Annika was stuck in the despicable Mumbai traffic, tapping her fingers impatiently against the handle of her Champa, when her phone rang. She knew without even looking that it was Shivaay, and that she would now have to listen to his usual lecture about how 'riding a scooty wasn't safe and he would have come and picked her up anyway'. Rolling her eyes at the inevitable, she picked up.

"Babe, are you at home? I'm coming to pick you up."

Sighing heavily, Annika shook her head before answering, knowing he would throw a fit.

"No, Shivaay, I'm not at home. I'm already off to Oberoi Mansion," she stated firmly.

"You are? How are you going? Please don't tell me you're riding that ridiculous-"

"Do not finish that sentence!" Annika exclaimed, caressing her Champa lovingly. "I'm going however I want to, you don't have to worry, baggad billa!" Saying so, she hung up, knowing that she would have to deal with the consequences later. It was funny, though, imagining Shivaay's reaction to her outburst. He was probably getting that really dorky, adorable look on his face right now. The traffic started to move, and with a smile on her face, Annika started to, too.

Reaching Oberoi Mansion, she was taken aback by the number of people in the hall, since it was usually deserted due to the fact that most members were busy with their own work during this time. Currently, the hall echoed with laughter, and there was a vibrancy in the air which was only brought about when a family got together after long. Entering the large gates, after smiling back to the two guards standing there, Annika saw Pinky aunty, Jhanvi aunty and Dadi sitting with their relatives. Amongst them sat a young couple, who she guessed to be Abhay and Tanya.

As her presence was felt, the chitter-chatter died away, and everyone turned to look at her. Annika felt a bit self-conscious under the gaze of so many people, who seemed to be scrutinizing her. Thankfully, Pinky aunty gave her a big smile and came forward to hug her. 

"Oh My Mata, Annika, you're here! Come, everyone has been waitings to meet you!"

Giving her a small smile, Annika followed her towards where everyone sat. Apart from Abhay and Tanya, there were three ladies, and two men, all of them older people.

"Peoples, meet my Shivaay's girlfriend- Annika."

Blushing, Annika looked up to find everyone smiling at her. One of the ladies, a plump woman, was the first to speak.

"Areh wah, Pinky, Shivaay's girlfriend is very beautiful!"

The others hummed in response, while Annika beamed. Pinky made her sit down, and introduced her to everyone. It seemed that two of them were Abhay's parents, two were Tanya's mama-mami, while the other lady was a distant cousin of Tej and Shakti. 

"Sachhi, ha," the lady- who was Shivaay's buaji- continued, "Your future bahu is very sundar!"

Again, Annika's cheeks turned pink. Future bahu- if only!

"I knows," Pinky said proudly, lovingly caressing Annika's hair. "Only the best for my Shivaay!"

Soon, they started talking again, and Annika got herself acquainted with everyone, her extroverted nature and yet polite and bubbly personality winning everyone over in a short time. She talked to Abhay and Tanya as well, and both of them seemed to be really nice. Tanya was a bit quite in nature- probably the result of being the dulhan!- but Abhay was very friendly, and he and Annika hit it off instantly. Soon, they were joined by the other members of the family, sans Shivaay.

"I'm telling you, Abhay bhaiya," Rudra said, the three brothers and Annika chilling out, "Shivaay bhaiya is totally lattu over Annika didi! You'll be seeing a lot of PDA in the next few days- ouch!" 

Annika had hit his arm, although lightly, but he being the drama-queen had to overreact!

"It's nothing like that," Annika said, defensively. "It's just that Shivaay tends to get a little too touchy-" 

Realizing what she was saying, Annika bit her tongue, cheeks burning as her devars burst out laughing. Thankfully, Shivaay walked in through the doors at that time, saving her from tolerating all the teasing alone. After greeting everyone present, he came and sat beside Annika- ignoring how their relatives were gawking at this 'lovely couple'- and raised an eyebrow at her. In turn, Annika only shrugged her shoulders and looked away haughtily.

"Ooh, looks like someone's had a fight!" Rudra said, wiggling his eyebrows, and Shivaay glared at him.

"Shut up, Rudra. It's nothing like that."

Rudra rolled his eyes. 

"Areh, Abhay bhaiya, Tanya bhabhi, I'm telling you. Inka toh roz ka hai. They fight, they make up. Now, how they make up, only they know...Ouch!"

Again, he was hit on the arm, this time by Shivaay who wasn't as soft as Annika. Glaring at him, Annika rubbed her beloved Rudy's arm, while Shivaay gave a maine-kya-kiya type of look.

"No but really," Abhay started, "you two look great together, bhaiya and bhabhi."

"Bhabhi?!" Both Shivaay and Annika asked, incredulously. Abhay looked confused.

"Yeah, now Bhaiya's future wife will be bhabi only, na?" He asked, looking at Rudra and Om for confirmation. OmRu in turn looked at each other, before grinning and nodding slowly.

