The beautiful pair of small finches with red peaks and soft bushy feathers caught her attention. As soon as she saw the birds in the huge cage, she started clapping her hands in excitement.

"Two birdie" she exclaimed looking at the cage.

Shivay smiled at how overwhelmed she grew watching those little birds who were chattering in the cage.

She was busy admiring the birds and he was busy admiring her cute expressions which changed from curiosity to happiness to confusion to happiness again.

She wanted a bird but Shivay arranged for two. A beautiful pair of birds. May be he somehow hoped that a pair of two birds, playing and chattering with each other might bring back her memories of them together. The way both of them use to be together always, the way they use to talk all the time, the way they use to pull each other's leg. They were indeed like the two birds who were just busy playing with each other in the cage.

The innocent sound of her claps brought him back to the his real senses.

"Annika, come here have some soup" Shivay said taking the bowl in his hands.

From last 15 minutes he was trying to make her eat the soup but she was just busy playing around with the birds.

"No!!! Birdieeee" she said jumping near the cage.

"Annikaa! Please have this soup, just a little bit" he tried convincing her but no use.

"No SSO, birdie" she said. The way she called him SSO reminded him of the times when she used to get angry from him and out of anger always called him SSO.

This was a hint that she was not in a mood to have soup. Shivay knew how stubborn she was, his tadibaaz Annika was really a challenge at times.
He got an idea in his mind. He took a small container and put some bird food in that container, after that he went towards the cage and opening it slightly, he kept the container in the cage. The birds ran towards the container, trying to eat it.

Annika was just looking at what he was doing. As soon as he covered the cage again, she saw the birds jumping on the container and eating the food.

"See how your birdies are eating thier food, don't you want to eat some?" Shivay asked looking at her confused face.

"Food" she said curiously looking at the bowl in Shivay's hand. She now wanted to have food because her birds were having their food. Shivay thanked his stars and smiled under his breaths. At least his plan was working.

Keeping the bowl next to her, He came towards her and tied a small cloth against her neck. After that he started feeding her the soup. The faces she made while eating the soup made Shivay love her cuteness. It was clear that she didn't liked the soup much but she was only eating it because her birds were also having their food. Shivay smiled at her innocence but somewhere something pinched his heart too.

Once the soup was finished, Shivay untied the cloth that was tied round her neck. A small drop of soup smeared near the corner of her lips. He bent forward to clean it. The moment he touched the side of her lips, he felt himself freezing. There were some loving memories of their close moments which started revolving around his mind.

**************************************************
He remembered once such night when they were out to eat ice cream, Annika and her late night ice cream obsession!!! It was time to go home but because both of them had late night shift in the hospital, Shivay made sure that he drops her home. One such day they were going back, the weather was serene and beautiful, Annika wanted to have ice cream and like always they went to have it from the same vendor on the roadside. He brought two chocolate cornetto cones. Annika just loved ice creams, and like always she finished hers within seconds and asked for another. As it was the last cornetto cone the vendor had, Shivay offered his ice cream to her. They shared the ice cream, lovingly. Once it was finished Shivay could see her mouth all smeared with it. He leaned a bit on her to clean it from the tissue, the environment grew more romantic and dark, they felt their breaths mingling and fighting with each other, he felt a sudden urge to kiss her creamy lips, she felt the same. And finally he pasted his lips on hers. It was their first lip kiss, intense and beautiful. After kissing each other for some minutes they broke it. Annika was all red out of blush while Shivay just adored her pinkish red face. He teased her saying that she was looking like a tomato while she just looked out of the window of the car, hitting him lightly on his chest.

**************************************************
He felt his hand being pushed away by her, which brought him back to his senses. He saw her running back to the cage, clapping her hands.
His Annika was not the same anymore, it was not that he missed kissing her, he missed her as a whole. He wanted to love her, kiss her, hug her, feel her but before that he wanted her to get back to her normal self. He knew he can't and he won't exploit her in any way. He just wanted to be with her so that he protects her in every possible manner.

