(Shikha is maasi of Neil, and is played by Chhavi Pandey).
DD: What's wrong Neil sir? I've been noticing you've been looking at your phone many times since we came here and looking constantly at the entrance of the cafe. Are you waiting for Ananya?
DD grins teasingly at Neil. Neil looks at DD with a serious look, and tilts his head to the side, looking questionably at DD.
Neil: And where may I ask, did this idea come from in that dormant brain of yours, that I'm waiting for Ananya?
DD squints his eyes in confusion, and scratches his head.
Neil: Because I don't know of any other person you wait to meet with so much impatience and excitement, apart from Ananya. Not your to-be-wife, Riya or your mother that's for sure.
DD again throws a cheeky smile at Neil. Neil gets agitated with him. He leans forward, with his arms on the table and his hands folded together on top of the table, and looks at DD.
Neil: What did you just say? What are you trying to imply? No really...ELABORATE!!!
Neil put extra emphasis on the elaborate', partly as a warning to DD to choose his words wisely now when he answers.
DD: Weeell...It's just an observation I have made of you whenever you meet...HER! Your eyes look around frantically until you see her. You don't look away from her once you see her, and you talk to her so freely unlike you do with Riya, your mother, Ali or anybody else for that matter. Now this is the most observant I have ever been, so you should give me props for that. Right?
DD stuck up the collar on his uniform and pulled it up from the corners as a show of pride at his own observational skills. Neil suddenly became self-conscious and tried to recall any of his previous meetings with ananya that may have given off such an impression, that could have made his actions questionable even to a tubelight like DD. His mind drew a blank. He stretched across the table to smack DD across the head.
Neil: Why don't you leave the observational work to me, because your observation is way off, understood?
DD rubbed his head whilst smirking smugly at his boss's denial.
Neil: Besides, I'm waiting to meet my Maasi, who I haven't seen in 3 years. I asked her to meet me here.
Neil then sees her at the entrance of the cafe and waves to her like an over-excited child. She sees Neil and waves back. Seeing his boss wave to someone behind him, DD turns around to see who Neil is waving at. DD is at once stunned and speechless to witness a young woman walking towards him. DD finds himself unable to look away, as he watches the beautiful woman walk towards him, with the most breath-taking smile he has possibly ever seen.
She wore a knee-length, lilac-toned sheer salwar, with a jewel neckline, and a similar toned spaghetti strap dress under it. The sheer salwar had a silver, white and green leaf floral design embroidered on the left shoulder that went down across her chest. The ensemble was completed with a white churidar, simple silver strap heels, petite diamante silver hoop earring with a tiny diamante drop, and carrying a cream nude tote. Her hair was kept down in soft curls and a side parting, minimal and soft makeup with her eyes lightly lined with kajal. DD noticed every detail about her, up until she walked close towards him. As he thought she was coming to him, he took a small step towards her, only for her to walk past him to the other side of the table to Neil. DD's face dropped, then his brows and forehead furrowed in confusion and tension, seeing the beautiful woman and Neil embrace, as he felt himself hit with a pang of envy. They both broke from their embrace, as Neil kept both his hands on her shoulders, and they looked at one another with affection. DD coughed to get their attention.
Neil: Oh! DD, this is my Shikha Maasi I was just telling you about.
DD's face lit up out of joy at hearing this. DD brushed his hands over his hair, then extended his hands towards her. She took his hands to shake it, which DD happily took in his hands. As he shook her hands, he looked at her sheepishly, and continued shaking her hands as she wanted to let go. Neil stared at DD and scowled, and then broke apart their hands. DD snapped out of his fantasy world.
DD: Maasi? But you're so young and beautiful; how can you possibly be Neil's Maasi and Shweta Auntie's sister?
Shikha: What are you trying to say? That my sister isn't beautiful?
She said teasingly with a slight smirk. DD shook his head.
DD: Of course, that's not what I meant. Just...I expected you to be slightly older for some reason.
DD blushed, as he tried to cover up his blunder and feelings.
Neil: Please sit down Maasi.
All three of them sit down, with Shikha taking the seat on Neil's left side, to sit opposite DD.
Shikha: I can't believe you are getting married. And that too, to Dayavanti Mehta's granddaughter.
Neil and DD looked at one another, as they were surprised to hear venom in the way Shikha spoke Dayavanti's name, and Neil at once became curious.
Neil: What's wrong? You don't seem to be happy about it, and why do I get the impression you don't like Riya's grandmother? You haven't even met any of the Mehta's yet.
Shikha: I'm warning you Neil. You are making a big mistake of associating yourself with that woman. She is not the kind of person she portrays herself in front of the world, and I can't see how her granddaughter will be any better under her upbringing.
DD: But how can you say that? As Neil Sir said, you have never met them, so why do you dislike her so much?
Shikha bites her bottom lip out of nervousness, and is unable to find a rational and safe way to answer their queries.
Neil: What's wrong? Why are you quiet all of a sudden?
Shikha: Nothing? I just want to make sure that you are certain that Riya is right for you. Shweta Didi told me a few weeks back how you had gone against her for the alliance. I was surprised considering that this is an arranged marriage that your parents at first had to convince you a lot for, plus Juhi...
