"Main tera boyfriend, Tu meri girlfriend ,Oh mainu kehndi na na na na..." 

Shivaay was humming this song as he tied his black Etro Silk tie. He looked dapper in his  black suit paired with a dark green shirt , and his hair was set perfectly with a decent amount of gel with no strand misplaced. He was wearing his favorite Blancpain watch, and smelled amazing sporting his favorite customary Versace perfume. Shivaay Singh Oberoi was a vain man and he prided himself on the good looks he had been bestowed with. The fact that he had all the wealth in the world to enhance these looks and use the best brands in the world helped immensely. Out of all the Oberoi grand kids, he was the one who liked to throw around money the most on these materialistic things, even more so than Rudra. His reason? These were what classified you into the elite and showed your standards and taste. 

But now, of course, there was a storm named Annika in his life, who was beautiful and elegant without any of these possessions. And with that, she had shattered another one of his beliefs.

The woman in question here was currently busy being the personal barbie doll of his Mom and Badi Ma, who were getting her ready for the event. They had whisked her off as soon as they had entered the mansion, and Shivaay hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her even in the car properly, seeing as she was unusually quiet today. He knew it was her anxiety kicking in and seeing as he was feeling quite the same, he hadn't called her out on it.

As it was, currently Shivaay was busy getting himself ready, because unfortunately men did not possess the attribute or will to play Ken doll. He was simultaneously singing a bollywood song that just a few weeks back would have irritated him, but a lot had changed since then and his 29 year old self didn't find these things that bad anymore.

"Waah, bhaiya!" Rudra exclaimed in his usual chirpy voice as he entered the room, followed by Om, both of them ready to go and looking dashing, "You look so handsome! Finally you're showing similar genes to me a bit," He said proudly, and Shivaay rolled his eyes.

"Not to mention," Om said, a teasing glint in his intense eyes, "The song you're humming seems to really suit your situation, eh?" He finished with a wink.

"It's nothing like that," Shivaay muttered, not managing to sound convincing even to himself.

"But you do look great," Om added, and Shivaay smiled. 

"Yeah, but bhaiya," Rudra started, acting like he was in deep thought, "you won't be able to match up to Annika didi. I stole a glance at her a while back, and, daayumnn." He finished off, making Shivaay become really curious.

"Really?" He asked, eager to know how she looked. "What is she wearing? Is she almost ready? Are they-"

He stopped when he noticed his brother laughing silently, and composed himself awkwardly.

"I just wanna know cuz we're getting late," He said with a shrug, and Om and Rudra gave fake innocent nods.

"Of course, Shivaay. We never said you were too impatient to see her or something." Om said, and he and Rudra started laughing loudly now seeing Shivaay's blush.

"Okay enough, guys," He said, embarrassed. "Let's go downstairs now, we're seriously getting late."

The brothers made their way downstairs, all three looking incredibly handsome in their own way, while Rudra mumbled something like how it was faadu to be fashionably late, and Shivaay chided him for picking up on Annika's language. They met their fathers downstairs, who too looked classy in their matching navy blue suits. 

"Oh, you guys are here. The ladies sure are taking long." Tej remarked, checking his watch. Priyanka and Saumya entered the hall then, both looking very pretty in their baby pink and sky blue gowns, respectively. Shivaay strained his neck to see if Annika was behind them, but to no success.

"Annika didi will be down in a minute, bade bhaiya," Saumya told him teasingly, trying not to giggle. Shivaay flushed at being caught out again, but kept silent. They all waited in the hall, and suddenly, Shivaay's heart started beating faster. He instantly knew she was around; his back was facing the stairs and he could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on ends. He took his time turning around slowly, while everyone else gave various reactions such as the sucking in of breaths or gasping of 'wow's. When he finally turned around fully, his eyes fell upon the beauty queen who was descending down the stairs, head bent low and hands clasped on the skirt of the gown as she tried not to trip. When she straightened and looked up to meet his eyes, his breath caught in his throat. He knew it was all a very cliched reaction that people wrote about in novels, but now he knew where the authors were coming from. A man could not simply act nonchalant when he had the honor and divine luck of looking at this woman, who looked nothing less than a goddess in the dark green gown she was wearing to match his shirt, with red petals embroidered till the waist. It had no sleeves and hugged her form at the top and then flowed down elegantly. Her hair was pulled back into a bun, with two strands left on both sides to frame her face. Jhanvi had done a great job with her make up skills, adorning her eyes with a smoky look, and lips with a bold burgundy lipstick. Her large doe eyes with highlighted with a winged liner, and to put in summary, she looked gorgeous enough to make Shivaay stare at her with his mouth hanging open. 

