(Banner by @0Mcreations, do check out her work over on twitter and instagram)
Many weeks later, Annika, Saumya and Priyanka were sat together by the poolside, enjoying their tea.
Annika had worked her hardest to expose Tia, to prove that Tia’s baby wasn’t Shivaay’s but alas, her efforts were futile. Tia wasn’t giving anything away, and nor could Annika find anything against her.
The day after they had found out that Tia was pregnant, Shivaay had requested for her to have a DNA test because he couldn’t just accept that the child was his. Tia has been more than willing to take the DNA test and when the result came back as being positive, both Shivaay and Annika had been convinced that Tia had planned this. So they had another DNA test conducted, one that Tia didn’t know about. But once again, the same results came.
This had left Shivaay feeling extremely down, as it seemed the child really was his, but Annika was more than convinced that the baby couldn’t be Shivaay’s. She was still convinced that the baby was Tia’s husbands, but once again, she had no proof.
Though Annika didn’t want to, she had half given up, just hoping that one day she would find what she was looking for and would be able to prove that Tia was a fraud. And Annika’s health hadn’t helped her either. Since about a week ago, Annika had been feeling extremely under the weather. She felt nauseous, dizzy, tired and had completely lost her appetite. She knew that she had been tense the past few weeks, but hadn’t realised that she’d been that tense that it was having such a negative impact on her health.
Sitting by the pool now, Annika sipped on her tea, just trying to enjoy Saumya and Priyanka’s company. Picking up a biscuit, Annika took a bite of it before taking another sip of her tea. Even before the biscuit could settle within her, Annika felt it come straight back up. Rushing to the bathroom, Annika just made it to the toilet before she threw up.
What was happening?
Initially she had thought it was just the tension that was having an adverse reaction on her health but now…
When she felt like her stomach had settled again, Annika left the bathroom and went and sat on the edge of the bed. Thinking about how unwell she’d been feeling, she realised that it couldn’t just be stress. She had been experiencing stress for weeks and she hadn’t been feeling this bad. The last 2 weeks, she’d actually been more at ease than previously so it couldn’t be the stress that was causing this.
Picking up her phone, Annika unlocked it and started scrolling her messages when a thought suddenly hit her.
Shaking her head she pushed the thought away. No no, it couldn’t be that, surely it couldn’t be that. Pushing the thought away, Annika went back to reply to Sahil and Chanda’s messages. But the thought kept bothering her. What if she was?
Opening up her calendar app, Annika scrolled through the dates until she found what she was looking for. Shit. Shit shit shit.
Putting her phone down Annika thought long and hard about it. Maybe she’d just forgotten to mark it on her calendar, maybe she wasn’t actually…
But thinking about it, she realised she hadn’t made any mistakes. She really was late. Over three weeks late…
*****
After getting over the initial shock, Annika realised that being late didn’t mean she really was… She had been stressed, maybe that had had an impact on her body and maybe it was just because of that she was late.
But she knew she needed to find out if she was or if she wasn’t. She needed to be sure.
Picking her phone up again, she texted Saumya, asking her to come to her room, who arrived a few moments later. Entering the bedroom, saw took in Annika, realising she was concerned about something.
“Bhabi?”
Getting to her feet, Annika let Saumya into the room before shutting the door.
“What’s wrong?”
“Saumya, I’m going to tell you something but you can’t tell anyone, not even Priyanka or Rudra.”
“Bhabi…”
“Promise me.”
“I promise, but what’s the matter, why are you so tense? Did Tia say something?”
“No no, it’s not Tia…”
Taking a deep breath, Annika prepared herself to finally say it out loud.
“I think… I think I’m pre… Pregnant.”
Saumya froze for a minute, unable to process when Annika had just said. When she finally took it in, she felt herself give Annika her widest smile before giving her a big hug.
“Oh my goodness! Congratulations bhabi! I didn’t think you and bade bhaiya would be trying for a baby so soon, hence why I couldn’t react for a moment but oh my! This is amazing!”
“No no, you’ve…”
Shaking her head, Annika felt tears well in her eyes as it started sinking in what it would mean if she really was pregnant.
“We, we weren’t trying. I didn’t even think… This wasn’t planned. We’ve never talked about babies…”
“Oh… Accident?”
“Yes. I mean… I’m not sure. I’m late but I might not be… I just…”
“So are you going to tell bhaiya?”
“Well I need to be sure first. When you come home from college, do you think you could pick up a pregnancy test for me?”
“Of course! Bhabi, please don’t stress, if you are or if you aren’t, you and bhaiya will be able to deal with this, don’t worry.”
Smiling, Annika nodded, but she could feel herself tensing up. This wasn’t what they needed now. They needed to deal with Tia, not add more tangles to the net they were already trapped in.
*****
When Saumya returned home that evening with the pregnancy tests, she had offered to wait in the bedroom while Annika took them, but Annika decided against this. She wanted to take the tests in her own time, on her own. And she also wanted to wait until the next morning because she had googled and found that pregnancy tests were more accurate first thing in the morning.
Hiding the tests away, Annika sat on the bed, trying to work out if she should try and talk to Shivaay about it, or if she should just tell him once she’d done the test.
Deciding not to say anything, Annika got to her feet as she started tidying things away, trying to distract herself.
