Annika pressed her eyelash curler while Shivaay stood behind her, squinting. He was making weird faces at her as she went ahead with the now hot curler to make ringlets on her hair. She rolled her eyes and turned to him,

"Do you need anything?" She asked sharply while giving him a pointed look. He immediately shook his head and looked elsewhere. Shaking her head, she turned back to the mirror, "It is harder for women, you know. All you have to do is comb your hair and dress up to look sexy. It's not the same for me." Annika bit her tongue and looked at his widened eyes. Shivaay's cheeks had turned a little pink. He was... blushing? Annika hid smirk as she proceeded to browse through her lipsticks to find the right one. She picked out a cocoa shaded lip.

"Tsktsks." Shivaay shook his head and Annika looked at him with raised eyebrows. He pulled out another tube- a medium dark burgundy lipstick. "Not that you need this to look umm... sexy." Shivaay blinked for a minute as he saw a shade of scarlet settle on Annika's face. He blew out lightly as he bent over near her face and continued in a deeper tone, "It goes well with the blush."

He handed her the lipstick with his eyes moving from her lips to her cheeks and she knew he was not talking about the shade of her dress. When he went out the door, Annika let out a breath as her chest heaved heavily. It did get a few degrees hotter in there for her.

As she took off the robe she was wearing, Shivaay came back inside. He stopped when he looked at her. She was wearing a blush fringed bandage gown with an open back revealing her smooth skin and she was looking as if she'd come just to take his breath away. Looking at a dazed Shivaay, she felt new wave of shyness hit her. She gave him a small nod and left the room.

When Shivaay came out of their room, he looked at Annika standing peeking over a pillar and she looked like she was hiding. Puzzled, he walked over to her and placed his hand over her shoulder. She looked at him and immediately pushed him against the pillar.

"What are...?"

Annika put her finger on his lips and continued looking at whatever she was. With scrunched eyebrows, he turned behind. She was looking at his parents.

"I've spent the whole day trying to get your attention, Pinky."

He heard his father complain and he gestured Annika to stop, but she obviously paid no heed.

"I have things to do now, Shakti Ji." They heard Pinky speak and they looked at her.

Shakti pulled Pinky to him and said, "You have no work for the next thirty seconds. Now turn..." He pulled out a bright yellow chrysanthemum and placed it on her hair. Pinky's face gleamed when she realized why she was being stalled.

Shivaay smiled widely as he turned, "That was nice. But, you know what isn't nice? Eavesdropping."

Annika rolled her eyes at him, "If we didn't, we would have never witnessed this. It was really romantic, right? I'm never seeing movies again. I actually saw Shakti uncle walking with a flower, so I was naturally curious."

"Still... eavesdropping is cheap, Annika. I had high regards on you and you have disappointed me." Shivaay shook his head in disappointment and chuckled when she rolled her eyes. "One of these days, they'd roll out of your socket."

"Great. As if I don't have enough fears already, you had to add one more." Annika huffed when Shivaay shrugged. "Let's go," she muttered as she dragged him to the stairs.

*

"I thought we were having an 'intimate' party." Shivaay looked at his father, who did not of course share his confused expression. There were at least 60 people in their huge living room.

"It's nice to see you still naïve, Shivaay. This is 'intimate' in Pinky's dictionary. I did try to talk her out of it," Shakti said and walked over to the guest. Guess, Shivaay had to socialize alone because his wife was being paraded around by his mom to her friends.

"Hey, Shivaay. Happy Anniversary!" Tia, whom he had dated for precisely two months, smiled at him. They were good friends and Shivaay was glad he had someone to talk to.

"Bhabhi, listen. That girl over there used to date Shivaay Bhaiya," Rudra whispered to Annika immediately after he had spotted Shivaay talking to Tia. Annika simply gave him a nod and continued talking to Gauri and Mallika.

"Bhabhi, did you not hear me? See, now, some other girl is talking to Bhaiya. You have to keep him on a leash," Rudra said and tugged her hand.

"Rudy, stop." Annika's voice trailed off and she narrowed her eyes. The girl Shivaay was talking to batted her eyes flirtatiously and was twirling her hair. Shivaay wore his usual charming smile and was casually talking to her. Annika slowly walked to them.

"That is brilliant, Shivaay." The girl's smile immediately left her face when she saw Annika.

"Shriya, meet my wife, Annika. Hon, this is Shriya Bannerjee. We're close to their family," Shivaay said as he felt Annika hold him by his waist. She placed her other hand on his chest and gave Shriya a tight smile.

