chapter xxxvii. Female Shivaay?

By Wednesday, Anika was tired but she loved it. She finally was back to why she had chosen event planning as a career. It left her with almost no time to talk to people, mostly because she was overexerting herself. Anika came home in the early morning hours on Thursday, Gauri only shook her head and cooked some breakfast for her sister, after which Anika was fast asleep.

When she woke up in the evening, her phone was flooded with notifications.

Vidhi: Hey Anika! I
did set up Shivaay
Sir's date and Tia wanted
a location. So?

Anika frowned, her sleepy self still trying to process. What date? She gave it more thought and finally remembered, the Friday before Om's birthday, Anika had already asked Vidhi to set up a meeting with Tia.

Anika couldn't shrug off the sudden uneasiness. She still was his matchmaker, she still had to set him up with women, despite the fact that she had a crush on him.

Anika ignored Vidhi's message for the time being, wondering what restaurant would be good and how she could immediately forget about her crush on Shivaay.

Next set of messages were from the mn himself.

Shivaay'ji': Hey, Vidhi
sent you a message
but you aren't replying
to her? I thought you
had a free day today?

Hey....

Okay, it's been three hours
since the last message, is everything okay?

I decided the location,
maybe call me if
you are still interested -.-

Wow, either you are dead
or doing that "reading
but not replying" thing
for some reason?

I came home. Gauri
said you must be sleeping...

Wow, you really can
sleep forever?

Anika grinned to herself. It was safe to say, so many messages from him did make her heart leap a little.

Oops?

His reply was almost immediate.

Ha, good morning :/

I have an event at
night so I was catching
up on all the sleep :P

So will you be coming
for the date tomorrow?
I sort of need the
company.

Why?

Well, Tia's a little...

You know her?

We were in the
same school?

Do you even see
who you set me up
with?

I have been distracted
by a lot of things.
Plus, I set this up
weeks ago.

Tia's nice but she
has a temper. Like me.

We easily get into
arguments.

Then why'd she
agree for the date?

For some reason, Shivaay didn't reply.

Oh come on!!!
Tell me.

Anika huffed when he simply didn't reply at all.

The rest were messages from her colleagues about the even tonight but Anika was still stuck on what Shivaay wasn't telling her.

---

At 7:30 pm sharp, Anika's phone rang.

As she waved Gauri a goodbye, she picked up the call, waiting for the elevator. “Where are you?” Shivaay began without a greeting, sounding distracted.

“Waiting for Superman to fly me down.”

“What?”

Anika snorted, “I am waiting for the elevator Shivaay. Calm down.”

Shivaay dropped the call and Anika looked at her phone in confusion before stepping on the elevator.

When she reached the car, Shivaay was sitting insdie, scrolling through his phone.

“Hi.” Anika mumbled. He looked good, wearing a midnight blue shirt under charcoal black vest and suit. Anika closed her eyes. Stupid, stupid crush.

“Hey.” Shivaay gave her a small smile before beginning to drive.

“So...” Anika began, looking at him with narrowed eyes, “tell me!”

“Tell you what?” Shivaay looked confused.

“What's up with you and Tia?”

Shivaay rolled his eyes. “Oh, you know, Mom wants to meet you. Again. I am pretty sure she's going to adopy you soon.”

Anika narrowed her eyes at the topic change but decided to go with the flow.

“I happen to be a charmer.”

“So much that I am pretty sure she's going to get one of our pictures framed or something.” Shivaay pressed his lips together.

“Wait, what do you mean by one of our pictures?” Anika quickly racked her brain. As far as she knew, Shivaay and her had never had a picture clicked, did they?

“The ones from Om's birthday?” Shivaay looked at her in confusion.

“Oh my God! Nobody told me they were here.”

“You've been a busy woman the last two weeks.” Shivaay took out his phone from his pocket, entering the password and handing it over. “Check my chat with Rudra, they should be there.”

Anika did so, frowning. “These are all your pictures.” Anika wasn't exactly complaining, Shivaay did look good in all of them. Couldn't tell him that now, could she?

“Nope, I am pretty sure there are our pictures.” Shivaay tried to remember.
“I mean, most of my pictures are me talking to some guests, me at the bar or me on the dance floor.”

Anika chuckled, finally managing to find their pictures from when they were dancing. “I do make you look better.” Anika softly smiled. They were dancing and grinning at each other in this particular one.

Anika kept swiping looking for more. “Oh come on, these are mostly your pictures. Was the photographer on you all night?”

“That is because Rudra had a habit of sorting pictures. Like if they are group pictures, he sends them to he family group chat. If they are Mom and Dad's, he sends them to Mom. Same goes for Bade Papa and Badi Maa. I get my own pictures. Om gets his.”

“Wow, that's some dedication.”

Anika stopped swiping and went to the media section, beginning to click on all pictures she could find of herself, with Shivaay of course. That was, until she spotted a more recent picture of hers.

“Wait what is this?”

Shivaay stopped the car at the traffic signal, looking at his phone curiously. “What?”

Oh, that photo.

“I think that's your sister's doing.” Shivaay frowned. “She apparently came home while we were asleep, clicked pictures and sent it to Om, I guess. Om did shout at Rudra about not respecting his privacy so I guess Rudra sent themnto himself. Then, he proceeded to show them to everyone. If he could, he probably would have printed posters with my Mom and displayed them all over the house.”

Anika was flustered but smiled nonetheless. “It's cute though.”

Shivaay started at her with an amused smile. “Maybe it is.”

