(Banner by @YehFiHaiDeewani, do check out her work over on twitter)
Standing in front of their house, Shivaay prepared himself to address the media.
“Mr Oberoi, why have you called this press conference and why have you called it here, at your Goa residence.”
“Thank you all for coming today. I have called this press conference to address a certain rumour that is circulating.”
“Mr Oberoi, are you finally going to speak up about the picture that emerged of you and a Miss Annika last week?”
Shivaay turned to his side, and looked over at Annika who standing down the side, out of everyone’s way so she wouldn’t have to deal with everyone’s judgemental eyes.
“Yes, I am going to address that. Well I think the first thing I would like to say, that will probably clear everything up, is that she isn’t just Miss Annika, she is Mrs Annika Shivaay Singh Oberoi.”
There was a pause, followed by a gasp from a number of the journalists.
“Mr Oberoi…”
“The pictures of me and Annika that came out, those were pictures of our wedding night. We had gone to Lonavla under the pretence of speaking to the catering team for my sisters wedding, but in fact, we got married in a private ceremony and we were spending our first night as a married couple that night.”
“Mr Oberoi, are you lying to save face? As the oldest son of the Oberoi family, we are well aware that you’re family would never allow you to run away and get married. Also you are engaged to Miss Tia Kapoor.”
“I was engaged to Tia but I never loved Tia. Tia and I never connected and then I met Annika…”
He stopped and thought for a moment. He recalled the first time he had met Annika, when the chunari had accidentally landed on her…
“The first day I met her, she took my breath away… I was drawn to her the moment I met her and I knew there was something between us. As time passed, I knew, I knew that I wanted to be with Annika and I could tell she wanted the same thing. But I knew my family would never accept Annika as my wife, so we ran away and got married.”
Annika listened, trying to work out if there was any truth to anything he was saying or if it was all a story he concocted to get people to stop talking about them.
“Mr Oberoi, you’re family has always been your top priority, how are you dealing with not being with them?”
“I miss my family of course, but Annika is family too. When they can accept our relationship, when they can accept that I love her and I want to be with her, then and only then will I return to my family home.”
Shivaay’s words rang in her ears. “That I love her…” She knew he was just saying that to make their story convincing, but hearing him speak like that about her, it did something to her. Hearing him speak about her like that after the way he had been treating her the past week made her feel hopeful that maybe there was some feelings behind his words.
Wrapping up the press con, Shivaay answered the last of the questions and then dismissed the press. As Khanna made them get off the property, Shivaay went back to where Annika was standing.
“How was it?”
“I think they believed you.”
“I think they did too.”
“Are we doing the right thing? I mean dadi ji… What will she think?”
“Dadi isn’t thinking straight, her anger is clouding her vision. She will come round eventually.”
“But they’re our family…”
Draping his arm around Annika, he led them back into the house. Once inside, Shivaay cupped her face, brushing away the little stray hairs off her face.
“Our relationship, whatever is between us, is ours to deal with. We did what we could to rectify a mess of a situation. If we didn’t do what we did, this would never go away and I can’t have this ruining the rest of your life when nothing had even happened between us.”
Braving a little smile, Annika nodded as Shivaay excused himself. She watched as he walked away from her. In the past week, he had been kind, caring, comforting, compassionate… From a near stranger he became her husband over night. He had become her friend, her family, her protector, he became her everything.
She thought back to what had happened after they got married and had returned home to the Oberoi mansion. Dadi was outraged when Shivaay revealed that they had gotten married.
“That means you and Annika did sleep together! Now you are trying to cover it up.”
“No dadi! I tried to sort it out but people were pointing fingers at Annika because of my mistake. I had to make things right and this was the only way.”
“So to make one thing go away, you went against me and married a girl I know isn’t fit for you?”
Shivaay had tried to make Dadi see sense but she wasn’t having it. With a heavy heart, Shivaay had decided that they would leave. So that night, they packed their things, got into the car and made their way for Goa. Tears had filled Annika’s eyes as they drove further away from Mumbai.
“Annika…”
“Please, I don’t want to speak.”
“That’s okay, I get it. In 24 hours our entire lives have turned upside down but I want you to know, I am here for you. We will work through this together.”
Brushing her tears away, Annika nodded, they would work this out.
“Thank you Mr Oberoi. For everything. For fighting for me, for trying to protect me, for everything.”
“Shivaay, call me Shivaay, our relation has changed now, you can call me Shivaay. And it’s the least I can do. All this mess was created because I suggested we sit and talk late in the night. Had I just let you fall asleep, we wouldn’t have sat on the bed together and we wouldn’t haven’t have fallen asleep together.”
“Shivaay…”
She hadn’t been able to say anything more, just let his name roll off her tongue, feeling the weight of it. Shivaay…
*****
“Annika!”
