a push forward

The lunch after Ayaan's sudden arrival was as exciting as it had been boring before he came. After introducing him to her fiancé, Annika sat down with a radiant smile on her face. She had met Ayaan Malhotra in the London School of Economics, where they had both been doing their MBA. Sharing the same homeland had gotten them quite close over the last couple of years. While Annika had returned after her convocation, Ayaan had stayed on for a job. He was back now for a small holiday in Mumbai. He had gone to Annika's house a while back to meet her, and there Gauri had informed him that she was on a date with her fiancé. As much as Ayaan didn't want to intrude, he thought this was the perfect opportunity to get to meet Shivaay. Annika was more than happy he had shown up. He was naturally charismatic and with him, conversation between the three had flowed naturally.

After returning back home, she narrated the whole thing to Gauri, who had sat waiting in Annika's room knowing she would have some juicy details to share.

"Anni, you realize perfect Ayaan's arrival is for our plan, right?" Gauri said excitedly. Annika looked on in confusion.

"What does Ayaan have to do with anything?" She asked dumbly. Gauri slapped her forehead.

"Buddhu, everyone knows—the best way to get a reaction out of a man is to make him jealous! Ayaan can be your way of making Shivaay jiju jealous!"

"No," Annika frowned. "I'm not using Ayaan as a pawn. And anyway, he's just my best friend. Why would Shivaay be jealous of him?"

Gauri rolled her eyes.

"Gosh, why are you being so impossible? Ayaan might just be your best friend but don't forget, he did like you at one point." This was true. When they had initially met Ayaan had confessed to having a crush on her, but Annika had been only interested in friendship with him. He hadn't taken it to heart, that gem of a guy.

"That doesn't matter! He had a tiny crush on me a long time back."

"Whatever it is, Shivaay jiju needs to know that Ayaan can be, you know, a potential competition." When Annika was about to interrupt, she continued— "We know he's not a competition, but Shivaay jiju needs to believe otherwise."

"I don't think any of this will work," Annika sighed. "Shivaay is as emotionless as that table over there or something. He will not react to anything."

"All we can do is try, right?" Gauri urged. "And if it makes you feel better, we'll indulge Ayaan in the plan. So he doesn't have to be a pawn or anything since he won't be kept in the dark."

Annika thought about it for a while. She was still apprehensive about the whole thing because trying to make your man jealous was such a stupid and cliched thing to do. But she had to agree with Gauri, it was also the best way to get a reaction and maybe finally see some sort of reciprocation of feelings from Shivaay. And if the whole thing failed...well, at least they had tried.

"Fine," Annika finally relented, getting up from the bed to go make some tea. She turned at the doorway. "I'm leaving this all up to you but remember—koi raita mat phailana."

"Have some trust on me, Anni!" Gauri called out, her brain already whirring with plans. "Iss baar toh Shivaay jiju will definitely be affected!"

--

Ayaan had thankfully agreed to this whole plan without needing much conviction. In fact, he too wanted his best friend to have the kind of fairy tale she had always wanted and was more than willing to help her in getting one. Hence, the next plan of action had actually been his idea. It was a simple plan. Inviting Shivaay and Annika to his rented apartment for dinner, and maybe act a little cozier towards Annika than necessary. 

"Are you guys coming?" Ayaan asked Annika as she picked up his phone.

"Yes," She replied, applying nail paint with the phone on speaker. "But we might be a little late because Shivaay said he has a meeting till 8."

"Awesome. Get ready, Miss Ahuja, to have your fiancé become jealous under the influence of Ayaan Malhotra!"

Annika rolled her eyes.

"I still don't think any of this will work, Ayaan, but do what you must."

--

Ayaan's temporary apartment was on the top floor of a lavish building in Mumbai. Shivaay and Annika stood in front of the door after ringing the bell, looking at each other and giving an awkward smile. She was wearing a cobalt blue dress that ended above her knees and coincidentally it matched the shade of the shirt Shivaay was wearing under his white suit. He looked absolutely gorgeous. For the first time, Annika had complimented him with a "You look nice" while getting into the car. Shivaay had looked a little taken aback but had smiled with a "you too". 

Ayaan took his own time in opening the door, and when he did, he appeared wearing an apron over his casuals. Inviting them aside, he gave Annika a tight hug and noticed Shivaay looking away awkwardly in response.

"So glad you could make it," He told Shivaay while shaking his hand. They settled down in the living room. Shivaay took one of the single couches while Annika and Ayaan took one of the larger ones, Ayaan sitting closer to her than necessary and draping an arm behind her on the couch.

