Broken Hearts and Strange Girls || Shivika AU FF

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Kushal and Meera stayed for dinner, and the family had a meal with lots of teasing and laughing after what seemed to be years. Courtesy? Annika. Her wild tales even had Meera smiling in amusement.

Kushal and Annika had bonded quite well, and Annika was pleased for she was sure she'd made a long-lasting friendship. Kushal was a really nice guy, with a sense of humor that complimented her own.

Annika learned that Meera and Aishwarya had gone to the same college, and had maintained their friendship for a very long time.

Annika, as observant as she was, also noticed the thick air of tension between Meera and Shivaay. An example of which was to be found in conversation with Jhanvi Aunty.

"So, Meera. Any plans to get married soon?" Jhanvi asked. It was when Annika looked up for Meera's reaction that she caught the short glimpse to Shivaay's end of the table. When Annika looked to Shivaay, the man was far too intrigued by the food on his plate to notice much of anything else.

"No, not yet, Mrs. Oberoi," Meera stated politely. It was shortly after that Meera concluded it was far too late and their mother was probably waiting for them at home. The family rose to their feet and soon found themselves ready to see the Thakur siblings off.

Annika and Kushal exchanged a hug, and Annika swore she heard a low growl coming from beside her, where Shivaay was standing a few feet away with Adi in his arms.

"I plan on meeting you again before you depart," Kushal said with a playful grin. Annika smirked. "Oh, most definitely. You're now friends with Annika Keerthi Bhattacharya, I won't let you go so easily," she joked. Kushal smiled and moved to Shivaay. "Goodbye," he said rather stiffly.

Shivaay couldn't bring himself to even take that much formality. He grumbled as a response and Kushal returned the same excitement.

Soon, Kushal and Meera were gone and Annika found herself in her room, chewing on a pen cap as she flicked through channels on the flatscreen TV. She landed on a business news channel covering some summit up north, and Annika's mind flash backed to Aishwarya's words earlier that day.

From what she had gathered during the short time since her arrival, the Oberoi family loved Shivaay dearly, but the young man seemed uninterested in that. Often excluding himself from family group activities, being a general introvert, and having cold appearances, Shivaay seemed completely detached from the rest of the Oberois. She understood it had something to do with a certain black point in his past, but what exactly that could be, she had no clue.

Aishwarya seemed to miss the old Shivaay the most. When Aishwarya was newly married, Annika had the pleasure of listening over the phone to her dearest sister sing praises of a man the same age as her older sister. Shivaay was a big part of Aishwarya's easy acclimation to her in-laws' house, and that was certainly enough to tell Annika that the two shared a special bond.

Even now, Aishwarya seemed to know Shivaay better than anyone else, and Shivaay did respect her more than the others, that much Annika had seen. But something was gnawing at her from within. She wanted to return Shivaay to the man he once was, because even Adi seemed to miss that guy a lot.

Now, the hard part. Where to start? Annika flicked off the TV and reached over to her nightstand for a notebook. Flipping through till she found a blank page, her pen landed on the large margin of the page.

Mission:

"What should I name it?" Annika pondered aloud. "A-ha!"

Mission: Restoration Shivaay

"No, I don't really like that," Annika said. Scribbling out the Shivaay, she tried again. "Restoration Shivaay Singh... no that's too long of a name. Hm," Annika thought. "I have it!" she exclaimed, quickly jotting down her idea as though it was due to disappear mere seconds before she'd have the opportunity to write it.

Mission: Restoration S.S.O.

Pleased with herself, Annika decided to churn up a new objective: a project, if you will, under the mission.

She quickly wrote: Project SSO to OFFICE

"Objective? Get SSO to return to office. Game-plan?" Annika paused. "I have no clue."

"Think, Ann, think! God has blessed you with a brain, use it!" her brain chided, and...insulted...itself?

"Well, I do have to give myself some credit here. I've taken the most difficult mission upon myself—after passing my classes in college, anyway. Now, back to the topic of self-discussion, how can I make a man as seemingly stubborn as Shivaay Singh Oberoi to get his ass out of the house?" Annika questioned, her teeth grinding once again on the poor pen cap. Suddenly, something hit her. "Annika, you forgot that the subject of your mission is a male specimen! And what do males possess? Egos the size of small countries!" Annika cheered.

"So, step one: get to SSO's ego. Step two..." Annika drifted off into a planning session of her own, as the hours of the night slowly seeped by.