Shouting from their bedroom, Annika came out of her trance and went into their room.
“Ji?”
“The hotel have finally released the security footage from our room that night.”
Since they had gotten to Goa, Shivaay had been on the phone to the hotel every day, trying to work out what had happened and how those pictures had been released in the first place.
Putting the laptop down on the bedside table, Shivaay sat on the bed and shuffled up, making space for Annika. Once settled, they played the footage.
The clip started with them entering the room early that afternoon. Fast forwarding it, Shivaay went to late in the night, then sitting on the bed, making conversation. The time stamp said it was still half 1, meaning there wasn’t much time left until they fell asleep. They watched as Annika snuggled back under the duvet, her body folding in on itself slightly as sleep started to take over her body. By 1:45am, Annika had leaned against the headboard and was fast asleep. Shivaay, who too was half asleep at this point, carefully lay Annika down on the bed, brushing her hair off her face.
In that moment, both Shivaay and Annika looked away from the laptop screen and at each other. As her cheeks flushed pink, she turned away, looking back at the screen. Shivaay too turned back to the screen as he watched himself get to his feet. He remembered that he had attempted to make his way back to the sofa, but sleep overwhelmed him and he collapsed onto the bed.
For a while nothing happened and Shivaay forwarded the clip a bit, making it go at twice the speed. It was around half 2 when he had begun stirring in his sleep and he shifted position, moved himself away from the edge of the bed, nearer to the middle. He must have nudged Annika, because she too had started stirring, moving closer into Shivaay. They watched as they saw how they came together. In their sleep, they shifted and stirred until Annika had tucked herself into Shivaay and he had wrapped an arm around her.
Once they had cocooned into each other, they remained still once more. Forwarding the clip once more, they waited for some movement and it was at 3:02 when the door opened.
“Shivaay pause the clip.”
As the intruder entered the room, Shivaay paused the clip and zoomed in. Daksh.
Annika gasped and Shivaay felt himself go cold. She hadn’t been lying, she hadn’t been paranoid, it really had been…
“So he really was there! I told you Shivaay! I told you.”
“Oh my… I can’t believe it.”
“That means he knew. He knew we were there and he hid from us. He must have kept an eye on us to know that we had stayed that night. And he must have done this to get back at us for tailing him.”
“I don’t believe… You were right Annika!”
“Now we know the truth, we have proof! We have to do something. Priyanka…”
“I will deal with this, we’ll sort this, don’t worry.”
*****
~ 3 months later ~
Sitting on their bed, Shivaay wrapped his arm around Annika, pulling her into himself.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I’m sure.”
“Annika, it could be dangerous.”
“We’ve tried everything and nothing has worked so far. If we want to end this once and for all, we need to do this.”
Bringing her close to himself, Shivaay placed a kiss on her forehead. In the last 3 months, though their marriage hadn’t been consummated, they had developed strong feelings for each other. In all other sense, they had become husband and wife. They stood by each other, trusted each other, relied on one another… Their genuine care and adoration for each other evident.
“But Annika, do you realise how dangerous…”
“You will be right there, I trust you. I know you’ll never let anything happen to me.”
Since finding out that Daksh had been behind the fake news about them being released, Shivaay had been going out of his way to try and make Daksh for his actions. He had filed a defamation case against him and had filed a sexual assault case against him, yet nothing had been fruitful. The sexual assault case had been thrown out as there was no proof of the assault ever occurring and as it had been filed after the defamation case, Daksh managed to convince the police that Shivaay was lying to get him in more trouble. As for the defamation case, Daksh had faced a fine, however as Shivaay had already claimed that he and Annika were already married when the incident occurred, the police hadn’t taken the case as seriously as they could have done.
Once finding out the truth, they had told Priyanka about Daksh’s true self and that had wanted to bring Priyanka away from Daksh. But when Shivaay confronted him, Daksh became aggressive and abusive, psychotic even and Shivaay didn’t want his sister to have to deal with that. He didn’t want Priyanka to end it just now as he was certain Daksh would try to harm her. So for the time being, Priyanka acted like she didn’t know the truth about Daksh and carried on playing the part of being his fiancé.
Taking Annika into his arms once more, Shivaay placed his hand on her cheek and caressed it with his thumb.
“I’d never let anything happen to you, I’ll never let the asshole harm you.”
“Why do you feel so strongly for me?”
“Because I…”
He paused, his eyes locked onto hers. He wanted to tell her, he finally wanted to say it. He had been aware of the fact that he was in love with her for a while now, but he didn’t know how to say it. He knew she felt for him too, but actually taking that step and telling her he was in love with her… He didn’t know how to do it.
“Just say it…”
“Annika you know.”
“Do I?”
