I would advise you to read the character sketch to know the mentioned characters if you haven't :)

Annika snuggled slowly and moved on the flat surface... wait, flat surface? But she was too sleepy to think.

Tring tring... tring tring...

Who was calling her that early! She attended the call without even opening her eyes. "Anni, are you sleeping?" she heard Lady Hitler ask in a stern tone.

"What else do people do at wee hours Mumma!"

"Wee hours? Which world are you in? It is 8:45! I know you are tired, but you are not at home. What will the Oberois think! Where are you now?"

Annika looked around properly and answered, "Shivaay's bed *yawns*..."

"WHAT? I KNOW YOU BOTH ARE GETTING MARRIED, BUT YOU DON'T DO SUCH THINGS WITH THE FAMILY AROUND!!! *breathes in* Bhagwan!  I am forward thinking, so this is alright Annika. But just tell me one thing, how can you do it with a mere stranger Annika? Shivaay is no less than one to you. I never..."

"Whoa whoa Mumma, stop right there. I. did. not. have. sex. with. Shivaay." Annika gritted her teeth, sleep long gone, her Mumma knew no limit! "I slept on the lawn chair and I don't know how I got here! In fact, I guessed this was Shivaay's room because of his picture hung up the wall. So please..."

Annika looked up to see Shivaay with two mugs, standing there near the door, ready to burst out laughing. She shook her head helplessly with a tinge of crimson settling on her cheeks as Amala went on about how relieved she was. Shivaay came and kept the mug of espresso on the side table and left.

"Tvameva mata cha, pita tvameva

Tvameva bandu cha, sakhaa tvameva

Tvameva Vidya, Dravinam tvameva

Tvameva sarvam mama deva deva"

Gauri sang her favorite mantra on Dadi's insistence to her Shankar Ji's murti, which made Omkara descend the stairs mesmerized by her sweet, honey-like voice. It spread a kind of tranquility inside him. He stood transfixed at the stairs as Gauri's gaze turned in his direction. She gave the prashad to Dadi and walked in his direction. Her eyelashes batted a little quicker than usual as she tried not to look at him.

"Prashad" She whispered as she felt her voice betray her high time. His hands did not come forward and that made her look up to find him gazing at her lost, neither was an iota of movement seen in Omkara except his short breathings, nor did his eyes divert. He stood there, resembling a sculpture of his, still. Gauri's teenage self couldn't help but yelp in excitement. The Omkara Singh Oberoi was looking at her, wonderstruck! But then, there was this 22 year old side of Gauri that smirked to herself, he was the same man who didn't spare a glance at her four years ago, look at him now!

"Ahem ahem, O, Gauri di is giving you prashad!" Rudra chuckled standing next to Bhavya, who yet again, threw a stare at him. "Yeah yeah Bhavya, I butcher all the nice moments, publish it on Vogue if you want! But I don't want anyone else look at the Groom's brother ogling the Bride's sister!" Rudra muttered.

"Why would someone publish it on VOGUE? You dumb?" Bhavya rolled her eyes, well, even if Ri di and O Bhaiya were a treat to watch, Rudra did make sense! What was with the world today though, cause RUDRA made SENSE!

Though Shivaay had huge respect for his to be mother in law, he cursed under his breath. Did she have to talk about Anika and Shivaay under the sheets? Did he have to hear that!? Because, Annika was sitting right across the table hogging in some sandwiches and damn she was sexy. With her over-sized shirt and leggings, she was every man's dreams! Alright, accepted that wasn't the most sexiest attire, but she could be wearing a potato sack for all Shivaay cared! Shivaay again processed all of these thoughts and sighed, Om was right! Annika drove him crazy and he has to accept that. He looked up to see Annika lick the milkshake off her oh-so-kissable lips.

NO!

Distraction, Shivaay needed some distraction. Work! That couch near Shivaay's table with Annika... NO! Something else, something else. Om with a haircut, Rudra talking like Janice, Tej as a pole dancer! That did it. The orange juice squirt out his nostrils as he suppressed the laughter.

"You alright there Shivaay?" Tej asked with utmost concern and was utmost flabbergasted when Shivaay looked at him and burst out laughing!

The girls had left and Shivaay spent the whole day avoiding Tej. Tej came to Shivaay's cabin to discuss their silver mine but Shivaay cooked up a conference call at the nth moment and pretended he was busy. He had to avoid his Bade Papa, hadn't he! But Shivaay couldn't help, but laugh at the mere thought of it. He slowly got up and stood next to the window sill in his cabin. The busy city seemed afar from the 30th floor. He wondered what Annika was up to. As if she'd read his thoughts, Annika called.

"Shivaay, I was wondering if Black platinum is too informal for an engagement ring," She said hurriedly.

And all Shivaay could say was 'huh'.

"Well, we were going through the rings for you and I really loved this black platinum one. It was so... you! But yeah, Vyjay Ma, Mumma, Vilashi Ma and Choti ma think it's not suitable for an engagement ring. What're your thoughts?" Annika explained.

The engagement of course!

It was on Sunday and he had to get her a ring. How could he forget? And if Annika was personally selecting one for him then he should too. Which Jeweler should he go to? He should probably call Mr. Kota for appointment. Was it too late? Oh, what if he didn't find...

