Broken Hearts and Strange Girls || Shivika AU FF

𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈

"Shivaay? What's the rush?" Tej asked upon spotting his eldest son pacing down the stairs two at a time while adjusting his wristwatch. "Good morning, Dad! I'm running late!"

"Late? Meaning, you won't eat breakfast before leaving?" asked Aishwarya.

"No, Aishu. Sorry. Huge rush. I have a meeting. Tell Kishan to pack and send it to the office, I'll eat after my meeting." 

"Okay—" Aishwarya stepped towards the kitchen, but turned her head around and glanced at her brother-in-law curiously. "Wait, Shivaay." 

"Hm?"

"Did you just call me...Aishu?"

At this, Jhanvi and Tej's ears perked up, too. Shivaay fumbled for a response. "That, uh, well—" 

Aishwarya smiled. "What has my sister done to turn you into this mess, Shivaay? You've never called me anything but Aishwarya, and suddenly, Aishu?" 

"Forget that, Aishwarya, dear! Did I tell you what nawabzaade did yesterday? Spilled coffee all over himself at the office and dropped his papers! And do you know what he immediately said? Phail gaya raita!" Tej roared with laughter, his stomach rumbling. 

Soon, everyone joined in, making a poor Shivaay turn beetroot red. "I...I have work!" he mumbled before quickly leaving the house. Just as he reached the threshold, however, he turned, his eyes doing a quick scan of the room. 

"Um...where's—" 

"Annika's gone to Papa and Maa's house, Shivaay. She won't be back for a while," Aishwarya managed to say while trying her best to hold in her grin. Tej and Jhanvi, however, were shameless and laughed wholeheartedly at the condition of their beloved son. 

"Oh, uh, okay! Yeah, good to know. But, I wasn't going to ask about her." 

"Really, Mr. Shivaay? Then what were you going to ask?" Jhanvi teased. 

"Where's.....my.....FILE! Yes! My file! Where is it?"

Tej, Jhanvi, and Aishwarya all exchanged a look before bursting into even louder laughter. "In your hand, Shivaay!" 

With a worried glance, Shivaay looked at the brown file in his hands and then at his family who were laughing as though there was laughing gas in the air. Deciding to excuse himself from further mortification, Shivaay took a deep breath and left the house. 

When Shivaay returned, the house was eerily quiet. Well, maybe not totally unusually, since before Annika had arrived, the house could be found in a state like this all the time. But ever since Annika had come, even the house had seemed to brighten with her. It was odd for Shivaay to return to this new old. It seemed as though, if she were to put it, the house had been put on silent mode. 

When Shivaay entered the kitchen, he saw Aishwarya there, preparing parathas for their dinner as she always did. Shivaay saw his nephew playing with toy blocks in the playroom, as Adi always did. He saw his mother massaging her temples as she talked to his father, as their evenings always went by. 

Shivaay roamed the house, searching for each of his family members. But the strange part was the fact that he had forgotten what half of his house had looked like. With Annika, the family was always near each other, usually in the same room. 

When he entered the study, he realized it was indeed occupied, but not by whom he had been hoping. 

"Shivaay? Do you need something?" Omkara asked. "All good, Bhai?" 

Shivaay nodded. "Annika—" 

"Didn't Aish or Annika tell you? Annika has gone to Aish's maternal home. She'll likely spend the rest of her trip there."

"Oh, yeah. Aishwarya had mentioned that Annika was going to Suresh Uncle's house, but I thought she would be home by now. I didn't know that she was going to stay there..." Shivaay trailed off. Why didn't she tell me? he thought. 

Omkara shrugged. "I guess you can FaceTime her later, but for now, I'm glad you're here. See, Birla Technologies wants to sign with us before the next two months are up. Mr. Birla is actually visiting his son and daughter-in-law in the UK, and he's set to leave in two months, so he wants us to make the deal before then. I checked with the lawyer and the Board..."

As Omkara droned on about business, Shivaay's mind was full of other thoughts. How was Annika settling in her old home? Albeit Suresh Uncle was her father, but Annika was sure to feel out of place. She hadn't been home for four years...No, Shivaay would have to call her ASAP.

Isn't it strange how life tends to come around full-circle? Annika thought as her eyes darted around her old room. Her 15-year-old self had put so much love and care into the decor, and Annika almost found it funny how 10 years later, everything about her life had changed. 

The room seemed ancient, the kind of memory that fuzzes up at the back of your head and just can't seem to get rid of. The old boy band posters stuck up on the walls, the carefully carved paper stars hanging from the ceiling, the well placed fairy lights. 

The only thing that hadn't changed was the presence of pictures. They were everywhere. Of course, the subjects and locations had changed, but Annika...she was the same. Those same eyes, that same trademark smile, and the same joy.

Seeing one of the pictures 15-year-old Annika had taken with her friends, Annika beamed, recalling a similar picture of present her. She rummaged around in her purse for a few minutes before pulling it out.

It was at the annual carnival last year. Enrico, Luna, Marina, Valentino, and Annika were all posing in front of a huge Ferris wheel, all five looking heavily drunk. Enrico had his arm slung over Annika's shoulder as he leaned against a selfie-taking Luna. Valentino and Marina were yelling something with their eyes closed, Marina's body serving as a pillar to keep Valentino from falling. Annika had a bottle of beer in one hand and cotton candy in the other, a blue Polaroid camera slung around her neck. She was grinning up at the screen with hooded eyes, and though Annika remembered nothing of the night, she remembered feeling home for a brief moment.

Underneath the picture, in scrawny Sharpie: 'Two Hours To 24!!'

She held it up to the picture of old Annika. 

Old Annika was surrounded by three other girls. She recognized their faces, but their names were all blurry and fogged out from memory. Annika recalled something about a grand betrayal, but that was all she knew about those girls. The old Annika was smiling sweetly at the camera. The other three girls were all standing a considerable distance away from one another, with awkward smiles of their own. Old Annika had a tiny red camera in her grasp. The old Annika was tame.

Annika, now, was wild. 

So much had changed. The people, the places, the fights, the drinks, the parties, the madness and sadness...but Annika's storyteller? It stayed the same. Sure, it changed a couple models every so often. Sure, it went from a Kodak to a Polaroid to a DSLR. Yes, the stories definitely changed. But the presence of her storyteller was always there. Those were just in pictures taken from an outside angle. 

Annika could tell her whole life story in pictures, and one day...she planned to. 

Photography was always so much more to Annika than just a hobby. It was her passion. It was her calling. It was what she was always meant to do. Tell stories in ways that words couldn't. Tell her story in a way that words couldn't. 

"Annika? Lunch," Disha called from downstairs. And, suddenly...Annika was 19 again.