ShivIka FF : Fool Me Once (Author's Note on p.12)

September, 2020

Something about this place made Anika feel nostalgic which didn't make sense. She'd never gone to day care as a child, and never worked in a day care facility before, so she shouldn't have been feeling reminiscent. But as she stood in the foyer of the Tender Tots Child Care center looking at unintelligible drawings of stick figures and flowers and mountains, she felt a tug in her chest that she couldn't explain.

"Anika?" She turned to see a woman in her late fifties approaching, her pepper hair pulled back in a severe bun. Dressed in jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, she looked as welcoming as hot chocolate on a cold day. Anika crossed her fingers and prayed for a favorable outcome. "Nice to finally meet you, Mrs.Carrick"

"No, no. No need for any formality, please just call me Lydia." she said, stepping to the side and gesturing for Anika to enter her office after they had shaken hands. Anika couldn't help but observe how meticulous her desk and office space was. It was clean, businesslike and almost austere. Except for the one wall behind the mahogany work station. That wall was a warm canary yellow with dozens of framed photos of children and teachers hung across it. It looked like a timeline of joy. But Lydia Carrick was in every one. "Amazing, isn't it?" she said, nodding toward the pictures as she walked behind her desk and took a seat. "It feels like I opened this place up yesterday, and yet there are kids on that wall that are doctors right now."

"So, Anika," she said, "Let's get to it. You're originally from India. Why New York? You had some sort of an event organizing business in Bombay and Delhi which was clearly successful based the reference letters you've attached. Why the move?"

"The event organizing business is probably my biggest personal accomplishment till date but I couldn't make it as big as I had hoped. So I moved to New York two years ago to study at the International Culinary Center. It's my dream to open a restaurant someday. So I'm saving up. I worked three jobs for the last two years to be able to afford tuition at the Centre but it's going to be worth it. "I always throw one hundred percent of myself into everything I do, "But I couldn't afford to not have a paying job while studying so here I am. "Don't get me wrong," Anika added quickly. "I will not flake out on my work here. I can devote myself to my kids fully during the day, but I'll still be able to devote myself to my course in the evenings and on the weekends. I can give a hundred percent to both things." Lydia looked down at the closed folder, and for a moment, the room was silent. Anika began to wonder if perhaps she had said the wrong thing.

"You know," Lydia finally said, taking a deep breath. "When I received your resume, I loved you on paper and now that I've met you, I feel like you're even perfect than I imagined."

Anika exhaled heavily, a relieved laugh escaping her lips. "Oh thank God," she said softly, and Lydia laughed. "So, when can you start?"

"Really?" Anika asked, her eyebrows in her hairline. "Just like that?"

"Yup. Just like that. I've already called your references. And I've never heard the words lovely and wonderful thrown in one conversation so many times before. Anika laughed, blushing slightly, and Lydia continued. "Why don't you come back tomorrow? I'll walk you through the rules and procedure and then we'll see about getting you started."

"Thank you so much Lydia. You have no idea how grateful I am for this." Anika said, standing and extending her hand.

"Not at all, honey. There is nothing I admire more than woman who didn't have it handed to her on a silver platter but worked her ass off to get where she is. But having said that, it's also alright to accept help from people sometimes. You remember that now." Lydia said with an understanding twinkle in her eye.

"I look forward to you joining the Tender Tots family!."

"You got it?" Anika's roommate squealed into the phone. "That's awesome. I mean, I totally knew you would get it. When do you start?"

"Tomorrow," Anika said, making her way into the subway network.

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Until next time,

good start dear...welcome to the forum I can see u r new here so do write more..I m glad to see an independent anika raising kids alone without SShivaay so that's interesting.. Do update fast n pm me😃

"Do you have any questions?" Damien asked when they were done.

"No, not right now," Anika said, "but I'm sure I will as the day progresses."

"That's what we're here for," said Leah. "You'll be great."

Lydia peeked out of her room, "I just need to borrow Anika for a minute before the kids get here."

"We're done here," Leah said, placing buckets of shapes and toys at each table.

