Happy ending for Ishqbaaaz

New Beginnings

A rare winter storm had opened up the sky on that rough night. One more crack of huge lightning and Annika woke up with a start still spooning in Shivaay's arms. She felt something warm running down her temple. She felt it- warm beads of sweat. She roughly scanned herself, all looked ok. She had just seen, a car hit her.. Alone and pregnant screaming for her Shivaay she had fallen clutching her heavy belly. Shivaay was nowhere to be seen.. She looked at her clothes. She was very much in her white suit. She was not wearing a weird harlequin saree. She turned around and felt Shivaay's face, his neck, chest, arms and fingers. What was this she saw? It was too vivid to be a dream, much like an alternate universe. She felt Shivaay's forehead, it was warm. She felt his chest, it was gently heaving. Was all well ? That woke Shivaay. Rubbing his eyes, he felt something amiss. The fog of waking in the middle of the night cleared the instant he saw his Annika is distress. She just sat there rock still, her back towards him. He ran his hand down her back but she was still. Annika who would melt at his very touch, was frozen cold.

' Annika, Annika are you alright.' He tired shaking her as sat there.. Shivaay turning the lights on, poured a glass of water for Annika. Barely a sip and Annika's hand grew unsteady. Shivaay wrapped his palms over her hand and whispered, 'Everything is alright Annika, you are with me. Look at me, you are safe.' She bust out into tears. She let the glass go and wrapped her arms around Shivaay. 'Shiv.. Shivaay.. it was such a nightmare. I was going away from you forever... A car... car hit...' Shivaay stopped her, ' shush, don't even think, there is nothing in the world that can take you away from me, not now, nor ever..' He put the glass away and caressed Annika's hair. It was so wet that he understood this was no ordinary nightmare. Was it Daksh in her nightmare again? Daksh or not, this was serious than what she just mentioned. Annika did not dare recount the bizarre nightmare. She saw herself on the verge of marrying a faceless guy. Then she was married to Shivaay who would turn into a strange beast periodically. Then Shivaay murdered Bade Papa. The whole family ostracized Shivaay including Om Ru. Shivaay tried to kill her, then a blur and then a car hit her. Warm blood trickled down her temple and on her pregnant belly. A progressively diminishing helpless call for Shivaay had gone unanswered. Finally her voice sunk and that woke her up.. Thankfully it was not blood that was running down her temple, Shivaay was still caressing her, his hands down the bare of her back. Sometimes the line between reality of illusion created by dream disappears. The clock struck 4. Annika went into panic mode. 'Shivaay, they say early morning dreams come true..what of it comes true and I go away from ..' Shivaay placed his warm palm across her mouth. 'No, nothing can take you away from me, not even the writer of our destiny. It is my word. We were and are meant to be together forever. We will go hiking, we will walk for hours on the beach watching the sunrise..' He corrected himself in an instant, 'that's hard, The sun is not exactly rising by the time you wake up' caressing her cheek and wiping her teas. She feigned anger and pretended to push him away. 'So we will watch sunset instead' Shivaay continued. 'We will go to Paris, walk by the river, drink champagne .. we will go to Iceland and watch the auroras light up the night skies in winter. I will make Pav Bhaji just the way you like it. It is just the beginning Annika, there is so much to do together. It is going to be a long beautiful journey'.

Annika stopped crying. She wiped off her tears and snot with the edge of her dupatta. She just held Shivaay's hand and pressed her cheeks to it. He continued to run his other hand down her hair, down her back. Annika felt comforted. Shivaay went back to bed drawing Annika close. Her head on his shoulder, she drew tiny circles on the little patch of his hairy chest that peeked from under his unbuttoned Kurta. His fingers ran randomly on the bare of her back. Sleep gently covered them with a blanket of serenity. 'This is real, us... Shivaay and me .. we are real .. we are together..' Annika told herself before she slipped into an ocean of calm in her Shivaay's arms.