It wasn’t long before Shivaay walked into their room.
“Hey.”
Poking her head out from behind the wardrobe door, Annika smiled.
“Hi.”
Taking off his suit jacket, Shivaay handed it to Annika and she put it away.
“So how was your day?”
“The usual, I spent most of my day on my own tidying things away, how was your day?”
They made small talk as they usually would and Annika watched as Shivaay got changed before sitting down on the sofa with his laptop. She watched as he waited for his laptop to load up and she thought of everything that had happened that day. She needed to speak to him, she needed to get an idea of how he would react if they were expecting, she couldn’t just spring it on him if it was the case.
Sitting beside him, Annika tried to make small talk with him again, just talking about random things before getting to her point.
“So me and Saumya were talking earlier and the topic of babies just came up… Do you like children Shivaay?”
Not looking up from his laptop, he gave a noncommittal grunt. Annika carried on.
“I like babies, I think they’re really cute! And just the thought of having a little human that’s half you and half of the person you love… It gives such a warm fuzzy feeling.”
Looking away from his laptop screen, Shivaay looked to Annika, eyebrow raised.
“Are you trying to tell me something?”
“No I just…”
“Because I can’t even think about having a baby right now. With all this Tia crap going on… It’s made me realise I really don’t want a baby any time soon. In fact this whole situation with Tia… I don’t know, I feel like it’s just put me off children altogether.”
Hearing him say that made Annika feel uncomfortable, almost like there was a sinking feeling within her. He didn’t want a baby. He didn’t know if he wanted a baby at all. What if they were having a baby?
Sensing that Annika was tense, Shivaay put his laptop down and took her hand in his own.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing I just…”
“What I mean is, I definitely don’t want a baby now, but somewhere down the line, I think I will want us to have a family. But it just feels too soon to be thinking about that right now. We’ve still got so much to do as a couple, so much to explore…”
He had a point and she knew that. Even up until yesterday she hadn’t thought about having a baby yet, but now…
“I love you Annika, and I’m certain one day we will have our own family, but at this moment of time, it’s not something I want to think about.”
Braving a smile, Annika placed her hand on top of Shivaay’s.
“I know, I get it. It was just something we were talking about and it got me thinking, that’s all.”
Nodding, Shivaay turned his attention back to his laptop and Annika looked down at her stomach.
Please let it all work out okay. Please?
*****
Wiping her tears, Annika got off the bathroom floor, picked up her pregnancy tests and placed them on the side of the sink.
Washing her hands again, she dabbed water on her face before drying off properly. Hiding the used tests away again, Annika walked back into the bedroom and watched as Shivaay got dressed.
“You okay? You took a long time?”
“I’m fine, just have a stomach ache.”
Walking over to Annika, Shivaay placed his hands on her shoulders.
“Are you okay, do you need any medicine?”
“No no, I’m fine, nothing to worry about.”
“You sure?”
Annika nodded and he placed a kiss on her forehead. Shivaay let Annika go as he went back to the wardrobe to put his jacket on. Ready for the day, he took his leave from Annika and left.
Once Shivaay was gone, Annika sat down on the bed and let her tears fall as she slowly raised her hand to her stomach.
She was pregnant. She’d known it in her heart any way, but seeing the test results on both sticks… She was pregnant. With their baby… A baby neither of them were ready for and that Shivaay didn’t even want to think about yet.
Burying her face in her hands, Annika knew she couldn’t sit on this for too long. She knew roughly how far along she was, and she knew that she needed to say something soon before she started putting on the extra weight. Her constantly nausea and tiredness wasn’t getting missed by the family either. Someone would soon put the dots together.
She needed to tell Shivaay. And soon.
*****
It was a little later the same day. Annika had spent some time with Dadi and had now returned to her bedroom, trying to work out what she needed to do.
Sat on the sofa, Annika Googled on her phone some pregnancy related information when there was a knock on her door. Exiting the tab, she put her phone down before looking up.
“Bhabi can I come in?”
“Come Saumya! No need to be so formal.”
Sitting down beside Annika, Saumya looked at her and smiled.
“You’re pregnant aren’t you?”
“How did you…”
“I could tell. You’ve been so distracted and tense, and I also saw you run your hand over your belly a few times…”
“I didn’t even realise I did that.”
“You did. No one else would’ve noticed or thought anything but I…”
Annika gave Saumya a big hug before moving back again.
“Both tests came out positive and I… I guess I already knew. I just… I don’t know what to do now.”
“Have you told bade bhaiya?”
“No… I tried talking to him about it yesterday and he… He doesn’t even want to think about a baby right now. And with all the Tia baby drama, he’s…”
Sighing, Annika looked down at her stomach again for the hundredth time.
“So what are you going to do?”
“I think, I’m going to book an appointment with the doctor first and make sure. Also find out how far along I really am… And then I guess I’ll have to find a way to tell him.”
“So you are definitely keeping the baby?”
“Of course! There’s no doubt about that. This is our baby, though not planned, she’s still ours and I don’t believe in aborting babies that are conceived as a result of love.”
“So you’re going to do this.”
“Yeah, we’re going to do this. I know he doesn’t want a baby now, but I’m sure, once he knows about her, he’ll want her as much as I do.”
