ShivIka FF: An Ishqbaaaz Rising *3.7 Updated* (2nd July, Page 82) - Page 54

Originally posted by: abhilashasharma

I swear I was not expecting this. Only question - why?

Originally posted by: LilyJames0194

Hi guys, just wanted to give out a huge shoutout of gratitude for all the comments and messages!! It's hugely motivating and sweet to read that you guys actuallly like/liked the slightly different take on the essentially same story!

Will update very very soon!!

Thank you sooo much, again!!!

Love always,

Lily

A/N: This is slightly off-track in the sense that the Riddhima revelation that happened during the Diwali time didn't happen here - so here goes nothing! Happy reading guys!

3.7 Everything that Glitters is not Gold

There was something in the weather that morning. A foreshadowing of sorts... He didn't understand it.

Like something deep within him knotted... almost painfully... as he ignored all of those thoughts and continued walked purposefully through the over-crowded - buzzing... familiar way... towards his art workshop.

It was the dream

With the same face... the same haunting... captivating eyes.

Her

He had seen her... Not her character...Not another mask...but her. In her jeans and cropped tops.

Eyes blazing... her mane-like hair blowing around her... fierce protectiveness on her face... as she stood facing him.

Shaking his head, he tried to clear his head.

"It's just a dream... a bad dream."

A small movement on his left caught his eye and he turned only to see an old woman almost crushed by the frustrated morning crowd walking haphazardly around her.

Instinctively, he walked towards her.

Kind old eyes looked at him gratefully as he helped her towards the corner of the road.

He helped her get on to a small stool that was outside a small store and her answering smile stood out in the blistering heat of the morning.

He found his own lips form a smile of their own as he nodded once before sweeping his hair away from his slightly moistened (due to the heat) neck and turning to walk back.

Humanity

A language that spoke to him in ways that he had never been able to explain to anyone.

It was difficult for him to express to anyone why he did the things he did.

In a world where people were obsessed over running races and showing each other down... he... found it difficult to express why none of it didn't matter to him.

Hypocritically it might have been because he knew he had never really been good at races... or any competitions really... but it was honestly more than that.

He didn't have the instinctive passion to compete like Shivaay or even Rudra had.

He just didn't.

Sudden shouts, scuffles and angry voices reached him over the crowd and he was brought back almost rudely out of his thoughts as he felt an impatient shove on his shoulder due to the growing crowd right in front of him.

"Wow this day really is weird... such morbid deep thoughts for a Sunday morning?"

Warily he almost turned away from the voices... " It probably is just another usual fight in the area.."

But there was something about the raised voices and scuffles...because in spite of himself and his weariness of both fights and interferences...he found his feet slowly dragging him towards the gathered mob.

Pushing himself through the small crowd in almost a trance-like manner he tried to see the root of the chaos.

And that's when somehow everything around him slowed down...blurring away into absolute nothingness.

It was her!

He almost felt all his breath leaving him as the image from his dream came to life in front of him.

Eyes blazing... her mane-like hair blowing around her...

His breath stuck in his throat... clamming it dry.

She was a vision.

A dream brought to life.

Three heavy-looking... burly men stood crowding her...and she looked fiercely back at them. Chin stubbornly out and her arms protectively in front of her...

And that's when he saw the cut on her arm.

Something deep within him shook as he took in the small bruises that lined from her shoulders to her arms.

In a daze, he almost gawked when she seemingly danced her way around them as two of them went to hit her again.

One of them had almost gone to slap her across the face when he found himself suddenly in front of her. His arm flexing ever so slightly as he held on to the arm that was coming her way. He looked straight into the eyes of the man... Challenging him to make another move.

His vision tainted with rage... he felt a different side of himself... a yet unknown part of himself rise from within as he looked into the face of the now clearly confused man.

His fist clenched and his eyes blurred with anger.

How dare they touch her?

He felt his eyes sting with a fury he had never felt before as he pushed the man...who fell headfirst on the ground.

And the next few minutes were just as blurry as he sent the other two to the same fate.

Maybe it was something in the look in his eyes or just something about his face...but...suddenly... he found himself staring almost breathlessly at the back of the three of them as they almost ran from the place.

His eyes unflinching, he finally turned to face her.

"She looked almost unreal with the wind still breezing through her hair... maybe he really was still dreaming?"

Her eyes had softened with shock and for the first time he realized that he had come face to face with the real her.

Maybe it was still the after-shock of the full encounter - but he couldn't help but take her in.

From the softness of her curves to the sharpness of her eyes... he let all of it wash over him.

A paradox of a woman that seemed to have rendered him under her spell.

He felt the crowd too slowly dissipate around them but he was grounded to that spot.

This woman...this mysterious paradox of a woman was making him retrospect on his entire life... and he didn't know anything about her except her name.

"Om - you know her! She is a con-woman -"

It was her who broke the eye contact first and it was her who looked away.

And he was certainly unprepared to feel the sharp pang of loss then.

What was happening to him?