Leaning into her, his nose against hers, her eyes fluttered shut. Were they finally going to take this step? They had been so close so many times, yet it hadn’t happened yet. Something would happen, breaking their moment or one of them would pull away. Were they actually going to do it this time?
Shivaay looked down at her, her eyes shut, her lips right there, anticipating what they both wanted… But he pulled away. He couldn’t. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t. He wanted to tell her how he felt first before finally sealing the deal with a kiss.
He watched as she slowly opened her eyes again, realising he wasn’t going to kiss her. Pushing her disappointment aside, Annika gave him a small smile before scooting away from him.
“Should I call her now?”
“Yes, call her now. This way he’ll have all night to sweat and by tomorrow, he’ll react the way we want to.”
Nodding, Annika picked up her phone. The plan was set. She was going to call Priyanka now because they had already planned ahead that Daksh was going to be with Priyanka at this time.
As Annika called Priyanka’s number, Shivaay slipped his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze. Taking a deep breath while she listened to the ring, Annika strung her words together, working out exactly how and what she was going to say.
The wait for Priyanka to answer the phone felt like a lifetime but she finally answered the call. After a quick general conversation, Annika set their plan in motion.
“Priyanka, there’s something I need to tell you, I can’t keep it from you any more.”
“What’s up Bhabi?”
Shivaay squeezed Annika’s hand, urging her to go on, showing her that he was right there beside her.
“I can’t tell you over the phone, please come tomorrow. Shivaay has arranged for your plane ticket, your flight is at 3pm.”
“Bhabi…”
“Please I need to tell you in person, I can’t keep it to myself any longer and it’s too important to share over the phone.”
“Okay, I will come, please don’t stress.”
Rounding off the call, Annika put the phone down and turned to Shivaay.
“Was Daksh with her?”
“Yes I could hear him in the background.”
“And Priyanka knows what to do now doesn’t she?”
“She does.”
“And she knows that she has to tell him that I won’t be here all day right?”
“She does.”
“Then now all we have to do is wait.”
*****
The day was over and Shivaay and Annika were getting ready for bed. While Annika calmly got into bed, Shivaay was anxiously checking his phone every few moments, waiting for Khanna to let them know if Daksh was on the move yet.
“Shivaay, please relax. Daksh will probably catch the first flight here tomorrow morning because I doubt he’ll come when you are supposed to be at home.”
“But when if he turns up at the middle of the night.”
“Then Khanna bhaiya will tell us, please relax and come to bed.”
Annika lay in bed, watching Shivaay check his phone one last time. Putting it down on his bedside table, he got into bed and then switched the lights off.
“Goodnight Annika.”
“Goodnight.”
They both lay still for a few moments before Shivaay moved over to Annika’s side of the bed and wrapped his arms around her. She melted into him, snuggling into him before letting her eyes shut.
Ever since about a month into their marriage, this was their nightly route. They would get into bed, into their respective sides, but after being in bed for a few moments, one them of them would reach out and snuggle up with the other.
It had happened for the first time when Annika was upset because chachi still wouldn’t hear her out. She had tried to hide her tears from Shivaay but when she got into bed, she’d broken down and he had taken her into his arms. From that night onwards, they slept cuddled up. It was how they felt most comfortable, safe and secure.
“Annika?”
“Hm?”
“You okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m just thinking about tomorrow.”
“Are you nervous?”
“A little bit but I’m determined to finally put this to bed.”
Moving further into her, he turned her to face him.
“I will be right there, by your side at every moment.”
“I know, I trust you.”
Bringing his hand up to her cheek, Shivaay gently caressed her face, before dropping a kiss on her nose.
Annika brought her hands up to his chest, clutching at his kurta.
“Shivaay…”
“Hm?”
“I…”
He looked into her eyes and found her looking straight back into his. Her voice dropped to a mere whisper as she finally said what she had been wanting to say for so long.
“I… I love you.”
She couldn’t hold it in any more. She had wanted him to say it first but she couldn’t hold back any longer. His constant support, him always being there for her, his attention and care, it was all so overwhelming, and had made her fall further in love with him every single day.
Shivaay blinked as he let her words sink in. Did she just…
“What did you say?”
Looking away from his eyes, Annika tried to move away from him slightly, but he took hold of her hand, keeping her close to himself.
“Say it again.”
“I love you Shivaay.”
A rush of heat spread through Shivaay, she loved him! She really loved him.
Dropping another little kiss on her nose, Shivaay caressed her face as she slowly opened her eyes again.
“I love you too, I love you.”
Moving closer to her, closing off any remaining space, Shivaay let his hand trail down from her cheek to her neck.
“I wanted to say it first, I was just waiting for the perfect moment…”
“I couldn’t stop myself any more.”