When Anika was done sending the pictures to herself, she looked at Shivaay with crossed hands. “Are you telling me what's the deal with you and Tia or what?”

Shivaay sighed. “Well, she happens to be my first girlfriend? Also my first kiss?” Shivaay bit his lip, looking at her awkwardly. The light turned green and he started driving again.

Anika's eyes widened as she looked at him incredulously. “No way!”

Shivaay shrugged. They were at the restaurant he chose already.

“Wait so is this, like the two of you trying to rekindle lost romance?” Anika raised an eyebrow. She was not going to lie, that hurt.

“No!” Shivaay made a face. “Besides you were the one who chose Tia.”

“I didn't know this history.”

“Anika, Tia and I dated when we were in seventh grade. It was good, for like four days. We got into a relationship out of stupid school-hierarchy. Like the coolest guy, the coolest girl. That sort of thing.” Shivaay explained, getting out of the car.

Anika frowned to herself. Way to torture yourself Anika. Who even accompanies their crush on dates with other women?

Anika got out as well, watching as Shivaay gave the valet the car keys.

“So why did you say you wanted some company around? You guys know each other already.”

Instead of directly going inside the restaurant, Shivaay pulled Anika to the side, taking a deep breath. Anika watched him, almost amused.

“Wait!” Anika suddenly grinned. “You are scared of her!”

Shivaay looked at her with a weirded-out look. “What makes you think that?”

“Oh come on, everything about your behavior tonight agrees with this theory.”

Shivaay sighed. “I am not scared of her, I am just bothered that she isn't scared of me.”

“I am not scared of you either?” Anika provided, wriggling her eyebrows.

“Oh come on, it's different with you.” Shivaay might have said that casually but the romantic in Anika, the devil sitting on her shoulder, giggled to itself.

“Like when I get angry at people, they usually get scared, or bothered.” Shivaay started explaining. “Now, I simply have never gotten angry at you.” Shivaay shrugged. “But with Tia, she infuriated me a lot and I got angry but she got even more angry in turn?” Shivaay looked at her, hoping she understood.

“So she is basically female Shivaay?” Anika furrowed her brows. Great, so now Shivaay was on a date with the perfect person for him?

“No.” Shivaay scrunched his nose. “She's also into super weird stuff. Like when we were dating she studied my birth chart and stuff and last I heard she was into reiki and universal energies and what not.”

“So all I am hearing is, reasons that you don't like her? Why are you having a date with her then?”

“Because you set it up! Cancelling would not look good.” Shivaay explained. “Plus how bad could a date with an ex be?”

Anika rolled her eyes. “Of course, I think it'll be great. You are going to get engaged and married by midnight.”

Anika moved to the door of the restaurant, spotting Tia in a white off-shoulder body-con dress. “She's hot.”

It was Shivaay's turn to roll his eyes. “Want me to talk to her for you?”

Anika grinned. “Please do.”

---

Shivaay and Tia were sitting at a booth on the far end of the restaurant. Anika had managed to find a spot at the bar where she could look at them inconspicuously.

Shivaay had greeted Tia quite charmingly andnthey had laughed at something Tia said before sitting down.

“Honestly Shivaay, that call from your assistant was very odd. Maybe try asking women out yourself?”

Shivaay smiled awkwardly. “Well, it's mostly because I have been busy but I really wanted to meet and maybe catch-up?”

Tia smiled. “Well, the flowers were a nice touch. I was quite surprised you were interested.”

“Mom wants me to get married so instead of having her set me up with women, I have been trying to do it myself.”

At that, Shivaay's eyes immediately went to that actual person who was doing most of this for him. She was engaged in a conversation with the bartender. Poor chap.

“I am sorry I couldn't attend Om's birthday last week. I was in Kerala for this retreat.”

Shivaay smiled at the waiter that had just come over. Wow, this was going to be one long date.

---

Shivaay smiled as Tia excused herself, finally taking a deep breath. She was more calm now and friendly.

He looked up to see Anika busy on her phone. Almost immediately, he got a text.

Weird woman: So?

What?

How's it going?

It's great, I guess.

---

Anika looked up to see Shivaay shrugging.

Good for you.

Before she could say anything, her phone rang.

Varun.

They had talked and Anika had explained a little bit of it to him, definitely leaving out the part where she realised she had a crush on Shivaay. Anika picked the call.

“Hey Anika.” She could barely hear his voice. She looked the screen again. Barely any network.

“Hey, give me a second.”Anika took her glass in hand and jumped off the stool, smiling at the bartender. “I'll be back?”

“You will have to pay.” He answered with a small smile.

Anika groaned, “You see that man over there?” She pointed towards Shivaay

“I do and I know he's here for dinner with that other lady.”

“Yeah, I know, I set them up. If I don't come back, just ask him where Anika is. I am sure he'd love to see me get arrested for drinking unpaid wine.”

“Oh come on–”

Anika turned around, her wine glass in hand, only to bump into someone. Anika groaned.

She looked at the red wine over her hand and the spot it made on someone else's very white dress.

Anika knew who it was without even looking up. Shit

---

I hope you guys liked this update? :P

So, after the last update, Kripa and I discussed and maybe we should have a dumber, dumbest contest with Shivaay and Anika.

Basically, after every update, I'll ask Shivaay or Anika? You guys have to say which on of the two was more dumb in that particular update. I am pretty sure these two goofs would love to win that ;)

So,

Shivaay or Anika?

Don't forget to vote, comment, whatever whatever. Can't wait to hear what you guys want to say.

BlackManiacx