xxvii. One Trip to the Mall

To say Om and Gauri were surprised would be an understatement. When they had reached the apartmental society that housed the Trivedi sisters, Om had immediately recognized what happened to be his brother's favourite car.

To address that question, he was currently standing at the door of Anika's room. Shivaay was sleeping at the head of the bed, Anika at the foot. Shivaay's phone was ringing but he had apparently put it on silent (which he has never done before, as a matter of fact), so Om could make out the phone regularly flashing.

“What happened here?” Gauri frowned.

“You said something about Anika being scared of the storm. Maybe...” Om left it open-ended. But then again, didn't Shivaay and Anika dislike each other?

Gauri shook her head and walked to Anika, lightly tapping her shoulder. “Di, utho.”

Of course that wouldn't have worked on Anika but Shivaay, despite Gauri's best efforts opened his eyes and sat up, slightly dazed.

“Good morning?” Om asked to which Shivaay frowned.

“Oh, you're back. How was your trip?”

“It was amazing actually but what exactly are you doing here in Anika's room?”

Shivaay took a second to rpocess that and sighed. “Mom called last night and she was absolutely not going to let me come home because,” Shivaay snorted, “I was supposed to spend time with my girlfriend. She asked me to sleep in her room and herself went to Gauri's but came back looking for a book or something. We got talking, she's scared of thunderstorms so...” Shivaay ended with a hint of a fond smile.

“Thank you,” Gauri smiled at him. “Di is actually pretty scared.”

Shivaay nodded. He looked for his phone and his eyes widened when he noticed so many missed calls.

“Who is it?” Om asked.

“Rudra.” Shivaay mumbled, dialling to Rudra.

As Shivaay got up and walked outside to talk to his younger brother, Om followed suit leaving Gauri to her own devices. She violently shook Anika this time, who woke up with a start.

“What the hell?”

“Di, congratulations.” Gauri spoke as seriously as she could.

“For?” Anika looked at her in confusion.

“For the first time, I found a man in your bed.”

Anika's eyes widened. “Who the fuck?” she looked around before staring at Gauri again.

“Shivaay Bhaiya.” Gauri laughed making Anika sigh.

“I hate you.”

---

After that, neither Shivaay nor Anika really divulged anyone into what exactly happened that night. It was like their little secret, that maybe, just maybe, they might not 'hate' each other anymore.

It was Om's birthday next Friday and the foundation launch party on Saturday.

So, come Monday, Anika had taken a leave from her office for the entire week owing to the large set of responsibilities Pinky and Janhavi seemed to have handed her completely. Anika felt bad about it, especially when truely, it should have been Gauri looking after the arrangements. If it was an Oberoi tradition, Gauri was rightfully a part of the family, not Anika.

However, neither her sister nor Shivaay mentioned this at all and when Anika finally told Gauri about this fear, Gauri laughed. “You are a planner, this is your job. Not everything is sentimental.”

Now, Anika would snort whenever Pinky Aunty just looked at her with so much pride. Not everything is sentimental, my foot. Anika had began spending almost her entire day at the Oberoi Mansion, going over the food, the guest lists, the decoration and even the playlist. The Oberois' obsession with details and Anika's obsession with pleasing her clients seemed to have put Anika under a lot of stress.

It was on Friday evening that Anika finally let herself breathe. Most of the stuff was done, the only ones left were things that had to be done the next day. When she sat down on the lunch table with Rudra, Dadi, Pinky and Shivaay, Anika was all smiles.

They were excitedly talking about the little surprise they, along with Gauri, had planned for Om. Toying mindlessly with her phone, she looked up when her name was being called.

“Anika, are you and Shivaay going to be colour-coordinated?” Pinky looked at them hopefully.

“Mom, I told you, we are not comfortable with declaring our relationship out in the world yet. She is just the event planner this time.” Shivaay looked at Anika, waiting for her to agree. Except, Anika was off on a completely different tangent. In all of this, she had completely forgotten to buy or even put together an outfit for the very high-class party that she had planned.

“Anika?” Shivaay lightly nudged her feet which brought her out of the state of panic she was steadily dissolving in.

“Yes?” She asked, smiling too brightly.

“Were you even listening?” Shivaay asked, sensing her state of panic.

“Uh...” she quickly racked her brain and sighed, “Yes. There is going to be media coverage and my parents don't know about us and I want to personally tell them, whenever we are ready. Them finding out through gossip tabloids is a terrible idea.” Anika said. She and Shivaay had already planned this perfectly.

She quickly ate and got up, mumbling about how there was so much left to do and headed to the kitchen to put her plate in the sink. Shivaay looked around, his family was busy talking anyway. Pushing his chair backward, he silently sneaked into the kitchen.

Anika had just turned, only to crash into Shivaay. “Oh, hi!”

“What is it?” Shivaay looked at her curiously.

“Oh, not a big deal.” Anika smiled. “I just have to go out. I have some work. I'll be back in a few hours.”

“Come on Anika, you are clearly tensed.” Shivaay looked at her earnestly.

“Remember how I told Pinky Aunty that I already had an outfit. I didn't, I only told that so that she doesn't unnecessarily buys anything for me. It completely slipped my mind and now I have nothing appropriate for my party. The closest I have come to wearing a gown was when I was playing some sort of villager in our medieval-themed drama in 8th grade. So I'll have to go shopping. Gauri has probably bought it long ago, she even has a few already. Her size doesn't fit me.”

“Come on, I'll drive you.” Shivaay turned around already checking if he had his phone and wallet.

Anika frowned and rushed to stnd in front of him. “Why would you come with me? What do you know about gowns?”

Shivaay sighed. “You need help. You can't ask Mom. Gauri has been given the task of distracting Om and I am not letting you ruin that. We'll just choose something decent enough. Come on, we are short of time.”

Anika sighed. He did have a point. Guess she'd have to take Shivaay Singh Oberoi on gown-shopping.

---

Currently, standing in one of the many isles of Sapna's rental gowns, Shivaay knew this might be the most difficult shopping trip he has ever taken, only barely overtaking that one horrible time Rudra had been obsessed with floral shirts.

Anika had decided to phone a friend from her office to help her choose the correct gown for the event.

Instead Shruti had discarded all options that Shivaay and Anika had taken almost ninety minutes to shortlist.

“Anika, you just said it's a high-society party. You need to look modest but hot.”

Shivaay had simply rolled his eyes. He only sent a message to Anika, despite standing right in front of her lest Shruti should hear him and gossip around Anika's office.

Shivaay 'ji': Please shop for a modest but hot dress soon enough. I understand that finding the right dress is important but...

Shivaay 'ji': Should have done that earlier. Anyway, I am going to go out.

Anika: Where?

Shivaay 'ji': Anywhere but here where Sapna is staring at me like she might have me wear a gown next :)

Anika only rolled her eyes at that despite her face threatening to break into a smile.

It was twenty-five minutes later that Anika opened the door to Shivaay's car looking very happy. “I am not a fan of gowns but mine might just be too good.”

---

I am sorry that the updates are slow. Life's just screwed at times :)