The Abyss- Ishqbaaz Fanfic by Aashi
Chapter- 25
Link to previous chapters: Read Here
Anika looked very pale, too plaid to look alive. The younger Oberois’ surrounded her but still kept their distance. Shivaay breezed in, looking disheveled. All of them got up other than Om, who was sitting next to fainted Anika. “What happened to her?” he inquired, worriedly. “We don’t know Bhaiya; she wasn’t looking quite well at the hospital and….” “Hospital, why hospital? What were you guys doing there?”
“You really don’t remember Shivaay, or are you playing with us?” the words, cold as brittle, came from Om. “Saahil’s surgery was scheduled today. We all waited, Bhabhi was waiting but you never turned up. She was so very disappointed…” Om looked up and Shivaay saw his eyes watery. “Why are you avoiding her Shivaay? What’s her fault?” Om got up and almost ran from the room and the others scattered soon afterwards.
*************** Flashback **************************
Soon after Mr. Oberoi had started ‘dating’, Om’s once beautiful mumma had started slipping away from him. Little Prinku was just a toddler and Rudra, a baby. Om felt almost an audience of his own life as everything spiraled out of control. He watched his mother slowly fell in clutches of alcohol and depression. “Mom…. Mom…” he whimpered often at nights as he feared the monsters under his bed and those outside his room; he heard whispers behind his back. He shivered as he heard his door open and hugged his blanket even closer to himself. “Get up rascal….come on little baby get up” little Om got down the bed fearfully to face his senior monsters.
They dragged him out of the room forcefully, grabbing a handful of shirt. They shoved him into the store room and kept on passing filthy comments, degrading him, humiliating him; making him slowly retreat in a shell slowly. His grades kept dropping gradually but he kept lying to everyone he was fine. His tormentors became more and more powerful as each day passed and they began to abuse him physically as well. They made him believe he was a waste, a totally unworthy person. One day his art teacher, impressed the landscape he had drawn, called him.
There Om received his console. He began to express himself in art; his fears, his scars, his pain, his love, his hatred, his perspective, himself. His teacher tried talking to him but he was so ashamed of himself and his identity that he discouraged all those advances by his teacher.
He kept lying but in the nights he began to cut himself, bled himself as he felt he deserved them. Over phone calls, Shivaay tried to make him talk to him but nothing yielded fruit, as he kept lying to himself and to others that he was fine. Back in the next semester end holiday, Shivaay caught him cutting himself, and in that moment of vulnerability, Om had burst out on Shivaay for the first time.
Om shivered as he remembered his past. “Bhaiya, aap itna mat socho. Shivaay bhaiya won’t let anything happen to bhabhi.” He heard Rudra call out in a soft voice. “Ru, I behaved absolutely inconsiderably with him.” “No O, you were worried. Talk it out with him in the morning after he has talked with Bhabhi.” Rudra persisted Om to sleep and so they did.
Shivaay saw Anika stir and wake up slowly. She groaned as she tried to get up and he sprang to action “No, Anika, don’t strain yourself.” Anika suddenly clutched his hand in vice-like grip. In strained voice she whispered, “Water”. He poured some of it in a glass and fed her the liquid as his body supported almost all her weight. “Where were you?” Anika inquired as soon as she began to gather her strength. “Shh…..” he said, trying to calm her down and trying to evade the question.
“Shivaay, mei aapse kuch puch rahi hun. And yes don’t try to be smart, I know all your tactics. Aapko batana hi hoga ki aap kahan the?” Anika persisted. “I was at work” Shivaay tried to get past her inquiry. “Lie, you are lying” she said, her eyes boring into him. He tried to leave the room but a firm voice from behind called “Shivaay, why are you avoiding me?” she came behind him with unsteady strides. “I’m not avoiding….” He said without turning back.
