Rishta Humara: FF Author's note- 4/15/2017 - Page 5

Fast forward to present...

"I am Anjali Chandra Mathur, the long lost daughter of Mr. Chandra Suraj Mathur. When I was 3 years old, my younger sister, Akira, who I lovingly called Chutki, and I were kidnapped along with our mother. My mother was murdered, but the police got to them before they could kill me. Scared out of my mind, I escaped and ran away. No one found me, and I was eventually placed in an orphanage where I was adopted by Sahil's parents. The people at the orphanage gave me the name Anika," Anika/Anjali narrated with a shaky voice.

Shivaay staggered back, shocked. He wanted Anika to start laughing all of a sudden, tell him all of it was a joke. But he couldn't deny the facts. It was not unknown to the world that a long time back, Chandra Suraj Mathur had lost his wife to a terrorist group, and his daughters' bodies were never found.

"They never found Chutki, but the police had a theory that she was kidnapped and taken to a separate location from myself and my mother," Anika whispered.

Shivaay recovered. "Anika-"

"It's Anjali."

"For me, you will always be Anika. No matter what everyone else says your name is. So fine, your father is Mr. Chandra Mathur. But you are still legally married to me, Anika. You can't run away like this," Shivaay stated firmly.

Anika paled. "Our divorce proceedings should have been completed. We signed the papers."

"You did, but I didn't, Anika. It was a ploy to trick Mrs. Kapoor," Shivaay said.

Anika stood up straighter. "Then send me the divorce papers. I will sign the papers. That way, you will be free from this marriage. Isn't that why you were trying to find me all this time?"

Shivaay was exasperated. He held Anika by her shoulders and pulled her to him. "No, Anika. I was trying to find you so that I could bring you back into my life. Whatever happened to you in Oberoi Mansion was unjustified and wrong. I was a terrible coward not to accept that you were my..." he trailed off.

Anika smirked coldly. "You aren't able to accept it even now, Shivaay Singh Oberoi. And it's been two years."

She walked away, and Shivaay stood stunned. He wanted to scream and hit himself. Why couldn't he say it even now? Why was this so hard for him? He dejectedly walked to his car and drove home. He didn't know what he was going to do next, but he wouldn't give up. That was for sure.

Anika's POV

"How dare he just tell me to come back to Oberoi Mansion, even though he still can't admit that I was his wife! Is that man crazy?" Anika's mind was swirling with thoughts as she walked back into her office. Gathering her things, she marched out the door and into her car and drove home. She now lived with her father in a large mansion, just as big as Oberoi Mansion. Sahil was attending a fine boarding school in Singapore, all courtesy of her father. And although she now had a home to call her own and a loving father, she didn't feel ever at peace. Her dreams would be filled with her moments with Shivaay, and his beautiful "kanji aankhen" would stare into her soul, giving it warmth. She yearned to be with him, but at the same time she didn't. Because she knew, that just as much happiness she would get from being with him, she would get just as much pain along with it.

"Papa! I'm home!" Anika called, striding into Chandra's room.

"Arre Anjali beta? Tu aa gayi? Itni jaldi? Office mein sab theek hai na?" Chandra said from the bed where he lay, his head propped up by a few pillows.

"A meeting with a client got cancelled, Papa," Anika said. It was half-true, although she didn't think it would be the best idea to tell her father that the meeting was with Oberoi Industries, and she had, in fact, met them. Her father knew just as much as the world did. That Anika used to be Shivaay's wedding planner, and Shivaay was married to Tia. "Aap ka tabiyat ab kaisa hai?" she asked.

"Pehle se better, beta," Chandra chuckled, sipping some tea.

"Good. Main abhi aati hun," Anika said, and left to her room. She locked the door, and slid to the ground. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, and pretty soon, she was sobbing. Sobbing, because of the numerous lies she told her father about herself. Sobbing, because she couldn't be with Shivaay. Sobbing, because no matter how hard she tried, she just never seemed to be able to dull the aching, throbbing pain in her heart that had been with her ever since she left Oberoi Mansion two years ago.

I'll try to update as soon as possible, but thank you so much for reading! Hope you liked it!

-Meera

The next day...

"Accha suno, Anjali. Aaj raat hum Oberoi parivaar ke saath mil rahe hai, to discuss a deal over dinner. This could be groundbreaking for our company. Please, manaa mat karna, beta," her father spoke to Anika.

Anika paled. She definitely didn't want to have to face that family again. She would have to give explanations to Dadi, Omkara, Rudra, Soumya, and Priyanka, and she already felt guilty about leaving them two years ago without informing them.

