The credit for this update goes solely to Pritzz di who made sure I updated this one.. Di this ones for you❤️
Chapter Seven
The next day when Shivaay returned from another meeting, it was well past the lunch time and he was tired. He made his way up the stairs towards his cabin, feeling irritable and cranky. He opened the door calling for the peon when he saw Rudra seated on a couch in the waiting area outside his cabin eating something while Anika was chatting with him animatedly. Dressed in a forest green top , eyes bright, her creamy skin slightly flushed, she looked drop dead gorgeous. Her soft voice floated towards him and it seemed to soothe away his tiredness. As he stepped inside, a fresh flowery scent which clung to her wafted to him playing havoc to his senses and he wanted nothing but to stand there all day, inhaling that sweet flowery scent and watching her as she spoke on oblivious to his presence.
"Shivaay, you are back"
Rudra broke the spell and Shivaay checked himself knowing that Rudra had caught him staring. Rudra kept the bowl of his dessert on the table and walked towards him giving him a hug. Shivaay hugged him briefly and gave Anika a swift smile and cursed his heart for beating at an alarming rate as Anika smiled back in return.
Shivaay draped his coat on the back of a chair and took a seat while Rudra took the bowl and finished his dessert. Anika looked at the tired Shivaay and asked
"How was the meeting Shivaay?"
"It was very good Anika." He told her loosening up the tie. The moment the peon entered, Anika stood up and started searching for something in her handbag as he asked the peon to bring him lunch from the canteen. He had given his home cooked food a miss; wanting to taste the canteen food or rather the food that Anika had cooked.
"Choksiji, I got a suji halwa for your wife, cooked in desi ghee, just the way she wanted it" she said taking out a box and handing it in his peon's hands who was looking at her as if she was an angel from the heaven. May be she was, Shivaay thought.
"Thank you Anikaji. It really means a lot that you took time from your busy schedule to prepare this just because Geeta was craving for it. God bless you."
"Arey Choksiji, how could I not get it for you? After all bhabhiji is pregnant and that is the least I could do."
"You have always helped me Anikaji. Taking my wife to the hospital when I was busy, preparing the dishes she was craving for"." His voice was thick with emotion "If I can be of any service, I'm just a call away"
Shivaay watched the interplay with mixed emotions. He could read the gratitude in the eyes of the peon and pleasure in Anika's eyes. Anika was different from any woman he had ever met, she had always been. There was a warmth and friendliness about her that was offered in equal amounts to everyone whether they were the senior directors or the cleaners. She lived for helping others and she valued their blessings more than money. In college days, her gestures, her actions were dismissed out of his immaturity. It was now he realized how valuable her actions were, how precious she was. The moment that thought passed in his mind, Rudra voiced it out.
"You might be the head of Oberoi empire but Anikaji is the heart. She is the reason why every employee here works as if they are one big family. Not only they are well fed but they are taken care of in a very loving way"
Shivaay had figured that out from the reviews he had got from his employees about her. It seemed as though her charm was a force of nature. Anyone who came in her path couldn't escape it. And he, who hadn't given her a second thought in college days found it hard to think of anything other than her.
And it had just been a day.
Chapter Eight
Shivaay stepped inside the elevator of his office premises cursing at the new problem that arose. The latest model of an ad campaign had refused to have a photo session on the scheduled date for a calendar shoot and he was in a mood to terminate the contract. Rudra, who was the lead photographer, had asked Shivaay to come to his cabin. Though Shivaay wasn't asked to visit cabins by his staff, Rudra , was an exception. Being the boss's best friend and first cousin had its advantages.
He entered the dim-lit hall where Rudra had his photo sessions at the end of which was the door that led to his cabin. However the moment he stepped inside the hall, he stopped short as watched Rudra asking someone to tilt her head at the angle he wanted. He stepped forward and the sight that met his eyes made his body freeze
For Anika stood,, dressed in a gold and green sequined saree which seemed to add a glow to her fair skin. Her hair was left loose and it fell in a thick black curtain to her waist. Her wide eyes were the deep brown pools one could drown into . How had he ever thought anyone was more prettier than Anika? And now that he had seen her looking like that how would he stop that image from revolving around in his mind?
Shivaay took a step back knowing they hadn't noticed him. He was safer staying away. Were his feelings for Tia that meaningless that he was already thinking about someone else? Till their relationship had existed, he had never thought about himself with anyone and suddenly it was becoming hard to think of himself with anyone who wasn't Anika.
