ShivIka FF: PROMISES- The Final Promise: I Love You (Pg 39) - Page 2

Shivaay was confused.

He was not confused as to what was happening. He knew Anika was there, could see her clearly every time she tried to peek "discreetly" around the edge of the door to (he assumed) check whether or not he had left.

He was also not confused as to why she was doing this. After what had transpired earlier that morning, he wasn't particularly keen on bumping into her either. To be honest, he wasn't particularly keen on bumping into her anywhere ever. Their every interaction resulted in an argument.

No. Shivaay Singh Oberoi was confused because he wasn't walking away. In fact, his feet, quite against his wishes and better judgement, appeared to be carrying him down the corridor and towards the room where Anika was hiding.

He crossed the threshold and looked around, opening his mouth to lambast her for her stupid attempt at hiding from him.

Only to find the room completely deserted. "Hello?" He called out into the room, feeling quite stupid when nobody replied. Was he going crazy? No. No he was sure he'd seen her.

Shivaay looked around the room again. There wasn't much in the room. No curtains for her to hide behind, no pillars for her to use to conceal herself, no furniture except for a large bureau du roi and a disused wardrobe. Shivaay wondered, for a moment, what Anika must think of rooms such as this one. Completely disused and completely empty except for two pieces of furniture nobody had so much as looked at for years.

"Hachoo!"

His head whipped towards the wardrobe.

No. Way.

As Shivaay approached it, he noticed that there were streaks in the fine layer of dust, where someone's hand must have brushed- quite recently- as they hurried to open it.

And clamber inside.

"Hachoo!"

Shivaay pulled open the doors. A cloud of dust haloed through the air as Anika tumbled out, sending both herself and Shivaay toppling over onto the floor.

"Hachoo. Hachoo. Hachoo. Hachoo. You would think. Hachoo. That the stupid Oberois. Hachoo. Hachoo. Could afford to DUST their stupid. Hachoo. Furniture!"

"A- Anika."

Shivaay's voice sounded strangled, even to himself.

"What?" she looked down at him, sniffing.

"Anika. What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean what do I-"

Anika froze.

For when Anika and Shivaay had fallen, Shivaay had been on the bottom, with Anika on top of him, on his chest.

As Anika had hurriedly sat up in an attempt to avoid sneezing on Shivaay Singh Oberoi's face, she had unwittingly ended up kneeling with her knees on either side of his hips.

Shivaay watched with more than some amusement the horror that crossed Anika's face as she realised that she was, at that moment, straddling her worst enemy.

Anika wriggled in blind panic as she tried to get off him. Shivaay didn't know why he enjoyed messing with her, he just knew that he did. "You might want to stop wriggling on me like that, Miss Anika." He smirked up at her.

And winked.

Anika, who was already blushing vividly, turned positively crimson. She stopped struggling and slowly manoeuvred herself off of Shivaay and rose to her feet, turning her back on him.

Shivaay himself stood up and dusted himself off. "Would you like to explain to me why you were hiding in the wardrobe?"

"I was...cold." She offered lamely.

"Cold?"

"Yes."

"So you hid in a wardrobe?"

"Yes."

"And are you now warm?"

"Yes."

"Well. That's good to know. And were you able to plan much of my wedding while being warm inside a dark and dusty wardrobe?"

"Yes."

Shivaay held out his hand and cleared his throat so Anika would turn back round to face him. "Yes?"

"Let me see what exactly you planned while in there."

"Why?"

"I'm always open to innovative ideas to improve productivity in the employees of Oberoi Industries. If it turns out dark, cramped, enclosed spaces encourage stellar work, I might recommend a company-wide rollout."

Anika's jaw dropped open. "You're joking."

"Your notebook, Anika."

Anika handed it to him.

"As I thought, there is absolutely nothing in here beneath- wait. What is this? Reasons Why Billu Is Maybe Not The Absolute Worst (To Be Added To If Necessary/Possible)."

Shivaay glared at her and held the notebook high above his head, out of her reach as she attempted to snatch it back from him.

"Number 1- he seems to care about his family. Possibly an act in order to take over the family fortune but even if fake, is still sweet and to be respected.

Number 2- he is a good brother. Possibly because Priyanka, Omkara and Rudra are great and to be mean to them would make even a Rakshas like Billu feel bad.

Number 3- he was raised at least in part by Daadi, surely at least SOME of her teachings have been passed on to him?

Number 4- he has nice eyes. Even if he does use them to glare a lot. Possible wedding gift ideas include glasses which he will inevitably need after he ruins his eyes by glaring at people all the time. Also maybe throat lozenges- surely yelling all the time is ruining his throat?

Number 5- he isn't too tall. Somehow I feel that his Angry Singh Oberoi routine would be a lot scarier if he was taller."

The sixth and final point had been written in a different coloured pen and the ink had streaked under his fingers, fresher than the previous 5 points. "Number 6- he has a 6 pack."

Slowly, Shivaay closed the notebook and held it out for Anika to whip out of his hands.

"Anika?"

"...Yes?"

"I'm going to count to 6, and if I look up and find that you're still here, then I promise you I'm going to shove you back inside that closet and lock you in there until you slowly but surely suffocate or starve. If that is not how you wish to die... Run."

As Anika fled the room, she noted that this was the second time that morning she had run away from Shivaay Singh Oberoi.

4th Promise: "It's Not Safe"