Shivaay dabbed the droplets of sweat that dripped down from his neck down his spine. His tank top was now drenched after the heavy workout in the gym, and now he was in his room. It was almost six am and he had a few more minutes left on the podcast he was listening to. He switched on the coffee machine and went to the garden to water the plants. This was his morning routine. It was followed by reading the business papers before breakfast and going through the agenda of the day during the commute to the office. No matter what happened, he'd never waver from his schedule. Today wasn't any different. However, after he finished mulching in his garden, he overheard his mom and Dadi talking something near the mandir.

"Mummy Ji, I hope you prayed that Shivaay should say yes. It shouldn't happen like last time. I was so sure he was going to say yes to Riyaa." Pinky's voice was filled with worry, and Shivaay rolled his eyes. His mom behaved like he was nearing his expiration date of marriageable age.

"Puttar, we know whatever Billu decides would be for the best. Don't worry," Kalyani said reassuringly. The amount of trust his Dadi had on him made him stand up tall. He smiled to himself and proceeded to the stairs. He stopped when he heard what his mom said next.

"Amala said that Annika liked him a lot, Mummy Ji. We saw how she was looking at him at the party. I just hope she doesn't get disappointed because of Shivaay."

Pinky's words only reminded Shivaay of the previous day's encounter. Less than a week meeting her, and he had already eavesdropped twice. When he reached his room, he headed straight to the mirror. She had called him 'Prince' to the kid she was talking to. Now, even though Shivaay behaved like he was unaffected by the female attention he usually received, he wasn't completely unaware of it. That being said, he was never called a Prince, at least that he knew of. With an impish smile, he flicked his hair and headed to the bathroom.

Well, he should have known when he had gotten down for breakfast that his mother was going to bombard him with questions. And his darling pain in the ass, Rudra Singh Oberoi, would have obviously told the whole Oberoi household that their first son met the prospective bride unofficially. Maybe Shivaay had forgotten what it was the last time, or he made a stupid misjudgement that his family respected privacy.

"So... Shivaay?" Jhanvi called him out. There she goes, Shivaay thought. But instead, she handed the basket and said, "Take another toast."

"Shivaay beta," Shakti paused and looked at Shivaay. Shivaay didn't expect his dad to be the one who asked, but he was ready to say he needed more time.

"Yes, Dad."

"So the Trivedis deal, you finished the pitch?"

"Papa, I think you should... Deal?" Shivaay looked at him confused.

"We decided to go ahead despite your answers last meeting, right?" Tej raised his eyebrows, and visibly, bit back a chuckle. Shivaay looked down at his scrambled eggs, slightly embarrassed.

"Shivaay, I met Annika's mom yesterday," Pinky stated. She had a smile on her face that he recognized very well- the passive-aggressive smile. "Apparently, they didn't have any idea for Annika's marriage, but our proposal was irresistible."

"Bhaiya sounds like an interesting deal." Rudra snickered and earned a kick from Shivaay.

"Shut up, Rudy," Pinky chided. She took a dramatic sip of juice from her glass, and continued, "She was asking me whether you liked Annika. Understandably, Annika needs more time because she wasn't prepared, unlike you. I obviously didn't know what to tell her. So, I told her we are giving you time to decide. After all, it is your whole life."

"Yes mom, I'm glad you understand." Shivaay interrupted with a smile and tried to put a full-stop to the conversation. But what happened when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? It is a paradox where these two cannot coexist. And in this context, there was no such thing as an immovable object if the force was Pinky.

"Of course, beta... It isn't like this is an arranged marriage, right? We were helping you get someone because you are clearly not good at it." Pinky gave him a saccharine smile which made his slight one disappear, while his brothers silently laughed. At least he was right about her passive-aggressiveness. "You met her again yesterday, I hear. Isn't that enough for you, Shivaay Singh Oberoi, to know someone? If you aren't going to say anything, we are taking it as no."

His mom really went to take a personal dig. Now Shivaay had to give an answer; not that he didn't know his already. He cleared his throat- like he did every time he had something important to say.

♡♡♡

"We could have gone to Taco Bell is all I'm saying, Sid."Annika took a sip of the sparkling water carefully, making sure she didn't spill it.

"You're getting free lunch in a five star. Why are you complaining?" Siddharth asked as he pulled his chair closer. He looked towards the door another time. When the person he was expecting walked in, he hung his head down. Annika had begun her rant on how she had expected they would get to chill, Siddharth waited with his head down for him to pass them. Thankfully, he didn't look in their direction and joined the group of men who were sitting a little behind them.

"Yaar Sid, are you even listening? By the way, what is taking Mallika so long?" Annika asked as she turned towards the washroom. She was going to turn the other direction, and Siddharth interrupted.

"She's touching up, Anni. I kinda spoilt her makeup," Siddharth said with a sheepish smile, and Annika closed her ears dramatically.

"Please don't give me details!"

Siddharth laughed and changed the topic.

Shivaay was not really into the lunch meeting. He had already predicted how this meeting would go and had asked his project manager to take care of the meeting. He was just merely present only to step in if the Sehghals brought any more trouble, but he knew Saurav had it. He maintained his signature deadpan face while he listened to them talk. It came with the businessman package; playing cards close to his chest which left an intriguing impression on people. This was all going as per plan until he heard someone laugh. Now, it wasn't loud. But Shivaay recognized this voice. No, it couldn't be. Serendipity second time?