"You were cooking?" Annika asked. She turned to Shivaay. "Ayaan cooks delicious food. He would cook Indian dishes for me whenever I was homesick, in London."

"That's nice," Shivaay said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Shivaay also loves to cook," Annika offered to Ayaan.

"Oh?" Ayaan raised his eyebrows. "So tell me, what all dishes has your fiancé cooked for you till now?" He asked with a nudge on her shoulders. Annika glanced up at Shivaay at the question, who looked at least a little bit guilty.

"Nothing yet," Annika replied nonchalantly. "I mean, he just hasn't had the opportunity yet."

"Ah, that's sad," Ayaan clicked his tongue. "Anyway, I just need 5 more minutes to finish preparing dinner. Please excuse me." He got up and moved to the kitchen, leaving Annika and Shivaay alone. Shivaay cleared his throat.

"You should come over to Oberoi Mansion this Sunday," He said, making Annika look up in surprise. "I can cook lunch for you. I mean, if you want..." He trailed off, looking away embarrassed.

"Okay," Annika replied softly. Her face was threatening to break into a smile.

"So, how long have you and Ayaan known each other?" Shivaay asked as a way of starting a conversation, but there was a hint of something else in his tone.

"2 years," Annika smiled. "It hasn't been very long but he's probably my closest friend after Gauri." Shivaay nodded.

"Pity he couldn't come for our engagement," He said. Although it sounded like a normal statement, it seemed like has mocking this 'best-friendship' of theirs.

"He had a really important deal to work on." And then—"You should understand. I'm sure you'd miss anything for an important deal as well."

Shivaay frowned.

"That's not true," He sounded a little offended. "I know my priorities." Annika didn't reply, and thankfully Ayaan returned by then. He had abandoned the apron.

"What's up?" He asked, taking his previous position beside Annika. Without waiting for a reply, he continued. "Mr. Oberoi, you know, you're a very lucky man."

"Why so?"

"Because you have Annika, of course!" Ayaan said, giving Annika a side-hug. His words were genuine. "She's the best woman anyone could ever find."

Annika looked down shyly, while Shivaay only gave a small smile.

"You know," Ayaan continued, "I had a huge crush on Annika when we first met. But this girl friendzone me real bad." Annika hit his arm admonishingly while Shivaay raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What," Ayaan exclaimed with a laugh, rubbing the part she had hit. "You know it's true!" Annika only rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," He started, "Tell me, Mr. Oberoi. What do you think about our Annika so far?"

Shivaay was a little disoriented by the sudden question.

"Think?"

"You know," Ayaan shrugged. "You like her, you find her annoying, you think she'll be a good life-partner—which one is it?"

"Uh," Shivaay fumbled. "I don't know. I don't think we know each other that well yet."

"But it's been more than a month since you've met, right?" Ayaan asked quizzically, fully knowing that it was. "You must have something to say about her."

"Don't embarrass him like that, Ayaan," Annika whispered to him through gritted teeth. He ignored her and waited for Shivaay's answer.

"Annika is a wonderful person," Shivaay finally said in a firm tone, making Annika look up in surprise, "And I'm really looking forward to getting to know her better. We have our whole lives ahead of us, after all." Having said that, Shivaay looked into Annika's eyes like she was the only person who existed in the world at this moment. She had to look away due to the intensity of his gaze, her heart fluttering. 

The rest of the night passed away amiably. Ayaan spared making Shivaay any more uncomfortable, although he did keep reiterating how close he and Annika were and stayed as near to her as he possibly could without having Shivaay punch his nose. When it was time for them to leave, Ayaan was about to give Annika a hug again, but Shivaay very casually came to stand in between them before he could.

"Thank you for the dinner, Ayaan," He said, putting forward his hand for Ayaan to shake. "Annika and I had a lovely time." Ayaan smiled and shook his head knowingly, Shivaay's subtle actions to keep Annika at arm's length from him not escaping his eyes. Annika, oblivious as she was, blushed for a different reason—how Shivaay had spoken for the both of them. Annika and I had a lovely time. For some reason, it made her stomach feel all fuzzy.

"Pleasure was all mine," Ayaan told Shivaay. As they were about to leave, he threw a discreet wink at Annika. Regardless of whether his best friend believed it or not, Ayaan knew that Shivaay Singh Oberoi wasn't as indifferent to Annika as she thought he was.