The Masquerade (AnShi/ShivIka FF)- Epilogue UPDATED (Pg 130){COMPLETE} - Page 53

Shivay's arms pulled her closer, as he raised his head and looked at her. His eyes studied her face as if memorising it. Caught under that penetrating scrutiny, Anika felt heat rush to her cheeks.

"Sensible," he said, drawing out each syllable, the sound of it making her skin tingle. Then in a sudden gesture that made him appear ever so vulnerable, he lowered his face until his forehead was resting on hers.

"What are we doing?",she whispered, her voice breaking with the rush of emotions that washed through her in waves.

"Being sensible." he replied with a sigh. And then he let her go.

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"Shivay, seriously, those medicines are not going to work some kind of magic for you!" Om said, concern written across his face.

"Haan Bhaiya! What you need is some actual rest..like lying down and sleeping." Rudra said from his perch on the couch.

Shivay blew his nose, eyes bleary and dark circles showing the effects of a night of not sleeping. He took off the headset he had been speaking into and looked at his brothers with exasperation.

"Guys, I need to be there at office today. Nishanth needs my supervision."

As he walked towards his wardrobe to pick out something to wear, Rudra jumped off his perch exclaiming, "Idea!"

Om and Shivay looked at him sceptically but Rudra wasn't one to be cowed down by such things. "Arrey, why don't you just get Nishant Bhaiya and the rest out here?"

Shivay looked surprised while Om seemed impressed at this.

"You, mean I'll get half the office to come to our house?" Shivay finally found his voice.

It was now Om who rounded on him excitedly and said, "Why not Shivay? For the first time in his life, Dumbbell Oberoi has actually come up with a good idea! Just get Nishanth to bring his team out here and you can rest and have them close at hand in case they need your input. Makes perfect sense!"

Rudra scowled at his brother. "Thanks for that back-handed compliment, O. Sarcasm mein PhD ki hai na, ki har waqt dikhana parta hai?"

Ignoring Rudra, Om went on, "And come on, Shivay, when did anything become impossible for the great Shivay Singh Oberoi? Nishanth has visited us hundreds of times. He'll keep the rest in check."

Through runny nose and bleary eyes, Shivay laughed. "But guys, we can't suddenly have so many people descending upon us here!"

Rudra came forward and said, "Arrey, don't worry about that! Anika didi hai na? She'll manage everything."

The matter was settled and Shivay made the call.

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Anika hadn't worked at a college canteen for the last seven years of her life for nothing. She always held that catering to a crowd of hungry youngsters in a rush to grab a bite between classes was good practice for anything else life might throw at her. And so when Daadi pointed her towards the thirty harried looking people, she simply took the matter in her own hands. The set of rooms used for office work in the West wing had to be tweaked a bit but in no time at all she had arranged for the team to have a place to hook up their laptops, handed out the wifi code, and set up the coffee machine. As she was about to head out to the kitchen to give instructions to the staff there to prepare some light snacks for them, a young man approached her.

"Hi! Anika, right?" he asked, smiling down at her.

"Haan, aapko mera naam kaise paata chala?" Anika asked in surprise.

"Woh, I heard Mrs. Oberoi call you when we arrived." he said.

Anika smiled and said," Hope everything is alright here? If you need anything at all, just let me know."

"Yes, I wanted to thank you for organising everything so efficiently" the man replied,looking around the place with a pleased look on his face. After a brief chat about the way the team worked and what they might need at various points of the day, Anika turned to leave. As she walked away, he called out to her, "I'm Nishanth, by the way."

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"Daadi," Priyanka seemed to have been lying in wait for the elderly lady and accosted her as soon as she came out of the prayer room. "I have something to tell you!"

"What is going through that naughty head of yours now?" Daadi asked the girl, in mock consternation.

"I'm matchmaking," replied Prinku with excitement dancing in her eyes.

Daadi laughed out at the young girl's obvious excitement. "And who is the lucky couple?"

"Well, both of them are people you know quite well."

Daadi's brows crinkled as she tried to make sense of this. "You aren't trying to match-make for any of your brothers, no?" she asked finally.

"Daadi!" Priyanka burst into a peal of laughter. "Shivay Bhaiya has made certain that we can't interfere in that department and the other two, I have given up as lost causes!"

