I | Orders
ACP Ranveer Singh Randhawa was a disciplined man.
Note the use of was.
He used to value himself, over everything. Plus, a single policeman in his late twenties didn't really have anyone else to value anyway. It was just him and the job, and that was something he did value. Between himself, Shindey and the criminals he locked up, Ranveer had found himself a well-versed rhythm, a sense of familiarity, and a home.
And yet, until she had come into his life, he had been empty.
Hand in hand with Priyanka Singh Oberoi, had come everything that had once been unknown to him.
Her sweet ways, and delicate charm had easily won his heart. She had fulfilled the restive ache that hadn't left his body since his sister's death. She had given him something that he had always considered unattainable.
A family.
In turn, his world revolved around her. And so, even though he wasn't used to leaving work early to watch Karan Johar romances, or cooking breakfast that was more involved than burnt toast, he did it happily.
Discipline could go down the drain, because he loved her.
It was half-past two in the morning when he woke up to his wife shaking him violently. Long silken strands of hair falling out of the messy bun that was precariously tilting off her head, pouty lips whimpering, Priyanka looked ethereal. He would have leaned down and nipped at her mouth, if she hadn't been crying.
If she hadn't been howling.
She was in his arms in an instant, soaking his shirt even as her hands scrambled to hold any of him. Heart thudding, he held her petite frame as it racked with violent sobs.
"What's wrong, sweetheart?" He whispered into the black silk of her hair, and finally, after a lifetime of growing fear, her doe eyes met his, widening in tangible desperation.
"I need chocolate cake, Ranveer. I need dark chocolate fudge cake."
Ranveer fisted his hands to stop himself from face palming. This was why she was crying? So he understood that women had their hormones, but what was with the midnight awareness thing?
"Priyanka, go to sleep. We'll get you some tomorrow, okay?" But his wife shook her head furiously, lip quivering threateningly, a fresh dam of tears waiting to break.
"No, I need it. Why don't you understand?"
He begged himself for patience.
"Honey, you do not need it. Your body just tricks you into needing it, you just have need to to resist your need."
"You just said need four times, Ranveer. Which only serves to make me even more needy."
"What?!"
"Ranveer Singh Randhawa, I swear to god, if you don't get me chocolate cake right this instant, I'm going to die."
Sometimes Ranveer liked to ask himself why, with the 3 billion women on earth, he had decided to fall in love with Tej Singh Oberoi's daughter.
Even worse, with Shivaay Singh Oberoi's sister.
The Ranveer of the past would have told her to shove her craving up her -
But the Ranveer of the past, cynical and shitty, had been replaced with a better man, the day he had met her.
As he shuffled out of bed grudgingly, cursing under his breath, Ranveer tried not to panic. Now, a self-proclaimed man of many talents, even Ranveer admitted that the culinary arts were just not his forte.
He burnt water, for god's sake.
The thought of him baking something edible, was something even the hen-pecked Shindey would laugh at. Actually, he would probably die of shock.
So as Ranveer looked up recipes online, he prayed for some sort of brainwave. Two cups of tea later, he struck gold. So what if he couldn't cook? His eldest brother-in-law could.
He knew this, because when Ranveer had begged the younger generation of Oberoi brothers for their sister's hand, cooking was one of the many ways that he hadn't measured' up to the Oberoi son-in-law standard. Shivaay Singh Oberoi, grey eyes glittering in malice, had demanded that Priyanka's future husband knew how to cook. His brothers had vehemently agreed, when Shivaay had logically explained that there was absolutely no way that Priyanka could get her hands dirty in the kitchen, lest she hurt herself.
When Ranveer had laughed it off, thinking that surely he wouldn't expect Ranveer to know how to cook, Shivaay had laughed right back, before lunging at him. Barely restrained by his brothers and his wife, Shivaay had, with the calmness of a vicious predator, launched into a detailed explanation of what he called, the art of culinary creation.
Ranveer had lost him at truffle.