"Nice meeting you, Shriya. Hope you are enjoying the party." Annika turned to Shivaay, "Baby, Tej uncle is calling us. If you'll excuse us, Shriya," Annika smiled again and took Shivaay out of there. He was quite dumbfounded to say the least.

"Baby?" He finally spoke after a few minutes only to receive silence from Annika. "Where is Bade Papa?"

"He didn't call us," Annika said innocently and poured herself some water as if nothing had happened. She was shooting daggers are Shriya's direction. Shivaay snickered when he realized what was actually going on. "Looks like someone is jealous."

"Who's jealous?" Annika said casually making Shivaay raise his eyebrow. "I'm not jealous. You are unbelievable. You let her flirt with you like that?"

"She wasn't flirting. We were just talking, Annika."

"Of course you wouldn't know if she was flirting. You are too oblivious."

"That is not true! I would notice if you flirted with me. Now, it's not my fault you haven't." Shivaay pretended to look sad and Annika looked at him, flustered.

"I... well, I..." Annika stammered, not knowing what to say. She was relieved when they were called to cut the cake.

The party had gotten over after an hour and they family was preparing to send Rudra off. Since most of them were tired, it was decided only Tej, Om and Shivaay were accompanying Rudra to the airport. Rudra was crying profusely because it was the first time he was going to be away from the whole family.

"I can't wait for the six months to get over. Bhabhi, I will miss you the most." He hugged Annika tightly, but this time, Shivaay wasn't jealous. He patted Rudra's back and looked at Annika. She nodded at him and immediately set out to distract Rudra. It sometimes amused Shivaay how seamlessly Annika was able to understand the things that he didn't say. Virendar came and stood next to Shivaay.

"Shivaay beta," He called him and gave him a small smile as he held Shivaay's hands. "When Chikoo said she was ready to get married, I was not happy. She felt like she was a burden on us and we knew that was why she wanted to take that step. I couldn't refuse her. I can never refuse her. But the fear of whether I let Amala Didi down was eating me up alive. But you have taken care of her better than I have, beta. I just want to say, thank you!" Virendar's eyes were welled and Shivaay was tearing up a little himself. Virendar hugged him and patted him on his head gratefully.

*

After dropping off Rudra at the airport, Shivaay traipsed towards their room. It was definitely an eventful day and he was tired. He was also a little nervous because it was their actual anniversary in two days and he was still unsure if Annika would like everything he had planned for them. He was a little surprised to see Annika not in bed fast asleep. Her dress was thrown there instead, which Shivaay folded and placed gently on the chair. He walked towards the French window to see Annika sitting by the pool, staring into the sky.

She had that look on her face and Shivaay was well acquainted with it.

She was not here. Instead, she was in the world in her head where colors had no place. She stayed there while compunction kept her company. A ghost of an Annika who used to be resided on her whole self at times like those. Her forehead had lines of pain and hurting that were almost non-existent otherwise. She looked strained as if she was sinking in an ocean of misery which tormented her while keeping her alive. Her mind was her heel of Achilles. No matter how content the day went, there were nights that still made her suffocate.

At times like these, Shivaay wanted to hug her tightly but he knew that was one time she wouldn't appreciate being close to him. If he'd let her be, she wouldn't possibly sleep. He slowly walked up to her,

"Can't sleep?" Shivaay was confounded to see how in split seconds, Annika was able to conceal her countenance. She shook her head and gave him a faint smile.

"You should sleep, though." When she uttered those words, even her voice seemed different.

"I can't sleep either. Can you keep me company?" Shivaay knew she wouldn't refuse if he asked her instead of suggesting that he stay beside her. She nodded after a few seconds and went back into gazing the stars. "Can we go inside?" Shivaay asked and she got up in response. Annika sat at the foot of the bed like she usually did while Shivaay lied down.

"You must be tired. Why aren't you sleepy?" Annika took a pause and studied his face. Sleep resided in the corners of his blue eyes but he was battling to stay awake for her. Annika's expression softened suddenly. She crawled into his arms and gently rubbed his chest. He shouldn't have to sacrifice anything for her. She could use up her frail strength to put him to sleep before sinking in the things that made her 1 AM a Purgatory.

Shivaay stroked her hair while humming a random tune. He held his Porcelain doll as he cushioned her with utmost care. She may not be open to talking to him but he will be there for her as long as the sun lived. Her eyes were slowly closing as she was drifting into  slumber. He was a little satisfied that he finally got her to sleep, which he was definitely not successful before. With that, he too, went to sleep leaving the chirping sound of crickets take over the night.

*

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