Smiling to herself, Annika knew that she had come to the right decision. There were people in the world who prayed and ached for a child. She was blessed with a child, they couldn’t just throw that away because they weren’t ready. They were going to have this child and that was that.
“Bhabi, can I say something?”
“Of course.”
“You referred to the baby as she and her.”
“I did?”
“Yeah you said ‘she’s still ours.’”
Annika thought about it and realised she had said that and she really thought about it. Unconsciously, she lowered her hand to her tummy and smiled.
“I don’t know, it just came naturally I didn’t even realise I said it. But now I think about it, I feel like the baby, I feel like she is a girl. Just a gut feeling I guess.”
Giving Annika another hug, Saumya gave her a gentle squeeze.
“I’m so happy for you Bhabi! I know it’s not something you guys had planned for, but seeing how happy you are, I’m so happy for you! You and bade bhaiya are going to start a new life!”
They carried on talking for a while, about all kind of little baby related things.
“For now, I want to refer to her as Shivika. Calling her baby or she doesn’t feel right. She’s a human and deserves to be addressed with a name.”
“Shivika? Where did you get this name from?”
“Shiv from Shivaay and Ika from Annika. She’s our baby, half me, half him. So for now, she’s Shivika until she actually arrives and has her own real name.”
“I love it it’s so cute! Even after she comes along, I still want to keep calling her Shivika!”
Talking to Saumya, Annika realised that it was really beneficial for her. It was really helping her ease into the idea that she was carrying a baby and soon in the future, she was going to have her own child in her arms.
She knew trying to tell Shivaay was going to be hard and she was worried about how he would react, but she knew she had to…
*****
That night when Shivaay came home from work and once they’d retreated to their bedroom for the night, they slipped into easy conversation about the little things. It was a while into their conversation when he actually mentioned something important.
“So Tia called me while I was at work, she has an appointment at the end of the week and she wants me to go with her.”
Annika felt herself go cold. Tia. Momentarily, in the joy of finding out about her own baby, Annika had completely forgotten about Tia and hers.
“Hey Annika, are you listening?”
“Yeah I just… Carry on.”
“So Tia wants me to take her to the doctors, she wants me to be with her when they do the scan… I just… I can’t do it. I know it’s not my child.”
Clasping her hands together, Annika knew it wasn’t the time to tell him about their baby. Unclasping her hands, Annika places her hand on Shivaay’s.
“At some point or other, she’s going to snap. She won’t be able to carry this on. A lie can never remain hidden for too long.”
“You have so much confidence, but time is starting to run out. Soon it’ll be time to start preparing for the baby to arrive and… Annika I don’t know how this is going to pan out. Tia and her mother think we’ve filed for our divorce but… It’s all just so…”
Moving towards him once more, Annika gave him a kiss on his cheek before squeezing his hand.
“We’ll work through this. I had started taking a seat back in regards to exposing her, but I’m going to start trying again. I won’t let her win.”
“This is what I love about you, you never give up. If you believe in something, you’ll do anything to prove yourself.”
Getting to his feet, Shivaay leaned back down and lifted Annika into his arms.
“Shivaay! What are you…”
“It’s the end of the night, I want to spend some quality time with my wife.”
Blushing, Annika tucked her face into Shivaay’s chest as he walked over to their bed and placed her down gently. Moving over her, he came over her, hand on her face as he closed the distance between their lips. Pressing his lips against hers and placing his hands on her waist, Shivaay made himself comfortable. Wrapping her arms around him, Annika pulled Shivaay closer to herself.
As his hold on her waist tightened, she became suddenly aware of his weight pressing down on her stomach. Feeling herself panic, Annika broke the kiss and pushed him away slightly.
He felt her push, moved off her and rolled onto his side of the bed.
“Annika are you okay?”
“I just… I don’t… I don’t want to tonight.”
Cocking his head to the side slightly, he lifted his eyebrow but then went back to normal again. She’d never said no before, but he got it, sometimes people just aren’t in the mood, it wasn’t a big deal.
Pressing a quick light kiss on her lips, he moved back to his side of the bed.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to be sorry Annika, it’s fine. You’re allowed to say no when you don’t feel like it, it’s absolutely fine.”
Wrapping one arm around him and placed one protectively over her stomach, Annika pressed a kiss on his chest as she settled down to fall asleep.
*****
It had been about a week since Annika had been to the doctors to confirm her pregnancy and 2 weeks since she’d first found out she was pregnant. When she had gone to see the doctors, with Saumya, she had found out she was about 4 weeks pregnant.
Of course Annika would have liked to take Shivaay, however, she hadn’t got round to telling him yet. She had tried to tell him, but either the moment wasn’t right or something happened and she couldn’t tell him. She knew she needed to tell him, but she just couldn’t. She knew she had to say something soon because he knew something was up. Since finding out she was pregnant, she couldn’t bring herself to get intimate with him. After refusing him on few occasions, he realised that something was up and had tried asking her what was wrong, but she couldn’t tell him. Annika struggled to understand why it was so hard for her to tell Shivaay about their baby, but she just couldn’t do it.
When Shivaay realised that she couldn’t tell him, he told her that he respected her space and that he was happy to give her time until she was ready again.
