Shivaay returned late to the Oberoi mansion. The skies were overcast and the clouds were grumbling. In a start, he thought about how Annika might be feeling. Oh how she was frightened by thunder! He ran over to his inner room to find her missing. She was neither at the poolside. Now this was something what Shivaay dreaded of. He searched in all the probable places to find her but she was nowhere to be found.
A frantic search concluded at the garden. A crack of lightning revealed her face. She was shivering from the cold and wincing each time the thunder crackled. Her features revealed a scared but set expression. But what would she be doing in the garden clearly fighting her fear of thunder and darkness? Her curling black locks lay still and dripping at her back.
Annika was shocked to be pulled into a warm embrace, her shivers of cold immediately stopped and somewhere in a corner of her mind she heard a bell ringing. She knew who embraced her even before she turned around to look at those bright blue-green eyes, ‘kanji aankhey’ as she said it. Shivaay was dressed in a formal tuxedo once neat but now drenched. Gosh! He was stunning in tuxedos these days. They gazed at one another in a trance none wanting to break.
Noticing that they were staring at each other Shivaay broke the trance with a sudden jerk. “What do you intend to do in the gardens when a storm has started full scale? Do you not know that you MUST NOT stay in wet places at the time of a storm, have not been taught?” thundered Shivaay. Suddenly his eyes mellowed and he said in a soft and mild voice“Annika, don’t you know how much I love and care for you? I was very scared for you when I didn’t see you anywhere in the house. Pleas promise that you wont do this because it is dangerous.” Having concluded his speech Shivaay waited for an answer.