“Well then if you did that first, I want to do something else first.”
“Hm?”
Dragging his hand up from her neck, he placed it lightly back on her cheek before touching her lips with his thumb.
A shiver travelled up Annika’s spine as she realised what was happening.
“Shi…”
Before she could finish his name, his lips were on hers, light at first, gently parting hers as he took the kiss deeper. He moved his hand back up down to her neck as he kissed her, varying the pressure of his lips against hers.
Breaking the kiss, Shivaay slowly opened his eyes as he watched as Annika too came back to reality. Even in the dimly lit room, he could see her cheeks flush as she lowered her eyes.
He moved back into her, Annika meeting him half way as their lips met again. This time, Shivaay felt Annika take lead, bring her hands to his neck, pulling him closer.
He let his hand drop to her waist and carefully pressed her onto her back, moving over her as he did.
As the night crept on, their second kiss led to their third, which led to their fourth, which led…
*****
The shrill ring of Shivaay’s phone woke him up with panic. Reaching out, he checked the caller ID before answering. Khanna.
“What is it Khanna?”
“Sir, Daksh has just left his house and I am following him. I think he’s going to the airport.”
“Okay keep me updated and be careful.”
“Yes sir.”
Disconnecting the call, Shivaay put his phone back before turning to Annika. He watched as she stretched and her eyes fluttered open.
“What time is it?”
“It’s just passed 5.”
“Who called?”
“Khanna. Daksh is on the move.”
Blinking twice, she took his words in before jumping up.
“Daksh is coming?”
“We have time.”
But Annika had already swung her legs out of bed, grabbing her dupatta that Shivaay had thrown to the floor only a few hours ago.
“Annika we have time, once he’s on a plane it’ll take a while to get here.”
“I know but I just…”
Without completing her sentence, Annika grabbed a new set of clothes and went into the bathroom. Shivaay sunk back into the bed as she closed the bathroom door and pulled the duvet up to himself. He knew she needed a few moments to herself to just gather her thought, so he gave her the space she wanted.
Turning on his side, he looked to her side of the bed and smiled to himself as thoughts of last night came back to him. He turned to the bathroom, listening to the water running. How he wanted to go in there and take her into his arms, but they hadn’t got quite there yet. But they would. Tonight, once all this was settled once and for all…
*****
Looking at herself in the mirror, Annika smiled to herself as she recalled how Shivaay’s cool hands hand run over her, how his lips had teased hers… How he had placed kisses on her face and then down her neck. How he’d asked for her permission before removing her dupatta and how he’d kissed every inch of skin that he could see.
The boundaries of their relationship had been pushed and they had taken the next step. But there was still more… There was still scope to take their relationship further and now that they had started, she wanted to take things further. She wanted to go all the way.
His lips on hers, the feel on his hands on her… It made her want things. He had ignited new feelings in her, ones that were completely new but so… Just so, so good. She wanted her husband and everything that he could give her and she wanted to give to him too. She wanted to give herself.
He had made her feel special, made her feel like she was precious. The way he had handled her showed her how much he loved her… He loved her… The last three months, they had both taken on the role of husband and wife, and they were happy together. Maybe it was time to finally really seal their relationship.
Smiling to herself, Annika made sure she was fully ready as she walked back into their bedroom. She’d expected to find him still in bed, but he wasn’t. As she began walking over to the bed, a strong pair of arms came around her.
“Hey.”
Resting his chin on her shoulder, Shivaay let her lean back against him.
“You got up?”
“I thought I’d go and make you breakfast while I waited for you to get out of the bathroom.”
“What did you make?”
“Aloo puri, what else.”
“You know me too well.”
Pressing a kiss on the side of her neck, Shivaay spun Annika around in his arms and placed a light peck on her lips.
“Are you feeling less nervous than before?”
“When was I nervous?”
“When you heard Daksh was on his way. I could tell Annika.”
“Okay, I was a bit, but I’m feeling a lot calmer now. I’ve gone through our plan and I know what I’m doing. It should be okay.”
Giving her a hug and another quick kiss, he let her go.
“Go eat, I’ll be out in a bit.”
*****
Sitting in the living room, Shivaay watched as the little red marker on the map came closer and closer to their house. Annika sat beside him, her hand secure in his and she too watched as Daksh grew closer.
“Annika are you sure? There’s still time to back out.”
“I have to do this. This is the only way to get him out of Priyanka’s life once and for all. And we can finally clear our names to Dadi.”
He gave her hand a squeeze and gave her a reassuring smile.
“You’re the bravest woman I’ve ever met and I’m so proud to say I’m your husband. You make me so proud of you.”
Feeling her heart swell with happiness, Annika gave Shivaay a tight hug.
“I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll never get tired of hearing that, nor will I ever tire of saying it.”
