Broken Hearts and Strange Girls || Shivika AU FF

𝐗𝐗𝐗𝐕

They talked for hours, and hearing her voice, Shivaay could finally be at ease with himself knowing nothing was wrong. She was okay. 

As she spoke, a small part of his mind drifted to the words she had said as soon as she had picked up. "We must be connected." 

For some really strange reason, it made his heart leap—the very idea of being connected to something as amazing as Annika Bhattacharya. He realized he believed it, though. Annika had brung out a version of himself that he didn't even know existed. It was as though she had spun this version of him out of sunshine herself. 

He didn't become aware of when, but they had settled into a comfortable silence. 

"Annika," Shivaay heard Disha's faint voice call up the stairs. "We're going out to dinner. Do you want to come?" 

"Guess that's your cue, huh?" Shivaay said with a faint chuckle. 

"Yep," Annika replied, popping the p. "I'll call once I get back and you can tell me about your day." 

"Deal." 

The Bhattacharyas were waiting for their dinner to arrive when Disha nudged her husband towards their daughter. Suresh, in turn, cleared his throat and pulled his tie down. 

"So, Annika..." 

"Yes?" Annika smiled. Her father's rather awkward behavior didn't bother her in the least. In fact, she found her dad adorable as he fidgeted with his fork, refusing to make eye contact with her. 

"Um, your mother and I...we've been...meaning to ask if you—not that it bothers us if you do, because of course it's your life and we trust you to make the right decision for yourself, but we just want to know because we want to be a part of your life and we have no problem—"

Disha rolled her eyes, patting her husband's hand to stop him from further speaking. "Anni, your father is trying to ask if you have a boyfriend." 

Annika took a second to process the question, but once she did, she couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, you guys!" she smiled. "You had me worried it was going to be something scary or worrying!" 

"To answer your question," she said as she wiped a tear from her left eye. "No, I do not have a boyfriend." 

"But...

"Rick?" 

"Shivaay?" 

asked Suresh and Disha respectively. 

Annika shook her head. "They're both my really close friends. Speaking of which, I should probably tell you guys about my friends in Italy. And here," Annika added, thinking of Kushal and Meera.

"That would be...nice," Suresh smiled slightly.

"That would be lovely," Disha brightened. 

"Oh, gosh..where do I begin? Um, I'll start with my best friends, Luna and Enrico—or Lu and Rick. When I first moved to Italy, I had nowhere to go. Rick was working as a part time cabbie and had seen me at the bus stop. After three hours sitting there, Rick got worried and asked if I needed lodging. He drove me to the nearest hotel and hooked me up with a room for two nights, which was the most he could afford." 

"How sweet," Disha praised.

"It was," Annika affirmed. "The next day, he showed up again with Luna, who had been looking for a roommate, anyway. It all worked blissfully. I got a full-time gig at a small business as their product photographer. Rick, Lu, and I got close. We gelled really well. Eventually I got a stable job as a photojournalist, which I have managed to keep for the past three years. Alejandro, Valentino, and Marina are my closest friends from work." 

"Those are your Italy friends. Have you made any friends here?" 

"Oh, yes! Kushal—"

"Meera Thakur's brother?" Suresh asked.

"Yes! He's really sweet and funny." 

"That he is. Very nice boy, that Kushal. I met him when at Aishu's godh bharai. You've met his sister, too, I assume. I'd be surprised if you hadn't, those two are practically attached at the hip."

"I have. Meera is actually Shivaay's girlfriend." 

"Girlfriend? Shivaay's?" Disha and Suresh asked simultaneously, exchanging a look.

"Ha, yeah. I know. Shivaay doesn't seem like the type to pull, right? They're actually a result of your amazing youngest daughter playing cupid!" Annika grinned. 

"Wait a minute..." Disha interjected. "You set them up?" she pointed at her daughter in shock. Annika shrugged. "Yeah." 

"But I thought you liked him?" Disha asked. 

"So did I!" Suresh said, surprised. 

"What?" Annika yelped. "NO!" 

"But you were on the phone with him all afternoon!"

"Yes, but that has nothing to do with anything! We were just catching up!" 

"Honey, you saw each other yesterday, and yet you were on the phone for three hours continuously chittering about God knows what. How much can happen in twelve hours that you need to catch up on?" 

"We've gotten close, yes. But not like that!" Annika defended. "Our friendship—it's just...complicated." 

"Because you like him?" Suresh asked, with a knowing nod. Disha gasped, reaching out and holding her daughter's hand. 

"Oh, my baby! You like him, but he likes Meera! So that's why you had no choice but to set them up, and your heart is breaking whenever you see them together!"

"Disha, she came here to avoid the situation," her father gasped in realization. "Oh, that boy is going to pay for hurting her feelings, knowingly or unknowingly—" 

"NO!" Annika shouted, drawing the attention of the people around them. "I am not in love with Shivaay! My heart is completely fine! I'm the one who set them up, because Shivaay got over his ex and Meera already liked him, but was waiting to shoot her shot! I just helped. And I didn't come here to avoid him, I came here to make up for lost time!" 

Her parents looked at her with wide eyes for a minute or two. 

"Dishu, our daughter is trapped in an unrequited love story," Suresh whispered to his wife in disbelief. "She doesn't like him, she loves him!" Disha replied in the same tone. 

"UGH!" Annika shot up and marched over to the restroom.