Shivaay was once again standing on the doorstep of his girlfriend- uh, pretend girlfriend- continuously banging on the door for the past minute. He raised his hand to knock again, louder this time, when she opened the door.

"What is wrong with you?!" Annika shouted in his face as soon as she had opened. "Can't you be patient for once?"

"Patient?" Shivaay yelled outrageously, "I've been standing here for like, 5 whole minutes! You knew I'd be coming, yet you took so long to answer!"

Annika rolled her eyes, before moving back to let him enter.

"Firstly, it's barely even been a minute. Secondly, I have better things to do than wait for you to show up!" She added the last part loudly, making him flinch.

"Whatever, now come on, let's go." Shivaay replied, moving towards the door again, but Annika stopped him.

"What do you mean, 'let's go'? Can't you see I'm not ready yet?" She asked, gesturing towards the Superman Tee and pyjamas she was wearing. Shivaay wanted to tell her that she looked cute nonetheless, but decided against it. Annika moved to the room to change, while Shivaay waited for her in the hall. Meanwhile, there was a knock on the door. Seeing as Annika wasn't coming out anytime soon, Shivaay opened it himself. It was Sahil, who had just come back from school.

"Areh, Mr.SSO, aap yaha?" The little boy asked suspiciously while entering. Keeping his crutch on the table, he sat down on the sofa and looked at Shivaay expectantly.

"I'm here to pick up Annika; she, uh, has some work in Oberoi Mansion."

Sahil rolled his eyes, and Shivaay wondered if it was a common attribute between the siblings.

"I know exactly what 'work' she has there- my didi tells me everything," Sahil replied, proudly. Shivaay smiled at the little kid, and sat down beside him.

"And you don't have any problem with it?" He asked hopefully, referring to the drama. The 8-year-old had won his heart a long time back, and a part of him wished to win his heart too.

"Nope," He replied, "My didi is a khidkitod actress and she'll be able to do the drama really well."

"I'm sure," Shivaay replied.

"But Mr.SSO," Sahil continued, and Shivaay listened attentively, "make sure that you don't trouble my didi. Ek toh she's helping you so much, but still you keep fighting with her!"

"Hey," Shivaay started, defensively, "It's she who keeps on looking for excuses to fight with me! Even now, she was reprimanding me for knocking on the door!"

"Well, you must have done something wrong. Annika didi is very kind, but you seem to have the quality of making her frustrated, always."

Shivaay was about to defend himself again, when Annika emerged from her room, wearing a blue printed kurti and ankle-length jeans, looking beautiful as usual.

"What are you two talking about?" She asked entering the hall, while trying to tie her chaand bracelet around her wrist.

"Nothing, just some man talk," Shivaay replied, winking at Sahil, who giggled. Seeing her struggling with the bracelet, Shivaay got up to help her. Annika was startled at the gesture, but pleased nonetheless.

"Come on now, let's go. Everyone's waiting for you." He said, tugging at her hand. The simple touch made her blush, which didn't go unnoticed by Shivaay, or Sahil for that matter. Both of them grinned inwardly.

"Yeah, let's go. Sahil, go freshen up and do your homework. I've kept some sandwiches in the fridge, have them if you're hungry."

Sahil muttered something like 'I'd rather not have anything made by you' but it went unheard by Annika. Shivaay, however, snorted.

"And DON'T keep watching tv the entire day, warna tera school jaana aur ladkiyon se milna band karwa dungi main." She threatened him, making Sahil gulp.

"Alright, alright, jhaansi ki rani," Shivaay intervened, "bachhe ki jaan logi kya? Let's go now."

Waving a good bye at the little boy, Shivaay dragged Annika away and into the car, lest she spend the entire day scolding her cute little brother. They were making small talk in the car, when Annika suddenly jumped up in excitement.

"Oh, I totally forgot to tell you; I got the job!" She exclaimed eagerly, a wide smile on her face. Shivaay too smiled at her happiness. He wasn't entirely okay with her working for someone else, especially some other young man, but was genuinely happy seeing her so joyful.

"Congratulations, Annika. I knew you'd get it; after all, as I said before, you're the best event manager I know." Annika smiled and thanked him for his compliment.

"By the way," Shivaay continued, "don't you think this calls for celebration?"

Annika looked at him inquisitively.

"What do you have in mind?" She asked, sure that the baggad billa was up to something.

"Hmm, I don't know. I'll think of something and let you know, soon." Shivaay said with a wink. Annika shrugged.