As he pulled out his phone, he thanked the heavens that he was on better terms with the Oberoi brothers now. So he had once tried to get all three of them arrested a few or so times, and they in turn, had tried to sue him back, but that didn't matter anymore. All four of them shared a psychotic need to protect one woman, and that was enough for all of them.
Sleep-addled and voice rasping, his eldest brother-in-law grumbled as he picked up the phone. Ranveer could hear Annika in the background, cursing loudly in some inane language that could barely be considered familiar. Something about a Mishra?
"Ranveer?"
"Shivaay, I need your help."
Ah, the best way to get Shivaay Singh Oberoi's attention - unleash his inner protector. He could almost hear the air change, as Shivaay immediately straightened, serious and in Great-Wall-mode. Indeed, his voice came back alert, as if he had just doused it in coffee.
"Is it Prinku? Did her - "
"No, but she's craving chocolate cake."
He could hear deep breathing at the end, as Shivaay tried to unsuccessfully calm himself. He could hear his sister-in-law on the other side, murmuring something soothingly. A few seconds later, he was back on the line, (fortunately) not sounding murderous anymore.
"Not again with the goddamn cravings."
"Yeah well, what the heck do I do?! Why are you bloody Oberoi's so demanding?"
"We are not!"
"Are too!" Annika shouted into the phone, and next to her, Shivaay let out a battle cry as he dropped his end of the receiver. Ranveer tried not to wince as he heard them screech and squabble. He was on the verge of hanging up when his unwilling ears were subjected to the unmistakable sound of kissing.
But he was desperate.
So Ranveer waited, and after what seemed like an eternity of being ignored, Shivaay's breathy voice, miffed but already mollified, was talking again.
"Okay so maybe we are a bit, but please, you have it easy! Prinku just wants cake, Annika made me fill her aloo puri with gajar ka halwa once."
"I remember you being happy to oblige then, you blue-eyed beast!" Annika snapped, and Ranveer could already imagine the furious glare that she was throwing his way.
"Yeah, because if I didn't, you threatened to cut my hair off when I was asleep!"
"I did, didn't I?" Annika exclaimed proudly, and this time, Ranveer couldn't bite back the grin that graced his features. The idea of a hairless Shivaay Singh Oberoi nearly made him forget why he had called in the first place.
"As much as I would love to see him bald Anni, can you guys please focus?"
"Aah yes! I make better cake than him, Ranveer! Give me five minutes, I'm coming over as we speak!" Annika sang into the phone, voice characteristically chirpy, even though it was halfway through the night.
"You are not, you psychopathic woman! It's three in the morning, and you have a meeting with the Mehrotra's tomorrow, and I have an important acquisition which is also tomorrow, so how about I just message him the recipe - "
Ranveer was about to tell him that he wasn't exactly the best at following instructions, but Annika beat him to it.
"Billu Ji, if you don't go, you're sleeping on the couch tomorrow!" Ranveer smirked as he recognised Annika's trump card. He knew of it, and of its effectiveness, because his own wife liked to use it, quite often.
"Watch me snake my way into the bed anyway."
"Shivaay."
"Oh for god's sake, Annika!"
As his brother-in-law harrumphed and muttered that he would reach soon, Ranveer thanked his lucky stars that his eldest sister-in-law liked him so much, despite all their past history. It was a wonder, that what he had once saw her as, was so different to what he now knew her has.
Annika had looked past all the demeaning, the vilification that he had thrown her way during the Gayatri case, and had started their relationship anew. He knew for a fact that without her, it would have almost been impossible for the Oberoi brothers to agree to his wedding with Priyanka.
It could only be attributed to the epic way of fate that someone as annoying, arrogant and frustrating as Shivaay Singh Oberoi would manage to have a woman like her in his life.
A bit like himself, with another such woman.
Reveling in the thought, he made his way towards the kitchen.
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That's all for now! Hope you enjoyed the first installment ❤️
Edited by Innika. - 8 years ago