Giving her a quick kiss, he went back to his phone as they watched the dot that represented Daksh get closer.
“When did Khanna bhaiya even plant this tracker on Daksh?”
“His friend is a security guard at the airport. He sent him a picture and told him what he needed to do.”
They carried on watching in silence. When Daksh was about 20 minutes away, Shivaay gave Annika one more hug before going to hide.
“You’re all set right?”
Nodding, Annika remained seated as Shivaay went off. Now that the moment was here, she felt more nervous, worried if she’d be able to pull this off. Turning the tv on, Annika sat and waited.
*****
There was a knock on the door about half an hour after Shivaay and Annika had taken their places. Smoothing down her dress, Annika got to her feet and went to the door.
Looking through the frosted glass, it was clear from the silhouette of the person that Daksh had arrived. Taking a deep breath, Annika prepared herself to finally hit action on this mission. Pulling the door open and pretending to be shocked, Annika looked up to find a tired, but still sinister looking Daksh looking down at her.
“Daksh?!”
“Surprise.”
Pushing his way through the door, he walked into the living room, Annika shutting the door and walking swiftly into the room behind him.
“What are you doing here?”
“Where’s Shivaay?”
“He…”
“He’s not home is he?”
“I…”
Annika knew she was meant to pretend to be scared, but she really was starting to feel jittery. What if this really was a bad idea.
“Is he at work?”
Annika said nothing as Daksh took a seat. She’d thought this situation over a million times, but now that the moment was here, she had no idea how to go about this.
“What are you doing here? Please leave before I call Shivaay and he…”
“And he what? Shivaay won’t do anything to me. He can’t even touch me. He’s been trying so hard to have me put away but so far…
Taking her phone off the coffee table, Annika pretended to call Shivaay. Getting to his feet, Daksh snatched the phone off Annika and threw it aside.
“How dare…”
“No, how dare you? You came into all of our lives and made a mess of everything. Me and Priyanka we’re ready to get married. After years of wooing, I finally had Priyanka wrapped around my finger but you… You had to come into my lives and cause a mess. She keeps pushing the date of the wedding now.”
“You don’t even love Priyanka do you?”
“No… No I don’t. I love the fact that she is the Oberoi family’s wealth. When I marry her, all that can be mine!”
“You know I’ll never let that happen.”
“I’ll make sure you never tell anyone. I’ll cook up something and I’ll make sure Shivaay never believes a word that comes out of your mouth ever again.”
“Shivaay knows me, he trusts me. He won’t believe you over me.”
“You don’t know what kind of things I can do. I can make him turn against you in a heartbeat.”
“Never, Shivaay l…”
Annika stopped herself. No. She wasn’t going to tell Daksh that Shivaay loved her. That was none of Daksh‘s business, he didn’t need to know. What was between her and Shivaay was theirs and Daksh didn’t need to hear it.
“Shivaay trusts me, he knows me.”
“You’re acting all high and mighty. Three months you’ve spent with Shivaay and you’re acting like he’d give the world for you. Don’t you even know the man you’re living with?”
“What do you mean?”
“Shivaay doesn’t believe in marriage, he doesn’t believe in love. He was marrying my Di, because she’s high class and has wealth to her name. He never loved her or cared to get married, he was just doing it for the sake of his family.”
“Why are you telling me all this, what has it got to do with me?”
“Di and Shivaay were going to get married. Everyone was fine and happy. The Oberoi’s were happy to get Shivaay married to Tia Di, she would have gotten married to him and she would’ve had access to his wealth but then you…”
He took a step towards Annika and she took a step back.
“By god ki kasam… You just had to come into our lives and you just had to stick your nose in, you had to tell Shivaay about me, you had to follow me to Lonavla…”
“You were there?”
Action time.
Daksh smirked and took a step closer to Annika.
“Yes, I was there, I took the pictures of you and Shivaay.”
“But you realise that worked in our benefit. Though it didn’t seem like that at the time, we are happy together so, we thank you for that. If you hadn’t taken those pictures, we wouldn’t have got married. So really, it’s because of you your sister didn’t get to marry Shivaay. It had nothing to do with me. But yes, thank you for doing that, me and Shivaay are now very happy together thanks to you.”
“Happy together, who are you trying to fool? Anyone with half a mind knows that Shivaay would never want to be with a woman like you when he could’ve had my sister.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means Shivaay can never be happy with you. He wants someone with money, status, class… Like my sister. I bet you, soon enough when he’s done with you, he’ll throw you away.”
That hurt. Annika had never thought like that but… Did Daksh have a point? No, no, Shivaay loved her. She knew that. She knew for a long time and last night… No, Daksh was just trying to get under her skin.
Daksh saw Annika was preoccupied and took another step towards her, closing the distance between them.