"Beta, mein yeh deal tumhare bina nahi kar sakta. Maine already sabse keh diya, ki meri beti aa rahi hai mere saath. This deal worth over 500 crores," Mr. Mathur pleaded.

"Oh bete ki! This is a big deal!" Anika said, shocked. She knew she couldn't avoid this. She would have to face that family eventually; it was only a matter of time. So she sighed, and got ready to go meet her ex in-laws.

Oberoi Mansion

"Oh my god. She's coming back. Anika is coming back to this house," Shivaay thought excitedly.

The Mathurs entered the Oberoi mansion. Every rushed to greet them, but then froze when they saw Anika. Dadi started crying, and went forward to hug her. Anika politely hugged her, and said, "Kaise hai aap Dadi?"

"Puttar, main bilkul theek hun! Bas, tera intezaar kar rahi thi. Tum kahan gayab ho gayi?" Dadi exclaimed.

Rudra, Om, Priyanka, and Soumya also went to greet her. "Anika Bhabhi, aap finally aa gayi!" Rudra shouted with glee. They couldn't contain their excitement after seeing Anika.

"Ek minute, Anika Bhabhi? Anjali, yeh log kya keh rahe hain?" Mr. Mathur asked in confusion.

"Inki naam Anjali nahin, Anika hai, Mr. Mathur," Soumya said, confused.

Anika was worried. She didn't want her father to know about her secret marriage with Shivaay. So she cleared her throat and said, "Haan. Mera naam Anjali hi hai. Aur yeh hai mere papa."

Everyone was confused beyond belief. Anika noticed something glinting on Priyanka's neck. She looked closer, and was shocked to see a mangalsutra hanging from her neck.

"Priyanka! Tune shaadi kab ki?!" Anika exclaimed.

"Ek saal pehle. Ranveer se," Priyanka said quietly. She got nervous whenever someone brought up her marriage, because of the way Ranveer abused her daily.

Shivaay entered the room, and smiled seeing Anika. The smile on Anika's face vanished when she saw him. Shivaay came forward to shake hands with Mr. Mathur and knelt down to kiss Anika's hand.

"Anjali Mathur! A pleasure!," Shivaay said with a hint of sarcasm. Anika fixed him with a death glare.

They all had dinner and relieved the stories of the past 2 years with each other, but Anika was careful to leave out bits and pieces, and interrupted whenever someone tried to bring up her marriage with Shivaay. In her father's eyes, she wanted no relationship with Shivaay whatsoever.

"Ab hum business ke baare mein baath kar sakte hain," Tej Singh Oberoi finally said.

"Sure!" Came the reply from Mr. Mathur.

"Dekhiye, this deal is worth 500 crores for us. And for this deal, we will need one person from each company to represent us as joint partners at the Roundtable Business and Commercial Enterprises meeting held in Switzerland," Tej said, showing Mr. Mathur the files.

"Baath tho theek keh rahe hai aap, Mr. Oberoi," Mr. Mathur said.

"I think we need the younger faces of our company to go. That is the tactic that our rivals are using. They want fresh, new faces for their company to show that they can handle new ideas," Shakti Oberoi said.

"What are you proposing, Mr. Oberoi?" Mr. Mathur asked.

The three men looked at each other, and then looked at Shivaay and Anika slowly. Getting what they were hinting at, Anika stood up very fast, and Shivaay smiled a little.

"I think Shivaay and Ms. Mathur should go together to Switzerland," Tej said, smirking a little.

"Perfect idea, Mr. Oberoi! I was thinking the same thing!" Mr. Mathur said with a smile.

"No way!" Anika exclaimed. Her father looked at her, confused.

"Kyun? Tumhe Mr. Shivaay Singh Oberoi se koi problem hai, beta?" Mr. Mathur said, concerned.

"Nahin, aisi k-koi b-baat nahi hai?" Anika stuttered nervously.

Shivaay smiled with glee. "Mujhe isse koi problem nahin hai, Mr. Mathur. I think we will make a great team in Switzerland, right Anik- Ms. Mathur?"

Anika was at a loss for words. She quickly gathered herself, as she had no choice. "To mujhe bhi iss proposition se koi issue nahin hai," she muttered.

"Perfect! The meeting is in two days! We will arrange for a flight to take you both there!" Shakti said.

Shivaay and Anika looked at each other and exclaimed, "TWO DAYS?!"

How was it? Please let me know by your comments! Thanks for reading!

-Meera

P.S. I just edited this post, the beginning said that Mr. Mathur tells Anika that her mom is coming with them as well to OM, which makes no sense, because she's dead, so I deleted that line. I must have mixed up the lines with my other pending ff I'm writing. Apologies!