Soon, they reached the mansion, and Annika was whisked away by the overenthusiastic ladies of the house, much to Shivaay's displeasure. He took to sulkily working in his room.

Meanwhile, Jhanvi and Pinky took to scrutinizing Annika and teaching her everything they thought she would need in the next few weeks of being Shivaay's girlfriend. Dadi and Prinku were observant audiences.

"You know, Annika, I was thinking of getting you a royal blue dress for the upcoming business event. It's an exquisite color, and would suit you really well." Jhanvi said while flipping through some gown catalogues.

"But jethaniji," Pinky said, "Shivaay will be wearing a green coloured shirt at the event. Don't you thinks they should be color-coordinated?"

While the both of them discussed this, Annika stood there fiddling with the hem of her kurti, feeling uncomfortable. Assuring smiles from Dadi and her bestfriend, though, had her feeling better.

"Anyway," Jhanvi continued once she and Pinky had finalized something over the dress, "Annika, we were also talking about how you would need to learn a bit of English; so that, if the media asks you something in the language, you aren't caught off-guard." She said all this very cautiously, not wanting to offend her. Annika, however, only smiled warmly.

"Don't worry about that, Jhanvi aunty. I've been taking English classes for the past few months. Thought it would help me in my business and all."

The ladies stared at her in surprise, both because of what she had said, and also because she had just spoke in fluent English. Pinky beamed at Annika.

"That's greats, Annika beta! You don't know how much the media and press-wale look to find flaws in people." She said disdainfully. Annika assured her that she would handle it, making Pinky caress her head lovingly.

The next couple of hours were spent in giving Annika an idea about high-society parties- what went on there, what kind of people attended, what kind of things they talked about, etc. They also gave her tips and advice about how to behave in order to appear authentic, but found that they didn't have to work too hard. Annika was a woman of all qualities, and although she hadn't been brought up in a high-class or rich family, she knew how to behave classily. It was engraved in her persona.

When they were done and came down into the hall, they found the men already sat there, talking amongst themselves.

"Oh, there you are. Finally." Shivaay said as he saw Annika descending the stairway.

"Why, were you waiting for her?" Dadi asked with a twinkle in her eyes. Shivaay turned pink.

"N-no, Dadi," Shivaay stuttered, "I wasn't talking to Annika. I was, uh, talking to Prinku. Yeah."

"But I never said anything about Annika. I was talking about Prinku, too." Dadi said mischievously. Shivaay turned even redder, and Annika too, and the family laughed at their expense. Settling down on the sofas, Jhanvi and Pinky told the men about how Annika barely needed any preparing or polishing- she was perfect as it was. Shivaay felt proud hearing that, for some unknown reason, and smiled at Annika when he caught her eye. They all then got into talking, and Annika excitedly told everyone about her new job. Everyone congratulated her, genuinely.

"Rohit Malhotra, you say? I've heard about the man," Tej said, "He's a new name in the business, but gaining fame really fast. Heard he's really good in his work."

"Is he handsome, Anni?" Prinku whispered to Annika, smiling naughtily. Shivaay, who was sat near them, fisted his hand, anxious of her answer.

Annika only shrugged.

"I don't know; I guess he is, but doesn't matter though. I have no interest in him that way!" Annika answered, mortified. Shivaay smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, while Prinku mumbled something like 'you only have that kind of interest in one person' inaudibly.

When it was time for Annika to leave, she bid everyone goodbye, and Shivaay offered to take her home, as usual. In the car, he told her that he had thought of a way to celebrate.

"What?" Annika asked, curios.

"Have dinner with me tomorrow." Shivaay replied firmly, and Annika couldn't tell that he was actually nervous about asking. She was caught off guard by the question.

"Dinner? With you?" She asked stupidly, not knowing what else to say.

"Yes, Annika," Shivaay said while rolling his eyes. "That's what I said."

"Um, I don't know. I guess we can..." She replied, looking away from him. Shivaay's face broke into a smile.

"Great, then! I'll pick you up at 8 tomorrow." He said readily. When he saw that Annika was quiet and probably still a bit unsure, he continued.

"You know, this way, we can get to know each other much better. It'll help in our, um, drama. Make us appear more...real." He said, hoping this would convince her. Annika nodded at that. She was actually thrilled at the prospect of having dinner with him; maybe she could pretend that it was an actual date, and give her heart something to rejoice in for a while. Shivaay's mind, too, was on the same track. So, for the rest of the night, lying in their own beds, both of them were grinning ear to ear, feeling like two teenagers excited about their very first date.