It was too late - A Shivika ff

Chapter 19

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Shivaay and Om's eyes widened a bit and smiles crept up on their faces, not the barely there ones, the full-fledged reaching the ears ones. They looked at each other in happiness and unable to control their emotions, the trio jumped into a hug, almost crushing each other.

Om," Shivaay bhabhi ko hosh aa gaya!"
Shivaay," Haa Om, Anika wapas aa gayi! I'm so happy, mujhe lagg raha tha ki aaj kuch hone waala hai. I'm..I'm so proud of her, she has won the battle!"

Rudra," Haa bhaiya, now you just watch, how quickly everything becomes fine!"

Shivaay ruffled Rudra's hair in happiness while Om looked around and then asked Rudra,
"But bhabhi hai kahan?"

Rudra," O, they have taken bhabhi for examination and tests, they want to see if she needs more surgeries."

As the three brothers stood there, collecting optimistic thoughts, the senior Oberois came into the ward and were astonished to see the empty room. 

Dadi," Billu, where is Anika?"

Shivaay happily turned towards her and engulfed her in a tight embrace. 
Shivaay," Dadi, Anika ko hosh aa gaya."

Listening to him, everyone was overjoyed. 
Dadi," Sacchi!?"

Om and Rudra nodded in confirmation. All the Oberois were looking at each other and when all of them turned to Shivaay, they saw tears running down his eyes. 

Jhanvi," Shivaay beta why are you crying, it is a day of celebration, Anika is going to be fine, then why are you shedding tears and spoiling it?"

She wiped his tears with her hands. 
Shivaay smiled and said," Khushi ke aansu hai Badi Maa, Anika finally theekh hone waali hai."

Everyone smiled seeing the life come back into Shivaay and the happiness reflecting in his eyes. 

Om," Waise Rudra, when did this happen? I mean how long has she been gone?"

Rudra," She gained consciousness around 4 o clock in the morning. She was groaning in pain and it was getting louder. I woke up and rushed to her. It took her a few minutes to acknowledge her surroundings and me, but when she did, she gave me the brightest smile I have ever seen on her face. It seemed as if she's alright and even ruffled my hair.  After a few minutes she was writhing in pain again, so sister gave her an injection and she slept again. Bhabhi got up half an hour back and she has been gone since then. "

Shakti," Did she notice the burns?"


As soon as Shakti uttered these words, literally the whole family except the oblivious Shivaay were cursing him. They all were wide-eyed and open-mouthed, mentally thinking of a thousand things to abuse Shakti with. 
When he saw the others looking at him as if he had just committed a sin, he realized what he had just uttered and gulped down looking at the killer stares that were being shot at him. 

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Shivaay asked," Burns? What burns?"

Tej muttered under his breath," Oh God Shakti, kabhi kuch nahi bolte, aaj hi muh kholna zaroori tha!?"

Shivaay looked at the guilty-sad expressions of his family members and was sure that they hid something from him. He could feel impatience and fear rise up his back and the fact that there was something about Anika's condition that he did not know, was starting to drive him crazy. 
There was anger also, that he had been kept in the dark, but that wasn't his priority at the moment. 
He needed to know what happened to Anika. 

In a quiet, cold and dangerous voice he said," Will someone tell me what burns?"


Om looked at his brother and saw the dark storm brewing in his eyes. He came to acknowledge the statement that his bhabhi always used to say about Shivaay, how his eyes changed colors with his emotions and how one could understand his mood by looking directly into his eyes, but it was a daunting task in itself to look into Shivaay Singh Oberoi's eyes, that too directly.  
In his twenty-five years of life, Om, being his brother had never seen or felt this, but his bhabhi had noticed it within twenty-five days of being his wedding planner. That was the charm the two had - they knew each other from their heart without even having any external conversation. 

Rudra's scared stammering brought him out of his distracted mind. 
Rudra," Bhaiya..woh, actually..."

Shivaay gave him a sharp look, eyes boring into Rudra's. 
Shivaay," Woh kya Rudra?"

Om," Shivaay, actually woh Bhabhi came out of a gunpowder explosion na, so..."
Shivaay," So...?"
Om," So her..her.."

Shivaay came to Om, held him by the shoulders and shook him. 
Shivaay," Anika what, Om? Come. To. The. Point."

Om closed his eyes, and let everything out in a breathe," So her body is badly burnt."
He opened his eyes only after feeling Shivaay's grip loosening on his shoulders. 

Shivaay staggered back, trying to contemplate what Om just said. 

Shivaay," They are normal burn marks, na, we can get it cured !"
Om," No Shivaay, her whole body is burnt, it is very difficult to get it treated."

Shivaay," Nothing is impossible, we will check with..with the best of doctors, Anika...Anika will be fine, don't worry, I'll see to it that she will not have any pain left in her."

Rudra," No bhaiya, you will not be able to do that."

Tej," What do you want to say Rudra?"

Rudra," Dad, the burns have severely impacted her, it is going to be extremely difficult getting her out of this trauma."

Jhanvi," Trauma? That means she knows?"

All looked at Rudra with a questioning gaze. 
He sniffled a bit, rubbed his face with his hands and plopped down on the couch beside Dadi. 

Om," Rudra, tell us what happened, what is going on here?"

Rudra," O, woh..woh when Bhabhi got conscious.."


Flashback--

Anika stirred in her sleep. She felt as if she had been sleeping for an extremely long time, and a sudden jolt of pain had broken her peaceful slumber. From a distance, completely surrounded by blackness, she could sense a flash of lightning coming towards her, and she struggled to dodge it. It hit her, and since then the pain went on increasing until she could not feel anything else. Not being able to bear it anymore, she opened her mouth to shout, but nothing came out.  
From amidst the unpleasantness around her, she felt the piercing of needles crawl up her back and what she let out as a shout, came out as a mere moan on the other side of the abyss. 

