Dearest Shivaay, || Shivika AU FF

𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 𝕎𝕖𝕕𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘

When I first posted this chapter, the second half disappeared, so I had to rewrite the whole thing and repost. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you to those who voted. 

"Phail gaya raita!" Anika muttered underneath her breath as she scrambled to get the broken pieces of glass off the floor.

In a rush to get to the study, where Dadi awaited her arrival, she had run into one of the tables in the hall and knocked down the expensive blue vase that Tej Singh Oberoi had probably imported from Spain or Italy. Anika dreaded explaining the situation to Tej later.

"You're just clumsy," a voice mocked, causing shivers down Anika's spine. There was only one man in this entire mansion she always wanted to avoid, and thanks to her phooti kismat, he was the one she always ran into.

Anika looked up into the green-blue eyes of Shivaay Singh Oberoi. The oldest of the new Oberoi generation, cold and arrogant but family-oriented. "I am not! I was just in a rush, okay?" Anika defended, furiously turning to the pieces of glass on the ornate marble floor.

"You're always in a rush nowadays, aren't you?" Shivaay said, somewhat harshly.

"Well, your wedding won't just plan itself," Anika jabbed in the same tone. Somewhere in her heart, she wished the words 'your wedding' stung his heart as much as hers. Anika's eyes were on the glass, but her mind was occupied with sharper, more painful thoughts.

Shivaay Singh Oberoi was the eldest son of the Oberoi clan, and he prioritized family and business over everything else. However, he too possessed flaws and weaknesses. Of these included his ideology of family name, bloodline, and lineage being the identity of a person. Coming from a rich family, he almost always interacted with people of his class and standard.

Two months ago, Shivaay had given his word to his mother to get married to Tia Kapoor. Tia was the daughter of Vaibhav and Turvi Kapoor. While her father was a well-known industrialist, her mother was a fashion model turned entrepreneur. Tia was quite well-mannered, she behaved well with his family, and of course, she matched his standards.

After Tia had fired their third consecutive wedding planner, Dadi had insisted to take matters into her own hands. Dadi knew Anika's father through her late husband. Harsh Vardhan Trivedi worked at the factory that was run by Prithviraj Singh Oberoi, and Dadi had acquainted with Anika's mother, Avantika. The two often sat down at times and watched over Avantika's daughters.

Because Dadi knew Anika so well, Anika was the most potential candidate for the job. With the encouragement of her younger siblings, Gauri and Sahil, Anika reluctantly accepted the job.

When Anika had first met Tia, the latter had bombarded her with preferences, instructions, events, and everything in between. Anika had surprised the Kapoors and the Oberois by handling each of Tia's demands smoothly and efficiently, and keeping everything under a budget, too!

Then Anika and Shivaay had met. Tia was already impressed with Anika, and she often sang praises of her understanding and charismatic wedding planner to her to-be-fiancé, so Shivaay already knew a little about Anika and her "incredible work ethic" which "complimented Tia's ideas and preferences."

Unfortunately, the first time the two had met, Anika had accidentally spilled burning hot turmeric milk onto Shivaay's white shirt, which caused an angry Shivaay to lash out at her without even knowing who she was. Anika hadn't felt scared as much as she had felt shocked that a complete stranger was scolding her for something that wasn't at all her intention. She had fought her point and argued strongly, which caused the argument to last an entire twenty-seven minutes until Shivaay's brothers, Omkara and Rudra, had to step in.

Even after the matter had been resolved, Shivaay and Anika fought over something new every day. Though the Oberoi family would not admit it, they thoroughly enjoyed the petty arguments and back-and-forth string of insults that Shivaay and Anika exchanged.

Somewhere along the line, Shivaay and Anika's petty little arguments had become the highlights of their day. They often confused the other family members, because they would fight like cats wanting to tear each others' heads apart one moment, and then move on with their lives as though nothing had happened mere moments later.

"Ouch!" Anika exclaimed all of a sudden, looking down at the red dot of blood oozing from her fingertip. In a moment, she found Shivaay beside her, their hands touching, as Shivaay inspected the wound. "Oh God, Anika, you're careless. You were looking at the glass like it was all there was in the world, but you still got cut! How can you be so..." Shivaay trailed off, his undivided attention on the wound.

Anika had forgotten the pain the moment she felt Shivaay's touch.

The most recent development in their story, at least from her side, was that she, Anika Vardhan Trivedi, had fallen in love with him, Shivaay Singh Oberoi.

And it was all forbidden.

As much as she constantly told herself that Shivaay was getting married and that it was pointless to develop feelings for him as they would remain unrequited, she just couldn't push them to the back of her heart.

The very heart that jumped at every eyelock, raced at every shared smile, and faltered every moment he called her name. 

"Gagan!" Shivaay shouted at the servant passing by. "Yes, sir?" 

"Go get me a bandage and antiseptic cream—" 

"No need, Gagan Bhaiya. Just a bandage will do," Anika instructed Gagan, who nodded and appeared a moment later. 

Anika took the bandage from him and put it on her injured finger, while Shivaay inspected closely, to make sure she was doing it properly. When she had finished, she looked up at Gagan and back down at the floor, where the remnants of the blue vase were scattered. 

"Gagan Bhaiya? Can you do me a favor and clean this up?" Anika asked sweetly. Gagan smiled at being called "Bhaiya" and nodded his head.

Anika thanked Gagan as he left, and turned to face Shivaay, who was simply looking at her. Shivaay admired the way she respectfully addressed the servants and the way she asked Gagan to clean up the mess as a favor, despite knowing it was his job. It was something Shivaay could only correlate with Anika because the other "classy" people he met often treated servants like trash. But here was Anika, thanking Gagan for doing his job and calling him her brother. 

Anika was a middle-class girl. She knew the struggles of working to support your family, and she also knew the pain of working somewhere where you were not respected. Because of this, Anika was compassionate to everyone at Oberoi Mansion, and the workers took a liking to her almost immediately. She always addressed everyone by their names, calling them Bhaiya, Ji, Kaka, Kaki, etc. 

It was second nature to her. 

Under the gaze of Shivaay Singh Oberoi, Anika squirmed. Shivaay opened his mouth to say something, but it was interrupted by Dadi's voice. "Anika!" Dadi called from the grand room. 

Simultaneously, Shivaay heard Tej call his name from the study. "Coming," both Shivaay and Anika replied to the elders. They shared one last gaze before going their separate ways.