I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Wattpad had a glitch.

I'd like to ask you to keep one eye out for the leaps at this point.
We are at the mid-point of the story arc rn.

And a shout out to those who stuck with this story🥺❤️
HQoH is basically me rebelling out on how female leads have been shown over the years.
Anyway, I'll let you read!

Annika's head was throbbing when she opened her eyes. She was heavily nauseated and she knew the best thing to do was rest a little more. She sat up and closed her eyes tightly when she heard Shivaay come inside the room. He immediately stood next to her,

"Are you alright, honey?" His concerned voice made her eyes open a little. She nodded weakly, but it was Shivaay, and he would know instantly if she was unwell. He sat on the bed and held her shoulders as he looked at her, concerned. "It's the side effects, Billu Ji. I'm fine." She gave him a reassuring smile, but he was unsatisfied with that answer, and she knew it.

"Maybe, we should visit the doctor..." He started saying, but she interrupted.

"I will visit my Gynae later in the day, Shivaay. You have your meeting. You should go," She said and squeezed his hand in reassurance. She knew he wasn't convinced, but he didn't argue. He gave her a quick peck and headed to their closet. Annika pulled the comforter over her head and slept for two good hours before she woke up again. She dragged herself to the bathroom to freshen up.

When she came down, she saw Dadi sitting alone on the couch with a worried expression on her face. She immediately went to her side and Kalyani greeted her with a wide smile.

"Puttar, Billu told me you're sick. You should rest a little more," Kalyani said as she caressed Annika lovingly.

"I'm fine now, Dadi. Are you, though?"

Kalyani sighed before speaking. "I'm worried about everyone, Puttar. Omkara has another month to prove himself to Virendar. Rudra is always sad and I don't know what is wrong with him. And Prinku..." Kalyani bit her tongue immediately, which went unnoticed by Annika and gave her a sad smile.

"Dadi, it will all be alright. Om- Gauri is the best couple I have ever known. They'll figure everything out. As far as Rudy is concerned, give him some time. He is going to make us all proud. And, what is wrong with Prinku? Do you want me to talk to her?" Annika asked and Kalyani shook her head hurriedly.

"No, puttar. Prinku has the regular college drama, that's it. Although, I will never understand aaj kal ke bacche." Kalyani chuckled and looked at Annika nervously. Kalyani mentally cursed herself for almost letting out the secret she had been keeping for a while.

"I'll still talk to her, Dadi. I need to visit the hospital before going to the office. I'll be late today," Annika informed and took her to leave. After Annika left, Kalyani sat in silence. She was able to feel it in her gut that something was going to happen and she had to embrace herself. She looked in the direction of the mandir and prayed to the almighty to give the family all the strengths they needed.

"Omkara, does Di know all this?"Gauri bit her lip when Om shook his head.

"I lied to her because..." Om paused; it wasn't his secret to tell. "We had a fallout and we weren't exactly talking to each other. I relapsed into my old ways when Annika and I met in Malaysia. But, she went ahead and spoke to Dad again. She was the one that put me through art school, even when we were... in disagreement. I owed it to her, Gauri. So, I sobered up again." Omkara chose his words carefully. He wanted to tell everything to his Gauri but he couldn't.

"Your fallout had something to do with Jake, right? The timelines match. Di asked you not to tell anyone?" Gauri tried not to feel hurt but, she knew ever since her Abhishek fiasco, Annika had kept Gauri from any information that could possibly affect her. But, this was before Abhishek. Annika kept the details of the break up from everyone. What could it have possibly been?

"Yes, sort of, we didn't agree over a few things. Annika decided to distance herself from everyone..." Om sighed. Those were hard times. He couldn't construe why Annika hadn't told Shivaay yet. Om had too much on his plate already, to panic over. He tried to calm himself down.

"Om... Are you sure Papa's only problem with you is the drug problem? I have a feeling there is more to this..." Gauri knew something had happened that she wasn't aware of. Omkara's widened eyes only confirmed one thing. Everyone in her life was hiding something from her and she knew it had nothing to do with her life.

What could it be?

Auxilium's biggest project was all set to be launched. As per Annika's instructions, Natasha had started making arrangements for Professor Burke and Dr Adcock's visit in the following months. Annika's legal team had drafted contracts and they had started getting approvals for the project. Now, Annika was sitting on her desk reviewing applications from different universities to take up researchers. She felt it would be better to sign an MOU with a university to take up their project for doctorate aspirants rather than hiring people. There were thousand different things in her mind but she was needed in her office and hence, there she was. She looked at Dr Adcock's research paper longingly. Sighing, she took her phone up to see four messages from Shivaay.

Shivaay: Honey, visited the doctor?

Annika, what did Priya say?

Are you fine? Should I come?

Annika?

Cursing at herself, she dialled Shivaay's number, and she wasn't surprised when he picked up in the second ring. "I am SO sorry. When I called, Mishra had picked up. He told me you were at a meeting and I..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Shivaay interrupted. "What did Priya say? I was careless. Are you fine?" Shivaay spoke without taking a breath.

"Jeez Billu Ji, calm down. I'm fine. Priya asked us to be prepared for it just in case," Annika pursed her lips. "Could you come over, Shivaay?"

