Posted:
Just a little something for the weekendš
Here Annika still works for Samar and she's living in OM - though I don't exactly know when this really takes place since none of them ever go to their offices in IB landš Maybe an alternate universeš
Anyway, enjoy!
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Shivaay checked both ends of the hallway before briskly making his way to her room. Once at the doorstep, he took a quick glance to make sure no one was around, then moved in cautiously. He could hear splashes of water coming from inside the bathroom and he sighed with relief. With the stealth of a cat he put the object he had come to drop off over the coffee table at one side of his room and tiptoed out just like the way he had come in.
Minutes later, Annika came out of the bathroom, busily drying her wet hair with a towel. She stopped on her tracks as soon as her eyes fell on the coffee table and the object standing on top of it.
A lunchbox? What was it doing here in her room?
As she moved into the room, the faint whiff of his expensive, personalised cologne hit her senses and she frowned. Shivaay was here? What was he doing here? Did he put this lunchbox in her room? Why would he do such a thing?
She blinked as the memories of a fight that they had last evening started to make it's way through her mind. It was fairly trivial, one of the many fights that they're used to having, one she wouldn't even remember but for his unexpected reaction to her words.
*...*
"Shivaay aap na mere dimaag ki dahi karna bandh kijiye! Ek toh waise hi maine lunch nahi kiya aur mera sar dukh raha hai, aur uparse aap-"
"Lunch kyu nahi kiya?" His sudden question threw her off course.
"Woh...I was so busy today that I forgot..."
"Forgot? How can one forget to have their lunch! You're impossible Annika! If you're that busy why don't you take some lunch from home?"
Her mouth fell open a little bit at his exaggerated response. "I don't have time to make lunch for myself so early in the morning." She replied stiffly.
"Last time I checked, we had servants and cooks for stuff like these."
"I don't like taking favors from other people." She rolled her eyes. Why was he making such a huge fuss about this? And anyway what the hell does it matter to him if she has her lunch or not?
"Nonsense! I'll tell the chef to put something together for you tomorrow."
"Shivaay iski koi zarurat nahi hai-"
He gave her a look that said 'this conversation is over' and left the room.
*...*
She touched the top of the box gingerly, and felt a strange ache inside her. She opened the lid and looked in.
Not aloo poori. Real smart!
Unable to hold herself back from doing it, she went ahead and took a bite from one of the sandwiches that lay inside the box. The ends of her mouth twitched in amusement. Just what she had suspected. Did he really believe that she wouldn't know his cooking from someone else's? She may not have the best culinary skills but she did run a canteen, and her taste buds worked just fine. Too fine, as Shivaay would come to realise soon. Did he really think that he'd fool her this easily?
"Aaj SSO ki class lungi," she smirked to herself. "Samajhte kya hai woh apne aap ko?"
She changed into her work clothes and got ready quickly. As she walked down the stairs she spotted him in the sitting room, sipping his cup of kaali coffee as he talked to someone on the phone. He looked up when she passed by, his eyes fixated on the lunchbox dangling by its strap from her hand.
"Office jaa rahi ho?"
She nodded.
"It's good that you're carrying your lunch today," he said gesturing to her hand. "It's better to... You know... Incase you forget to have lunch again..."
She gave him her most innocent look. "Oh I didn't take it. Someone put it in my room this morning."
"Really? Oh yeah, yesterday I asked one of the helps to pack some lunch for you. So maybe it was one of them."
Her eyes sparkled as she studied his face. "Yeah maybe one of them put it in my room."
He shrugged, looking away. She tried hard to stifle a smile.
"Tell the chef I said thank you?"
"Huh?"
"The chef. Tell him thanks for doing this for me."
He nodded.
"I'll leave then."
He looked at her. "Have a good day," he said after a small pause.
She bade him goodbye and left the room. Once outside, she wondered about what happened to her in there. When she'd left her room she had been planning to grill him and get the truth out of his mouth but it was if something held back her tongue and made her deter from it. It was as if she enjoyed the unspoken exchanges between them more.
The smile she'd been trying to suppress for so long made its way to her face. She hugged the lunchbox close to her and sighed.
Maybe some things are just better left unsaid.
__________The End__________
Hope you guys like it :)
- Archie
Seher Hone Ko Hai
CID
