Hola 😊
This OS is based on a scenario I'd like very much to see on the show (but won't, lol), and I am keeping it open whether to extent this to a SS or not. I could, a plot is even ready, but right now, I don't have much time - so, keeping this as a OS for the time being. Once I am free, I'll probably add more to this 🤔
It's nothing much - short and revolving around a certain topic. Hope some of you'll enjoy it 😉 (Fair warning ahead, it is not yet proof-read).
And a huge thanks to Sue for you know what - let this be dedicated for you 😆
❤️
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Achilles' Heel.
*
"When you find your opponent's weak spot, hammer it."
John Heisman, attributed, Where Football Is King: A History of the SEC
*
It wasn't difficult to find a weakness of your opponent. The art, though, was to find the one which, even by slightly breaching it, would have them crumble to their knees.
Svetlana was enjoying her hunt for that. Very much so.
She was glad that Tia had decided to drop her intention of targeting Anika, and changed her tangent. It had been very important in order for Svetlana to concentrate on the main players instead of the irrelevant bystanders. They were here to take down the Oberois, after all, and yes, she could easily admit that her own focus was more on Omkara, being Tej's son and the one who didn't just repeatedly insult her but was also the key reason she had never been successful with carving her place in this family.
Once she had been freed from indulging her little sister's personal vendetta, everything had fallen into place by itself. Entering the Oberoi mansion, getting Tej's trust back and sowing the seeds of doubts and suspicions into every corner of these four walls. She could see the fruits of her hard work ripening right in front of herself, and she was relishing it beyond words. Doubts, she learnt, could be poisonous if spread carefully and at the right time.
"...saying that sometimes, we have to lay personal grudges aside if that means we can reach a greater benefit!"
Svetlana dipped the tip of her big toe into the chilling water of the pool, barely noticing the coldness crawling under her skin. She pulled up her right knee, placed her arm atop it and rested her chin on her wrist, her gaze never wavering from the scene on the other end.
Omkara. Shivaay.
"Not everyone is like you that they can switch off their emotions whenever it pleases them just for some kind of profit!"
Shivaay. Omkara.
Shivaay is a lot like your father, she had smirked at Omkara, weeks ago, and he will most likely inherit the empire. If I could have Tej, why not Shivaay?
"I told you again and again to stay away from that woman!"
Of course, Omkara didn't believe that Shivaay was as weak as his father, Svetlana had seen the certainty burning in his gaze. But that didn't mean that he would let her have any chance to execute her plan- a non-existent one. Plus the fact that he wanted her out and Shivaay approved her stay didn't help the situation much.
You and Tej have a similar way of thinking, she had explained to Shivaay. Maybe that's why he doesn't trust you and wants you to stay away from me.
"Why? She's handling the security and other jobs well, that is all. I don't understand what your bloody problem is?!"
Shivaay had had his back toward Omkara but turned around to look at his brother's face while asking his question. Om's expression was tight with frustration and anger. A step behind Shivaay was Anika, and she had tried to diffuse the argument twice, already, but the men hadn't paid her any heed- even this far away, Svetlana could see the air cackle with tension.
Whether Tej liked it or not, this family's greatest strength was their sons' relationship - and Svetlana would erase even the slightest of memories of said relationship from this very mansion. Hit them where it hurts.
"She's doing her work well so, that absolves her of everything?" Om hissed viciously. "Have you seen Mom recently? Have you noticed things changing in this house? That woman's bad news! Why don't you just listen?!"
Shivaay moved so quickly that Svetlana almost missed it- he grabbed Om's forearm and shook him once. His fingers had to be digging into the arm, she concluded from the way Om's grimaced. "That's rich coming from you. How many times have I asked you to stop the drugs and still-?!"
Svetlana's lips curled into an amused smile.
Ah, the drugs. Such a sensitive issue for poor Shivaay, weren't they? What could Omkara say in his defense, though? There had been an unusually high amount of sleeping pills in his room. The cocaine stash peeping out from underneath the head of an unfinished sculptor in his studio. The traces of LSD found in his blood after he, apparently drunk, had humiliated his father during a business party in front of the media and guests.
Om was in possession of these drugs, he had been struggling with them especially ever since Svetlana had been around. If he himself wasn't sure whether he had, in his drunken state, given in to temptation, how would anyone else know? It's not like they had seen her slipping in a tablet here or place the stash somewhere to be easily found.
"I am not taking them!" There was a little waver in Om's voice, a hesitancy. The squinting of Shivaay's eyes indicated that he had heard it, as well. "And that's got nothing to do with this!"
"It has! Because you, clearly, are not in the position to make any rational judgements here!"
Omkara pushed him away with enough force to make him stumble- Anika almost reached out to steady him but he raised his hand without looking at her, a warning to stay out of this. "If rationality means trampling on your family's feelings then I sure as hell can't make rational judgements it seems!"
"Guys," Anika said, ignoring the earlier warning, and stepped forward, both arms raised. "Look, calm down. Why don't you-"
"I have told you again and again," Shivaay cut Anika off, not even glancing at her. Did he consciously notice her presence, at all? "Life's not black and white! It's not always about right or wrong, and if to protect my family I have to hurt their feelings, then so be it."
Om shook his head in disbelief, chuckling lowly. "I can't believe you. Why is it always about you, anyway? You have to protect, you have to decide, you have to judge- you, you, you. You're selfish in the most ridiculous of ways!"
Hurt flickered across Shivaay's features, only momentarily but long enough to have excitement rush through Svetlana's veins. The air was turning colder. Dangerous lines were being crossed.
