||CHAPTER-1||
Shivaay tried to blink through what he had decided the very second it had occurred in front of his eyes as his worst nightmare. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths; a practice that had aided him exceedingly in his lifetime. He slowly opened them, wishing with every fibre of his being that it was all a bad dream, a hallucination from sheer lack of sleep. He swore vehemently and bit down on his lips when the familiar sign of the ICU blared as clear as a day before his eyes.
He tried to close his eyes and forget about everything that happened in the past hour? A day? A week, perhaps? He had lost track of them the second he ran through the resentful corridors of pristine white flooring, his shirt and hands covered in blood. Shivaay gritted his teeth, trying hard to swallow the bile that threatened to rise up his throat.
This shouldn't have happened. He should be at home, in his room or more specifically, in his bed with his love and his living breath, Anika. He should be listening to her excited whispers of their to be wedding that was meant to happen the very next day and not to the annoying and unnervingly unsteady beat of the heart monitor;
He should be there with his family, anxiously waiting to drink in the beauty of her graceful body in her gorgeous wedding attire but instead his eyes fixated on the huge red spot that looked stark on Om's otherwise white shirt;
He should be taking rounds with her, with their vows in their heart where Shivaay would walk proudly in front and Anika would follow, her head bowed, never out of submission but of pure adoration and joy. Instead, here he was impatiently tapping his right foot and anxiously rubbing his puffy eyes as the sound of breaths forced through broken ribs echoed across the floor.
He slowly stood up and walked towards an emotionally drained Om sitting across him. He looked dead to the world and to Gauri who was sitting beside him, yearning to console and comfort but hesitant to approach and offer. As much as Shivaay loved Om and wished the best for him, sometimes Shivaay felt that Gauri was someone Om did not deserve. Shivaay had always made sure that Om had the best supplies to practice his art as a kid, that he was enrolled in the best university as a teen. But every time he saw the sorrow and insecurities in Gauri's eyes, he would wonder how someone as philosophical and poetic as Om couldn't connect the dots and see that the both of them were made for each other.
Rudra would sometimes snort at that and humorously point out that even a blind could see that and his Anika would immediately brighten the room with her adorable laughter. Shivaay's heart clenched painfully as he slowly walked over to Om and took the chair to Om's left.
"Om." He called out softly, flinching at how his throat pricked and his voice rasped. It had been Om who had rushed down the stairs, half screaming and half stumbling, as he raced to reach the broken body that lay in a sprawl of blood, broken bones and glasses while he, Shivaay, had done nothing but sit and stare into vacant space a floor above him in the open balcony of the Oberoi mansion, his right arm still stretched and hovering over where the said broken body had been before it's inevitable fall.
His eyes had etched the very scene in his soul as his hand had desperately stretched to hold onto the blood-covered ones which had weekly sought out his own. He remembered with crystal clarity the bright eyes and the lone tear of pain and happiness sliding down pale cheeks, the crooked smile of pride through red lips and a final sigh of satisfaction before the glass broke and all he heard was the sickening crunch of broken bones and crushed muscles.
"Shivaay..."
It was his fault. He should have known something like this was bound to happen. Shivaay grimaced as his heart twisted.
"Shivaay, please..."
He should have known that his mother's thirst for vengeance wouldn't stop with his simple dismissal. He placed a trembling had over his chest.
"Shivaay, look at me please."
He should have walked out of the house with his brothers. He had failed as the Wall. If anyone should be there in the ICU, it should have been him!
"SHIVAAY!"
And Shivaay snapped from whatever trance he had been. His jerked out of the chair and onto the sterile floor where he proceeded to empty the contents of his stomach. Tears of anguish poured down his cheeks as he choked on his own breath.
"It's alright, Shivaay. Everything's going to be fine." And there she was in all her godly glory, his Anika, and relax he did, under her gentle touch and her tranquil presence. Her voice washed over him like a rain over a wilting flower. He leaned over her as she rubbed firm but soothing circles on his back. "Trust me, Shivaay." She took her word for it's worth and clung onto her like a man to his last lifeline.
"Bh-Bhabhi... "And Anika who had been settling Shivaay back into the chair turned to Omkara. His broken voice had startled her and she failed to hide her flinch when a pair of desperate, blood shot eyes met hers'.
To say Omkara was a mess was an understatement. Cakes of blood clung to tendrils of his once well-kept hair, his shirt was missing a marginal piece and his knees were stained with dirt. But what had shocked her the most was the tiny, scared voice which he had used to address her now. It was usually her Ru..
Anika took in a shuddering breath before addressing Omkara. No, she couldn't afford to break down now.
"Trust me, Om. Trust your own blood. The Oberoi blood cannot be brought down that easily. Been there, done that" she smiled ruefully as he placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, "Especially our dear Rudra Singh Oberoi" she choked out as tears overwhelmed her eyes.
She squeezed his shoulder as they trembled under her hands in silent sobs. She took a glance around and smiled softly when she noticed Gauri sitting beside him with her eyes closed and her pure lips uttering prayers one after the other to every Gods out there.
Finally, as she sat beside Shivaay, he inched closer and slowly laid his head rest on her shoulder. He stared on; afraid to close his eyes and hallucinate the lifeless eyes of the one who was his life itself; afraid to hear the piercing cry of his baby as he crashed through the skylight of the mansion's balcony; afraid that the smile his adorable Ru had given moments before his fall would be the last one.
If that were to happen, Shivaay knew he would drop dead like a sunflower starved of its sunshine. His sunshine...
And together with his family he waited for their Baby Oberoi to wake up and spread his sunshine on his cloudy day.
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