MAIRAs BIRTHDAY 13.1
CELEBRATION🎉 12.1.26
Viral tweet on Priyanka and Nick
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Official Trailer - Mardaani 3 - Rani Mukherjee
Baapji's grand daughter... a new potential bahu?
Anupamaa 12 Jan 2026 Written Update & Daily Discussions Thread
Maira Vani storyline
New promo : AI bulldozer
17 years of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai
Tulsi SN Business bacha payegi??
Toxic song - Chand se pucha
Happy Birthday Sultan Mirza 🧁
Ship name for Aryamann and Purvi
Step Six- Get Help
Shivaay was running out of things to throw at Mishra's head.
The first time Mishra had walked into his office that morning Shivaay had thrown his pen, aiming for the perfect target formed by Mishra's wide-open mouth.
The second time it had been his phone which had skimmed past Mishra's shoulder when the man had darted one too many glances at Shivaay's parting, each time losing his train of thought and trailing off, wasting Shivaay's time.
The third time, he had almost hurled a paperweight, but remembered that it had been made for him by Om and so instead just balled up a piece of paper and threw that instead.
Nobody else in Shivaay's office had dared more than a cursory glance and silent eye-widening at the sight of the sindhoor.
Mishra walked in again, holding a folder up in front of his face to bounce off any potential projectiles. "I have some documents for you to sign, Sir."
"Put them on the desk and get out and Mishra I swear to God if you look at it again I'll kill you."
"Understood, Sir. I do have one question though."
"Yes?"
"Do you mind if I take a photo? It's just, I called my wife to tell her that you were wearing sindhoor and first she yelled at me for being 'less romantic than your demon of a boss'- her words Sir, not mine, I obviously don't think you're a demon, please put down that plant pot I don't think I'll be able to dodge that. And then she said she didn't believe me and so I should send her a photo and I figured asking you would be easier- and safer- than trying to sneak one."
Shivaay stared at his right-hand man. The one who had unearthed so much truth for him when Shivaay himself had wilfully chosen to just accept the murk on top as normal. He supposed he owed him one. "Okay, Aman. Just one. And I'm not going to smile."
"Selfie!" Mishra darted behind his desk and clicked the photo before Shivaay could even figure out what was going on.
""""""""
"Why was Bade Bhaiya wearing sindhoor?"
"If any of us knew that, Sumo, would we be holding a Meeting of the Young Oberois right now? MotYO's agenda for the day is obviously The Sindhoor Incident."
Soumya flashed an annoyed look at Rudra. "I was just raising the topic. And for the love of God how many times do I have to tell you not to call these MotYOs."
"Is it because it sounds too close to Motu and hurts your feelings?"
Soumya, who was just about to take a bite of a chocolate bar chose instead to throw it at Rudra's dumb head.
"Shut up, Rudra." Omkara glared at his younger brother.
"Ar-are we sure it was si-sindhoor? Could it p-possibly have been a new h-hair product?"
"Prinku, I think you need to stop spending so much time with Rudra." Omkara patted his sister on the shoulder and looked instead at Soumya. "I think it was a message."
"To Anika Bhabhi?"
"To everyone. He wanted her and us to realise that he finally accepts Anika as his wife. Maybe things will finally also start to go right between them."
Soumya shifted uncomfortably, an almost imperceptible shift that nonetheless did not go unnoticed by Omkara. "Soumya? What's wrong?"
"I erm, I don't think it'll be that easy. Anika Didi is still kind of... angry."
"Angry is better than indifferent."
"That's the thing though, I think he's waited too long. I think to some extent she has become indifferent."
"I th-think so too, Bh-bhaiya. A-Anika made a j-joke about it and then just f-finished her breakfast and left. I-if it meant something don't you all th-think she would have made a bigger d-deal out of it?"
Omkara hadn't wanted to be the one who said it, had wanted to hold out hope. But of course, he had seen Anika and Shivaay's relationship go from intense through tumultuous but now it just felt... resigned. Shivaay had decided to pick up his gloves and fight only after Anika had already left the ring, and nothing he was trying had thus far been enough to goad her back in.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Rudra frowned as he tried intently to think of ways to save his Bhaiya's marriage to the one woman he truly believed was right for him.
"Even if we could, should we?"
"Of course we should, Sumo! Two people don't just get married and then act as though it didn't happen."
There was a beat of awkward silence and Omkara noted an odd look pass between the two before Soumya fired back with a "Well maybe sometimes they should! If they're obviously wrong for each other then-"
Rudra's voice was as close as Omkara had ever heard it to angry as he responded with a spitfire "What if they're the only ones who think they're wrong for each other, even though everyone else can see they're perfect?"