She stopped as she realised her mistake and both her and DD looked worryingly at Neil to see his response, but he was calm and thoughtful.
Shikha: Never mind. Tell me about Riya. I want to hear from your own mouth how she is. There must have been something about her, that you agreed to this marriage?
Neil: Well... she's...ummm. She's sweet, and innocent, and intelligent and...
Neil heard and turned to see Ali cackling out of amusement in the background. Neil frowned at him, and shook his head. Even DD was unable to contain his laughter hearing Neil's inaccurate description of Riya. Shikha also looked behind at Ali.
Shikha: Is that your noodle-hair friend you talk about, who is the owner of this cafe?
DD: Yeah. That's Ali. Him and Riya don't get along. Just imagine...the girl who he hates the most and considers a spoiled brat, he will soon have to respectfully call bhabhi' (sister-in-law).
At this DD sniggered, as Neil smacked his arm. Shika went into deep thought, as she looked back at Ali. After a second of thinking, she looked at the cafe name, and thought about something again, when her eyes widened in realisation, and she looked back at Ali. She looked surprisingly at Ali, then shook her head, snapping herself out of her own train of thought and turned back to speak to Neil.
Shikha: Sooo...we were talking about Riya, right? Tell me about her again, and this time honestly.
Neil: Ok! Ummm, well she's pretty short-tempered, and full of attitude. She rarely ever smiles as well, and almost seems like you would have to put her on gun point to get her to smile. Plus, she's always lost in her own thoughts. You can never make-out what she is thinking, and doesn't say anything if you ask her. She really annoys me so much. Despite all her bad points, she is very good at heart and respects people. It's just that she's so secretive and never opens up, which bothers me. Ananya really is a mystery. That's why I call her Miss Ajooba.
Neil laughed, and his laughter turned into a smile, as his cheeks burned red. DD and Shikha looked confused, as their brows furrowed.
Shikha and DD: ANANYA????
Neil snapped out of his thoughts, and became shocked as he realised what he had said.
DD: All this time you were describing Ananya? I swear sir. You shout at me when I mention her name, yet here you are, mentioning her name where she isn't even involved.
DD smirked at neils gaffe. Neil pursed his lips and twiddled his thumbs, wondering how he made such a big mix-up.
Shikha: Who is Ananya? Or should I say...MISS AJOOBA?
She laughed and nudged Neil with her elbows teasingly. Neil slightly blushed and tried to collect himself.
Neil: Nobody! I just accidentally said her name.
Shikha: You really think I'm a fool, don't you? You didn't just mix-up this Ananya's name with Riya's, but you were talking about her specifically, which I can tell.
DD: You can't cover that up sir. Sure! You can accidentally say Ananya's name instead of Riya's but accidentally give a description of Ananya instead of Riya. No way!
DD and Shikha exchanged looks of amusement with one another. Neil pinched his lips between his fingers, again thinking about his blunder.
Shikha: And the way you are describing this Ananya, it looks like she has made quite an impression on you. Is she someone special?
DD looked on surprisingly, awaiting Neil's reply.
Neil: No way. She's just Riya's friend, Ananya Verma.
Shikha: So why are you taking so much interest in your fiance's friend? You struggled so much to describe and praise Riya when I first asked you, but when I asked you the second time about Riya, you started talking about this Ananya Verma. You couldn't stop talking about her, as your description of her effortlessly rolled out of your mouth. She must be someone special for my nephew to talk about her like this.
This sparked DD's interest and he started thinking about it.
Neil: You're thinking too much about it. It is nothing like that. She has also recently become my friend too actually.
Neil said this with a hint of joy and satisfaction. After much attempts to become friends with Ananya, and then feigning friendship with her in order to find out her secrets, he was finally truly friends with her, and this pleased him.
Shikha: Have you got a picture of Riya and this friend of your too?
Neil: Ummm, yeah. I guess so.
Neil looked through his phone and handed it to her. She looked at the first pic with Riya posing alone.
Shikha: She's pretty. But she appears to be the type of girl who is obsessed with looks and is materialistic. Definitely not the girl I imagined for my nothing-less-than-a-prince nephew.
She frowned in disapproval.
DD: I see aunt and nephew are both good at making observations and understanding people, because you hit the nail right on the head with that observation...Shikha ji.
DD said her name with affection and blushed. Neil noticed DD's blushing and clicked his fingers at DD to snap him out. Shikha swiped her finger across Neil's smartphone, to next look at a picture of Riya and Ananya together from Holi. As her eyes zeroed in on Ananya in the pic, her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open in shock and confusion. Neil and DD noticed this.
Neil: What's wrong maasi? Why are you looking at the picture like that?
Shikha: Is this Ananya Verma?
Neil: Ummm...Yeah! Why? Your expressions appear that you know her? Do you know her?
Shikha: Uh...yeah.
Neil shifted to sit facing her, and looked at her questionably.
Neil: how do you know her?
Shikha: What do you know about her?