“Shivaay may not what you, but I’ll have you. By god ki kasam, the day I saw you, I knew I needed to have you.”
As he moved closer to her, Annika kept moving back until her back hit the wall. Oh no! She was trapped. Starting to panic slightly, Annika knew she needed to wrap this up fast.
“You tried to force yourself… I… You attacked me!”
“Nope, no. I like to call it worship. By god ki kasam, the moment I laid eyes I you, I knew it. I knew I needed to worship you and your body, but you… You had to resist. But it’s okay, we’re home alone now, let’s pick up where we left off that day.”
Annika’s eyes widened, no no no… This wasn’t the plan.
“I doubt Shivaay has ever touched you yet, I doubt he ever will… I can do all the things he hasn’t done, I can make take you to the stars.”
“No!”
Pushing Daksh with all her might, Annika rushed away.
Had Shivaay gathered the evidence that they needed? Was he coming down, what was happening?
“Annika listen…”
He grabbed her hand and tried to stop her from running off but Daksh was unable to finish his sentence. Annika turned to find that Shivaay had slammed a punch across Daksh’s face and the police were running in after him.
Grabbing Daksh by the collar, Shivaay pulled him up to full height before punching him across the face again.
“How dare you! How dare you try to touch my wife!”
“Shiv…”
Unable to finish his name, Shivaay punched Daksh once more.
“You played with my sister’s feelings, you lied to my entire family, you tried to defame me and you attacked my wife twice. For two of those things I can forgive you, but playing with my sister was your first unforgivable sin, and even laying eyes on my Annika was the second.”
The police came forward and pulled Daksh away from Shivaay because they could tell he was going to hit him again. Annika threw herself into Shivaay’s arms, hugging him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her as he watched the police officers take Daksh away. As the rest of the officers cleared out, the ACP stayed back.
“Mr Oberoi, I have Daksh on tape confessing his crimes and we have heard him too. We will reopen your cases against him and this time we have his confession so we can put him away for a long time for his crimes.”
“Thank you officer.”
Bowing out, the ACP left and Annika let herself break down in Shivaay’s arms. She hadn’t realised at the time but looking back now, it sunk in just how stressful that had been, how terrifying…
“Sh, it’s okay, I’ve got you, it’s all over now…”
Shivaay stroked her hair as she cried, holding him close to herself. Daksh’s words about their relationship came to mind and it made Annika cry harder. What if Daksh was right? What if Shivaay really was just maintaining this relationship for the time being because he had to? What if he really would get bored of her? But he told her he loved her? He’d kissed her all night, made her feel loved and special and…
“Annika…”
Breaking the hug, Shivaay brushed Annika’s tears and her hair out of her face and led her to the sofa. They sat down and Shivaay took Annika back into his arms.
The feeling of needing to cry subsided, and Annika placed her hand in Shivaay’s.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine… That was just so much more overwhelming than I thought it was going to be.”
“It was intense. But you were so brave Annika, so so brave!”
Cupping her face, he leaned in and kissed her. Placing his hands on her waist, he pulled her into himself, while she wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed herself against him…
*****
When finally they were content and done with making out for a while, Shivaay got to his feet and went into the bedroom to call Priyanka and debrief her about all that had happened, and to tell her that it was all finally over and that they could all finally breathe in peace again.
*****
Much later the same day, night fell outside and Shivaay and Annika were sat on the sofa, she watching tv, him working away on his laptop. He had suggested that they go out for dinner, but Annika had wanted to stay home and just spend some time with him.
Looking over at him, Annika just wanted to cuddle up with him, and just rest her head on his chest. But he was busy and she didn’t want to seem needy and annoy him.
Shivaay too was sneaking glances at Annika at regular intervals. He wanted to speak to her about what Daksh had said to her, wanted to reassure her of his feelings.
Saving his work and turning the laptop off, Shivaay put it down before getting off his chair and sitting beside Annika on the sofa.
“Annika can we talk?”
Nodding, Annika turned the tv off and turned to Shivaay.
“What’s the matter?”
“I wanted to talk to you about what Daksh said to you. I was listening to everything and I just…”
“You don’t need to say anything.”
“No Annika, I do. There’s something things I want to make clear to you.”
Annika felt her blood pressure rise, what if he was going to say that Daksh was right about what he was saying? What if he was going to say that he doesn’t actually love her the way she thought he did?
Taking her hand in his own, Shivaay pressed a kiss on her hand.
“Once upon a time, I didn’t believe in the institution of marriage, or in love. You know about my parents, you can understand why I felt like that. But Annika in these past 3 months since our marriage, you started changing me. You showed me what it means to have a true life partner. You… Your unwavering support, your concern, your care… Even when you were feeling rubbish, you focused on me and always made sure I was okay. You made me feel like I was always your number 1 priority… You kept giving me attention and care and you asked for nothing in return.”