Daadi settled down on one of the sofas and pulled her granddaughter down beside her.

"Prinku, you know I hate mysteries! Is one of them Anika?" she asked as Priyanka promptly made herself comfortable by placing her head on Daadi's lap.

"You know Daadi, sometimes I think if Arthur Conan Doyle had met you, he would have written his novels about you instead of that Sherlock Holmes of his!" Priyanka said breezily, as she dangled her legs from one end of the sofa.

"Puttar, I can't imagine who you found suitable for our Anika." Daadi said as she ran her fingers through Priyanka's hair.

"Well, it's someone we have met hundreds of times!" Priyanka had already closed her eyes and was enjoying Daadi's ministrations. "This afternoon I had gone to the West wing to see if they needed some help with the lunch service for those people from the office. You know how she had been running around managing things for the team all morning. Anyway, so I went and stood by her as she saw to everything. And that's when I saw magic!"

Daadi swatted at Priyanka's head gently to stop her teasing and Priyanka went on more hurriedly, "Well, it was Nishanth Bhaiya. He was totally mesmerised by our Anika! Like he kept coming up to talk to her and you know how he is not one to open up easily." In her excitement, Priyanka sat up, "And you should have seen the way he was listening to her! Daadi, I wish someone would listen to me like that!"

Daadi's face lit up and there was a glint in her eyes now. "Priyanka, you might have hit upon just the right thing!"

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Shivay was lying in bed as the strains of a Schubert symphony filled the room. He felt someone lay a gentle hand on his forehead and opened his eyes to see Daadi smiling down at him. Beyond her stood Prinku with an eager look on her face that Shivay had grown to distrust. He tried to get up but both women made it evident in their warning tones that he needn't trouble himself. So Shivay simply sat up and resting against the wall of pillows and cushions, gave them a wan smile. Prinku reached for the remote and before Shivay could stop her, had rudely cut short the great Maestro's work. Silence filled the room.

Daadi cleared her throat. "Feeling better now, Billu?"

"Yes, your karha really helped."

Shivay looked at them, his brows slowly furrowing as he watched the two exchange glances.

"Is there something you want to talk to me about?" he finally said making them look at him guiltily.

Deciding against beating about the bush, Daadi finally broached the subject. "Billu, is Nishanth married?"

Not expecting something like this, Shivay looked at them in bemused confusion. Then realising they were serious, he said, "Well, not that it is any of my business, but well, I know he's single."

Daadi and Priyanka shared jubilant glances on hearing this, furthering Shivay's suspicions. He dreaded the reply even as he found himself asking, "Why are you asking?"

The next words left him reeling and was a direct cause of the headache that kept him tossing and turning well past midnight.

"Priyanka thinks he'll be perfect for our Anika!"

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Was this his idea of forgetting their 'mistake', Anika wondered to herself, as she caught his eyes across the room for the millionth time. The family had assembled to hear Panditji announce a number of auspicious dates for the approaching marriage. Kundlis had been brought out once again and other than Rudra, no one was staring at the ceiling in the hopes of another round of blood raining down on them. Anika wished that someone in particular would stare at the ceiling instead of looking at her with such a fixedly critical look. Probably, listing my numerous flaws, she thought to herself. He had still not recovered from that flu that had laid him down for the past few days. His face looked pale and the dark circles beneath his eyes stood out giving him a haunted look. The way he was working despite the illness, no wonder it was taking him this long to get better. Anyone would be concerned for him in such a situation. Which was why she was looking at him from time to time, checking to see if he was in need of something. But each time she had glanced towards him, much to her distress, she had found his eyes on her as well. There was such an assessing look in those eyes of his, she wondered what was going through that mind now.

Her attention was brought back to the discussion at hand when she heard some raised voices. Both Mrs. Kapoor and Pinky aunty seemed to be having some kind of breakdown. It soon became clear that Panditji had disappointing results in terms of dates for weddings. The dates that had been available within the month apparently were a thing of the past and now the next dates were not till November. As the two mothers tried to argue the priest into submission in the hopes of bringing about some change in his pronouncement, her glance once more turned to him. As their eyes clashed again, he appeared to have not heard a single word of what had passed before him for the last half hour.