This is just something that is I-don't-believe-I-wrote-this' level random and its not proof read. So read at ur own risk.
OS: The Pretend Games
The crashing sounds continued to come from Shivaay's bedroom but his brothers sat on the couch listening to them, quite unperturbed.
"That was a chair, a wooden chair." Said Rudra, helping himself to a bowl of popcorn.
"It could be that small white table." Said Bhavya, listening intently
"I hope not. That was such a cute table." Gauri joined in, crumpling the edges of her forest green dupatta.
"I hear glass now. Thats it, I'm going to investigate." Said Om getting up but he was stopped by Rudra.
"O, SSO has shown some reaction for the first time in three months. Don't you dare go there and calm him down especially after the effort we have taken to rile him up in the first place."
With that Rudra pulled Om to the couch and the four sat there, listening. But their audio session was interrupted by a panicked dadi who came down the stairs with Jahnvi in tow.
"Shivaay is destroying everything in his room and you are sitting here, not even trying to stop him? What is wrong with you all?" asked a furious Jahnvi.
"Why is Shivaay acting this way Om? From the past three months he was indifferent to everything around him. What happened suddenly?" asked dadi clearly worried.
Rudra jumped on the couch and put his arms around dadi.
"It was our plan to make Shivaay react. So we made Annika bhabhi pretend that she was seeing someone. She spent a day pretending to talk on the phone and then told bhaiyya that she was going on a date and asked for his car. Bhaiyaa, pretended to be indifferent but he discreetly followed her. Since he took Khanna along, we got a live update."
"What happened next?" asked Jahnvi curiously
"Well, we staged it all to look like the guy, Rohit was madly in love with her. The actor Kannaiyya got on his knees, gave her flowers and even held her hands."
"And how did billu react to this?" dadi asked bracing herself for the worst.
"Well Khanna was mentally preparing a speech to break the news of Kannaiyya's death to his family. But luckily, before Bhaiyya could kill him, Khanna managed to get Shivaay bhaiyya in the car and drove him home. Now bhaiyya has settled for using his imagination, pretending that the furniture in his room is Rohit and destroying it all."
Both dadi and Jahnvi sighed and sat next to the others on the couch listening to the crashing sounds that continued for a long, long time
**
Hours later, Shivaay sat in the back seat of the car, fuming. His hand was bandaged and every single thing in his room, broken. He was done taking his anger out on the furniture. It was time he took charge of the situation.
This man made a mistake of entering his territory and Shivaay Singh Oberoi would make him pay. Annika was his and he would never allow her to go and decorate someone else's dreams when she had so brutally destroyed his. And that man would pay the price of stealing her heart. No one replaced him in Annika's life. No one.
As the driver halted near the sweet mart for the second time that day, Shivaay got off the car and walked towards Rohit with the grace of a vulture going to the prey. But what happened next, stopped him right in tracks.
For someone else reached Rohit before he did, put his arm around the man and gave him a bundle of cash. He saw both of them deep in conversation but that wasn't what stopped him in tracks. It was the fact that the man in question was his own brother Rudra.
Shivaay turned around and sat in the car. He gave Khanna a call and asked to meet him urgently. If Rudy was involved in Annika's plan, that drama queen Khanna wouldn't be far away. Khanna was that player whose loyalties lay with the other team be it his brothers or his ex wife.
When Shivaay interrogated Khanna, an hour later, the other man stood with his head hung down acting like a child caught in wrong doing.
"I'm asking you for the last time Khanna," said Shivaay who was on the verge of pulling out his hair "Is Annika seeing that man, Rohit?"
Khanna was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He knew that if he lied, Rohit would be dead and if he told the truth, he would be dead. But he also knew that if Shivaay got the truth out of Rohit, half of the Oberoi family would be dead and that included OmRu, Gauri, Bhavya and Dadi. So Khanna said a swift prayer and confessed,
"No Sir. It was Rudra's plan to make you jealous."
Shivaay pinched the bridge of his nose, let out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.
"Does she know the guy? he persisted "Because she has spoken about him before.. He is some Aarti's brother."
Khanna raised an eyebrow. This was news.
"But we just discovered him" Khanna stated, his voice a soft whisper
"You discovered him?" Shivaay asked quietly, one eyebrow raised
"Annika persisted about using the name Rohit and so we searched for the right candidate. Googled him, rather."
"You all googled a Rohit?" he asked incredulously.
"Google is fast. And we didn't google Rohit per se. Just businesses under Rohit's name. The man Annika spoke to is Kanaiyya. He was playing the role of Rohit." Khanna defended meekly but Shivaay's eyebrows disappeared under his hairline.
"I don't believe this." Said Shivaay, anger coming out of him in waves. He held Khanna by the shirt making the other man gulp audibly.
"You will not speak about this conversation with OmRu or any other member of this 'Fool SSO club'. No one should know that I know. If they do, you are fired."
