Love in the Time of Corona | drabble series ✅

06

Annika was talking to two of her friends from college on Facetime when the topic of Shivaay popped up. It would be correct to say that they were somewhat obsessed with him. When they had heard Annika would be staying with a guy, they had instantly looked him up on social media. The fact that he was extremely good looking, rich, and successful had made him sort of like a celebrity crush amongst Annika's friend group.

"Can you please show him to us today?" One of her friends, Sophie, pleaded. Annika rolled her eyes.

"He's in his room, as usual. And how would I show you, anyway? Like hey, Shivaay, come talk to my friends for no reason at all!"

"Well, you could just go like, hey, guys, say hi to Shivaay!"

"Not happening," Annika replied. "Anyway, why are you guys so obsessed about him? He's not actually a celebrity!"

"Um, excuse you, but he's hot, and that is reason enough. And please Anni, don't kid us. We know you have a teeny-tiny crush on him as well."

"That is not true!" Annika yelled, outraged. Her friends looked at her pointedly. "Fine," She gave up, "that might be slightly true. What can I do? I'm not immune to the beauty of the male specimen. But Shivaay is entirely off-limits, so I don't want to think about this stupid crush."

"And why is that?" Sonia raised an eyebrow. "Because he's older?"

"Well, that's one thing. But mainly because he's my best friend's brother."

"But he's not your brother!" Sophie let out. Annika only shrugged.

"I don't know. It just feels weird."

"Annika," Sonia started slowly, "Stop being an idiot and stop thinking about this so practically. Just think about your situation: you're under lockdown with your crush! I mean, this is literally fanfiction material!"

"Oh and then there's that," Annika interjected, "What if I only have a crush on him because we're under lockdown?"

Her friends stared at her blankly.

"You know," Annika continued explaining, "We don't see anyone except each other, we're living under one roof, etcetera etcetera. What if I only have a temporary crush on him because we're in this bizarre kind of situation?"

"First of all" Sophie started, a look of amusement on her face. "Crushes are supposed to be temporary. If it was permanent, it would be love or some shit. And secondly, it's better if it's temporary, right? You'll get over him as soon as this pandemic ends and there won't be any heartbreak in the mix!"

Annika sighed. Her friends made a fair point. As much as she wanted to refute them, she didn't have any other baseless defense. Matter of fact was, it was completely okay for her to have a crush on Shivaay. Regardless of the fact that he could be extremely infuriating at times, Annika was slowly getting drawn to him. He was starting to show the caring side that Prinku had always told her about, and Annika found it extremely endearing. She could tell now that there was a side to him that was so loving and empathetic, but which he had reserved only for his Dadi and cousins. Whenever she heard him talk to them on the phone, his eyes would light up in a manner that made Annika's stomach feel fuzzy.

"Where are you lost?" Sophie's voice brought Annika back to the present. She shook her head.

"Nothing. You guys are right. I do have a tiny crush on him and it's okay to feel this way. Maybe it'll just go away when all of this is over."

Even as Annika said this, her mind registered a tiny fact she had tried avoiding for a while now: as selfish as it was, she didn't want her quarantine with Shivaay to end very soon.