The scream left her breathless, and she slowly opened her eyes to a white-washed ceiling. Her innocent head was trying to contemplate whether she was alive or this was an illusion of paradise. Trying to find clues that would help her, she tried moving her limbs, but they felt as if she was floating in air. 

It was when Rudra rushed to her side, with a tearful smile and let out an overjoyed 'bhabhi!' that she knew she was not dead. Slowly and gradually, the disturbing noises of the monitors brought her to the hospital bed and the coolness of the air conditioner removed the sweat beads on her face. 

When Anika saw Rudra, she was ecstatic, this would be an understatement. 

She knew she had made it through the blast, through a coma, maybe a case of memory loss, thousands of other worse scenarios that could have been possible and now had someone she knew - she was not in an unknown place, waiting for someone to find her before she is able to go out on her own. And once she realized that she was lucky to have fought that, she smiled with a sense of victory that she had never felt before. Very painfully, she raised her hand to ruffle his hair, just to make sure that this too good to be situation was actually her reality. 

And then she saw. 

She saw her black arm and fingers, which once she put on Rudra's head, couldn't be distinguished from his black hair, and wondered why she could hardly feel herself moving it at all. Her smile turned to a confused expression, and she tried to sit up. 

Once Rudra and the nurses who had come in after being informed of her gaining consciousness left her arms, carefully making her lean on the bed and she trailed her gaze from her forearms to her other arm, she went into a panic. 

She rubbed her fingers on her palms and felt nothing except a tinge of pain. It make a sound like coarse material being rubbed against each other and she felt the same once she tried feeling her face. 

Anika looked at Rudra in horror, who stood dumbfounded at the fact that his bhabhi had gained consciousness just to be drawn into another fierce battle of acknowledging her new self, let alone accepting. 

Anika rubbed her fingers all where she could find black, sooty skin, and when she felt pain and noise, she was alarmed. 

Anika," Rudra, what is all this ? My hands, my face, I have got burnt all over.."

Rudra," Bhabi..bhabhi relax, doctor will see to it, you just got conscious na.."

Anika," No Rudra, these are severe burns, they won't go away soon, my face, my hands, feet, everything is destroyed, everything.."

Anika was continuously rubbing her face and hands, looking here and there frantically and was running out of breathe again. Rudra had taken her in a half-embrace and was caressing her back to calm her back, but Anika couldn't recognize his touch on her.

The shooting pain returned. She could feel her body tensing and stiffening due to the pain that spread all over. That combined with the big blow she just got.
It had become such a powerful combination, that unable to bear,  Anika started pulling her hair, not being able to deal with it. 

The nurses quickly went and caught her, while one started preparing an injection. Anika had started letting out screams of intense ache , and as soon as she was going to shout for the third time straight, an injection was pushed into her arm. 

Within a few seconds, she started feeling dizzy again and the nurses were more than relieved to get her settled comfortably on the bed. 

Rudra could not control the tears that came out of his eyes, seeing his superwoman in such a disturbed state of mind and going through so much of pain all over again. He sat on the tool beside her, held her hand in his and cried himself to sleep just the way he had when Shivaay was hospitalized. 

Later when Rudra woke up, freshened and came back, he saw Anika had come out of her sedation and was trying to lean back on the bed rest with the help of a nurse. Rudra came out and went to her, but she did not look at him. Anika just saw with a face devoid of any expression and within a few minutes, ward boys came in to roll her bed out of the ward for further examination. 

Rudra was pacing in the ward thinking about whether he should be happy that Anika regained her consciousness or not be happy that she had just borne another big bombshell. Deciding that the former incident was much more optimistic, he decided to let that cover up the tension he had underneath. 

One he decided what to think about, he heard his brothers come into the now-empty ward.

End of flashback ---

Everyone was standing broken listening to what just Anika went through. But it was Shivaay who wiped his tears first. 

Shivaay trying to be determined, but ended up sounding like an insecure child," No, Anika is not going to lose again, we will make her win with our love. It will take time to heal the wounds in her heart, but we all will be strong. "

Looking around at everyone he said," Stop crying all of you, if we will fall weak, then who is going to hold her and help her get through it, huh? We have to be strong for Anika and bring her out of this mess."

While Shivaay was trying to infuse some positivity into his family, even though he was breaking from inside, the door creaked open and in rolled Anika's bed. 

She was happy finding the Oberoi family inside her ward, thinking that they all care for her enough to come and see her in this state, but her face still showed no expression. 
A couple of tears poured out of her eyes when she turned her head to look at all of them, but her lips couldn't turn into a smile. 

Shivaay's eyebrows drooped on seeing Anika's condition. He stood there for a few seconds, taking it all in and then quickly stormed outside the room, confusing everyone and leaving a even more disturbed Anika inside. 

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Thanks a lot everyone for coming back to the story even when I have crossed heights of irregularity, but trust me, it is not very pleasant writing about the pain of my favorite TV couple. 

I know that is no excuse and I apologize for the delay, but it took a great deal of effort and overwhelming emotions to do this. 

Everyone who was waiting for Shivaay's reaction, I know thoda thanda hai, but it was necessary to show how Anika and her mental health had been impacted. 

If any of you have any suggestions or scenes that you would like to see in this particular plot, please feel free to DM and I'd be happy to incorporate it in here. 

Also, I'm sorry to be doing this, but I ain't putting up the next chapter before this reaches a 100 votes. I waited, but now I'm out of patience. Apologies again. 

Please stay safe and exercise great caution while outdoors!

Until next time, 
<3