Standing up with the tray in his hands, he wiped the corner of his moist eyes. How heart breaking it was for him to see his Annika like this. He went out of her room and went to his. Closing the door of his room, he cried bitterly. He was holding them back from long time but this was the limit. He could not hold it back now. He was feeling so helpless. She was there in front of him but there was nothing which she remembered about them. He wanted to know what happened with her, who led her to this condition but she was not in a state to tell anything to him. From such a long time he was waiting for her to be fine but look at his destiny, it yet again played a game with him.

Sheetal knocked the door of his room. She knew Shivay might be smiling in front of them but he was more broken from inside after watching Annika's condition. Who can understand a son well than his mother. Shivay heard her voice and opened the door only to hug his mother and sob like a child.
She hugged him back with wet eyes and caressed his head.

"Shivay, bcha you need to be strong" she said making him sit on his bed while she sat beside him.

"Maa! How can I be strong after watching my Annika in such state. Can you see how is she behaving? She lost all her dreams, her hopes, her happiness, her craziness, her individuality maa. I can't see her like this, I feel my heart breaking into pieces whenever I see her." He said sobbing.

"Beta, I know what all you must be going through. Annika is like a daughter to me, even my heart sinks when I see her state but there is still something positive. Didn't you notice that she stills remembers you, your touch, the connection you guys shared is alive in her heart. She loved me but she is scared of me, I m like a stranger to her. But look how she behaved with you, her heart still have some essence of you in it. She feels so comfortable around you, she hugs you, she gets angry on you, she feels protective around you. Don't you think this is the most amazing thing for now. I know you were curiously waiting for her to gain her consciousness back but what if she had still been in the same state? We would have been watching that too helplessly but I think we should be thankful to god for these small changes. This will lead to the big and better changes in her my son" Sheetal said wiping away his tears.

Shivay was able to understand all that his mother said. She was right. He can't fall weak. He can't. His Annika needed her the most at this time. She herself is going through a very difficult phase from her life. He can't leave her like that. He needs to be there with her.

"You are right maa. I understood what all you said. I will bring her back. I will help her get back to her normal self." He said wiping his tears.

He was just about to hug his mother when Annika came and stood in front of him. She had a pillow in her hand and she started hitting Sheetal with the pillow.
"Go!!!! Bad aunty" she said hitting her while the next moment she turned towards Shivay and wiped Shivay's tears saying "No Cry"
For a second Shivay and Sheetal could not understand anything but suddenly they had a hidden smile on their faces.

Actually Annika thought that Sheetal had hurted Shivay and that's why her Shivay was crying. So to take back her revenge she started hitting Sheetal with the pillow. Shivay stopped her from hitting Sheetal and took her to her room.

"Annika!!! Let's go, we won't talk to bad aunty" he said taking the pillow from her hand while moving out of the room. While going out he turned towards his mother and made an apologetic face to which she smiled back and assured him that it was okay. Afterall she knew her condition.

He took her to the room and lied her down on her bed. How strongly she came and protected him. Although a few hours back she herself was so scared of Sheetal but when it came to Shivay, she came forward to save him. Shivay felt his heart blossoming with happiness. He somehow again developed a hope that his Annik will soon be back. Although his heart felt bad for Sheetal because of the way Annika behaved with her but he knew Sheetal would understand it and moreover he knew, Annika will soon get fond of Sheetal because he knew how much she loved Annika.

Caressing her head and lying down next to her, he made her sleep next to him. She kept her head on his chest and hugged him tightly. He bent towards her and kissed her forehead lovingly.
"You will always be my jhalli, no matter what" he said and closed his eyes.

Precap : The Picnic

Hello guys,
• Thanku so much for the likes and comments on last part. I m glad you guys are finally showing your love towards the story. Keep reading.

• I m really busy with college so therefore cannot update regularly although I will try for sure.

• I hope you all will like this update too. Please vote and comment to give your views.

• Sorry for the same Precap, this part is a bit long so couldn't make it up in today's update.

• Will try posting it regularly.

Thanks and much love
❤️