Finding Forever, Together ~

Chapter 2

"I don't get you, Shivaay," Om told him with a sigh, "you guys are already in a relationship. Phir yeh sab kyu?"

Shivaay took a deep breath, and turned around to look at him.

That dumbbell Oberoi had one job. And ofcourse he failed at it and told Om everything. He was only lucky that he wasn't teasing him.

Yet.

"Om... that's not the point. When I said ki mai usse impress karna chahta hoon, mera matlab woh flirtatious waala impress nahi tha." He told him.

"I want us to go official in front of our families. Aur mujhe nahi lagta ki aaj se better koi occassion ho sakta hai."

Om smiled.

"Yeh toh bahut acchi baat hai, Shivaay! Lekin baat phir wahi hai, problem kya hai? Tu pareshaan kyu hai?"

"Om, baat yeh hai ki mujhe iss sab se koi problem nahi hai. Lekin mujhe itna pata hai ki Annika abhi iske liye agree nahi karegi... Usse lagta hai ki agar humne aise official announcement kiya toh societal pressure badhega. You know what I mean..." Shivaay said with a sigh, making Om go into thinking mode.

"Oh. Toh yeh problem hai." He said, "lekin Shivaay, agar tu chahe toh Annika ko convince kar sakta hai. Kyuki at the end of the day, bahar ke kisi insaan se zyada humari families ka opinion matter karta hai. And I'm sure, mom dad ya uncle aunty tum dono ko force nahi karenge."

"Uske liye abhi bahut jaldi hai, Shivaay. In fact sabko pata hai ki jab tak tum dono apne career me successful nahi ho jaate, tab tak tum iss baare me sochoge bhi nahi. Toh as long as humari families ko koi problem nahi hai, tere liye koi tension ki baat nahi hai!" Om said with a smile.

Shivaay smiled back at him.

"You're right, Om. Thank you." He said, and hugged him.

Today was a special day for him and Annika. And he was all set to make it even more special.

A while later, Shivaay was going into his room when he was met my Shakti on the way.

"Shivaay," he called him out, "kahan the tum? Mai tumhe kab se dhund raha hoon. Meeting ka time ho raha hai."

"Dad woh.... Aap chaliye na mai... mujhe thoda kaam hai, mai aa jaunga." Shivaay told him, doing something in his phone.

"Harsh bhaisaab ke saath Annika bhi aa rahi hai meeting me..." Shakti told Shivaay, not looking at him, although a smile was playing on his lips.

His son was head over heels in love with Annika, and ofcourse he knew it. He was already waiting to give him a good scolding when they reveal it to their parents.

Shakti looked up to see Shivaay staring at him right in his eyes - although the fact that his cheeks had a shade of crimson rubbing over them spoke volumes.

He obviously stammered for a reply.

"Haan...haan toh? Aap mu... mujhe kyu bata rahe hain?" He asked him, "chalta hoon na mai...abhi chalta hoon. Chaliye." He said, and walked forward quickly, leaving his father laughing at his antics, behind.

When they reached the office, the four of them, along with some other people, sat in the meeting room. They began discussing details about the project they were working on.

For Shivaay and Annika though, it was a training session kind of thing.
They were going to start off in the business world soon, and right now they were here to observe how things worked.

Only that they weren't actually doing it....but that's another story.

They might have been brought here to observe how the business worked, but right now, they were busy in observing something...or precisely, some one else.

It goes without saying that they couldn't take their eyes off each other. As the other people in the meeting room talked away about something, both of them were having their own conversation through eyes. 

"Shivaay, what do you think?" Shakti called him out for his opinion, and seeing him lost, hit him on his head.

"Shivaay!" He called him out loudly, and Shivaay jumped out of his thoughts, to see the entire meeting room laughing silently at him, and an evident blush on Annika's face.

The blush which made him realise what exactly was going on, and that he had been caught red handed.

"Dad...aapne kaha hai toh theek hi hoga na? I mean, aap itne time se yeh sab kar hi rahe hain, so...." He tried to cover up, only to be met with even more laughter.

"It's okay, Shivaay. You carry on with your work," Harsh told him, emphasising on 'work', "we will take care of the less important things."

Annika chuckled silently listening to him. Her usually serious father was such a tease.

"Uncle!" Shivaay whined, before running out of the room, and Annika followed him.

The seniors in the room laughed it away, before continuing with the meeting.

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Shivaay sat down on the couch, in what was soon to be his cabin, and held his head in his hands, only looking up when the door opened and Annika entered.

She sat beside him.

"You are embarassing." She told him directly, not caring one bit about subtlety.

"And you are beautiful." He replied, still unbothered. She felt like killing him.

"Shivaay! Wahan pe sab the! Aapse ruka nahi jaata na bilkul bhi?" She asked him, annoyed.

Shivaay smiled widely, putting all his 32 teeth on display.

"Bilkul nahi. Jab baat tumhari aati hai, toh bilkul nahi." He whispered to her.

She pushed him away, standing up, "chup rahiye."

"Accha woh sab chhodo, yeh batao, party me tumhari koi friends aa rahi hain?" He asked her, diverting the conversation.

"Haan aa rahi hai na, Sneha aa rahi hai, Mallika aa rahi hai, Riya aa rahi hai aur..." She looked up at Shivaay at that,

"Daksh bhi aa raha hai." She said, looking straight into his eyes.

But he didn't flinch. He looked back into hers, and replied,

"Kyu?"

Annika closed her eyes. She knew it. How will she explain it to him?

"Shivaay..." She took a deep breath, "jab tak mujhe pata chala tab tak papa aur Gauri ne saath me milke invitations bhej diye the. I genuinely had no idea warna mai usse bilkul na bulati. Mujhe pata hai aapko usse bahut problem hai...."

"Mujhe usse koi problem nahi hai Annika..." He said, "it's just that he's an idiot."

Annika chuckled. She knew exactly what idiocy he was talking about.

Shivaay, on the other hand, felt like his head would burst. Why did that Daksh have to interfere in their lives again?

Hadn't he seen the consequences already, when Shivaay had beaten him black and blue for going close to his Annika?

On the brighter side....

Shivaay had another reason to make 'Shivika', official.

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I'm sorry if this wasn't up to your expectations, but my entire focus is on the next chapter! I'm so excited for it, and only crazyLazyPri knows why 😏 get ready !!! ❤️