She felt bad that she was keeping this distance from him, but she couldn’t bring herself to get that close to him when he didn’t know about their baby. How could she get intimate with him when she was hiding such a big thing from him? And what if they got caught up in the moment and too much pressure was on her stomach and she didn’t even realise? She couldn’t risk it. She wanted to tell him about their baby before she could get intimate with him like that again.
And she felt bad keeping the truth from him. He deserved to know but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him yet.
Sighing, Annika sat down on the sofa of Saumya’s bedroom and drank her juice slowly.
“Bhabi, I need to tell you something.”
“Of course, go for it.”
“You might be really angry with me and if you are I completely understand…”
“What’s the matter Saumya?”
Annika put her juice down as she gave Saumya her full attention.
“I… I accidentally told Rudra about the baby.”
Taking in Saumya’s words, Annika knew that she really needed to act fast and tell Shivaay the truth before Rudra told him. Because knowing Rudra, her secret wouldn’t stay a secret for long.
“Rudra was discussing the annual Obro family trip with me and he was discussing what they should do and where they should go. He told me how bade bhaal wale bhaiya said that this year, not them three brothers would go on their own, they would take us and Priyanka too. So he was asking me for ideas. I couldn’t think of much so he suggested skiing and I said that you wouldn’t be able to because…”
“Because I would still be pregnant…”
Sighing, Annika placed her hand on her stomach and gave a little smile.
“Well I guess this just means I’ll have to tell Shivaay before Rudra does.”
“Rudy promised that he won’t say anything but you know what he’s like, he’ll probably let it slip to bade bhaiya… I’m so sorry Bhabi.”
“It’s fine! Honestly this is probably the nudge that I needed to just tell him.”
“Bhabi, what do you think bhaiya will say when you tell him about the baby?”
“I think he will definitly be shocked to start off with and he will probably need some time to really take it in, but I know my Shivaay, he never backs away from his responsibilities.”
“Have you started thinking about what Shivika is going to look like? Do you think she will look more like you or like bhaiya?”
“I think she’s going to have his eyes…”
“Baby?”
Annika and Saumya’s attention went to the figure standing by the door and both stood up. Pinky walked into the bedroom, and walked right up to Annika.
“What are you planning?”
“Pinky aunty I…”
“I know what you’re trying to do. You want to convince Shivaay that you two should have a baby. I know your plan. You want to have your own baby so his attention is diverted from Tia and her baby…”
“No… That’s not… I…”
“Shush! Now you’ve shown your real class haven’t you? You’re insecure that his attention will move off you when his baby comes along so now you want to get pregnant yourself to get his attention back. But let me remind you Annika, Shivaay is divorcing you and even if you did get pregnant, Tia is going to have her baby first, meaning that baby will always be the heir to the Oberoi family. Yours will always be Shivaay’s second child.”
“Pinky aunty it’s not like that…”
“And anyway, I know my son, he will never agree to have a baby with you. He might give you respect because you are still this house’s bahu, but he will never see a middle class girl like you as the mother of his children.”
“Aunty ji…”
But Pinky was already done and had turned away to leave. When Pinky was gone Saumya placed her hand on Annika’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry about aunty, she doesn’t know the truth. You and bade bhaiya aren’t getting a divorce and I’m as certain as you are that Tia is lying about bhaiya being the father of her baby. It’s going to be okay, don’t worry. And bhaiya loves you, he told you himself that he wants you guys to have a family together one day… Don’t worry at all.”
Nodding, Annika sat back down, her hands knotted on her lap. It was all going to be okay, everything was going to be fine…
*****
A tense Mrs Kapoor walked back to Tia’s bedroom. Tia noticed her mother deep in thought as she came and sat down beside Tia on the sofa.
“Mom is everything okay?”
“We have a problem, a big one.”
“What’s wrong mom?”
Placing her hand on her mother’s, Tia looked at her concerned. Had Annika finally found something out? Was she going to do something? What was happening?
“Mom tell me, what happened?”
“Annika is pregnant.”
Mrs Kapoor had been walking by Saumya’s room when she had heard Annika and Saumya talking about babies. She hadn’t thought much of it at first but then she listened more and she realised… Annika was already pregnant. She had heard more than Pinky had and knew the full story. She knew Annika was pregnant and that Shivaay didn’t know about the baby yet.
Relaying all this to Tia, Mrs Kapoor waited for her daughter to say something. But she didn’t.
“I don’t see the issue here? Annika hasn’t told Shivaay yet about her baby and they still don’t know that mine isn’t Shivaay’s so what’s the issue? Plus Pinky mom isn’t accepting Annika’s baby and still considers mine the heir of the Oberoi family.”
“Don’t you get it Tia, if Annika has this baby, Shivaay will automatically give more of his attention to Annika and their baby. Not to mention he will probably be more likely to do more for their baby than he will for yours.”
“Perhaps, but my baby will come first. Meaning anything that Shivaay wants to give my child, anything we want to take, he will give to us before his and Annika’s baby arrives. By the time their baby is born, we will be long gone.”
Mrs Kapoor shook her head. She knew the moment Shivaay found out Annika was pregnant, everything would change. Now Pinky is against Annika and her child, but the other Oberoi’s wouldn’t react the same way. They would see Annika’s baby as being the legitimate heir to the Oberoi empire and they would push Tia and her child away. After all of this, Tia would leave empty handed. They would lose! Mrs Kapoor knew she wasn’t going to let that happen.