"Honey, listen, don't get tensed, okay? We'll figure everything out," Shivaay said in a calm tone, trying to reassure her.

"Just come here as soon as possible."

Rudra: Later.

Bhavya: Rudy, Didu told me you are busy, but can we talk?

I miss you...

Bhavya kept her phone away. He hadn't texted her back. She had stopped herself from going to the Oberoi mansion altogether. But, it was getting harder for her to be without talking to Rudra. It was getting harder for her to be without seeing him. She had to respect his wishes. She knew she had to. And God knows how much she wanted to. She now realized how lonely Rudra must have felt when she was busy. She had taken him and his friendship for granted stating she had work, and she honestly was busy. He was very understanding. Their dynamics had been different then. Now, it was changed. She didn't know how and where... well, she did know, but she was refusing to acknowledge it.

Rudra had asked for some time for himself.

It doesn't sound bad.

Yes.

But, the way he said that was as though he was saying 'goodbye'.

And, for the first time in all these years, she didn't think she knew how to exist in a world where Rudra was not speaking to her.

"Honey, are you alright?" Shivaay asked immediately after he entered her cabin. She immediately ran to him and hugged him. Shivaay held her for a few minutes till she composed herself. She started taking deep breaths and every two seconds, she looked at him. Shivaay held her hand and led her to the futon. He sat with her patiently as he saw Annika's expression changing every second. She looked as if she was vacillating. He took her hand and bore his eyes into her orbs. Her face went still as if her trail of thoughts had halted. She gave Shivaay a defeated smile. Suddenly, it seemed like all the life from her body was quaffed out her body. She seemed like she was fragile and she was holding on to her fragile strength. Shivaay had never seen her like this. Shivaay tried to maintain his composure, but it was natural for disquietude to settle in his being seeing her like that. He moved closer to her and it seemed like she was trying really hard not to cry.

"Shivaay, I have been trying to tell you this for a really long time." She exhaled before she continued. "I should have told you this in London itself. No, even before that. I couldn't muster the courage." Her voice was breaking and Shivaay cupped her face. "I..." she continued, "I want you to promise me you will take this to your grave."

"Annika, I'm getting worried. What is it?" He put an arm around her. He was alarmed to see this side of Annika. So are we, right?

"You have to know this is the first time I am actually telling this to someone. I don't know how you are going to react..." Annika started telling him, and he held her tightly. When she looked up to see his face, he wore no expression. She did not know what was going on in his mind, and it truly scared her. "Shivaay, say something..." She looked at him uncertainly as she wiped the tears that had spilt out along with her story.

He kissed her tears away and looked at her, "You were young, Annika. I agree with Om. I would have handled it differently. But... it is what is."

"I should have told you earlier. I can feel your disappointment," She buried her face in her hands.

"Yes, you should have. As I said, it is alright. You were trying to tell me this the other day, right? At Swasti?" He asked and Annika nodded. "Swasti... It all makes sense."

It did sure feel like she had moved off a huge mountain off her chest. She chose not to look at the smiling portrait of her parents. She had them believe that their daughter was perfect for so long. Her lie over the years hung around her neck as her albatross.

"Annika... You should tell them. They should find it from you," Shivaay took her hand. It was a lot of information to process, but he knew it had taken a toll on her. She looked scared while telling him as if he'd get enraged. Silly woman, he thought as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"Are you..." She started asking but she immediately changed her mind. "Shivaay, I'm going to Delhi University tomorrow. And by the looks of it, I'll be travelling a lot this month."

"In that case, let's go home." Shivaay pecked her lips, held her waist, and together, they went home.

Annika hopped on their bed and lied flat.

Finally, she was home after one and half months of going across universities.

Auxilium and Oxford University had signed a contract with Imperial University. Annika was glad she didn't have to travel much as they had settled in a University in Mumbai itself. Plus, it wasn't like she would be able to travel much in a few months, she thought as she smiled. She pulled out the pregnancy test she had taken three days ago. It was, indeed, positive. Her emergency birth control did not work, but it was alright. She was ready to have his baby, and she was sure Shivaay would be happy too.

Ping

Shivaay: Honey, I'm home! Om is talking to me. I want to see you. Rescue me!

Annika grinned reading his message. Things between her and Shivaay were actually better than she had anticipated. Albeit the look of disapproval, she saw in his eyes sometimes. But, she was able to live avoiding it in Om's eyes all this while, now she had one more person. It was okay...

She danced down the stairs and she looked at Shivaay. His face immediately brightened up when he saw her. She teasingly shook her head and his smile vanished. His eyes were pleading her to let him hug her. Man, she missed his touch too. But, not so easy. Om instantaneously seemed to know his brother was distracted because on her. He turned to glare at her and she shrugged. She increased her pace as she approached them but stopped.

She felt a sharp pain on her stomach. She was unable to breathe at a point.

She tried to grab the nearest thing for support, but there was only air.

The pain got worse.

Shivaay calling out her name was the last she remembered.

Next chapter will have it all, I promise😅😌
I made some last minute changes, please don't hate me 😌