The Accidental Matchmaker

chapter xii

chapter xii. A War?

Anika walked out of the kitchen to find Shivaay lounging on the couch, his phone in hand.

"Why are you still here?" Anika asked grabbing his attention. "Also, when you are stuck to your phone 25/8, why do you not reply to my messages!"

"Your messages are dangerous." Shivaay turned to look at her. "Mom read a message in the morning. Needless to say she now has a very active imagination featuring us."

Anika furrowed her brows. Shivaay showed the phone screen and she walked to him, eye widening at the message he had selected. "Haw! Why would you show something like this to her?"

"I didn't know you'd send that message. I was talking to you and Mom came so I had no idea what your next message was till she started giving me teasing looks."

"Well, you should be happy I didn't send a rant that I had typed." Anika looked at him pointedly. "Aunty would have known everything."

"Thank your stars. I would have been murdering you right now."

Anika flung a spoon at him and Shivaay raised an eyebrow, dodging it. "What the?"

"I will kill you before you try to. Everything in me says I should go ahead."

"Okay, okay, let's not kill each other with cutlery. Go and get ready in fifteen minutes."

"No!" Anika crossed her arms across her chest. "I am not getting ready and I am definitely not going anywhere with you."

"I am not taking you anywhere." Shivaay smiled at her. "I feel unfocused if you look like you are ready to go to bed already."

"Deal with it. You are at my house. I can order you around, not the other way round." Saying so, she walked and collapsed on the couch in front of him.

Shivaay frowned for a few seconds before sighing in defeat. "Look, we won't do any good if we keep arguing. Fine, you want to stay this way, okay. I just wanted to say that I am free on Friday and am ready to meet one of Mom's choices."

Anika nodded. "You have a good restaurant in mind? Something classy and romantic?"

"I don't know how you classify romantic. But I can tell few with good healthy food and nice staff-"

"We are not buying the restaurant, I just want a place where the girl feels that she has your interest enough."

"Do what you want but I'll be telling my family, in case they turn to detectives that its your date with me. Will come to pick you up at Friday. Talk to her and set the time. And please don't talk to me before that." Shivaay looked at her pointedly.

"Fine! Now can I live in peace?"

"Gladly." Shivaay got up.

"Accha tell me, when Om and Gauri were telling me about you, they said you get angry for petty reasons and are very terrible to deal with when angry. Why does everyone think so?"

Shivaay looked thoughtful for a few seconds. "Maybe because it is like that."

Anika shrugged. "You haven't given me the golden opportunity to face tht anger. I had been waiting."

"Don't tell me you try to trigger me on purpose?" Shivaay cocked an eyebrow and Anika smirked.

"Can't say I don't want to see what all the fuss is about."

"God!" Shivaay frowned and rubbed his forehead. He walked out the door and gently closed it behind him, leaving behind a grinning Anika.

---

"Why couldn't you tell me ealier that you already had the list of the women your Mom chose? You know Om had to do so much to try and get it from her, only to fail. She burnt it."

"She would have burnt those in my room too had I not stashed it carefully." Shivaay and Anika were currently driving to one of the fancy restaurants in Juhu, something Anika claimed was fitting for his image.

"Honestly, your sudden excitement is actually scaring your brother." Anika frowned.

Shivaay smirked a bit. "Guess I still have the points for unpredictability."

"But I am sure we did catch you off guard with me coming over to your house the first day." Anika mumbled.

"Yeah. The most confused moment of my 27 years. I am hoping you don't have anything similar in mind. Not at least for the next ten years."

"Then it is at age 37 that I will make sure I have you super confused." Anika shrugged. "Maybe I'll die and blame you for killing me before I do so. A death well spent."

"I'll make sure I do actually kill you. Call me when you want to die, I will gladly help you."

"The whole point of confusing you goes vain." Anika scoffed. Shivaay stopped as the GPS indicated their arrival. In front of him was a tall tower, looming over the usual bungalows in this area.

"Rooftop restaurant. Good wine, good food and a romantic atmosphere like I suggested." Anika clapped her hands together, proud of herself. "And if you guys agree to marriage today, you can buy the restaurant as well. It does have a good income."

"What was her name, again?" Shivaay asked and Anika looked at him with a twisted mouth. "I sent you everything about her that I could find out. You didn't even bother to read her name?"

"Look, you can't expect me to show more interest than I already am."

"Fine. Revathy Sharma. Has studied in the UK. Vidhi says you might also be interested in her family business history-"

"You told Vidhi?"

"Yeah, she was pretty disappointed that she'll have to wait longer to call someone ma'am. Also helped me book a quiet table for you and contact Revathy." Anika shrugged. "So as I was saying, they own a nice part of the agricultural sector and have a nice trade about that. That's what I could understand, at least. Business is beyond me."

"Let's just get over with this." Shivaay sighed and walked in the building. They were greeted by the manager who was pretty excited about having Shivaay Singh Oberoi over.

"I am going to stay around the corner and watching you. And drinking. Only a single request. Don't get angry at anything and everything."

"And what about the bit if I don't like her?"

"Message me, I'll call you and you-" Anika stopped. "No! You are not a friend who I am supposed to help out of a date. You will talk to her, stay through dessert, try to know her. She won't be so bad, I read a few interviews. You're cool for today."

"No, you give me a backup plan."

"You are not going for war!"

"Can't say so." Shivaay mumbled as he looked behind Anika.

---

And here you go with the last update of 2018. Not happy with this as such but make do.

Now the part where I say no updates till about 13th January (or 15th not sure). Sorry for the long wait but semesters on my head :'(

So, see you in 2019!

BlackManiacx!<3