“We need to do something.”
“Like what mom?”
“We need to make sure Annika loses her baby.”
Tia gasped and placed a protective hand on her own baby bump.
“Mom are you insane? Do you realise what you’re saying?”
“Oh shut up Tia, you don’t get it, if Annika has their baby, that child will be the legitimate heir of the Oberoi family. No one will give a second glance to your child.”
“I get that, but mom, you can’t harm Annika. This isn’t just about her, she’s pregnant…”
“That’s the point! We need to make sure her baby doesn’t…”
“No mom! Stop! I know what you’re thinking and I won’t allow you to carry on thinking that way. You can’t do anything to Annika or her baby. I won’t let you.”
“Tia, stop being an emotional fool and think about yourself.”
“I don’t care. I won’t let you harm an innocent unborn child.”
“Why do you care so much, you don’t even like Annika!”
“That doesn’t matter. She’s never done anything to me. And despite everything that I’ve done and that’s happening, she’s taken care of me. She’s makes sure I’ve eaten, she saved me from tripping… She has gone out of her way to protect my baby, I can’t let you harm hers.”
“But Tia…”
“No buts mom. For the sake of wealth and revenge, I will not let you harm an unborn child. And I will not let you put Annika through that. I may not like her, but all she has ever tried to do is protect Shivaay, she has never been malicious to me. I can’t let you do that. I will not let you harm a baby.”
It was clear that Tia was not going to get on board with anything, so Mrs Kapoor knew that whatever needed to be done, she would need to do it herself. And that to soon.
*****
A few days later, Annika still hadn’t been able to tell Shivaay about their baby. She knew it was becoming a joke. She needed to tell him because she knew it was unfair on him to be kept in the dark, and she knew he would be angry that she hid it from him for so long, but she just couldn’t! He had been so busy with work and when he wasn’t busy with work, Tia and her mother, more her mother at the moment, were constantly running rings around him.
But she had finally decided that she was going to tell him today. She had written him a letter and had placed it on his bedside table, so when he came in from the study later, he would see it.
Placing her hand on her tummy, Annika smiled as she talked to their baby.
“Later today, your papa will know about you. Now he might be a bit shocked and confused to start with, but I’m certain he will love you as much as I do!”
Placing a paper weight on top of the note, Annika turned away and left their bedroom. Saumya and Priyanka were in Saumya’s bedroom so Annika began making her way up the stairs. When she got to the top, she remembered that she’s forgotten to bring back up Saumya’s charger. Rolling her eyes, Annika turned to make her way back down again.
What happened next happened so fast that Annika couldn’t even fathom what was happening. One moment she felt herself losing her balance on the stairs, next she felt someone grab her arm to stop her from falling and then in the next moment, the arm that had been holding her was gone and Mrs Kapoor tumbling down the stairs.
Turning to the figure next to her, Annika took in the flushed looking Tia, still unable to comprehend what had just happened.
As Mrs Kapoor hit the bottom of the staircase and lay still, Pinky and Jhanvi came running out, as did Priyanka and Saumya. Tia slowly began descending the stairs, the tears finally settling in. Annika too followed Tia down, still baffled and unable to understand exactly what had happened.
As Pinky knelt down beside Mrs Kapoor, she looked between Annika and Tia, trying to make sense of what happened.
“What actually happened, how did Mrs Kapoor fall like that?”
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Tia carefully knelt down beside her unconscious mother and Annika came and placed her hands on Tia’s shoulders.
“Woh Pinky mom, Annika…”
“Of course! I shouldn’t known! She was probably trying to harm you again and your mother got in the way and…”
Annika took her hands of Tia’s shoulders and began shaking her head.
“No no Pinky mom, Annika wasn’t trying to hurt me.”
Enough was enough and Tia knew it. She was going to end this game today. She knew what her mother had been trying to do and she knew her mother would keep trying. She wouldn’t allow harm to come to Annika’s unborn child, no matter what their goal was. Maybe if she hadn’t been pregnant herself, she wouldn’t have cared for Annika’s baby as much as she did, but being pregnant, she knew how she would feel if someone tried to harm her baby and she couldn’t put another woman through that, regardless of who they were.
As Tia recomposed herself, Shivaay too came out of his study and walked over to where everyone had gathered.
“What’s happening?”
“Mrs Kapoor fell down the stairs and I’m certain Annika had something to do with it.”
“Mom come on…”
“This really isn’t the time to be discussing this, we need to get Mrs Kapoor to the hospital.” Jhanvi pulled out her phone and called for an ambulance.
“If Annika wasn’t trying to hurt you, can you explain to me what was happening at the top of the stairs.”
Tia knew that the best thing to do was just tell the truth. The longer she pulled this out, the more complicated it would become. And at this point, she just wanted to be at her own home with her husband while they prepared for their baby to arrive.
Taking a deep breath, Tia finally prepared to tell the truth.
“Annika wasn’t trying to hurt me or mom. Mom was trying to push Annika down the stairs because…”
“Why would Mrs Kapoor want to harm Annika?”
