I won't lie, this was sort of written in a hurry since I wanted to give y'all an update today. Apologies in advance cuz I won't be able to update for the next 3 or 4 days- going on a school trip tomorrow (which I'm HELLA excited for!) and will be back Friday night. Anyway, hope you guys like this, and please excuse the hastily finished off scenes though I usually like giving details.

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Entering the beautiful sea-lounge restaurant hand in hand, Shivaay and Annika looked around for their friends. Although of course, Shivaay refused to consider Sidhhart Vikram Rana as a friend.

"What do you have against him, anyway?" Annika asked him, amused. Shivaay shrugged.

"I just think he's very high-headed," he said, and Annika snorted at the irony of it. Shivaay raised his eyebrows at her at that, and she shook her head.

"There they are!" Annika exclaimed as she spotted Mallika and Sidhhart, waving towards them. Approaching the table of four, Annika gave Mallika a tight hug.

"You look SO hot, Annika!" Mallika complimented, taking a good look at her, "you're a lucky man, Shivaay!" She said, turning towards him. Shivaay smiled and intertwined his fingers with Annika, looking at her lovingly.

"I am." He said, making her shy away.

They took their seats, and Mallika instantly demanded to know how they had finally stopped fighting long enough to confess their feelings for each other. Shivaay and Annika shared a look, and he squeezed her hand beneath the table, knowing how hesitant she was about lying like this.

"Oh well," it was Shivaay who started, "let's just say I finally realized what a beautiful person I had beside me, inside out. It did take quite a bit of time to persuade her, but how could she possible resist my charm." Mallika giggled at that, while Annika rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, don't get too high-headed," She said with a smirk, "I only said yes because I felt bad about your ridiculous acts. Warna toh I would have never said yes." She said with full on attitude.

"Really?" Shivaay asked, raising an eyebrow in a challenging way, "and why is that?"

"Because," Annika started, "you, are a tadibaaz kanji aankhonwaala baggad billa!" She practically yelled the last part into his face. Shivaay's nostrils flared in anger.

"Don't call me that, you Paanika!" Annika gaped at him, outraged to have her name ruined. Both of them had all but forgotten about the two audience they had, who were seeing their exchange with baffled looks.

"I told you," Mallika whispered to her husband, " they always keep fighting. Can't believe it hasn't changed even after they're together!"

"Should we stop them?" Siddhart asked as the two of them got into a full on verbal fight, that had somehow escalated to who showed more tadi (what did that even mean, the poor guy could only wonder) in just a matter of seconds.

Nodding, Mallika gave a loud cough to attract their attention, but to no avail. Desperate, she shook the table, hard, making them finally stop and look up.

"What?" They both asked, annoyed at having being interrupted.

"What?!" Mallika asked, incredulously, "we should be asking you that! We're here to hang out, guys, but you're too busy fighting! Nothing has changed with you too has it?" She asked, shaking her head like she was disappointed in her children. Shivaay and Annika bit their tongue, realizing they had gotten a bit carried away.

"A lot has changed, actually," Shivaay said as he draped an arm around Annika's chair, "for example, I can now do this without any inhibition." Saying so, he leaned in and placed a lingering kiss on her cheek, and Annika had to try hard not to blush like crazy, while the other couple awed.

" I never thought you would be one for PDA, Shivaay," Mallika said, smiling, "you know Annika, back when we were dating, Shivaay wouldn't so much as even hold my hand!"

"I guess you just have to meet the right person," Shivaay said, looking intensely at Annika. Mallika nodded understandingly and shared a look with her own husband, unaware of how Annika's cheeks heated under Shivaay's gaze. A waiter arrived then, breaking their moment, and took their orders. They got into chatting and laughing like old friends, and  Shivaay and Sidhhart made sure to avoid any talk about business on strict instructions from their respective ladies, lest the mood turn sour.

"By the way, guys," Mallika started once their orders arrived and they were served, "have you talked about marriage yet?" 

Shivaay choked on the wine he was drinking while Annika's eyes went wide. Coughing, Shivaay gave an awkward smile.

"Oh um, not yet," he said, looking at Annika who was now red faced, "all in good time, I suppose."