Placing his other hand on her cheek, he looked into her eyes.
“You made me want to be your husband, you made me want to take on this relationship and work on it. At no point have I thought, I don’t want this, or that I want out. At no point did I think that I want everything to be sorted so that we can end this. Annika… I don’t want to end our marriage. I know when we got married it was just meant to be long enough so we can file for a divorce… But I don’t want that anymore. I want to carry on being with you, I want to keep working at our relationship… Living with you… It’s a new adventure every day and this is an adventure I want to keep living for the rest of my life.”
Annika felt her heart swell with happiness, she wasn’t wrong. He really did love her and want to be with her.
“Also, what he said about Tia…”
“You don’t need to say anything more Shivaay, I know. I trust you and I know…”
“I know you know but at the same time I want to make it clear. I saw your expressions when Daksh was speaking to you, I could see that you were uncertain and I don’t want you doubting anything.”
“In that moment I was uncertain but I know…”
“Please Annika.”
It was clear he wanted to say what he wanted to say, so there was no point trying to stop him.
“It’s true, I was just marrying Tia for Dadi’s sake, and that at that time all that mattered to me was that she was from an upper class family, but I never felt anything for her. She never made me want to become her husband. I was never actually attracted to her like that. But you…”
His hand dropped away from her face down to her neck.
“The moment I laid eyes I you, I was attracted to you. You’re so beautiful and cute… The way you speak, the way you walk, you have such an innocence about you. I feel like all the women I’ve been around have always been so sure in themselves. They knew they were sexy and they weren’t afraid to flaunt it. But you… You are the most gorgeous and perfect woman I’ve ever met, but sometimes it seems like you don’t even realise that yourself.”
“I… I don’t… I’m just me though, just average Annika?”
“You may just be average to yourself, but to me… You’re so fine… I can’t even express how perfect you are to me.”
Blushing, Annika looked down. His words were reeking havoc on her emotions. His words were overwhelming her.
“Daksh also said how I would never come near you, how I’d never touch you…”
His hand dropped from her neck and let it slide down to her waist. Taking hold of her waist, he pulled her into himself.
“I will admit, I fell in love with you after we got married, but Annika, I’ve been attracted to you since the first time I saw you. Whenever you came near me, I just wanted to reach out to you, hold you… And then we got married. Living with you and keeping a respectable distance has been so hard, especially when you cuddle up with me every night. But I wanted to make sure, I wanted to make sure that I really did love you and that you felt the same way about me before I acted on my attraction. But Annika what Daksh said about me not watching to touch you like that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“Matlab?”
As he tightened his hold on her waist with one hand, he brought the other one back up to cheek and he caressed her lips with his thumb.
“Matlab I really love you and I want to take our relationship to the next level… I… I want to make love to you.”
Her eyes widened as she looked into his. He wasn’t holding anything back, just by looking into his eyes she could see his sincerity.
“Next level…”
“Only when you’re ready.”
She had already had a huge amount of respect for her husband but somehow her respect and love for him increased by ten folds.
Placing her own hand on his knee, she leaned in and kissed his cheek. Dropping her voice to a whisper, she expressed what her heart desired.
“I want that too…”
“You want…”
“I want you to… I want us… I too want to take our relationship to the next level…”
Hearing her say what he had hoped would be her response made him feel another type of happiness. Cupping her face, he kissed her. With his kiss he tried to convey everything he felt for her. His love for her, but also his need for her. Wrapping her arms around him, Annika brought Shivaay to herself, closing any distance, trying to get as close to him as possible. Planting his hand on her back, he brought her closer so her body was flush against his. Leaning into her, he guided her down onto the sofa as he moved over her, removing her dupatta and kissing her neck.
Lacing her fingers into his hair, Annika brought Shivaay’s head closer to her, making him kiss her harder. She felt his hands touch her body and she did the same, letting her hands go under his shirt.
The feel of her slightly clammy hands on his bare skin was causing his control to slip away. But he knew he wanted to take this slowly, he couldn’t lose control. He wanted to make love to her not just have sex with her.
Breaking the kiss, Shivaay watched as Annika’s eyes fluttered open, a questioning look in her eye. Getting off of her, Shivaay got to his feet and scooped her off the sofa and started walking towards their bedroom. Just as they got to the door of their room, Shivaay heard his phone ringing in the living room. Ignoring it, he walked into the bedroom and placed Annika down onto the bed, before going on to unbutton his shirt. Shirt off, he came back over Annika, claiming her lips while she let her hands roam over his shoulder blades.
The phone began to ring again, this time their house phone. Annika broke the kiss causing Shivaay to let out a groan of protest.