Coming to Annika’s side, Shivaay wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into himself as he raised his eyebrow at her, asking if she was okay.
“Mom… Mom has been trying to harm Annika for days. Ever since she found out that Annika is pregnant she’s been trying to…”
Annika felt Shivaay’s arm drop and she found him staring at her with big eyes. Pinky looked between Annika and Tia, eyes wide.
“Annika’s pregnant?”
Tia turned to Annika.
“No one knows?”
Annika shook her head before looking down again.
“I’m so sorry I thought…
The tension in the room became so tangible, Jhanvi knew she had to steer the situation.
“Look let’s just focus on Mrs Kapoor for now and then…”
“Sir, ambulance is here.”
Shivaay nodded to Khanna, who let the paramedics in and who took Mrs Kapoor.
When Mrs Kapoor and Tia we’re gone, the Oberoi’s sat down in the living room, trying to digest all that had happened.
Shivaay has wrapped his arm around Annika again, who instead of feeling comforted suddenly felt extremely trapped.
“Annika, you’re… When?”
“Shivaay I… I’ve been trying to tell you but I… Something just kept coming up and I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. But I finally left a note for you today, so you would read and find out because I couldn’t actually verbally…”
“Shivaay this is all bakwaas. I heard her and Saumya talking the other day about babies, this is to trap you so you attention from Tia diverts.”
“Mom please!”
Pinky got to her feet and came up to where Shivaay and Annika were sat. Shivaay stood, and then Annika did too.
“I told you Shivaay, I told you to get rid of this girl before she caused a mess and now look. You’re mother in law to be is in hospital because…”
“Because she tried to harm Annika and karma got her instead.”
“You really think Mrs Kapoor just fell on her own?”
“Yes, that seems to be what has happened.”
“I don’t believe it.”
Shivaay knew there was only one way he could settle Annika’s innocence and that was by showing the CCTV footage. Calling Khanna, he asked for the CCTV footage for that afternoon from the top of the stairs so they could find out what happened.
Khanna returned a little while later with the dvd and played it for the Oberoi’s. By this point, Om and Rudra had arrived too.
As the clip started playing, they watched as Annika climbed the stairs, only to prepare to descend again. As she’s turning, Mrs Kapoor emerges from behind her and pushes her, but Tia grabs hold of Annika before she loses her footing. What happened next was something that no one had expected. Once Tia had saved Annika and pulled her away from the edge, she had then pushed her own mother, causing her to tumble down the stairs. As the clip ended, Shivaay turned to his mother who was still taking the whole situation in.
“So, as you saw, it wasn’t Annika that pushed Mrs Kapoor, Tia herself pushed her mother down.”
“But why would Tia…”
“It’s obvious, Mrs Kapoor wanted to harm Annika and Tia saved her.”
Shivaay turned to Annika again and wrapped his arm around her protectively.
“But Shivaay…”
“Mom please. We’ve seen what happened, Tia explained…”
Shivaay paused as he remembered what they had started talking about.
“Annika you’re pregnant?”
Blushing, Annika looked down at her still flat stomach before nodding. She leaned closer to him and dropped her voice before replying.
“I’m 5 weeks…”
As he held her close, his eyes dropped to her stomach and a warmth spread through his body. He didn’t want a baby, he hadn’t wanted one right now. But knowing that there was a baby, THEIR baby inside Annika, overwhelmed him with a joy he hadn’t expected to feel. Completely forgetting about their surroundings, Shivaay dropped a kiss on Annika head before lifting her chin and placing another light kiss on her nose.
Rudra gave a loud cough, bringing Shivaay and Annika back to reality.
“Shivaay, she’s lying to you.”
“Mom, what is this?”
“How can Annika be pregnant?”
He knew he should take this situation seriously, but Pinky’s question brought out an immature laugh.
“Mom come on, surely you know how babies are made.”
“Shivaay!”
Giving him a sharp nudge with her elbow, Annika hid her face in his chest.
“You and Annika are getting a divorce! You don’t like her, you don’t accept her as your wife? How is she having your child?”
“We never wanted a divorce, I’ve always accepted Annika as my wife and we love each other. I think that should explain it all and I don’t think I need to go into further details about how Annika is pregnant with our baby.”
“But you signed the papers?”
“I didn’t, and neither did Annika. We just said we did so everyone would get off our back while we took our time to deal with what was happening.”
“But you don’t even speak to her properly…”
“We kept our relationship to ourselves. We knew if Tia and Mrs Kapoor saw us happy together they’d try to cause issues between us. So we kept our relationship behind closed doors. Out in the open, out here we hardly speak, but in our bedroom, when we’re alone, we have a normal healthy relationship.”
Pinky felt her head spin as she took this information in. Shivaay, her Shivaay, who was always so concerned about naam, khoon, khandaan was willing to settle down with a girl like Annika? How had this happened and how hadn’t she even realised?
Taking Annika’s hand, he realised that he wanted to speak to her alone, away from everyone’s prying eyes. Excusing themselves, Shivaay led Annika to their bedroom and he shut the door once they were inside.
Sitting Annika down onto the bed, Shivaay sat down beside her. There was so much he wanted to say and ask but he couldn’t find the right words for any of it.
“I… Theres so much I want to ask.”