Neil: Just that her father has died, and she lives alone with her mother, Madhvi, and they are living as paying guests in a woman's house called Neela Pareikh, who is surprisingly also Dayavanti's ex-daughter-in-law.
Neil now knew that this was not true and remembered about Ananya revealing to him that she was Neela's adopted daughter and her mission against the Mehta's, but he had to cover it all up nonetheless, and help Ananya in keeping up her pretence in front of all, so that she could find evidence against the Mehta's. Shikha could not take her eyes off the pic and looked confusingly at what Neil said.
Neil: But how do you know her?
Shikha: I've known her for quite a few years. I was there when her father passed away and helped her and her mother overcome her loss. This was just after my boyfriend, Shekhar died.
Neil was shocked on hearing this. Neil knew the story Ananya had told him about her being an orphan and adopted by Neela, so he wondered why Shikha was lying about being with Ananya when her father died and consoling her mother.
Neil: Do you remember her mother's name?
Shikha: You just said it yourself. Madhvi!
Neil became suspicious and realised that his Maasi was lying to him. But then he wondered why she would lie to him about Ananya, and wondered whether Ananya again had told him some lie.
Shikha: Uh...I just need to make a phone call, okay?
DD and neil nodded in understanding. As Shikha hurried off worried, DD followed her with his gaze and looked lovingly towards her, with his left elbow propped up in an angle on the table and his left cheek resting on the hand. Neil noticed DD.
Neil: What are you thinking?
DD replied to Neil's question absentmindedly, whilst lost in his thoughts of Shikha. He talked softly and shyly.
DD: Thinking that if I married your beautiful Maasi, you would go from being my khadoos' boss to my Nephew.
DD chuckled and blushed, whilst still absent-mindedly staring in the direction she had left.
Neil: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING YOU IDIOT?
Neil spoke with a raised voice, which startled DD and snapped him out of his thoughts again. He straightened up his posture and tried to salvage the situation by covering it up.
DD: Nothing, Neil Sir! Nothing at all.
Neil: I can't believe you...My-my maasi...your boss's maasi. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? I swear, I'm so close to knocking your teeth out, you idiot!
DD looked guiltily and slid down his seat in embarrassment. Neil threw one last threatening look at DD, before he went back to thinking about what Shikha had said.
Shikha is seen talking to someone on the phone, stood behind the cafe.
Shikha: Yes, Neela! I am back in town, and Neil is my nephew. So, as I had predicted, Avni did decide to come back. I'm so proud of her.
Neela: (from the other side of the call) Yes, but what did you say to Neil when he asked you how you know Ananya Verma?
Shikha: Well, I first asked him what he knew about Ananya, so that I could give him an answer based on that, to cover up. He told me Ananya's mother is called Madhvi, her father is dead, and that they are both living as paying guests at your residence. Based on this, I told him that I had known Ananya and her mother, Madhvi for years since her father passed away.
Neela: Oh no! Shikha, Neil knows you are lying then.
Shikha: What! But how is that possible. I answered him based on what he told me he knew about her, so how could he possibly know I was lying?
Neela: Because Neil found out that Avni had met his dead girlfriend, Juhi, 5 years ago, and that evidence that Avni had given to Juhi against Dayavanti, who was researching on the case of Dayavanti and facts around Aisha and Avni's death, was the reason for Juhi's murder. Avni then had to lie to Neil that she is actually Ananya Pareikh, my adopted daughter, and that she has pretended to be Riya's friend so that she could get close to the Mehta's and find evidence against them on my behalf. Neil knows everything about Avni's mission, and everything that had happened to Aisha, Avni and Juhi, except that Avni decided to lie to him that she is Ananya and is my adopted daughter and taking revenge from the Metha's for me. We can't let him know who she really is until her mission against Daya is successful, but the fact that you said that you knew Ananya, and mentioned her fake mother's name, when he only said all that because he is helping Ananya Verma in covering up her identity, he will know that you are lying and that you know more about Ananya. And that is worrying as we can't tell him that she is Avni.
Shikha: Oh gosh. I had no idea that Avni had met and knew Juhi. Avni gave Juhi evidence against Dayavanti, and she was killed? Does that mean that Mrs Mehta killed Juhi?
Neela: Probably, as nobody else would have benefitted from her murder apart from Dayavanti, if Juhi had proof against her.
Shikha: So now what do I tell Neil if he asks me about my lie?
Neela: Just tell him that you recognised Ananya Verma as being my adopted daughter, Ananya Pareikh, from the picture, and had realised that Ananya must have hidden her identity from the Mehta's on purpose to gain their trust and get revenge from them on my, her adopted mother's behalf, which is why you first asked him what he knew about Ananya, so you could smartly give an answer, which is why you lied that you knew her fake mother, Madhvi. Tell him you have been my friend for years, and knew how much I hated Dayavanti and why, so you knew that that is why Ananya must have lied about her identity. And please try to be as convincing as you can when you tell him this.
Shikha: Okay, don't worry! I will tell him. Bye!
She ended the call, and turned to see Neil behind her.
Neil: You're going to tell me what?
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah
Tum Se Tum Tak