“Go answer the phone, someone’s looking for you.”
“I’m busy, they can wait.”
“Shivaay go, it could be important.”
“But this is important too.”
Biting her lip, Annika blushed. Taking advantage of the moment, Shivaay tried to move back in for a kiss but was pushed away by Annika.
“Go and check the phone, I’m not going anywhere.”
Rolling his eyes, Shivaay got off the bed.
“I’ll be 2 minutes, don’t move.”
“Waiting.”
Smirking to himself, Shivaay made his way down the hall and answered the phone that had started ringing for the fourth time now.
“Hello?”
“Billu?”
Shivaay felt himself go cold. Dadi… After 3 long months she had finally called and was speaking to him. He and Annika had called home multiple times but dadi had refused to speak to them. And now…
“Billu, are you there?”
“Dadi… How are you?”
“I am fine, how are you and Annika?”
“We are… We’re well thank you.”
He felt at a loss, what was he supposed to say? He had waited for months to be able to speak to dadi and here the moment was yet he couldn’t speak.
“Billu, Priyanka spoke to me. She also showed me the footage you sent her. Billu, I don’t even know what to say and how to say it, I feel… I’m ashamed of myself…”
“No dadi please, don’t speak like that.”
“I am ashamed though. Even up until this morning I thought ill of you and Annika and now… That girl went out of her way to protect Priyanka and our family from Daksh and I thought… I don’t know how I’ll ever face her Billu.”
“Dadi please…”
“Forgive me Shivaay. Forgive your old Dadi. The amount of rubbish I said to you both that day and then again that night after you got married… I should’ve been welcoming my new bahu with open arms, instead I questioned her character…”
“Dadi, that’s all old now…”
It was abundantly clear that dadi was deeply troubled by her own actions.
“Dadi it wasn’t your fault. Please let it go. Neither me nor Annika are upset you with.”
As if on cue, Annika came out of the bedroom and came to stand beside Shivaay. Dadi, he mouthed as he pointed to the phone. Nodding, Annika took his arm and stood close to him as he carried on with the phone call.
“Enough is enough now, you and Annika have to come home. My mistake has caused us all to stay away from each other for so long, you need to come home and bring my bahu home too. Will you come back?”
Smiling, Shivaay wrapped his arm around Annika.
“We will come home! Of course! Please just give us a few days to sort everything here and then we will come back!”
“We will all be waiting for you.”
“We’ll be back soon Dadi.”
Round off the conversation, Shivaay ended the call and turned to Annika.
“Didi wants us to go home!”
“I know I heard!”
“It really is all over, we can finally all go back to our normal lives!”
Wrapping his arms back around her, he smiled at her.
“We’re going home Annika, our home, our real home.”
Lifting her into his arms for the second time that night. Shivaay looked into her eyes as he spoke.
“But before we go home, there’s something I want us to do here.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
Smirking, Shivaay carried Annika to their bedroom, kicked the door shut and placed her down in the bed. As he came down over her, Annika raised her arms and wrapped them around her husband as they finally embraced the next step of their relationship…
*****
The first rays of morning sun hit Annika in the face. Scrunching her eyes up, she pulled the covers up, covering her eyes. But alas, the thin blanket provided minimal protection from the bright morning sun. Frustrated, Annika lowered the blanket, and rolled into Shivaay’s chest, his body shielding her eyes from the sun.
It was then she remembered.
Holy shit.
Moving the blanket, she took Shivaay’s naked form and then her own and covered back up again. Holding the blanket to her chest, the flashbacks of the night before played before her eyes and she felt herself blush.
They really had done it.
Propping herself on her elbow, she leaned over and pressed a kiss on Shivaay’s cheek and then settled back down in his arms.
How far had they come in such a short space of time. From that first meeting, to the first time they actually spoke, to the incident that caused them to run away and get married… Their wedding… The last 3 months together, their first kiss and last night…
She had never thought their elopement was going to turn into a lifelong relationship, but it had. She had hoped that their relationship would last, but she had never thought that they would find each other so quickly. They’d fallen in love and they had now consummated their marriage. They were finally one…
The temporary marriage was no longer temporary. Their elopement was now a lifelong commitment. What had started off looking like a game was now a beautiful journey into the future.
This was the ending of one chapter of their life, but they still had their entire lives in front of them… Their beautiful, love filled life…
*****
*Authors note*
So this of course was another mammoth, even longer than the original mammoth. Again, thank you to everyone who has supported me during the writing process. Even though I am happier with this part than I was with the first, it still isn’t quite what I wanted it. But alas, this is just the start of writing on Shivika, only way is up! So thank you for you time and your patience. Please do leave your comments on this part and the previous and hopefully I will be back soon with a new project.
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