Chapter 8
UNWARRANTED FEELINGS
Shivaay had heard everything that had transpired between his family, so elder Mr Suryavanshi wanted to get his daughter married so that his empire could be taken care of? What an idiot? If he had paid more attention he would've realized that she was more than capable of doing that herself. Shivaay saw great potential in her and did not agree with the fact that her father was trying to suppress her talent by merely using her as a pawn to handover his business to someone who was most likely not worthy of it. What made the situation worse was that, he didn't have the guts to speak to his daughter directly; he knew Annika was a soft spot for all of the Oberoi's by cornering one of the elders and planting this seed he must have been sure of their sympathy or worse - their agreement.
Family was obviously a foreign concept to such an isolated man, the Oberoi's had their disagreements, they fought like cats and dogs over the silliest and the biggest issues but end of the day they were a unit. All for one and one for all, and when it came to Annika, everyone's protective claws came out. Kishore Suryavanshi chose a wrong clan to manipulate. After waiting outside a few moments to not arouse suspicion, he went inside with a neutral expression, face devoid of any indication of the staggering news he just heard.
The family notices Shivaay at the door and were glad that they had changed topics, the eldest grandson of the house need not be burdened with more than what he already had on his plate. Deep down they all thought that Shivaay would agree with Kishore, as Shivaay was anything if not an avid rule follower, he would clearly state that those were her parents and they have more right to dictate and direction her life than the Oberoi's who were technically distant family friends. Little did the elderly clan know that they were completely wrong? In the little while that Shivaay had gotten to know Annika, he respected her independence and was in awe of her intelligence and personality. He would be against anything proposition that questioned her integrity. Especially when she had to work so hard in life for all the things that were just preveligies of being rich for the rest of them.
Annika, Om and Saumya were out shopping for a gift for Jaanu Aunty as her birthday was coming up, Prinku and Rudy were at college and were to join them later, there were intense plans for a surprise party and lots of gifts. Tej was the biggest perpetrator in this plan, he could not join the kids for the gift expedition as that would have been too suspicious and their surprise plans might have been blown. Employees at Oberoi Enterprises were in awe of their bade manager saab today. He was seated in a conference meeting with other delegates, and the usually focused and talkative Oberoi was constantly looking down at his phone with an exasperated look. His dear children were sending pictures of potential gifts and not one was worthy of his wife's special day. Jhanvi Oberoi nee Malhotra was turning 50 this week. It was not unknown that she did not look a day over 30 and it was practically impossible to believe that she has three grown up children in their early to late 20's. Tej was not the young and fit man he once was, yes he was still conscious about his health and food but years of overworking had caught up on his body, sometimes he looked at the both of them in a mirror right before they were to go to a gala or a party and wondered how did she put up with all this tantrums, and mood swings, raised three children, helped him in his business and still looked like she was not a day older than when they first met. He was truly a lucky man, his wife had always made all the events in his life special and it was his turn. He wanted to truly surprise her and show to the world how lucky he was.
The young ones were tired, there was not a shop that they hadn't visited in the giant mall, they were exhausted and Tej had not liked a single gift that they sent. They had tried jewellery, clothes, bags and even show pieces for their house. He liked nothing; he kept saying they weren't special enough. They were collapsed in the fancy food court waiting for Prinku and Rudy to brainstorm more ideas when Om quipped. "Dad is right, these gifts are not special. They are nothing she wouldn't buy on a normal day out shopping. We need to find something sentimental; I mean we are talking about the lady that kept all our drawings. I mean I understand mine; they were works of art even when I was young, but Rudy's? His drawings were basically scribbles, yet she still kept them. She always said that it was the thought and effort that counted and not the price/cost." Annika nodded in agreement "You're right, but we can't tell Jaanu Aunty how hard we looked for a present and call it a day, even though she would appreciate it. We need a physical gift, something that's thoughtful."
They were soon joined by Rudy and Prinku, who liked their idea of a thoughtful, hopefully handmade present and started chipping in ideas. "Scrapbook? O bhaiyya can do the paintings on the outside?" Soumya quipped. "Not bad Sumo! I like that idea, but its not good enough, let's reserve it. We can use if we think of nothing else." Annika suddenly burst out "You said aunty kept all your drawings of your childhood right? Does she still have them?" "Ofcourse Annika, they are in her office in a big trunk!" Om responded. Annika brought all their heads together and whispered her idea, all their faces lit up in succession. Jhanvi would love it! They quickly typed out the message to Tej who responded with a love heart and thumbs up! "Awww" they all chorused. Quickly heading home they set their plan in motion. But they had very little time and need some expert string pulling. Who else would be better than their very own Shivaay Singh Oberoi. They put Annika to the task unknown to the unwarranted feelings her and Shivaay were experiencing for each other.
Annika nervously headed to his room, finding him seated at his desk poring over some files on his IPad, she cleared her throat to grab his attention. Propping herself onto his desk, she relayed the entire plan and looking at his surprised and amused expression, she assumed he liked the idea. Shutting his IPad and grabbing his keys he motioned for her to move. Dropping a quick text to the OClan, she headed out to start part 1 of their J.B.P plan. (Jhanvi's Birthday Present). The gang responded to go ahead, her and Shivaay headed out to the place. Back in his car, it was like no time had passed since their midnight expedition. They continued bickering and arguing about their music tastes and fought over the radio. Pulling over to the small store front, Annika spoke to the elderly man who was associated with the Oberoi's. He said he would need a couple of hours to speak to his workers and get back to them. Shivaay and Annika thought they would hang around that area, instead of going home and coming back within 2 hours.
Annika was pretty hungry too, so they proceeded to find some food. Just as she was about to drag him into the nearest dhaba, he whispered in her ear to remind her, "Remember my turn to choose the place?" Annika whipped her neck around in surprise " Wh what? What do you mean?" Shivaay smiled, "Well this is the time when normal people eat dinner and I thought you agreed to go out to have dinner with me? Come lets go, I know great Italian place around here" Annika followed nodding wordlessly. She could not believe they were going on a date. Date? Where did that come from? Well, it was two people going out. At night time. They were attracted to each other, and she was previously invited. Bracing herself, she went back to the car.
Pulling up to the swanky Italian place, Shivaay gave the keys to the valet and went over to the other side and held out his hand. Together they walked up the stairs to enter the opulent restaurant. He mentioned his name at the reception and was met with, "Oberoi - table for 2 at 7.30" Something struck Annika, "Wait, you already made reservations? When?" "Thank you" they chorused when seated at their tables. Shivaay laughed, "I made a reservation the night I asked you out for dinner. Are you complaining?" Annika blushed and avoided his eyes. "No, nothing like that, just surprised that's all."
Soon they fell into their usual routine of funny banter and argument about all sorts of silly things.
HEYY GUYS!!
Sorry for the delay. I was on a holiday. I know this chapter does not have too much content, it's a filler basically, I just had to establish a few things before the next two chapters, which I can promise are MASSIVE - in terms of where this story is going, Lots of revelations and interesting sequences coming up. That's why I cut the date short in this chapter, I find that it will flow better with the next chapter.
Keep loving it.
PS: A mini thanks to CaffeineMuggle for commenting despite being a silent reader, YAAY!! Goal achieved and for PM's me for an update. Really appreciate it.
And all my other wonderful readers, thank you all the love and feedback. Do keep and eye out for the next one, there is little something for all my dedicated readers.
Until next time
Much love
Vinu xx
Cricket
Anupamaa