“Phir jhuth, you are lying again” Anika persisted. “Anika, you need rest. Go back to bed” he tried to cajole her to go back. “Tell Me” Anika said in a hard voice. Shivaay flipped back and held the upper sides of her arms “What do you want to know, huh? Why have I been avoiding you? Or why did I marry you? Or why your presence affects me so much? I can’t explain this because I blo*dy don’t know what I mean to you.” All his frustration just burst out. Anika stood numb.
He tried to leave but she called out, “then why are you avoiding me?” He moved with such intensity in his glare that she flinched back slightly but held her ground. “Don’t play with me Anika, you know why.” “No, I don’t” she replied in a steady voice. “Don’t make it difficult Anika” he tried to reason. “Don’t make what difficult, Shivaay?” “This” he shouted “this separation, again. The contract will be annulled in two weeks and you will leave me, forever.”
“Fool! You damned idiot. You thought I was staying with you for that contract? Do you take a marriage for a child’s play? You’re married to me and I stay here because of you” she said in a seething whisper “I’ll stay here because of the same. And I will stay here as I love you and if you love me, I’ll be here forever.” She declared it all in a soft voice, her eyes boring into his.
“Anika, please, you don’t need to lie. I’m sorry. I made your life hell, I was so wrong. Look, you don’t need to compromise anymore. You’ll be free, I promise.” “Okay,” she sounded like pacifying herself “okay. I understand you don’t love me, okay. I’ll leave, soon, okay?” her voice choked with a lump which arose in her throat. “Anika I…” “Leave, Shivaay….” “Anika…”
“I said LEAVE ME ALONE!!! Just go, leave.” “No! No, not before you listen to me.” The war was going on in whispers and the atmosphere felt tense. Shivaay grabbed her by arm and pulled her towards himself “I love You. I don’t know, I don’t know when I felt so, but I love you.” He tried controlling his breaths as they came out in little gasps. Unknowingly, they had reached the bed and Shivaay towered over Anika as he tried to explain himself. Suddenly they felt conscious of their physical position.
“Either now or never” Anika thought as she stared up, her lips dangerously close to his. A rush of desire raked through their whole being and while her lips parted expectantly his body seemed to act against his will as he watched her throat move as she tried to gulp in some air.
“Good” she almost whispered their lips met. No one knew who initiated it, or who lead it but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter how he lifted her from the floor, trying to get a better access to her mouth.
Their tongues danced together, speaking volumes to each other, after all those hours of silence and loneliness. Her legs snaked around his waist and her back slammed against the wardrobe; or was it the mirror? They kissed hungrily, urgently, passionately. He kissed her hard, bending her back, exposing the long, lovely line of her neck.
A flicker of sanity passed him once he saw her dilated eyes, her back pressed against the sheet. He had no idea how had they reached there. He watched the rise and fall of her br*asts as they both controlled their breathing.
“Anika, please go to sleep.” His voice could barely disguise the tremors he felt running through his body. “You need to rest.” His departure was explained completely as the bathroom door opened and closed behind him and she heard the sound of shower as it turned on.
Ranveer smiled at the cute setting of their first ‘picnic’. Actually, it was Priyanka’s idea to do something new other than strolling, singing, dancing or eating. Something she considered realistic.
So, he got her a picnic. He made her taste his handmade food on his terrace and together they watched an outrageous comedy-romance movie, during which he kept on blushing and trying to persuade her to change it, while she laughed without a bit of hesitation and flipped popcorn at him, refusing to give him the remote.
During the late night, they quietly lied on a mattress, huddled together in a blanket. The silence felt comforting and unknowingly they drifted off in a comfortable sleep. A seed of love planted quietly got planted in a heart, hidden but present.
Hi everyone. I hope you people are having a beautiful time. I’m happy to announce that here we go with the twenty fifth chapter. I thank everyone who went through all the highs and lows of the story along with me. I am grateful to those who kept motivating me, thankful to them who liked, disliked and commented. I’m indebted in them who expressed their expectations and dislikes. Thank you all for you love and time. Have a nice day
Thank You, Everyone.
By Aashi.