Pointing to the letter she’d left on his bedside table, Annika went to reach out for it but Shivaay stopped her.
“I’ll read the letter afterwards but I just need to hear from you so I can actually process it all. When did you find out?”
“A couple of weeks ago. Remember the day we spoke about babies and whether you liked and wanted them or not? That was the day I had realised that I might be pregnant.”
“And then I told you I don’t want to think about kids right now… God I’m so sorry. I must have you in such an uncomfortable place.”
“It’s okay. I knew you were tense about everything with Tia, it’s okay.”
As another realisation set it, everything that had been happening between them suddenly made so much more sense.
“You started keeping a distance from me after you found out you were pregnant? We haven’t gotten intimate in the last few weeks because you found out about the baby?”
Looking down at her lap, Annika nodded.
“I couldn’t bring myself to get close to you when I was withholding such major information from you. And then I was also worried that because you didn’t know, we might hurt the baby…”
It all made sense and he couldn’t fault any of her decisions. Of course he would’ve liked to have known sooner, but he understood why it took her so long to say anything.
“I think the baby is a girl.”
This comment threw Shivaay off slightly.
“I just have a feeling… I think she’s a girl.”
“Why do you think that? It’s to early to know the actual sex of the baby right?”
“Yes, we can find out at 20 weeks, but I just have a feeling and I’m pretty sure the baby is a girl.”
Wrapping his arm around Annika, Shivaay kisses the top of her head.
“A mini you! A mini Khidkithod!”
“I call her Shivika when I talk to her.”
“Shivika… Shiv from Shivaay, Ika from Annika?”
Nodding, Annika blushed as she shuffled closer to Shivaay, hiding her face in his chest. Sliding his finger under her chin, Shivaay lifted Annika’s face to his and looked into her eyes. As they let themselves dip into the moment, Shivaay let himself caress her cheeks before slowly closing his eyes and coming into to kiss her. Her own eyes fluttering shut, Annika planted her hands on his thigh as she moved into him, meeting his lips halfway.
His kiss was gentle, hers needy, and it took them a moment to find a rhythm and to set a pace that they were both content with. Hands on her waist, Shivaay pulled Annika into himself and deepened the kiss. All he could think of right now was loving his wife who was soon going to make him a father! He hadn’t wanted a child, especially right now after this mess with Tia, but just knowing Annika was carrying their baby… It did something to him.
As the kiss slowly came to an end, Shivaay kept her face cupped in his hands as he watched her eyes flutter open.
“We’re having a baby…”
His voice was low and husky and just oh so seductive. Pecking her lips again, he let his hand rest on her stomach as he really took the moment in, they were having a baby!
*****
As darkness fell outside and as the Oberoi’s finished their dinner, a sense of calm settled within Annika. Shivaay finally knew the truth and she no longer had to worry about someone finding out and telling Shivaay before her.
She had been worried, unsure how he would react, but he had taken it much better than she could have ever expected. He was actually excited to be a father, excited to meet their baby.
As the Oberoi’s, bar Pinky, sat and discussed the new member of their family that was soon to join them, Tia walked into the house. Everyone fell silent as the reality of the situation sunk in.
If Annika was pregnant with Shivaay’s baby, so was Tia, and Tia was due to have her baby first.
Shivaay got to his feet first and made his way over to Tia.
“How’s Mrs Kapoor?”
“Mom’s fine now, she regained consciousness a while back.”
“You should’ve called me to come and collect you.”
“No Shivaay baby, it’s fine. I needed some time to myself to really understand what happened today and what needs to be done next.”
“What do you mean?”
Nodding, Tia moved away from Shivaay and came to stand before the Oberoi’s who had all now got to their feet. Pinky too had come to join the congregation.
“After reflecting on what happened today, what almost happened today… I have decided that me and mom are going to leave.”
Pinky rushed to Tia’s side.
“What are you saying Tia? How can you leave?”
“Pinky mom… With Annika being pregnant too and with what happened today, I don’t think it is a smart idea if me and mom stay here.”
Misunderstanding what Tia meant, Pinky turned to Shivaay, who had come back to stand beside Annika, his arm draped around her.
“I told you, I told you all. The video didn’t show what actually happened. Annika really was trying to harm…”
“No Pinky mom, Annika wasn’t trying to hurt anyone. Mom tried to push Annika down the stairs so that she would miscarry. Ever since mom found out about Annika’s pregnancy, she’s been trying to find ways to harm Annika and her baby. I told mom no, but she wouldn’t listen. I’m just glad I was able to step in today before…”
Tia stopped and walked over to Annika.
“Are you okay?”
“I… I’m fine, you?”
“I’m fine too. Annika… I’m sorry. On mom’s behalf. I know I have been a pain to you, that I have tried to hurt you too, but I swear, since I found out you were pregnant, I haven’t wanted to harm you. I’d never do that, I hope you know that.”
Annika swallowed as she looked up at Shivaay, who wrapped his arm around her protectively.
“I know…”
“I’ve caused you so much trouble but you still saved me from tripped and hurting myself. After all of that, after how you have cared for my baby, I couldn’t let harm come to yours.”
Unable to digest what Tia was playing at, Pinky went over to Tia.
“Tia what are you saying? You told me Annika had been trying to hurt you, that she was going out of her way to harm you and your baby.”