He pulled himself from the alien thoughts forcefully.

"She is a lair. A con-girl."

And just like that...all his frustration with her came back.

She must have noticed the shift in him too... because he saw her mirror his move and then the mask that she pulled on.

Her expression now unreadable, he moved to turn away in disgust.

He hated lies.. but he hated liars more. And this woman was nothing but a glorified liar.

"Thank you... I didn't need your help... but... anyway... thank you."

He stopped mid-turn as her voice washed over him.

This was the first time that he had heard her speak in her voice.

"It wasn't for you. I can't see a woman getting beaten in front of me."

He found himself spitting out without turning to look at her.

He knew he was lying.

"She doesn't deserve the truth"

"You are lying"

He whipped around as he heard her whisper.

"How did she know?"

"People who don't know how to lie... shouldn't bother trying."

She was smirking.

And her dismissal irked him beyond reason.

"This woman...this manipulative...lying woman who stood for everything that he hated... got under her skin in ways that he wasn't able to explain in words..."

"And you would know all about lying, wouldn't you?"

He spit out harshly.

And for a second, he saw her eyes flash dangerously.

Suddenly, everything from the last time that they had met came rushing to him and he found himself unnervingly furious.

Her accusations.

Her accusations about his family. About his brothers!

The rage within him barely controlled, he spit out in a voice that he barely recognised.

"Is this some new trick? Oh my god it is! All of this... you staged this, didn't you?"

It added up.

"...It's a classic trick... right? An alone woman getting beaten up by goons... HAHAHAH... oh my god... I have been a fool."

He didn't know if he actually believed it.

But he didn't even want to believe that she was a con-girl anyway? Shivaay had always said that he sometimes only believed things that he wanted to believe.

Her expression was still unreadable... But her eyes... her eyes flashed and he knew that he had hit a nerve.

"How had he fallen for her tricks again?"

"God damn it! He was a fool."

"Nothing I say is actually going to matter, is it? She bit out... "aapne toh rai pehle hi bana di hai...haina?"

She was taunting him now.

Was none of this affecting her? His anger? His hatred?

"Don't you dare -"

But he was cut-off... because suddenly... she had walked right up to him and grabbed his hand and was now dragging him behind her.

As soon as the shock wore off... he tried to pull his wrist out of her grasp.

"What the hell - "

His words were again cut short as she re-grabbed his arm and pushed him into a taxi.

"Truth... you want the truth...don't you? Come on... I am going to show you a truth that you have blatantly refused to see because of your own prejudices."

He wanted to say no. Everything inside him was screaming in denial. But the curiosity... and her suddenly blazing eyes... quieted him.

"What was happening to him?"

Frustrated with the way that this woman got to him and that he was seemingly helpless from stopping her do any of it... he pulled his arm from her grip fiercely... but didn't move from his place.

And then he hated the smirk on her face as she nodded to something for herself...as if he had just confirmed something for her...

And he only rolled his eyes at her as she simply told "Asiatic library, bhaiya" to the cab driver.

His curiosity suddenly pricked even more as he put as much distance between them as he could in that small seat... but his frustration also grew as he saw her roll her eyes at that.

"Uun gundon ko paise nahi dene hai?"

He bit out angrily.

She didn't turn towards him and this angered him further.

"How much could a man take?"

"Look at me when I speak to you." He had grabbed her arm in frustration and turned her towards him in a single motion.

He had forgotten himself... this mystery of a woman made him forget himself.

She looked up to meet his eyes just as fiercely.

He knew it must have been hurting her... the hold on her arm... but she didn't let it show and this stung.

Her eyes shining with an unknown emotion, she fiercely pulled her arm out of his grip.

The bruises almost shining in the scintillating sunlight... he found himself feeling some of the sting of the wounds.

Biting his frustration, he looked away.

Maybe it was his own reflection that he hated in her eyes... but something about this woman undid him in ways that left him reeling and seething with unfamiliar emotions.

"You had your say last time prarnath, its my turn now." He heard her murmur under her breath as she silently indicated the taxi driver to stop at the orner of the road.

Prarnath?

He didn't really have time to let the thought circle inside his mind because she was suddenly dragging him to the far end of the road... towards the green park area where some sort of a rally was going on.

He looked questioningly towards her, but she only answered with keep your head down' sort of a look.

What the hell was she trying to do?

And then he felt her drape her scarf around his head as they continued walking hurriedly towards the rally.

"Was the woman bi-polar?"

"Yes! Maybe she had some sort of a split-personality disorder kind of a thing?"

He let his imagination run wild even as he took in the rally.

There was a small group of protestors that were obviously trying to pull the otherwise non-interested morning crowd's attention towards their surveys and possibly fund-raising booklets of sorts.

Confused as to what he was really doing there he had almost had had enough when she suddenly pulled him behind a large tree and motioned silently for him to keep silent and quiet.

Fhat the wuck!

He shrugged his arm from her grip and stared angrily at her. And he was about to turn around and march away from her and her madness when she suddenly pointed at something behind him.