Yes, it was Annika. But she wasn't alone. Shivaay didn't want to jump into any conclusion on whom it was, because it is wrong to be judgemental. Yes, Shivaay was a principled man. However, Annika was throwing her head back like a little child, uncaring what anyone who watched would think, and laughing really hard. And he was thinking about how he never made her laugh like that the two times they met. He needed to learn to do that if... Woah Shivaay, don't get too ahead, he thought to himself. Annika surely hadn't noticed him, and he was staring at her like a stalker. And if his brothers were here, they'd claim he was stalking her. Now, Shivaay didn't know what he was thinking anymore. He needed to get a grip. He averted his gaze to Mr Sehghal hoping he wouldn't bore him with some pointless argument.

But it was Mr Sehghal. In no time, he found himself looking back at Annika. Now, there were two other people on the table. He was able to see Ms Chowdhury- Mallika if he wasn't wrong- near the guy who was facing his back at Shivaay. From the way Mallika was looking at that guy, Shivaay had a hunch that he was Siddharth Rana. The table seemed very serious, and he was curious to know what they were discussing.

"So Annika... You have never been in a relationship before," Mallika started, and Annika had an uh-oh written all over her face. She should have known something was up when Sushant had joined them for lunch.

"And you are considering to get married... to an Oberoi," Sushant said in a no-nonsense tone.

"Yes Sushi, I am aware." Annika darted her gaze from Sushant on her left, Mallika opposite to her to Siddharth who was looking at her with squinted eyes.

"What do you think of Shivaay?" Siddharth asked. Annika sighed and found herself smiling a little.

"I don't know. He's... nice."

"We need more than that." Mallika pouted. "You have definitely observed him. Tell us now." She demanded.

"He is kind; a little arrogant about his work, if I'm not wrong. He has great attention to detail. He loved his family a lot. He is super busy all the time. He loves his work; not the kind of guy who would cheat because that would take a lot of effort. That is... well. Anyway, he's also super hot." Annika took a deep breath, while Mallika raised her eyebrows at the last comment.

"So... this is what you meant by 'I don't know'?" Sushant rolled his eyes, and Annika looked at him sheepishly.

"Okay, I know a little. It's not much... I don't know what to do. Maybe I do. Ugh." Annika scorned and covered her face in frustration.

"Okay, Annika. Look at me," Mallika said in a serious tone.

Annika took a spoon of her affogato and did what Mallika said. She had seen that face for 22 years, and she knew what Mallika was going to say too, yet she did.

"Turn to your right, and tell us immediately what you feel."

That was a weird request, but okay. Annika turned- with a spoon till in her mouth- and the first word that came out her mouth was, "Fuck."

"Already?" Sushant snickered, and Annika ignored him. She smiled at Shivaay, who was sitting across them and waved. He was looking in her direction already, and she noticed his cheeks went slightly pink. He then straightened and looked at the person next to him. It seemed like he was in a meeting, but he was occasionally throwing glances her way.

Mallika cleared her throat, "I think we all got our answer, guys."

"You guys found where he was going to be, brought me here, and did this whole surprise-he's-there, just to see my reaction? You could have just shown me a picture." Annika saw the three look at her annoyed, and she was satisfied. Of course, that was short-lived.

"The thing is Annu, you need to give an answer to this proposal because Shivaay already has. Harsh uncle told me at the office today. We had to talk to you before you go home today." When Sushant said this, Annika looked at him with wide eyes.

Did Shivaay say yes?

She gulped down the whole glass of water. Heck, she'd need a pitcher full of it.

Why did she think they'd get months for getting to know each other? This was fucking arranged marriage. That process happened after the whole mangalsutra thing.

Siddharth, Sushant and Mallika stood up suddenly.

"Hey, Oberoi! Hope they Sehghals didn't get burnt too much there," Siddharth said as he shook Shivaay's hand.

"Depends on your definition of too much, Rana." Shivaay shook his hand and gave him his classic, barely-there smile.

Annika slowly got up, while the other two introduced themselves and did the protocol of doing the unnecessary small talk.

"I need to make a call to... my mom. Sid, pay the bill on your way, I'll send my half to you. I'll catch you guys later." Sushant gave a pathetic excuse and left, which was followed by Mallika awkwardly tugging at Siddharth.

"We need to say hello to Sehgal uncle. He left that way, right Shivaay? Come, baby." She smiled awkwardly, and Siddharth nodded profusely. Someone needed to teach them subtlety, really. Annika had never been embarrassed by her friends before. This was going to be his impression on them, forever. Oops.

"Hello, Annika. How are you?" Shivaay asked, and he knew it was the lamest way to start a conversation with a person whom you met just yesterday.

"Good. How about you? I take from what you told Sid that your meeting went well." She smiled broadly. He tilted his head a little and nodded while his eyes went from the ground to her eyes.

"You lunch here regularly?" Shivaay asked. And the award for the lamest person in this room goes to... Shivaay needed to up his game; even if it meant that he had to take advice from Rudra.

"Nope," Annika paused. How would she tell him they were there for him? "We usually hang out somewhere near the Rana Enterprises."

Shivaay wasn't sure if he should address the elephant in the room. He didn't like not knowing what her answer was. This pressure was the reason he avoided going on dates all those years. Deals were easier to crack.

"Shivaay, umm...I know you're getting late. I just want to say one thing. The thing is, we are very different," Annika started saying, and she saw Shivaay's face fall a little. His blank face was back immediately, and he interjected,

"Yes, Annika. I understand. You don't have to..."

"I wasn't finished," Annika said a little louder, clearly disapproving the interruption. "We are very different. But I think we have something oddly similar too. I don't exactly know what that is, but... I want to find it out." She looked at him with expectant eyes and nodded a little. He looked surprised, and before he could say anything, Annika muttered a bye and left from there.

Shivaay stood there for a minute. That sounded like a yes... Was it?

I had something else in mind, and it turned out a different way.
I think I kinda free-wheeled this chapter...
I'll make sure the next one is better. :/

I hope you guys liked it. If you did, let me know.

P.S. Also, did you notice the #1 in the title?😝