Daadi had assured him that there were angels that watched over the world, helping mortals when they needed it. In the eyes of a six-year-old, this was enough to soften the blows of the constant arguments between his parents, but not anything that anyone had expected to last.

But it did, and it only got stronger after he started listening to the Love Angel. And then he found out that that the radio jockey that he had believed in so ardently, was none other than his best friend, Saumya. And after the sheer hell that he had unleashed upon her, one that finally made him live up to being Shivaay Singh Oberoi's younger brother, it had only confirmed his belief further.

Saumya was his angel, and as he thought of his best friend that he treated with more affection than he had ever shown any friend, he knew that Annika was Shivaay's angel.

Because if she had reformed the family, she had completely changed Shivaay.

When he was with her, his brother, eternally the protector, always the Great Wall, let his guard down. He indulged in childish debates, and innocent whims, and previously unfulfilled desires. The small part, the affectionate, loving part of his heart that Shivaay Singh Oberoi had previously only reserved for his family, was finally being treated on someone else.

Everyone had picked up on it, even Pinky, and whether or not they denied it, they all knew that Shivaay had only changed for the better. Rudra had instantly adored Annika even more when he realised this, but what he hadn't realised until much later was that their family had given her something as well, and then had promptly taken it all away again, leaving her bereft.

A family.

And as much as he wanted to shake his sister-in-law, and cry and beg for her forgiveness, while simultaneously assuring her that she was their family, they were her family, he knew that it would be to no avail.

Annika was indecipherable.

Rudra knew what his brother had done to her, taken advantage of the vulnerability that she had refused to show anyone for years, out of the fear of what the world would do to her when they found out.

He felt an overarching amount of compassion for this woman, more than he had ever felt for anyone in his whole entire life, because for once, he understood someone completely.

Maybe because they were so alike?

In terms of suffering, Annika and Rudra were unequal.

While she had come from a world of pain, one tainted by leaking roofs and hungry nights, he had been brought up at the acme of high society, privileged and spoilt. Even so, no one, not even Priyanka, who was her best friend, knew anything about Annika past the choice amounts of information that she had chosen to divulge herself. And it was to this part of her that Rudra related most.

Out of all the Oberoi brothers, his family knew Rudra to be the open book. While Shivaay put up his Great Wall to shelter his family from all the evil he knew of the world, Om, the artist, was introverted as ever, and rather chose not to reveal the considerations of his deepest, most spiritual sentiments. Rudra, on the other hand, was loud and rambunctious and cocky, and so, in theory should be the most predictable. But only he knew what he did on a daily basis - laugh and drown the dark mansion in trivial immaturities, so peace and calamity would prevail. Omkara had once said something, something on the lines of, the happiest people are often the saddest. Maybe the wording wasn't completely right, but he knew that both Annika Di and himself drew from the same flock of birds, from the one that Om had described so admiringly.

They both hid their pain behind laughter, jokes and their obvious fatuity.

It only made his respect for Annika grow further, because now that he saw it, he couldn't unsee it. Whenever he saw her smile, make a weak joke, all he saw were the tears, all he heard was the shaking voice.

It only served to fuel his determination to make her happy even more resilient.

Now, if one thing could cheer Rudra Singh Oberoi up like no other, it was food.

While he was more of a chocolate icecream man himself, what did his Annika Di like to eat again?

As the idea struck him like lightning on a clear night, he had hurried to the kitchen, on a quest to make his beloved sister laugh once more.

***

As Rudra stood in the grand Oberoi kitchen, cheese grater in one hand, and a mutilated carrot in the other, he took a deep breath. He was in Shivaay Bhaiya's territory, and even that mere thought made him feel no less than a warrior in a battlefield.

But he had to do it, for her.

So as he hummed incessantly to a song he couldn't quite place, he started frying the carrots in butter. As he diligently followed a terribly-written gajar ka halwa recipe on a dodgy Taste webpage, he poured three bottles of milk into the pan. He poured some sugar in this, and then some more butter, and as the milk started to froth uncontrollably, Rudra decided that that the meal was ready.

As he tried to overlook the smell of burnt milk, he told himself that he was a true culinary aficionado.

Living with Saumya had really done wonders to his vocabulary, but living with eldest brother for his whole life had apparently not really nurtured any of his cooking abilities. If either one of said people were here, they would've explained to him that what he was, oh so proudly presenting as gajar ka halwa, was practically inedible and instead of making anyone happy, would contribute to a notorious case of food poisoning.

But Saumya was away in Goa, visiting her mother, and Shivaay was either still locked up in his room, or had once again decided to camp out at the office, like he had been for the past few weeks.

So, as Rudra stood outside his sister-in-law's room, the guest room neatly tucked away in the left wing of the house, he looked at his plate of gajar ka halwa lovingly, and prayed to every god he knew that his Annika Di would love it.

The object of his campaign was sitting on the bed, with a folder of what seemed like multiple bills - she was planning the upcoming Luthra wedding, so he expected that it was to do with that.