"Urmm... Shivaay?" Annika broke his chain of thoughts. He asked her to go with her gut and cut the call. He immediately changed the younger Oberoi's whatsapp group to 'PROBLEM'. In no time, the appointment for the next day was fixed.

Around unearthly hours of 6 in the morning, Rudra was woken up and they went on a hour's drive to the Kota's residence. He was extremely jealous of Prinku who was sleeping peacefully at home as her exams were recently over. So the princess must get her lost sleep not him, he said grumpily. Omkara was driving as Shivaay was going through different cuts of diamonds and composition of platinum rings and something more nerdy. Rudra admired and despised his brother's urge to know everything before venturing into something. Homework was good for business deals, but who does to buy an engagement ring?

"Do you have different cuts Mr. Kota? I want to see one in every cut, just in case you know. Ahh... I think Marquise cut suits Annika the best. Classy but not in accord to the norm. Don't you think Om? (not giving him a moment to answer) I would like to look at all the rings." Shivaay went on.

Om looked to his side to find Rudra sleeping with his head facing up. For once, Om did not feel like waking Rudy up cause he felt himself droopy. Omkara witnessed Shivaay restless, and did not remember when his brother was like this before. His eye caught on these huge pair of long diamond jhumka with an emerald stone in the middle, which immediately reminded him of Gauri. He had to get this to her ears, they would be adorned by this beautiful piece adding divinity in her demure appearance. But how? A thought struck him as he pulled out his phone.

Omkara, with a little assistance of now awake Rudra were packing few pieces while Shivaay still in indecision. He conjured up an Annika in front of him and pretended to pull out the ring, and none of it felt right. He hesitantly looked at Mr. Kota who was still in amusement to see Shivaay like this and asked, "Mr. Kota, is it too late to have a custom made ring? " He asked.

Mr. Kota shook his head with a smile and made some calls. Shivaay now sat and designed the whole ring by scratch as Rudra and Omkara looked at each other famished. It was 12:30 pm, and Rudra muttered curses at Om for refusing Mrs. Kota's request to eat breakfast at eight stating they would leave for breakfast that Dadi had cooked. They had to settle for the snacks which of course were the ones Rudy ate on his cheat day and today wasn't one. Above that, he was made to call she-Dracula to know his Annika bhabhi's ring size. To say Rudra was grouchy was an understatement.

Vyjaynthi got to know the whole situation through Bhavya and made a call to Shivaay inviting them for an early lunch as their house was nearer than the Oberoi mansion. Once again, the three brothers went in the mansion, correction, more of a palace to be greeted by all the older ladies of the Advani's along with Piya and Malvika. While Rudra secretly danced at the absence of Babi, ahem he meant Bhavya, while the two others were crest fallen as their beaus weren't there.

They were seated in the huge dining hall of the Advani. While Amala lead Shivaay to a seat, Vilashi(Gauri's mother) lead Om and Reena (Bhavya's mother) lead Rudra to their respective seats. In front of each of them were all their favorite dishes and then came a tall glass of cold coffee for Shivaay, Tender coconut and mint for Om and protein shake for Rudy. Reena looked at Rudy and said "Sorry Rudra beta, we couldn't make baked sweet potatoes for you as none were at home. But next time, I'll make sure to make you that." Reena smiled, to which Rudra uttered a small 'that's okay' and wondered, it was impossible to think that the she-Dracula was actually born from this sweet lady. His doubts of Bhavya being adopted was further confirmed after each interaction with every Advanis. They were a bunch of different fruits amongst which she was karela he thought.

"So, what are your plans for today?" Vyjaynthi asked from the head of the table, after supervising all the maids.

Omkara on cue answered, "Shivaay as usual would head to office. I have to meet the caterers in the evening for a sample taste test for the engagement. Rudra would probably sleep the rest of the day." making the ladies chuckle at Rudy while his mouth went on a perfect 'O'. Before Rudy could answer, his eyes fell on Malvika's bangle which had a picture of Sanjay on it. "Wah Bhabhi, you have Sanjay bhaiya's picture in your hands huh? Is it to symbolize he is under your clutch?" He laughed at his own little what you can call a joke as well, Shivaay thanked the stars that the Advani's took it positively and laughed.

Malvika answered with a chuckle, "I wish I could say that, but Sanjay gave it to me so that I would look at it all the time and the baby would be just like him!" she rolled her eyes.

"In that case Bhabhi, you should have my picture too, it would be awesome to have a baby as smart as me!" he said grinning to which a voice full of disgust said "Narcissist" Rudra's grin slowly disappeared as he saw Bhavya who entered in her workout clothes, dripping in sweat. Honestly, her comment didn't catch Rudra's attention as much as her biceps did.

Om looked up at all the Advani ladies faces in fury when they were looking at Bhavya for her comment. He admired how she coolly came and had a glass of water after acknowledging these two and completely ignoring Rudra. She then looked at Rudra in pure despise and said, "Come to the parking after you finish, we have to meet Remo asap." And left with a goodbye before Rudra could answer. After that, the dining hall was quieter.

Omkara was beyond excited when Vilashi asked him if he could stay for a while and help Gauri and Vikram with the decoration because his artistic vision would help them a lot. Shivaay too was on the same boat when Amala had asked if he could drop her at Annika's office on his way to his. And Rudra sat along with Bhavya in the passenger seat miffed and glaring at her occasionally.

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