The Accidental Matchmaker

chapter xxvii

xxvii. One Trip to the Mall

To say Om and Gauri were surprised would be an understatement. When they had reached the apartmental society that housed the Trivedi sisters, Om had immediately recognized what happened to be his brother's favourite car.

To address that question, he was currently standing at the door of Anika's room. Shivaay was sleeping at the head of the bed, Anika at the foot. Shivaay's phone was ringing but he had apparently put it on silent (which he has never done before, as a matter of fact), so Om could make out the phone regularly flashing.

“What happened here?” Gauri frowned.

“You said something about Anika being scared of the storm. Maybe...” Om left it open-ended. But then again, didn't Shivaay and Anika dislike each other?

Gauri shook her head and walked to Anika, lightly tapping her shoulder. “Di, utho.”

Of course that wouldn't have worked on Anika but Shivaay, despite Gauri's best efforts opened his eyes and sat up, slightly dazed.

“Good morning?” Om asked to which Shivaay frowned.

“Oh, you're back. How was your trip?”

“It was amazing actually but what exactly are you doing here in Anika's room?”

Shivaay took a second to rpocess that and sighed. “Mom called last night and she was absolutely not going to let me come home because,” Shivaay snorted, “I was supposed to spend time with my girlfriend. She asked me to sleep in her room and herself went to Gauri's but came back looking for a book or something. We got talking, she's scared of thunderstorms so...” Shivaay ended with a hint of a fond smile.

“Thank you,” Gauri smiled at him. “Di is actually pretty scared.”

Shivaay nodded. He looked for his phone and his eyes widened when he noticed so many missed calls.

“Who is it?” Om asked.

“Rudra.” Shivaay mumbled, dialling to Rudra.

As Shivaay got up and walked outside to talk to his younger brother, Om followed suit leaving Gauri to her own devices. She violently shook Anika this time, who woke up with a start.

“What the hell?”

“Di, congratulations.” Gauri spoke as seriously as she could.

“For?” Anika looked at her in confusion.

“For the first time, I found a man in your bed.”

Anika's eyes widened. “Who the fuck?” she looked around before staring at Gauri again.

“Shivaay Bhaiya.” Gauri laughed making Anika sigh.

“I hate you.”

---

After that, neither Shivaay nor Anika really divulged anyone into what exactly happened that night. It was like their little secret, that maybe, just maybe, they might not 'hate' each other anymore.

It was Om's birthday next Friday and the foundation launch party on Saturday.

So, come Monday, Anika had taken a leave from her office for the entire week owing to the large set of responsibilities Pinky and Janhavi seemed to have handed her completely. Anika felt bad about it, especially when truely, it should have been Gauri looking after the arrangements. If it was an Oberoi tradition, Gauri was rightfully a part of the family, not Anika.

However, neither her sister nor Shivaay mentioned this at all and when Anika finally told Gauri about this fear, Gauri laughed. “You are a planner, this is your job. Not everything is sentimental.”