"At least I do think about my family unlike other people who don't see beyond their own problems!"
Om stiffened, his left foot twitched as if tempted to move back and- Svetlana's gaze followed Anika as she left the two in a hurry. She frowned, not sure what to make of that. It was unusual to see that woman run instead of either doing nothing or trying to handle a situation. What was she up to?
"For someone who's so concerned about his family, you don't know much about what's going on in our lives!"
Svetlana's focus snapped back toward the brothers. It was interesting, really, how the normally composed one of them was filled with so much rage- a rage that erupted like a volcano once it had been fueled enough. Shivaay might be temperamental and his anger could be destructive if unleashed, but Om's was the more dangerous because it was unexpected.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Shivaay asked, a confused frown marring his forehead. His voice was laced with agitation.
Waving a hand dismissively, Omkara shrugged. "If you bothered to care about what really matters to us, you'd know it. In that regard, you're a lot like Mister Oberoi. And I was always afraid that I'd tur-"
"Om!"
Shivaay had raised his forefinger warningly at his brother, his face was contorted into a mask of fury. He was shaking. Svetlana was aware that he respected Tej, respected him a lot, but also that he wasn't proud of certain aspects of Tej's life - and having been compared to the man by Omkara, who hated Tej like no one else, and the implications...
"Don't. Don't you dare."
"It hurts just to hear it, doesn't it?" Om huffed, looking away momentarily, before he glared back at Shivaay. "But I see it. You are doing it like him, in the name of the family, the family's best interests, you keep someone around who's hurting us. Who's hurting my mother!"
"Why don't you try to lessen her hurt, then?" Shivaay snapped back. "Instead of adding to her pain? She's got her demons to battle, she's got yours to worry about, she can't handle her situation because she worries about you- when will you take another drug? When will you break? If she looks away for a moment, will you be dead-"
"Shivaay!"
Om had raised his hand between them like a barrier, to movement so stiff that it was obvious he was putting a lot of effort into not moving forward, and do something he might regret.
Svetlana's smile brightened as she slowly stood up, wondering, for a split second, whether they had completely forgotten her presence. Crossing her arms over her chest, she started to walk alongside the edge of the pool, anticipating the next move of either of them. Omkara looked like he was about to add something not so nice, and the tension was so palpable, a thin thread that needed only a little to be cut and-
"Bhaiyya?"
And just like that, she could practically feel the charged air dissolving into nothingness.
Surprised, Svetlana looked into the direction Anika had disappeared into, earlier, and saw Rudra standing there, Anika a few steps behind him. The boy was staring between his brothers, clear pain etched into his features and tears visible in his eyes. How long had he been standing there? How much had he heard? And had Anika fetched him? Why?
"What- what are you two doing?"
She tilted her head thoughtfully. Of course, Rudra was the youngest but she had never noticed... how young he could seem. But more than that...
Shivaay and Omkara shared a look of surprise as if they had been wrenched out of a daze, guilt and shame shadowing their faces. There was no trace of the bitterness or fury that had engulfed them only heartbeats ago. As if it never had been there. What the hell? Where were the beautiful cracks she had seen spreading between them? Where was the destructive fire they had been playing with? Where were the fruits of her work?
Burying his hands in his pocket, Shivaay cleared his throat and forced a small smile on his lips before he turned around. Svetlana noted the quick, withering glare he send toward his wife. "Nothing. Just talking."
Rudra frowned. "Don't lie, Bhaiyya."
Shivaay's smile faltered. "I am not- okay, a little disagreement, maybe. It's nothing."
"It's something to me. You were fighting!"
Was it Svetlana's imagination or was there hysteria seeping into Rudra's words? Come to think of it, she thought, he's still breathing heavily. Even if they had run, Anika was absolutely fine, by now. Why wasn't he?
She blinked, startled, when she realized that Omkara was standing right in front of his younger brother, cradling his face in both of his hands. "Don't be such a crybaby, Dumbbell Oberoi," he was saying, tone soft and teasing. "It doesn't matter, we were stupid, anyway. Right, Shivaay?"
"Yeah. Yes. Very stupid," Shivaay agreed hastily as he walked up to them. He ruffled Rudra's hair gently, his smile looking a lot more sincere. "Now, do you plan to create a new swimming pool for us or what?"
For a moment, she was sure that Rudra would argue that last statement, but the boy halted and instead, threw his arms around both his brothers, hugging them tightly. They returned the embrace without hesitation, and the way they stared at each other was proof enough that they had laid their fight aside without any resentment lingering back.
Omkara's gaze swept past Shivaay and fixated on Svetlana. His surprise morphed into a deadly glare and the gentle grip he had on the back of Rudra's head tightened ever so slightly.
Svetlana winked at him before whirling around and walking off. She brought her thumb to her lower lip, her mind trying to sort the chaos of thoughts raging inside of her. Now, that was interesting, wasn't it? She hadn't even really considered it before. Her focus had been on Omkara who was Tej's most beloved child and the one Tej wanted to become his heir. By default, she had also paid attention to Shivaay who was carrying half the empire on his shoulders and would become the heir if no one else contended the title.
She had decided to take them both down. The effects of that would make the Oberois as a whole crumble. But-
-the scene flickered in front of her: how Rudra's mere presence had been enough to dissolve the sizzling tension between Shivaay and Omkara. How easily both of them had been snapped out of their trance of fury. How quickly they had smoothed the tides and forgiven.
It seemed like she had just found their Achilles' heel.
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