"Stop it."
Rudra looked chastened and turned his head sharply away from Soumya, staring daggers at the pool as though it had personally wronged him.
Omkara glanced at Priyanka, both of them wondering what in the hell was going on. Omkara wondered if maybe Rudra and Soumya had feelings for each other and if maybe that was making things awkward. But hey, it wasn't as though they were married or anything. They could sort out their immature love scuffles in their own time. And if it was anything serious, it wasn't like Rudra could ever keep a secret from him.
"So assuming we can help, how could we? Even if we don't actually follow through with our plans?"
"I have an i-idea. B-but it'll take a bit of w-work."
And as Priyanka began stuttering through her plan, each and every member of the MotYO began to smile, their smiles widening and widening until they weren't exactly certain they could get any wider without their cheeks splitting.
Priyanka was right, it would take work to pull off. But if they managed it...
Omkara clapped his hands and stood up.
"Right. We all know what we need to do... now let's get to it."
"""""""""""""
Anika had been looking over and organising the detailed notes she had taken during her meeting with Mrs Bhattacharya when the phone call came through.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Ms Anika?"
"Yes, to whom am I speaking?"
"I guess I shouldn't really be so offended that you don't remember me, it's Siddharth. Siddharth Vikram Rana. Mallika's husband."
"Oh! Mr Rana how have you been? How is Mallika?"
"I'm fine. And she's great. She's in Amsterdam at the moment on an 'Inspiration Trip'." Anika could almost hear the man rolling his eyes. "I'll be taking a flight this evening to join her, of course." Anika smiled as now she heard his voice soften, his affection for Mallika glaringly obvious.
"To what do I owe the honour?"
"The honour's all mine, Ms Anika. You see, I'm actually calling to hire your services. I know we couldn't attend your wedding because we were in China for business, but Mallika and I both saw what a fantastic job you did and would like you to organise an event for us."
"Erm, of course. What event?" That was not at all what Anika had been expecting.
"We'd like you to organise our annual New Years' Party. All of the Oberois will be invited, of course, so you needn't worry about a clash. And Mallika and I would like the theme to be 'New Beginnings'. Creative, I know."
Anika laughed. "I think I can manage that. Did you have any other requirements or ideas in advance? A venue or an idea of how many guests? Any specific cuisine?"
"About 100 people, we like to keep it quite intimate." Intimate? What kind of people thought a hundred people constituted an intimate gathering? "Everything else is up to you."
"Up to me?"
"Mallika and I both trust your judgement. Create your perfect event and I'm sure we'll love it."
"Okay I'll be sure to keep you updated."
"That's not necessary. Like I said, we trust you."
"Thank you but-"
"Look, Ms Anika, I hate to hang up so suddenly but I'm going to be late for my flight. I already annoyed Mallika by delaying my flight for a business meeting and she'll kill me if I miss this one too."
"Either that or she'll run away."
Siddharth didn't say anything, and Anika bit her lip thinking maybe she'd gone too far.
That was when she heard him laugh. It was a low rumble, stifled as though he had clamped his hand over his phone.
"Yes. Or that... but I'll always catch her. Goodbye Ms Anika. I look forward to seeing what you come up with."
It was around five minutes after she had hung up the phone that she realised what Siddharth had so casually said: 'we couldn't attend your wedding'.
Was she surprised that Mallika and Siddharth had known?
She thought about all the knowing looks Mallika had given her and Shivaay all those months ago, all the not-so-discreet comments she had made about their compatibility. Mallika had picked up on those signals before even Anika or Shivaay themselves had been able to.
She was therefore decidedly not surprised that they had known.
She was however infinitely more suspicious about their motives when it came to getting her to plan an event for them that was all up to her.
If this didn't smell like a ridiculous Oberoi Bandwagon plan with the Vikram Ranas roped in to try and throw her off their scent, then her name wasn't Anika, Just Anika.
Anika smiled and shook her head as she thought about how furious Mallika was going to be when she realised Siddharth's terrible bluffing had been seen through and the plot exposed.
She picked up her phone to try and call him back, which was when a text from him popped up, informing her how much he was willing to pay her for organising the New Years party.
Okay. Wow. So maybe she would play along. For now.
Just... cautiously.
Step Seven- It's Not All About You
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Hellooo everyone. Will be back with a little note here later tonight, maybe tomorrow.
For now, thank you all for reading. I'm so, so glad you're enjoying the story. You're all wonderful and I hope you enjoy this chapter too! :)
Also chottekikhushi, I hope you smashed that exam! My best exams always end up being the ones I thought I flopped.
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