Khanna nodded and Shivaay walked away regretting his earlier outburst when he had broken every single thing in his room. He wished his brothers would talk it out to him rather than playing these childish games but he couldn't deny, ever since Annika had come back, the depression that enveloped him had gone away and he wasn't prepared to go back in the black hole that her absence had created.
If there was one thing Shivaay was very sure about, it was that Annika loved him with every fibre of her being as he loved her. She demanded for half his property but walked out without taking a penny except the clothes on her back. She pretended to be against his brothers but she was closer to them than she was to him at the moment. This was the same girl who had risked her life over and over for his family, had proved her worth time and again. How could he let her go based on a few days of weird behaviour? How could he let his hot head over rule the heart that beat for her?
***
That night as he passed by Annika's room, he could hear her laughing and talking to someone. It was a mere coincidence that he was passing by her room so he was sure she wasn't putting an act for his benefit. The possessive streak that he was just coming to recognise came afore and he went closer to her bedroom door.
They were unmistakable sounds of OmRu coming from her room. Wanting nothing but to catch them in this stupid game of theirs red handed, he opened the door but the door was stuck and when he managed to open it and enter inside, Annika was straightening the covers of the bed. Or at least pretending to.
"You should knock when you enter, Mr SSO. I'm not your wife anymore, remember?" she reminded him calmly.
"I heard you talking to someone so I thought I'd investigate." He told her looking around.
"I was talking to Rohit." She said smoothly.
Shivaay turned his back to her lest she see the upward curve of his lips. But as he turned, his smile grew wider as he saw four heads crouched down as his brothers and their partners walked on all fours to escape from his vision. Three of those heads had long hair that seemed to have a life of its own.
He knew now that had Annika meant even a single thing she said on their last day as a couple, OmRu wouldn't have seen her face again. Transferring the property on her name was a step that could affect them a great deal but the fact that they did it showed how much they trusted Annika.
He was sure now that something major had happened to make Annika take such a big step and his brothers were in this with her all along. He also knew that they wouldn't tell him what that was even if he asked because if it was of such magnitude to make Omkara Singh Oberoi lie by omission, it was a big deal.
So it was now left to him to dig out the truth but before that he needed to be sure that his brothers were indeed involved in seeking Annika out and it wasn't just wistful thinking on his part.
When he turned around, he saw Annika pretend to text someone while checking his face for reactions.
Shivaay put the mask of indifference and walked out.
Well, two could play the game.
***
The next morning, Shivaay decided to make the first move by picking up a fight with his bade papa. Given that, the fights in his dysfunctional family were a routine thing since Annika's exit, it wasn't a tough task. After a heated argument with both his mom and bade papa, he walked off to his bedroom pretending to be very, very angry. He stripped off his clothes and wore the riding gear and went downstairs.
But luck wasn't on his side.
It was only his mother who spotted him leaving in his riding gear and even she, who normally turned everyone deaf with her screechy voice, decided to tone down her volume and plead with him. Cursing his own bad luck, Shivaay went upstairs to try again. Knowing his plan would be futile if Rudra didn't spot him, he purposely passed by Rudra's bedroom. Rudra who was talking to Bhavya came running to him asking him where he was going. Shivaay pretended to dismiss him and headed downstairs. AGAIN.
He sat on the bike and counted till ten, waiting, knowing Rudra would tell her and then she would stop him. Seriously Rudy, shouldn't you be hurrying up with that late lateef you have for a partner in crime?. I would have left with the bike by now for all you know, he murmured to himself impatiently.
Almost on a cue, she came out, hair flying; shirt buttoned up all wrong, a sign of anxiety on marring her delicate features. The fact that she was anxious about him pleased him no end.
"I want the bike" she blurted out. Shivaay could have laughed at the lame excuse to stop him from risking his life. He schooled his features to act indifferent.
"There is a difference between riding Champa and handling this monster. And you own the house, not the bike."
With that he started the bike making her shift her weight from one foot to another in anxiety. Just as he was wondering what she would do next, he saw that she had crumpled to the floor in dead faint.
Shivaay was 99.99% sure that she was acting. But there was a 0.1% chance that she wasn't faking it and he was too much in love with her to risk that. And so he got off from the cradle of his bike and crouched down near her. He tapped lightly on her cheek but she didn't open her eyes. When he lifted her up, he breathed a sigh of relief.
She was too stiff to pass off as unconscious. As he carried her inside the house, he heard her sigh and that sigh was echoed by his own heart.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Rudra peeking out from behind a pillar, Gauri nudging Omkara to notice him and Annika from the first floor while dadi and badi maa were looking as if they could barely contain their excitement. Shivaay realized that they were all in this plan and he was sure Bhavya too was somewhere, hovering around.
Shivaay ignored them all as he carried her to his bedroom. He didn't care that they were manipulating him. All that mattered was that fact that she was in his arms and his blood sang at the scent, the essence, the feel of her.
And for the first time in three months, he felt as if he was alive again.
The END
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