The Dating Charade ✔️

Chapter-13

Here you go, the 'Date Night'! The date is not yet over with and will be continued in the next chapter; I stopped because this had gotten almost 3000 words long. I really hope you guys like this, and do share your views, if possible!

Shivaay's hands trembled as he drove them through the city and towards their destination. He had to cave in and admit what his brothers had been teasing him about- he was nervous. Extremely so. The fairy sitting beside him, staring outside the window and humming something unconsciously, was creating magic of some sort. Otherwise, how was it possible that he, of all people, would be nervous? He was Shivaay Singh Oberoi, after all, whose once glare had people reduced to a puddle of fear. No, there was surely some form of sorcery going on here. Shivaay gripped the steering wheel in order to steady his shaky hands, lest she notice it. However, Annika had been observing his silent form from time to time, and called him out on it.

"Everything okay, Shivaay?" She asked softly, and he was startled at the sudden question.

"Yeah, ofcourse. Why do you ask?" He asked her back, hoping to hide his actual nervous state.

"No reason," Annika shrugged, "just that, you're being too silent, today."

Shivaay chuckled at that.

"As far as I remember, it's your habit to talk non-stop, not mine."

Annika scowled at that.

"What do you mean, I talk too much, huh?" She chided him, and Shivaay gulped.

"T-that's not what I meant. What I mean is, uh.."

"Rehne dijiye, I know what you mean." Sulking, Annika crossed her arms and took to staring out the window again. Shivaay mentally cursed himself for his stupidity. Not looking away from the road, Shivaay uncrossed her arms and took one of her hands in his. Annika blushed at that, and was thankful that he didn't notice.

"Annika," he started, "I didn't mean it that way. Just that, you too have been quite silent tonight, and it's more unusual for you to keep quite than me..." he said this cautiously, lest she be angry again. Annika, however, only giggled.

"You don't need to explain yourself, Billuji. I was only joking, "She said, squeezing his hand and giving a bright smile. Shivaay sighed in relief. Their hands were still clasped together, and none of them made any move to let go.

"By the way, where are we going?" Annika asked after a while.

"You'll see in a while." Shivaay answered, making Annika scowl again. There were some minutes of silence, before Annika remembered something.

"Oh, I completely forgot to ask you. How do I look?" Annika asked him eagerly. She had hoped that he would compliment her himself, but it was probably too much to expect from Mr. Tadibaaz.

Shivaay was caught off-guard at the question. She looked incredibly gorgeous, so much so that it couldn't be described in words. But unfortunately, our hero here was incapable of expressing himself properly, and resided to mumbling a 'pretty nice'. Annika frowned at that, dissapointedly. Is that all he could say, after she had taken so much trouble in getting ready?Moving her hand away from his clasp quite suddenly, making him look at her in surprise, and to some extent, offense, she took to looking out of the window for the rest of the drive.

When they finally reached the restaurant, Shivaay hurriedly moved out of his seat to open her door. He forwarded his hand to her as she got out, but she only gave him a glare, muttering a 'I can manage', and ignored it. Shivaay wondered what had gotten into her suddenly; after all, he didn't know how the female mind worked, as of yet. If he knew that she was upset because of his bland compliment, he would told her just how speechless she made him with her beauty.