Mallika gave them a 'seriously?' kind of look at that.

"Come on, you two. I know you're both busy with work, but I also know you're too much in love to ever break up. So go ahead and get married soon, I wanna dance like mad at my best friends' wedding!" She exclaimed, innocently unaware of how awkward the two people in question were getting with each passing second. Siddhart, however, noticed this. He knew his wife didn't have the knack for understanding situations well, so he tactically tried to change the topic himself. For once in his life, Shivaay was thankful towards Rana.

Soon they had finished with dinner and a delicious dessert of Tiramisu cake, and decided to call it a night.

"This was so much fun," Annika remarked as they all walked towards the parking lot, her arm wound around Mallika's, "we should definitely do this again some time!"
Shivaay, who was trailing behind them along with Siddhart, raised his eyebrows at that. At first she didn't even want to do this, and now she was suggesting another such date? Impressive.

As they reached their car, they said their goodbyes to each other, promising to meet soon. Mallika gave a hug to both of them, and Siddhart was going to kiss Annika's hand like last time, but Shivaay intervened quickly and snatched her hand away, declaring that it was getting late. Annika giggled inwardly at his possessiveness, and made a mental note to tease him about it later.

During their car ride back home, Shivaay got an idea and took a turn opposite to the direction of Annika's house. She looked at him in confusion.

"Did you forget the way or something?" She asked, "My house is that way!"

Shivaay rolled his eyes at her.

"I know my directions very well, thank you very much. We're not going to your house just yet, though," as soon as he saw Annika open her mouth to talk back again, he continued, "and please stay silent, you'll know soon enough where we're going."

She did find out, soon enough, where he was taking her, since he parked the car on a deserted beach side. Annika's eyes lit up as she caught sight of the sea, and she squealed in excitement.

"Oh my God, the beach!" She exclaimed, opening her car door and getting down quickly. However, soon she realized that walking on the sand in these heels would be a nightmare, and left them behind in the car. Doing so, she ran towards the beach with arms spread.

Shivaay looked at this crazy girl of his with a fond smile, before ditching his suit jacket and following after her. It was quite late at night so they were the only ones around, much to their pleasure.

"I just looove the beach!" Annika told him as she kept spinning around, feeling the cool night air blow against her body. Shivaay stopped her by picking her up by the waist, twirling her around himself as she laughed away beautifully.

Panting and dizzy from all the spinning, they both decided to sit down on the sand. Annika snuggled up close to Shivaay to bask in some of his warmth in this chilly night. He didn't waste any time before putting a protective arm around her.

"Why did we come here all of a sudden?" Annika asked, looking up at him. 

"No reason," Shivaay said simply, "just that I feel like doing something nice for my girlfriend sometimes." He said with a wink, and Annika smacked at his chest even as she smiled.  Keeping her head on his shoulder. After a while, Annika broke the serene silence in a soft voice, while fiddling with a button on his shirt.

"Can I say something?" She asked timidly, and felt Shivaay nod his head. Taking a deep breath and inhaling the salty smell of the sea, she continued.

"This all feels really nice with you. Attending business events, going on double dates, late night getaway to the beach. It's all so new and... nice. You know what I mean?" She asked, looking up at him hopefully. He was staring into the far distance, towards the sea, thinking deeply before answering.

"I know exactly what you mean, love," He said softly, brushing the hand that wasn't wrapped around her against her cheekbones, "I feel the same. I know this is all supposed to be a drama, a mere fluke to fool the world, but most of the times, I myself am fooled by it. I forget that we're only acting, and end up being more boyfriend-ish towards you than I've ever been to anyone I've actually dated."

He finished off but didn't remove his gaze from Annika, who looked back with nearly moistened eyes. His mere words seemed to do things to her these days, either make her blush, or make her heart beat wildly like right now.

"Hence the possessiveness?" She asked with a playful smile, referring to the earlier incident with Siddhart. Grinning, Shivaay replied in the affirmative. 

They both knew that unknowingly, they had ended up sharing some of their feelings, but were trying their best to ignore the fact. Addressing it would change things, and they didn't want that, not just yet. So for the time being, Shivaay and Annika were happy and content with laughing away their feelings, cuddled against each other all the while.