And he wanted to say he wouldn't have turned if it hadn't been for a very familiar voice that floated towards them over the crowds'... but he was lying.

He probably would have turned because he seemed to become helpless in face of her determination.

It was Riddhima.

"His girlfriend, Riddhima."

Dressed in what seemed to be a sequinned full length dress... she looked completely out of place in that rally.

Riddhima was here?

Instinctively...he felt himself wanting to go up to her and find out for himself... when he noticed three men running to and fro around her...one carrying an umbrella for her...another a bottle of water... whilst the last just looked scared as he hurriedly walked to keep up with her faster pace.

"What was happening?"

Having had enough of the games, he moved to go up to her just then... when her hand gripped his arm firmly.. pulling him behind the thickness of the huge banyan tree.

"NO! Watch - "

She whispered fiercely and it was the look in her eyes that stopped him short.

"What did she want him to see exactly?"

The back of the chair was conveniently about ten yards or so from them... so he could now clearly hear her voice as she sat down in a huff.

He almost didn't recognize her... She seemed so different. Almost as if she was a stranger then...

"There is not one press person in this stupid... stupid rally, can you believe it?"

Even her voice was different.

More high-pitched then he ever remembered.

Shaking his thoughts away, he moved to walk up to her angrily.

What was all this?

But her angry whisper in his ear stopped him, "Honestly Mr. Harishchandra, aap do minute shaant rahenge please."

He rolled his eyes at her name now.

"Tum kya kar rahi ho?"

He whispered back, clearly more frustrated than he was trying to show her.

"I don't like debt. I hate that you saved me... so... think of this as payment." She hissed back and her words unsettled him.

"Mere pas tumhare faltu games ke liye time nahi hai-"

But Riddhima's voice floated over.. higher now.. and despite himself, he found himself quieted and carefully watching the back of her head as she continued speaking on the phone.

"Don't these people know that I am Omkaara Singh Oberoi's girlfriend? Like honestly I expected at least the evening news' guys "

Her words washed over him.

He heard them...but they just didn't sink in.

None of it added up.

The Riddhima that he knew had nothing to do with press. In fact she hated the press. She hated using his name... she had told him repeatedly over the last three years... hadn't she?

"Honestly, I still wish that I had tried my luck with Shivaay Singh Oberoi... because Omkaara... hahah... if left to him he would want nothing to do with the Oberoi fortune."

"You have no idea - this is exhausting babe. This whole living the hippie life for Omkaara to see me as this artistic complement of his life... this charade.. it's honestly too exhausting. That's why I kept myself away from this city - at least then it's easier to pretend over the phone, you know?" She sighed dramatically as she sipped on the coconut water that another guy had brought her then.

His ears burned with disgust as the words rang in his ears now.

Memories of him and Riddhima played in the back of his mind...limbs entwined... sheets around them as they whispered their dreams of isolation from this world... candle lit evenings... passion of working towards making their own lives without the help of their families...whispered nothings in the emptiness and darkness of the nights...

All of these burned in his eyes.

Strangely, he found his own sadness reflecting in her eyes as he took a shaky breath and pressed his back to the tree in exhaustion.

"Of course I like Omkaara...I mean... I really do... but "

He didn't hear the rest.

He couldn't hear the rest because she was suddenly pulling him away from all of it.

And he didn't know how far they walked because the next thing that he actually registered was that they were seating at a small cafe.

He looked around warily.

Was there more?

She shook her head and he would have been taken aback by the fact that she seemed to be able to read his mind but he was too shaken up.

"Lies... how had five years of a relationship been a lie? A charade?"

"Honestly I still wish that I had tried my luck with Shivaay Singh Oberoi because Omkaara if left to him he would want nothing to do with the Oberoi fortune.

"He had been made a fool... for five years. Five goddamn years!"

"I didn't expect to feel so bad for you, you know?"

Her voice was soft and her eyes had that unfamiliar emotion that she was obviously fighting.

" - No.. no! There had to be some mistake - there must be some -"

"This isn't over - "

His phone's sudden ring interrupted them.

Pulling it to his ear, he suddenly felt all the air knocked out of him.

"Rudra?"

He was on his feet before his brother had even said a word.

Something was wrong... something was terribly wrong.

"Shivaay?"

He felt the color draining from his face.

No it couldn't be.

Shivaay.

Shivaay... bullet... Jaslok Hospital... operation theatre...

His phone slipped from his hands and his feet were dragging him towards the nearest cab.

It couldn't be.

He recognized her quiet figure following him like a shadow but he didn't have it in him to turn around then.

It didn't matter.

"Jaslok hospital"

He rasped out to the driver his eyes unseeing his hands shaking as he felt her get in beside him too.

She didn't try to speak to him.

He couldn't have said anything even if he wanted to.

His eyes blurred as the foreshadowing from the morning twisted inside him even worse.

Feeling sick, he urged the driver to hurry.

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