It was raining , Shivaay  was standing near the glass wall of his office , looking outside lost in his thoughts . His thoughts, which were prominently ruled by certain Miss Anika Randhawa these days . he was still trying to figure out his feelings for her .

Whole world knew him as a detached cold man . That was because he did not make a public display of his possessive side . A fiercely possessive side . This particular emotion was reserved for people VERY close to his heart .  he was aware that he never felt this possessiveness for any of the woman he had dated over the years . Passion yes , but not an iota of intent to make a place for them in his life . In fact they usually become unbearable after 3-4 months . Some of them were from business circle , with an intelligence to match their looks . Yet he never 'bonded' with anyone . He was a man with scandalous past and lots of emotional baggage . In order to bond with someone you have to relate with them , which he never could . Then WHY Anika? Why he feels at home in her presence ? She feels known , like a part of himself . Maybe it is because she has lived a life which other people have only pity about , just like he has lived a life which other people only gossip about . These other people don't understand how it actually feels to be in that situation .

Somewhere between avoiding him while staying in Oberoi mansion and being friends with him , she evoked that possessiveness in him for herself . And the fact that Anika is an angelic beauty , inside and out, did not help the matter . Four years back , her oval face with doe like brown eyes , long black tresses and her alluring figure had captured his attention on the day of Priyanka's wedding itself , where she had looked splendid in her red and yellow lehenga choli . But when he came to know about her background and her equation with Ranveer jiju , the Oberoi in him , the son and the brother who had suffered all his life , came to fore And in anger he never saw anything but faults in her . He had missed looking at the actual her  for past 4 years because of his bitter anger towards life , towards His Father Shakti Singh . Now that he thinks of it, he was more blind than angry . How could have he not noticed such a beautiful person ? Of course she too did not give him much chance to notice herself either ,  by avoiding him and disappearing from the room where he was present at the first given opportunity . He knew about her efforts to dodge him , Priyanka has admonished him multiple times for scaring her sweet sister-in-law .

 It was not the feeling , but the intensity of it that made him stop and think . This is certainly a record time in Shivaay Singh Oberoi's universe , in which he has developed feelings of this magnitude for someone . He did not know how it started but these days he notices everything about Anika . From the color of her dresses to her different hair styles . From her non stop chatter to her heart warming smiles . The way she becomes a kid while playing with the twins to the way she becomes a matron when dealing with Dadi . The way she is still scared of his temper bouts to the way her huge expressive eyes twinkle when he praises her cooking .

His lips curved into a smile at these thoughts and he started putting on his coat . It was getting dark outside , and his heart could not wait to go home !!!!!!! 

.............x...................

In the other part of the city , Anika found out that she was late for registration for next exam slot by a few days . Had it been only her involved in decision making , she would have happily gone back home without another thought and continued her life with her angels.  But with Shivaay Singh Oberoi breathing down her neck to appear for exams , she reluctantly registered for the next slot , some seven months away . 'Trust Shivaay Singh Oberoi to give her a 'salary' to do something and then expect her to not do it' she chuckled . But in her heart she knew that Shivaay was doing all this for her own good . He knows the value of a professional degree and just wants to help shape her career . Instead of making excuses , she should learn a thing or two from him about dedication and hardwork . She brightened up at the thought that he is looking out for her too , just like he does for his family . He is a very good friend ,  she agreed in her heart.

While she was waiting at the bus stop for her ride home , it suddenly started raining . She was not equipped to deal with this sudden change in weather and got totally drenched,  but welcomed this unexpected gesture of mother nature with a smile on her lips.  With sudden flooding on the roads , her bus got delayed too . By the time she reached home, it was Shivaay's time to arrive back too , and they both entered the premises of the mansion at the same time . Him in his car and she on foot . And when Shivaay saw a wet and shivering Anika walking towards him ,  he could not decide whether to scold her for not taking a car with her , or to keep staring at the bewitching sight that she was making . So he settled on asking her to go and change immediately while his eyes kept following her until she disappeared from his vision .