"You're right, Abhay. In fact, even we should start calling Annika 'bhabhi', right Rudy?"

"Right, O. Even you talk smart like me, at times!"

Om rolled his eyes at that, while Shivaay and Annika both looked on, their cheeks pink. While Annika was a bit lost as to how fast everything was progressing, Shivaay was thinking how good it would sound to hear 'Annika bhabi' from his brothers'. Grinning idiotically, he casually draped an arm around Annika's shoulders, whose eyes widened. There were elders around, for God's sake! But no matter how much she tried shrugging off his arm, he didn't budge. When she turned to glare at him come more, he gave her a flying kiss, which made her gasp and quickly look around to see if anyone had noticed. Thank God, though, everyone was busy with their own conversations.

Soon, a middle-aged panditji arrived, and started looking for an auspicious date for the marriage, after matching Abhay and Tanya's kundali. He declared that there was a good date 15 days from now, and it was met by happy cheers from everyone. They decided that they would start with all the functions from next week itself, since of course, as was customary for the Oberois, there would be many functions. 

"Oh My Mata, there is so much to do though! Annika beta, I think you will need to stay here in Oberoi Mansion only to make all the arrangements so quickly!" 

This was met with laughter with everyone, but Shivaay leaned in and whispered huskily into Annika's ear-

"I would love that, you know. You and me, saari raat, in my room..."

"Shivaay!" Annika gasped, quite loudly, so that everyone turned to look at her.

"What is it, puttar?" Dadi asked, a glint in her eyes, "Is Billu troubling you?"

"Areh, it's his right na?" Buaji joined in on the teasing. "After all, it's his future wife!"

Again, Shivaay and Annika blushed.

"By the ways, Annika, you brought your kundali, na?" Pinky asked, eager to show her son and his girlfriend's kundali to the Pandit. Annika nodded, and protruded it from her bag. Shivaay gave her a confused look, to which she whispered in a voice that was inaudible to the rest that the relatives wanted to have their kundalis matched, and Pinky aunty couldn't refuse. Shivaay grinned at that. 

"Oh wow, I haven't seen such a match in many years," the Panditji said after a while, having inspected Shivaay and Annika's charts for a while. "This one's made straight in heaven, I'm telling you. Pinky, I've told you before that your son has really strong stars, but Annika's are even stronger. She will bring a lot of happiness and luck into his life, while he will be the light she has always needed. A perfect joda, indeed."

As he finished, it couldn't be gauged who was more happy by the revelation. Pinky was over the moon, of course. She tended to take these things very seriously, and now it was confirmed what her heart had always told her- Annika was meant for her son. Annika on the other hand didn't quite understand why her heart was leaping with joy, while Shivaay who had never believed in these astrological things was still smiling widely, thinking these might not be so fake after all. The other members, too, were ecstatic.

"Toh phir deri kis baat ki," Started buaji, "Why don't you get them married with Abhay and Tanya itself!"

There was some fake coughing from the Oberois at that, as they didn't know what to say, while Shivaay and Annika looked away, embarrassed. It was, as usual, Pinky who answered with confidence.

"Oh My Mata, aise kaise? My Shivaay and Annika will have their personal wedding, which will be the greatest shaadi of the year. Haa nahi toh!"

Everyone laughed at her possessiveness, while Shivaay winked at Annika. Gradually, everyone went back to conversing again.

"Annika, I've told you time and again not to ride your scooty-"

"It's Champa," She corrected him, and Shivaay sighed dramatically.

"Right, Champa-ji, sorry. I've told you it's not safe! And I would have come to pick you up, you know!"

"Don't you have any work at office? Jab dekho mere ghar pe tapak jaate hain!"

"Hey, how dare you-"

"See, everyone," Rudra whined, "When they're together, Shivaay bhaiya and Annika bhabi have eyes for only each other! They don't give me any bhao!"

While the others chuckled, Om consoled him by saying "Hota hai, hota hai."

After a while, they all moved to dinner. The dinner table was much more lively today, as everyone was excited about the upcoming wedding and making a list of what all to do. The girls were already planning their dresses, while the guys rolled their eyes and listened. Everyone wanted to know about Annika's event management firm, and she said it would officially kick off this weekend. She had given a small advertisement in the news paper about hiring a personal secretary, and would hold an interview in two days. After that, a small puja would be held in her new office, and her dream would officially start. 

"You should be proud of Annika, Shivaay," Abhay's mother voiced out. "Not everyone manages to make their dreams come true."

"I am. Very proud," Shivaay said, looking at her lovingly, and she shied under his admiring gaze. When it was time for her to leave, Shivaay absolutely refused to have her drive back on Champa, and said he would have it dropped to her house later. Meanwhile, he would drop her home. As they were leaving, they heard Rudra muttering to Abhay how Shivaay was her personal chauffeur, to which Annika giggled and Shivaay rolled his eyes.

**

I know this is short, but I absolutely get no time these days! Extremely sorry for the delay- I too hate keeping you guys waiting but can't help it right now :(