“I lied Pinky mom. I wanted to make you hate Annika more so you would throw her out. Annika has never tried to harm my baby. If anything, she is the reason why my baby is still with me. If Annika hadn’t been around, I was doing all kinds of stupid things, I almost hurt myself so many times, but Annika saved me each time.”
“What…”
“Annika hasn’t been the one causing problems in this house, it’s me and I have decided that after what happened today, enough is enough. Enough damage has been caused and I don’t want to do this any more.”
“All that is fine, but Tia, you are having Shivaay’s baby. I don’t care what the case is, but I have never accepted Annika as my bahu and I don’t plan to. She may be having Shivaay’s baby too, but your baby is coming into this world first and according to me, that is my grandchild, the real heir of the Oberoi family.”
Shivaay felt Annika tense in his arms and he was ready to step in but Tej beat him to it.
“Have you lost it Pinky? You are going to call Shivaay’s illegitimate child the heir of the Oberoi house. Have you lost it?”
“Jeth ji, this is our family matter, you mind your own.”
“No I will speak. As head of the house, you have lost it. Annika is Shivaay’s wife, and their baby is the heir to the Oberoi wealth.”
“For me, Tia will always be my daughter in law and her child my read grandchild.”
“You are just unbeliev…”
“Uncle, Pinky mom… Please don’t argue.”
Tia knew what the right thing to do was. It was time to end this game once and for all. Enough was enough. She didn’t want to play this game. She wanted to live her life happily with her baby and her husband. This wasn’t worth the time any more.
“I have something to tell everyone.”
Taking a deep breath, Tia prepared herself. She knew what was going to happen, she knew Pinky was going to hate her, but she needed to do this. For herself and for Shivaay and Annika. And for both the babies.
“I’m… I’m not having Shivaay’s baby.”
A blanket of silence fell over the Oberoi family as everyone digested the impact of Tia’s words. Annika looked up at Shivaay, her eyes wide as she took in Tia’s words. The game was over! The truth way out! She was right! She had always been right.
Recovering from the shock, Pinky took a step towards Tia.
“You’re lying right? You’re just saying this so we accept Annika’s baby. You’re lying?”
“No Pinky mom. Everything I had been saying all these months had been a lie. I am finally telling the truth. Shivaay isn’t the father of my child.”
“What nonsense! You told us exactly when and where the baby was conceived. You said it was Shivaay’s!”
“I lied! It was all part of a well planned plan. Me and Shivaay have never shared an intimate relationship. We have never done anything together. My baby’s father is my husband, not Shivaay.”
“You’re husband?”
Tia explained about Dushyant, about the plan and how the baby definitely couldn’t be Shivaay’s.
“I’m sorry Pinky mom. You gave me so much love and respect and I… I’m sorry.”
“You’re not having Shivaay’s baby?”
“No. I’m not. I’m sorry. I’m not having Shivaay’s baby but Annika… Annika is! Please, give her the love you’ve been giving me and my unborn baby, because she’s the one that really is entitled to this love.”
Annika felt Shivaay’s arm tight around her as he held her close.
Tia approached Shivaay and Annika.
“I’m sorry. I got carried away with mom’s plan. I let myself get sucked in and I… I’m sorry. I caused so many problems for you both, I wasted so much of your time, if you can, please forgive me.”
Looking at each other, Annika nodded to Shivaay and he let her go and took a step towards Tia.
“It’s okay, we understand.”
“I’m sorry Shivaay. Annika, sorry isn’t enough but, I really am…”
“It’s okay Tia, I can’t thank you enough. If it wasn’t for you today, I wouldn’t be standing here. You came through when it mattered the most. You saved me and my baby. Nothing else matters.”
As the conversation came to a close, Tia excused herself so that she could go and tidy her things in preparation to leave.
*****
Back in their bedroom, Shivaay and Annika leaned against the headboard of their bed, his arm wrapped around her shoulder and her arms around his waist.
“I can’t believe it’s over.”
“It’s finally all over.”
“I had been trying to gather evidence against Tia for months and now…”
“She bowed out herself.”
Sitting up straight, Annika turned to Shivaay, her eyes wide.
“We won! We did it.”
“Now we can finally really start focusing on ourselves.”
Shuffling over to where she was sat, Shivaay cupped Annika’s face and looked into her eyes.
“It’s just you, me and our bean now.”
Smiling, Annika wrapped her arms around her husband and pulled him into a hug.
Finally… They could just focus on themselves and not have to worry constantly about Tia’s next move.
Breaking the hug, Annika pushed Shivaay back into the bed before moving over him, covering his lips with her own…
*****
Author’s note:
You guys still alive? Did you make it out alive? So that got wayyyy longer than I had anticipated but I hope you enjoyed it regardless. As you guys know, I have been working on this project for the longest time and I feel like I’m finally content with the way that it has turned out. I can’t even tell you how many different versions of this story are on my phone. So if you guys would like to read an alternative ending, leave a comment or tweet me and if enough people want to read an alternative version, I’ll pick one of my other drafts and I’ll post it for you guys!
Thanks again for reading! Love you all! It might be a while before I post another Shivika story, but I have so many concepts so I will be back with something soonish!
Tanzeela’s Creative Writing Corner 