Then it suddenly struck him 'Did she travel in a public transport LOOKING LIKE THIS?????'. And the very thought was enough to make Shivaay Singh Oberoi's blood boil .

As Anika came smiling to the living room after changing and started explaining what happened at the institute , Shivaay stopped her .

SHIVAAY : 'Do you want me to fire both the drivers ?' 

he asked instead .

ANIKA : 'Ji ? Fire? Why would I want that ?' 

she asked confused .

SHIVAAY : 'Because Dadi does not go out these days , Adit and Adya can not go out at this age and I prefer to drive myself . So who's left to use cars and drivers ? ' 

he questioned .

ANIKA : 'I...Don't...Know' she replied slowly, trying to make sense of this pop quiz.

Shivaay wanted to bang his head into something . Did he think she is intelligent just this afternoon?  Point to rethink on,  but later .

SHIVAAY : 'ANIKA think, WHO will use these drivers?' 

he tried one more time .

ANIKA : 'How do I know?' 

 now Anika could not contain the information inside any more. 

ANIKA :  'But you know I went to the institute office today, and guess what, no seat was available for the next schedule of exams, so I registered for the one seven months later. And did you see how much it rained today, quite a downpour, but I looove rains and it was SOOO much fun'

 she completed in one single breath .

SHIVAAY (self thought) : 'FUN????? FOR WHOM??? PUBLIC OUT THERE???' he yelled in his mind.

SHIVAAY : 'YOU, you are supposed to take the car and driver when going out' 

 controlling the urge to shout, he answered his previous question himself. 

ANIKA : 'Oh ! But why ? I am used to travelling in buses . In fact I have all the routes and route numbers by heart'  

she smiled smugly. 

SHIVAAY : 'From now on you'll go out with a car and a driver. Is that clear?' 

shivaay said authoritatively .

ANIKA : 'See Shivaay , I don't want to spoil my habits. I know right now I am living here and you feel responsible for me. But I am not going to live here forever. And I will have to travel in public transport then. So I don't want to use cars and drivers' 

Anika put her foot down , and missed the clouds of anger that were gathering in Shivaay's eyes each passing second .

SHIVAAY : 'MOHAN, COME HERE' 

yelled a furious shivaay as soon as anika finished speaking .

As the driver came rushing to his master,  Shivaay announced 

SHIVAAY : 'You and Rakesh , come to office tomorrow to get your accounts cleared' 

then looked at anika and added 

SHIVAAY : 'You both are fired'. ................

 Mohan's expressions changed in a jiffy as if a ton of bricks had fallen on him .

Anika also could not believe the scene that just unfolded in front of her . Did he just fire two people because she wants to use public transport ? Oh God , such temper . She instantly started thinking of ways to do damage control . By the time she arrived on a decision, which was in a few seconds,  Shivaay was already on the stairs leading to his room .

She rushed after Shivaay and asked his retreating back ......

ANIKA :  'Shivaay , can I take Mohanji with me to mandir tomorrow ?'. 

Shivaay stopped but did not respond .

'ANIKA : Oh ,  and I'll take him or Rakeshji whenever I go out from now on' 

added Anika in order to make peace and save jobs .

Shivaay did not say anything but looked sideways at her . She took it as a probable yes and said...

ANIKA :  'Mohanji , please come at 7 am sharp tommorrow'. 

The man looked at his master who nodded in affirmative . Relieved Mohan smiled in gratitude and left .

Shivaay left for his room without a word after that , and Anika still recovering from his outburst went to see the dinner preparations .

SHIVAAY (self thought) : 'How dare she think that she'll not stay here ? If she thinks she can leave from here , she can dream on . Who else does she know in the whole wide world now ? She needs to be explained that SHE IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE. She'll stay with me, with us in this house . ALWAYS' 

 he thought while angrily pacing in his room......

Just then there was a loud knock on his room's door and next second without waiting for response the door flew open and Anika rushed inside ,  looking pale as if she has seen a ghost.............. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...................x.................x.............x..................

WHAT HAPPENED TO ANIKA ?????? ANY GUESSES ?????? WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT ????

THATS IT GUYS HOPE YOU ALL LIKING THE STORY ?????