Anika gleefully followed Priyanka inside the car, excited about the way the evening was turning out. However, her excitement was short-lived as she watched Shivay toss the keys to Rudra.
"Bhaiya?!" Rudra exclaimed, delight and surprise warring on his face.
"I'll need a short power nap I think. So, you get to drive." Shivay smiled at his brother before turning towards Anika. His smile was still in place but Anika felt a tremor deep within as his eyes rested on her. He walked towards them and got into the backseat. Immediately, that spacious car seemed to shrink until Anika felt she could barely breathe. She sat rigid, with his long trouser clad legs stretching alongside hers.
Rudra danced a mini jig before turning to Soumya and saying gruffly, "Get in!" She tossed her head and stomped off to sit in the front beside him. Shivay, true to his words, proceeded to close his eyes and stretched out in his seat. Even asleep, his presence seemed to fill the car. On being nudged by Priyanka, Anika realised they had left the house a while back and was now stuck in traffic. Soumya was arguing with Rudra over which radio station they could potentially play if Bade Bhaiya wasn't trying to sleep. Priyanka showed her a text from Riddhima that said they were also making slow progress through this traffic. Beside her Shivay sat up. As he shifted and turned next to her, she felt every brush, every move. This man raised every hackle in her simply by his presence. She couldn't wait to get out of this car.
************************
An hour or so later, Anika felt like she had entered a magical world. The place they had come to was on the terrace of a high rise building. On one hand lay the ocean and on the other, the city sparkled beneath her. As the wind buffeted her hair, she felt like she was truly on the top of the world. Soft music filled the balmy night. Glittering figures spread around the dimly lit room adding sparkle to everything. She wished Saahil could have been there with her to see this fairyland that existed in their very own city. Food and drinks arrived, carried by waiters who seemed to appear out of the soft shadows. Anika tried to store every single moment in her memory so that she could describe everything in full detail to Saahil.
Looking around her, for a moment, she felt what it was to be Shivay Singh Oberoi. She had felt the eyes of the crowd on their group as they had entered. The whispers that followed them about the 'Oberoi brothers' had reached her ears. She looked at the ease with which Rudra and Omkara moved through the crowd. Priyanka, Riddhima and even the baby of the group, Soumya were part of this world. And Shivay? Here, he was the king. This was the world over which he ruled. The careless arrogance with which he greeted some and ignored others sent shivers down her spine. She felt the distance between herself and her companions with a pang. How could the same city house such different worlds! She felt like these people she had gotten to know were actually complete strangers to her.
Priyanka brought Anika out of her reverie. Food was pushed on her. Toasts were raised and drunk. Soon Anika's troubling thoughts disappeared and she laughed with the rest,shared anecdotes, admired the place, praised the lighting and the clothes on the fashionable ladies around them. Through all this however, she felt the eyes of Shivay on her. Whenever she looked at him, she found him studying her with something in those blue eyes that she couldn't fathom. Her senses appeared to have heightened and she could feel his eyes on her even when she determinedly avoided glancing at him.
**********************
Shivay looked across the table where she sat between Priyanka and Soumya. She was laughing at something Rudra had said.
'Stop staring.'
He looked around to see Om grinning at him.
'Pehli baar zindagi mein you're paying more attention to a girl rather than to the food.'
'Shut up, Om.' Shivay gritted out, looking around surreptitiously to see if anyone had heard them. No one had. They were far too busy listening to Priyanka's account of her latest awful date.
Shivay turned back to Om.
'And what about you? What is all this cartoon publishing nonsense?'
'Arrey! What's so nonsensical about it? She has talent. I'm just trying to help.'
'Yeah right! Those sketches were terrible'
'Now now..just because she was making fun of you in them, you can't call them bad!'
Shivay glared at Om. 'Aren't you praising her a little too much?'
'And aren't you being a little too touchy about this?'
Shivay turned his attention to his plate. Om leaned closer and said, "If it makes you feel better, I shall now focus on my girlfriend for the rest of the evening so you can stare at her as much as you want, undisturbed!" And he turned to Riddhima and started talking to her before Shivay could come back with a fitting reply.