Shaking his head at the direction in which his thoughts were headed, he walked as silently as he had entered. Asking his secretary to leave a message to Rudra that he was headed home and that he would meet him later, SSO ran as though hounds from hell were after him.
****
"Okay spill" said Rudra later that evening when Shivaay sat next to the drink counter in Rudra's apartment. The younger man poured him a glass of wine and sat on the high stool himself.
"Why did you go home early today when you had no reason to go home? Not to mention the numerous appointments and the work piling on your desk", said Rudra looking at his cousin with surprise
"Rudra, you know that throughout college I haven't looked at anyone other than Tia. In fact she had been the only serious girlfriend so far."
"Yea I'm aware of that"go on"
"Well, ever since I met Anika, I can't stop thinking about her. I want to put it down to how different she is from Tia but that is not helping. I don't want to think about anyone or--"
"Whoa -whoa hold on" said Rudra standing up" "So basically the ugly duckling has to turn into a swan for you to notice her."
"Fhat the wuck-" said Shivaay angrily "I didn't mean that, Rudra. I know Anika is beautiful, I'd be blind not to notice that but here is the thing- it's not just her looks, it's the way she is. Her ability to find the best in people, her kind and helping nature. She is unlike anyone I have ever met--"
Rudra gulped his drink down and made himself another. From the frown on his face and the rigid set of his shoulders, Shivaay realized that he didn't like where this conversation was headed. Splashing generous proportion of the drink in his glass, Rudra said
"Well Shivaay, it's the best if you forget her. You missed the boat. She got over you and if you fall for her at this point, it will give you nothing but pain and a lifetime of regrets."
"Who said anything about love?" asked Shivaay, annoyed not liking the part about Anika moving on.
"Because Shivaay, Anika isn't Tia whom you can chase and be in a relationship for years and not fall in love with. If you fall in love with Anika, you will never be able to forget her or give her place to anyone else."
"I dont--- What do you mean by be in a relationship for years and not fall in love with'? asked Shivaay irritably
"That was how it had always been with you and Tia. You complain that she didn't care for you but hey you didnt love her any more than she loved you. She was convenient. A Beautiful, modern, sophisticated lady who would give you your space and not demand for love as long as you gave her enough cash. When she left you, you were hurt not because you loved her but because you lost at something."
Shivaay sat stunned as Rudra's words settled down on him, answering the deepest questions of his heart. It seemed as though Rudra had spoken a truth of his life that he had refused to acknowledge himself. The truth that he had never loved Tia. The rush of hormones he had felt towards her as a teenager had died the moment he had grown out of his teens. He complained that Tia had left him when he needed her the most but the truth was that he had left Tia in his drive to make millions. He had hardly spent any time with her or had even wanted to. When he had been the target of the grasping females who only had looked at him like a money making machine, he had clung to Tia because they had always been together and had become a habit. A habit that was too convenient to break. When Tia had left him, he had been hurt or rather his pride was but more than hurt it had been the feeling of betrayal.. of walking out on him when he needed her the most. But his need for her was only in his head, he hadn't needed Tia. The days when he had felt any kind of emotional attachment for her had been in their teens and that too had been an illusion.
Thoughts muddled he bid Rudra goodbye and drove around the streets. Rudra's words kept reverberating in his mind.
Because Shivaay, Anika isn't Tia whom you can chase and be in a relationship for years and not fall in love with.
If you fall in love with Anika, you will never be able to forget her or give her place to anyone else."
Love... No he didn't love Anika. He was attracted to her in a way he hadn't been attracted to anyone in his life- not even Tia. And the more he got to know her, the more he liked and respected her. He had always felt protective about Anika even when he hadn't loved her and even in the intervening years he would have given her anything she wanted, had Anika ever tried calling him.
But Anika had never called. Their Cliffside meeting when she had given him the locket had been their last meeting and it was only when she was out of his life did he know that it was the last.
He didn't know what it was about him that Anika had loved then. When he looked back now, he didn't like the picture he made. He was nothing but a selfish teen for whom looks and class mattered more than anything else. Small things- looks/class. It took knowing the actualities of life to know how small these things actually were. Rudra considered Tia shallow but he questioned himself, how was he any different?
Do like if you are readin this one. I'm sorry I havent been able to get back to your comments but I will soon.. Thanks
Edited by Illuminati07 - 8 years ago
Channel V Dil Dosti Dance
Arjun
