10 (a)
Slap!
Anika looked at her hand and then back up at his face! Had she slapped him?! She watched in horrified fascination at the crimson spread across that cheek until a sudden movement made her look towards his eyes. The fire was still there but as she watched, she saw the ice creep in. He still held her other hand but the hold tightened until it became painful. She tried to wrest her hand away and this time, he let her go with a jerk. Then straightening up, Shivay Singh Oberoi turned around and walked away. Anika fell back against the wall, palm stinging from the slap, wrist still sore from his grip and her hand slowly rose of its own accord to her mouth. Her lips still tingled from that soft touch. Oh, what had they done!
Trying to gather her nerves, Anika returned to their table to find everyone preparing to leave.
Priyanka came up to her.
"Bhaiya has just got an urgent call and needs to get home immediately."
Anika glanced around trying to see if the man concerned was anywhere around. He was standing with his back to her a few steps away and speaking to Om. She quickly turned to Priyanka and said, "Haan, it's also getting quite late. Mujhey bhi chalna chahiye."
"But it's quite late. Are you sure you'll go all the way to your house now?" Priyanka asked in concern.
"Arrey, chinta mat kar!" Anika smiled at her. "Taxi lekey Churchgate chali jaungi aur wahan se toh train mil hi jayga."
As they were speaking, Shivay walked towards them. Anika fell silent as he came and stood next to them.
"Prinku, let's go."
"Bhaiya, I was just asking Anika how she is going to get home at this time of the night."
Finally Shivay looked at her, his face taut and cold eyes revealing nothing.
"She should have thought about that sooner." he said with an air of cool dismissal. He turned back to his sister. "I'm in a rush, Prinku. O's leaving with Riddhima and Rudra, Soumya and you are already well past your curfew. We can't go about wasting our time like this."
Anika had had enough.
"Don't worry, Priyanka. I'll manage" she said not wanting to hear another word from that man. "Chal, bahar chaltein hai."
Saying this she went to gather her things. Priyanka ran up to her and said, "Okay, we'll drop you off at Churchgate Station and you can't say no."
Anika tried to return the girl's eager smile.
This time around, Shivay drove. Seated beside Priyanka in the back, despite her resolution, Anika couldn't help but look at his face reflected in the rear-view mirror. Through the evening whenever she had turned to him, she had found his eyes on her. She had found that unsettling and had wished he would stop. Now he looked straight ahead. She wondered if the fire she had seen in those eyes earlier had been a figment of her imagination. Anger rose within her in waves.
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"Shivay baby, you have to select a colour!"
Shivay sighed as he looked at the piles of material spread out across the table, the couches and parts of the floor.
Tia looked at Anika, who sat a little distance away beside Pinky.
"Did you get those prints I ordered for the upholstery?"
Anika nodded her head and said, "They'll send in samples by tonight."
Pinky looked at Shivay and asked him, "Toh Shivay, tu jaldi bataa de curtains kaun sa colour ka pasand hai tujhey."
Shivay looked up in exasperation. "Maa, you all dragged me here from my work for this!
Tia was busy running her fingers through the various materials. "Baby," she said, "We are selecting curtains for our room that we will share and I want you to feel positive about the colour choice. And if you feel positive, your aura will be bright and shining."
Shivay glanced through the materials and then picked one. "Okay, this one is good."
"Are you sure, baby?" Tia asked doubtfully. "Isn't that a bit too dark?"
"Okay,well then what about this?" Shivay picked up another.
"That's better!" Tia said in a delighted voice. "See, don't you feel good about making this decision?"
Shivay's face hid whatever happiness he was feeling exceptionally well. Tia went on, "You see how making a decision gives you such satisfaction. What you are experiencing is inner peace."
Tia explained to Pinky how indecision affected one's aura as Anika tried to focus on drawing up the list of fabrics selected. Not once did she look towards the place where that man sat next to his fiance, his arm casually flung around her. She concentrated on the task at hand, drowning out everything else.
Since that night, she had felt like she had been branded. The feel of his lips pressed against hers, that unique scent of his that had clung to her, seemed sensations that were imprinted on her now. Nothing she did could make her erase that. Unconsciously she had taken to rubbing her lips as if she wanted to rub that memory away into nothingness.
As for the man, since that night, he had acted like she had ceased to exist and that suited her quite well. He was nothing but trouble and if he was happy to avoid her, then it only made her life easier. She had done the same,in fact. She had found a great deal of angry satisfaction from seeing through him, pretending he wasn't in the room or just by blocking out his presence.
She was brought back to the present by the sound of laughter. Tia was laughing at something Pinky aunty had said.
"Oh my maata! Shivay! I'll ask Mummyji to call panditji today itself for the dates!" Pinky said.
A brief glance towards the man showed that he was looking as happy as was possible for someone like him to look. Anika turned back to her half-written list.
"Yes, get him to suggest a few dates and then we'll pick one." His voice rumbled across the room.
"Shivay, you have made me happiest today!" said Pinky as she left the room, excited to inform the rest about this development.
"Baby!"
How many yards of that gray floral patterned material did Tia say? Was it 3 or 7 yards? Anika resolutely penned in both numbers putting a question mark in the margin. She will not look up. She will not see how happy he was to have finally come to some kind of decision. She will not see him experience inner peace.
"Shall we take a selfie to celebrate this moment?!" Tia was saying which was soon followed by the click of the photo being taken. Then came a soft sound and despite everything, Anika looked up. Tia was straightening up from having planted a kiss on his cheek and as Anika's disobedient eyes turned towards the man, she found herself being watched by him in turn.
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NEXT
Note: Really sorry about the delay in updates. But the show itself has given us such a high in the last few episodes, nothing else seemed good enough in comparison. And the writer's block continues with me hating everything I am writing. But anyway, have decided to stop worrying about that and just let you decide whether something is working or not in the story.
Edited by twerping - 8 years ago
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