Truth be told, Shivay wasn't sure what to think of the way the evening was proceeding. He had to admit that he was enjoying himself. The fact that he was having a good time both delighted him as well as leaving him uncomfortable. It was always a pleasure for him to see his siblings unwind and just chill out like this. Soumya was a cute girl, a little too aggressive when it came to airing her views but definitely a welcome addition to the party. But Anika?
He had come up with the notion of spending some time with Anika just to get to know her and thus gain insight into her weaknesses. But he had thought it would be an ordeal. He had steeled himself to the prospect of a couple of hours of annoying conversation full of misplaced self-importance mixed with general ignorance. But he caught himself laughing along with the rest at some of her anecdotes. She could laugh at herself as well as at those she mocked in her tales. He had been to her house. He had seen the condition in which she lived. But when she spoke of her eccentric neighbors or her brother Saahil's Buaji, she never mentioned that their neighborhood was saved from being called a slum simply owing to the air of middle class respectability that pervaded it or that this Buaji of hers wasn't one to hesitate selling off the very house that was their only shelter. The world she described was all light and humour, effectively pulling a curtain over the reality, her reality.
The more he listened to her talk, he couldn't help but feel that though she spoke freely,she hid more than she revealed. Anika, despite her frank speech and fierce temper, appeared more and more, an enigma to him. And he felt the interest rise within him to find out what might lie beneath those layers she hid under, once he had peeled them off one after another, leaving her bare.
*********************
As the night progressed, the music changed and more and more people filled the dance floor. Riddhima dragged Om off to dance with her. Anika couldn't help but move to the music and Rudra jumped up and declared that she must dance with him. This was a welcome suggestion but she made sure that Soumya and Priyanka also followed. Soon they were showing off their moves to each other and bursting into unbridled laughter in that world of golden light and purple shadows. For a while, Anika forgot all about Shivay Singh Oberoi.
However, when the music changed to a slower tempo and Rudra insisted that she join him for another dance, Anika felt that she had had enough dancing for the night. Soumya and Priyanka had deserted them a while back to get drinks. Anika laughed at Rudra's disappointed face and turned to leave the dance floor. But her path was blocked by a familiar figure.
Shivay stood before her. He had taken off his jacket and stood before her with tie loosened and shirt sleeves folded. She had seen him like this a million times in his house, in his room, but today there was an unfamiliar look in those eyes. He took her hands and led her back amidst those gyrating bodies. She felt his arms snake around her waist as he drew her closer to him. The crowd around them further pushed them together and Anika felt his hard chest press up against her. She looked up at his face in confusion to see him looking at her with a fire in his eyes that made her immediately look away. As they moved to the music, his arms around her drowned out all other feeling while his masculine scent filled her senses. Lost in sensations so new to her, Anika allowed him to twist and turn her around as he wanted. She moved as his hands directed her. The image of his eyes had burnt into her mind and she did not dare to glance up again into those fiery depths.
When the music stopped, Anika found herself moulded to his body. She somehow extracted herself from his embrace and turned to leave. She felt him hold on to her wrist for a second before letting her go. She made her way through the crowd without looking back. Getting the directions from Priyanka, Anika headed towards the washroom. There were a couple of fashionable creatures touching up their make up who gave her cool stares as she walked in. Anika barely noticed. She made her way to one of the sinks and splashed cold water on her face. Once reason and sense returned to her, she studied her face in the mirror. Under the harsh light of the washroom, a stranger seemed to stare back at her.
******************
As Anika stepped out of the washroom, she stared in shock at Shivay standing, leaning against the wall opposite. Had he been waiting for her? She felt the heat flood back to her cheeks and it took all the strength in her to look into those eyes. She glanced up and down the corridor which all of a sudden appeared to be quite empty. He sauntered towards her and soon had her caged between him and the wall.
"We should get back-" she whispered.
"Why did you leave?" his eyes were fixed on her but he reached down and took her hand. The warmth of his touch seeped through.
"What would you have had me do?" she trailed off catching the fire in his eyes.
"Stay." he said while reaching out with his other hand to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. The intimate gesture of his along with the softness in his voice broke something within her and she stopped struggling to get her hand free from his grasp.
"Why?" she managed to mumble.
"For this," he said and bent down and brushed his lips against hers.
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