"Great. Come with me," Lydia said to Anika. "I'm going to walk you through the registration process. You picked a great day to start because we're registering a couple of new kids today. You've already taken a look at the paperwork, yes? Good. Now, the most important thing to do when a new parent walks in is to make the kid comfortable. If they see that their child isn't fussing, it goes a long way in making the parents feel at ease. Just make them fill out their details, double checking criteria like emergency contacts and blood group, allergies. You will not believe the number of parents who don't fill out that kind of information correctly. Get them to sign tuition and waiver and then sit with them to answer questions or just talk. Parents are very jittery on the first day. Tell you what, our first kid has just walked in. Why don't watch me do this one and you can handle the second registration on your own?"

"Right," Anika said with a nod. "Sounds good," Anika said, smiling over at the frazzled young parents who were walking in with their little boy.

Anika watched in open admiration as Lydia organically calmed the parents down. She spoke confidently but gently, taking them through the whole process step by step. She would devote moments in between to charm Jamie, the little boy who was clinging to his mother's chest. As the kids started pouring in, Anika made her way back to the room she was assigned. She spent the better part of the morning answering a multitude of questions and indulging the kids' curiosity of her. Anika slipped into her role with ease and by afternoon, she felt like she had been doing this for years.

"Hey, Anika?" She looked up to see Lydia popping her head in the door of their classroom. "Our second registration is here. You want to give it a shot?"

"Sure," she said.

"He's waiting in the lobby. Call me over if you need anything," Lydia said before walking back.

Anika stepped out to see a man in a suit, with his back to her, holding a little girl and pointing to some of the drawings on the bulletin board. "Hi," Anika said tentatively. "Welcome to Tender Tots, I'll be helping you today." He turned then, and Anika felt her stomach drop. For a second, her vision got sort of blurry and the ringing in her ears got louder, and she reached down and placed her hands on the desk to steady herself.

He was here. In New York City. This was impossible, she kept repeating but knew that the impossibility had presented itself. She hadn't seen him in six years, but his face was still the same. He seemed to be equally stunned, gripping the hand of the little girl by his side.

In that moment, Anika was too frozen to say the things she knew she was supposed to be saying, the things Lydia had taught her that morning. She was forcing herself to just continue breathing. And so she stood there, staring at him in shock, willing for the numbness to start setting in. But there was too much anger. After all these years, the anger finally crashed and rolled all over her.

August, 2014

Anika watched as Shivaay had disappeared into the shadows. Her fingertips still lingering on her slightly swollen lips, rubbing the kiss deeper into the tender skin. His mouth had been unexpectedly hot, and his taste was sweet and exquisite, flavored with the dark coffee he drank. She had imagined his kiss thousands of times, but nothing could have prepared her for the sensual reality of it. She had wanted to make Shivaay acknowledge her as a woman and not just someone who worked for him, and she had finally succeeded. But there was no triumph in the moment, only a despair that was as incisive as a knife blade.

She knew that Shivaay thought she didn't understand the complexity of the situation, when in truth she knew it better than he. It had been relentlessly instilled in her since the cradle that people did not venture out of their classes. Men like Shivaay Singh Oberoi orbited a different universe and were by definition unattainable. Everyone from the top of society to the bottom understood and accepted such stratification and any attempt to breach the boundaries would result in a massive backlash. She and Shivaay might as well have been different species, she thought with black humor. He belonged to one of India's first families with lineage going back to pre-independence. The Oberois had more money than some countries did and commandeered more respect than some world leaders. He was almost a part of aristocracy and she was a mere employee with no family to speak of. She remembered the day she had first come to the Oberoi mansion with naive hope in her eyes and a head full of dreams. She had secured a job as a contractor to organize all events for the Oberoi family and she was thrilled.

According to the staffs' gossip, the eldest son of the house was the one to steer clear of. He was intimidating and tough to please, and ran the empire with an iron fist. Anika who usually paid no mind to below-the-stairs gossip, found herself fascinated with the Oberois. Over the months, she realized how wonderfully different they all were. Tej Oberoi with his taciturn demeanor, Shakti Oberoi with is subservient nature. Janhavi Oberoi and her tragic pain and Pinky Oberoi who lent herself to intermittent comic relief. She was most envious of the bond between the brothers of the house. She thought Rudra was the most childlike guy she had ever met and Omkara, the kindest. She adored Priyanka and within the first few months of her employment, she and Priyanka became incredibly close.