"Bhabhi?"

He got no response, as Annika nonchalantly flipped through the papers she was slowly separating and spreading out onto her bed, and Rudra sighed.

It was one of the only things she had stressed throughout the course of the skewed marriage, that she was not to be called Bhabhi, because she refused to be considered as Shivaay Singh Oberoi's wife.

"Annika Didi?"

"Hmm?"

Hastily pushing all the open documents into her folder, she closed it with a snap and looked at Rudra in expectance. As he surveyed her face, with hard lines and sunken eyes, he felt another surge of affection for her, and clumsily landed on the bed, promptly waving the plate that he was holding, towards her face.

He proffered a plate of what seemed like...

With narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows, Annika looked at the plate suspiciously. It was brown, very brown, and the distinct smell of burnt milk filled her senses, and as she smiled at Rudra uncertainly, she asked him one question as carefully as she could, to try and avoid any hurt sentiments.

"Rudra, what is this?"

"Gajar ka Halwa, of course!" Rudra grinned proudly, but as he saw Annika's twisted lips, he had a growing fear that something had gone very wrong.

Annika looked down at the proffered plate, took the spoon unwillingly and dipped it into the brown mound, bringing it into her mouth, internally imploring that she made it out the ordeal alive.

It was terrible.

Terrible was an understatement, really.

As she swallowed the salty brown lumps of whatever it was that Rudra had presented her, Annika's eyes watered and she nearly gagged, only to see Rudra's pleading orbs staring back at her. As she offered him as big of a smile as she could muster, Annika surveyed her youngest brother-in-law calculatingly.

"You made this for me?"

"I made it for someone I love." Rudra looked down at his feet, apparently embarrassed. Annika Di hated sympathy, and if she got even the slightest hint that he had cooked for her, because he felt bad for the events that had taken place in the earlier weeks, she would be infinitely upset. But as it seemed, Annika was already a step ahead.

"So...me?"

"How did you know?"

He had expected a sentimental confrontation, tears, hell, even her yelling. But when Annika finally replied, eyes dancing with a mirth that he had not seen for so long, that he had almost forgotten it, Rudra knew that the gajar ka halwa had been a bloody genius idea.

"Well, I take it that Romi doesn't eat gajar ka halwa."

Rudra buried his face in his hands, and let out a muffled scream.

"NOOO!"

Annika felt a wave of movement rumble through her body, and when she breathed out, she could hear the sounds of her bubbling laughter echo against the walls of the outsized room. She hadn't felt freer in days, weeks, months even.

"ANNIKA DI, PLEASE REFRAIN FROM TALKING ABOUT THAT PSYCHO!"

Her laughter only got louder as she heard Rudra talking about the escapades of the Goddess Romi, and her Rudra Dev. And through his enthusiastic cursing of a certain size-zero witch, Rudra nearly cried when he saw what he had achieved.

His Annika Di was laughing again.

There was still hope.

Hi everyone!
I was extremely overwhelmed by the kind responses that I got for this story, so I'm updating the second chapter early. This is one of my favourite chapters (because I love, love, love Rudra Singh Oberoi), and its probably one of the only remotely funny chapters of this FF. The next update will take a while, because there's so much that I want to do with the Omkara chapter, and while the AniRu chapter came very easily, I feel like its quite hard to channel all my insight into Om's mind, while interconnecting it with the AniKara dynamic. Thus, please don't expect the next chapter up anytime very soon, but I promise to try my absolute hardest to update this week.

In the meantime, please keep sending me your lovely comments, and I would love to hear some of your criticism too!

Cheers,

Innika

Originally posted by: noor j

I omg loved it and i request you sincerely to please not abandom this story. Ever. Its so beautiful and you write so well and i cant wait to read more

Originally posted by: ArhiIPKKND

Awesome...much needed...pm pls...

Rudra!!!! I truly and utterly love this Oberoi Brother! ❤️ This guy has some shades and layers to him that I am so desperately wishing will be explored.! You did that in this chapter - Thank you!

Brilliant update.! It left me with a smile! 😊 The belief in 'angels' - that whole thought process was so sweet.! I loved this update. So Anika finally after a huge huge time laughed. That struck a cord. Go Rudra Go! :D

Waiting update. Yes Epilogue with Anika is definitely desired!

Loads of jhappies,
V 😊

Originally posted by: BookWormV

This was just WOW! ❤️

I have been waiting for a wriiter to write something like this since this track started so THANK YOU!

I loved the line up of the chapters. And this first chapter was perfect. I know just from this first part that this FF is going to soothe my heart. ❤️ Your portrayal of Dadi and the situation was pretty awesome. I loved the fact that Anika is affected and it shows! Such an experience has to leave some scars and her journey of going back to the sunny cheer-filled attitude has to be good. Cannot wait to read the rest.

Loads of jhappies 🤗 from me for writing this. Please update soon.

-V 😊

Originally posted by: Roseymi

That was amazing...