Kya Pyaar Karoge Mujhse....

Chapter 45- Questions

"Annika, can you decide already?" Vikram groaned as his friend glared at him.

"It's not something you can decide in seconds; these things take time!" She said and Sonakshi shook her head.

"Come on Annika, you have already taken enough time. You should decide now." She said and Annika shut the menu.

"Fine. I won't order anything. I'll starve while you all eat your pastas and pizzas." She grumbled and crossed her arms.

"Just because we are in an Italian restaurant, that doesn't mean they only serve pizzas and pastas." Siddharth said. "Stop stereotyping-

"And you stop talking." Annika said and opened the menu again to scan it for the umpteenth time.

"Why is she so irritated today?" Sonakshi asked while munching on a breadstick.

"I don't stay with her 24/7 Sona, how would I know?" Her husband shrugged as he sipped his wine.

"You don't know anything! Who made you a lawyer?" She grumbled and he frowned.

"What does that has to do anything with this conversation?" He asked, shaking his head.

"What the hell do I know?" Sonakshi shrugged as Shivi and Aryan gasped.

"Language Maa!" Shivi said with widened eyes.

"Sorry baccha." Sonakshi nodded and looked at Annika.

"Are you-

"I will have a Penne Alla Vodka." She said and they quickly ordered.

"Vodka pasta with red wine." Siddharth said as the waiter left. "Are you sure you are planning to be sober tonight?"

"I am just...a little tensed." Annika cleared her throat. "I need to lighten up a bit."

"What happened?" He asked and she sighed.

"I'll tell you later." Annika said, looking at the kids who were busy chatting with each other quite animatedly. "I just want to eat now, I am starving!"

An hour and a half later, they all walked out of the restaurant, talking and discussing about random topics and Annika, unusually for herself, was quite quiet. Even in the car ride back home, she was silent and it was bothering her friends but they knew better than to ask her about it. They knew she would tell them once she herself was clear about whatever that was bothering her.

"Don't jump!" Sonakshi shouted as they reached their place and Shivi and Aryan jumped out of the car and started skipping on the pavement. "Oh my God how am I going to handle three kids?"

"We'll be fine." Vikram nodded. "If any one acts out, there's always the basement to lock them in."

Shivi and Aryan immediately stopped jumping and ran to the door as Sonakshi laughed and Vikram winked. Siddharth looked at Annika who was still sitting in the car.

"Are you planning to park the car from the backseat?" He asked and she looked at him.

"Huh? No." She shook her head and got down. "I have to...go somewhere. Sona, can you keep Shivi for sometime?"

"Sure. Is everything okay?" Sonakshi nodded as she tried to find the keys to the house in her bag.

"Yeah. Vikram, can I take your car please?" She asked and Vikram nodded.

"Of course." He said and gave her the keys. "Call us if anything is...wrong."

"Yes, I will. Thanks." She smiled and looked at Shivi.

"Shivi, Mumma will be back. Stay here and please don't eat chocolates or chili ice cream!" Annika shouted at Shivi who was sitting at the porch.

"Yes okay Mumma!" Shivi nodded as Annika opened the car's gate and took out her phone.

--

Meet me in Parkwave Garden in fifteen minutes.

Shivaay frowned as he read Annika's message and wondered what she suddenly wanted to talk about.

"What do you think Shivaay?" Shakti asked and his son looked at him with a blank face. "What happened?"

"I just...I have to go." He said and stood up. "Annika wants to meet. Can you...go through the files, I'll look at them later."

"Yes sure." Tej nodded. "Go, no problem."

"Thanks." He said and rushed out, taking his coat.

Fifteen minutes later, he sat on a bench in the Parkwave Garden, which was just five minutes away from his hotel. For the last ten minutes his heart had been beating fast, thinking what Annika could suddenly want to talk about. His mind saw millions of possibilities, she's going to say yes, she's going to say no, she'll tell him to get lost, she'll tell him she loves him, she'll be angry, she'll be smiling, she'll say this, she'll say that, she'll-

"Shivaay." Her voice from behind startled him and he looked back.

"Annika." He stood up and she walked beside him, sitting down.

"How are you?" He asked and she chuckled.

"We just met this morning." She said and he shrugged.

"A lot can change in a few hours." He said, unknowingly touching a sensitive nerve.

"Right. It can." She nodded and gulped. "And who knows this better than me?"

"Did you say something?" He asked, not quite catching the last sentence she'd whispered.

"I said, I agree that a lot can change in a few hours and who knows this better than me? I mean, four years ago, my life literally kept changing drastically in just a few hours." She said. "One hour I was your wife; the other I was an orphan. One hour I had everything; the other I had nothing. One hour I was the eldest Oberoi daughter-in-law; the other I was a nobody. One hour, I was the respect of the Oberoi household; the other I was road's trash. One hour I was in India; the other, I was miles away, in another country, another continent."

"Annika-

"Did you ever consider...what it was like for me?" She asked and looked down as he gulped.

"In these four years, I have lost and earned many things Shivaay. I lost myself but I found myself too. I lost my family but I earned another. I lost all objective in life and then I found it in my work. But one thing...I could not find again...was my peace. You know, I am always on the edge, never peaceful. My head, my heart always has some or the other question to ask you. But I could never give it the answer because you weren't there. But you are here today. Would you like to answer my questions?" She asked, suddenly staring at him with those big, brown eyes. They held pain, question, rage and...loss.

Shivaay gulped and tried to look away but she dared him to do that.