At first most of the staff had taken little notice of her and she was left to her own devices. Until the matriarch of the Oberoi family, took her under her wing. The wife of the late Prithviraj Oberoi was a broad-faced, rosy-cheeked, kindhearted woman who was the closest thing to a parent that Anika had ever known. In fact, all four grandchildren were far more likely to go to their daadi than they were to approach their own mothers. No matter how busy daadi was, she always seemed to have a moment to spare for Anika, to ask about her day, to tell her jokes or give her advice, to bring little tidbits for her to munch while she worked. It was solely because of the generosity and diktat of the old lady that Anika had been able to keep her job after Shivaay had accused her of a catena of ridiculous things.

The familial affection she felt for the entire family bore no resemblance to her relationship to Shivaay. Shivaay was a contradiction. He was her nemesis, her compass, her tormentor, her sanctuary. She never felt more at odds or more alive than when she was with him. It had been only natural that she would become physically attracted to him. Certainly every other female in the country was. Shivaay was lean and muscled with striking looks, his features strong and precisely chiselled, his nose long and bold, his mouth wide. His black hair was always perfectly groomed while those singular turquoise grey eyes were shadowed by extravagant dark lashes. To compound his appeal, he possessed raw charm and a sly sense of humor that had made him a favorite with the ladies.

"God, what am I to do?" Anika whispered in frustration, throwing herself onto her bed. She clutched a pillow in her arms and dug her chin into the downy plumpness of its surface, while reckless thoughts clattered through her mind. She couldn't bear to lose him now. The thought made her shaky, filled her with sadness, made her want to scream. Flinging aside the pillow, Anika lay on her back and stared blindly into the darkness. How could she keep Shivaay in her life? She tried imagining a hundred different scenarios but in her heart, she knew it was going to be impossible. She was going to lose him. Shivaay Singh Oberoi belonged to another world, in the arms of another woman and Anika was just going to have to accept that.

She was going to do her job and put on a smiling face and watch the man she loved get married to Tia Kapoor.

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If you guys would like me to continue, let me know. I have lost fair amount of objectivity so I don't know if the story is any good coz I can't tell anymore.

Anika left that day before he came back to pick up his daughter, so she didn't have to see him again. She was still reeling and she was in no mood to show any sign of weakness. When she ran into him next, she wanted to be ready. She hid it well the whole day, falling right back into the children, putting all of her energy into them. But now that she was in train back home, her mind began to wander and slowly panic. She needed to vent.

Anika leaned over and grabbed her cell phone, holding down the speed dial for Nidhi, her roommate, confidante and business partner from her earlier life.

"Hi, I'm making taquitos," Nidhi fairly yelled.

Anika smiled weakly. "I need to talk."

"You okay?" Nidhi asked.

"I don't know yet."

"You're freaking me out here, Nika. What's going on?"

Anika took a breath before she said, "I ran into Shivaay today."

"Shivaay?"

"Shivaay Singh Oberoi ," she whispered.

Seconds of silence ticked.

"You're kidding, right?" Nidhi shrieked.

"No."

"Holy f***," she said. "How? Where? What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything. I froze."

"Seriously?" Nidhi said, her voice equal parts disbelief and disappointment. "You didn't let him have it? Yell and scream at him? You used to dream about it!"

"You realize that was like five years ago, right?"

"So? The guy still deserves a kick in the ass."

"I was at work, Nidhi!"

"So you didn't speak to him at all?"

"No, I did. But it was just really awkward."

"What exactly did you say?"

"Just stupid formalities. Nice to see you.' How've you been?' And then he registered his daughter and he left."

"His daughter? Wow. He has a daughter now. What was she like?" Nidhi asked.

"Beautiful. She looks like a doll." Anika said, "Her name is Tasha. She didn't say more than a few words today. Mostly kept to herself. Seems like a very shy child."

"How did Shivaay and Tia produce a shy child? Well, be careful. You know how you are with children and it'll be better for everyone if you don't get attached to this one." Nidhi said, the disdain back in her voice, and Anika shook her head and rolled her eyes. "It's not going to be like that this time."

"Anika.." Nidhi said warningly.

Anika sat up a little straighter as she felt herself growing defensive. "I'm not lying. What happened was years ago. He came in to register his daughter, and I registered her. I don't see what the big deal is. I've moved on. He's just another parent now.

"I don't want to seem overprotective," Nidhi said, her voice softening. "It's just that...you've always made excuses where Shivaay was concerned. You have a faulty memory when it comes to him."