Shivaay Singh Oberoi was a vain person, but he had to agree with his idiotic youngest brother for once- he couldn't match up to Annika. She was too beautiful for her own good and Shivaay felt like the luckiest man on earth right now that he was the one who would be introducing himself as her boyfriend. All other men in the party could go F themselves, thank you very much.

"Stop drooling, Shivaay," It was Tej who whispered this in his nephew's ear trying to hide his grin, and Shivaay instantly closed his mouth, "It really doesn't look good on us Oberoi men to look so eager." He finished by slapping Shivaay on the back, and moving away.

"Tada!" Pinky said as she and Jhanvi accompanied Annika into the hall. "She's ready. Doesn't she looks beautifuls?" Pinky exclaimed, putting some kajal from her eyes beneath Annika's ear. Everyone agreed with her, and Annika blushed and smiled prettily.

"Shivaay?" It was Dadi who called him; she had been noticing him since Annika had entered and was proud and extremely happy to notice that very look in his eyes that her own husband used to have in their days of Ishqbaazi, "You're the main man here, so say, how does Annika look?"

Shivaay was like a deer caught in the headlights at the question, since even after spending years studying abroad and doing a minor in linguistics, his vocabulary didn't have words good enough to describe her. 

"She, uh, looks..."

"Pretty nice?" Annika suggested, biting her lower lip to hide a smile since she was referring to their first date night, and Shivaay grinned.

"Yeah, pretty nice."

Only the two of them knew that this was just a cover up for what he actually wanted to say, and that was- breathtakingly beautiful.

**

Half an hour later, Shivaay was pulling his car towards the main gate of the grand garden where the event was being organized, a silent and highly nervous Annika seated beside him fumbling with her fingers. The other family members were in the car in front of them and were just getting down, and soon, it would be time for them to enter too. A group of media people were gathered at the entrance, all set to cover this elite event, and gaining excitement when they saw the Oberois. 

"Hey, you're alright, right?" Shivaay said as he turned to her. They had a few minutes before they had to get down, while the media's attention was fixed on the other Oberois and till they noticed that Shivaay was missing. Annika nodded, and gave him a small smile.

"Don't lie, okay," Shivaay said, taking her fiddling hands in his. He squeezed them a bit, trying to ooze in some assurance in her. 

"You know how grateful I am that you're doing this, right?" Shivaay asked her. Annika nodded once again.

"Kuch bolo gi bhi?" He asked her with a grin, "Silence doesn't really suit you much. You look better in your loud-mouthed, chameli wielding avatar." That earned a chuckle out of Annika, and he sighed in relief. 

"Look at me, Annika," He said as he cupped her face, rubbing his thumbs against her cheekbones, "you look exquisite, you're smart, lovely, and manage to make everyone you meet adore you. So speaking in your language, saare log toh tumpe flat hi ho jaane hai."

Annika giggled at that. She gave her first full-blown smile of the evening, and placed her hands over his.

"Thanks," She said. "I just don't want to embarrass you, you know?" Shivaay shook his head.

"There's no way you can embarrass me, Annika. In fact it is me who should be worried about not matching up to you. So stop being nervous, and let's go." Saying so, he placed a soft, loving kiss on her forehead, and got out of the car, before moving to open her door. As soon as the media noticed him, they were all but running towards him. Khanna managed to keep them at a distance as Shivaay opened the passenger door, and took Annika's hand to escort her out. The media caught a glance of this unknown, gorgeous lady accompanying Shivaay Singh Oberoi, and became wild.

"Mr. Oberoi, who is this woman?"

"Mr. Oberoi, can you tell us what happened with Tia Kapoor?"

"Mr. Oberoi, can this woman be the reason Tia Kapoor deceived you?"

The questions came pouring in as Shivaay helped Annika out, and closed the door behind her. He helped fix her skirt to make her more comfortable, and once done, placed an arm around her waist. Sharing one last smile, they made their way towards the press together.

The Dating Charade had officially begun, and Shivaay and Annika were ready as ever to pull off this act. Little did they know, though, that the drama would just keep getting more real by the minute. After all, there was a certain thing called Destiny, and it wasn't deterred by meagre things such as naam, khoon and khandaan. Neither, of course, was it ever defeated by any amount of tadi, something that this particular duo had mastered.

The business event is too long for me to cover in one chapter so will break it down into around 3 parts. I apologize for always breaking the flow but can't help it, sorry! Hope you all liked this chapter and do vote/ comment if you did <3