Realized I haven't done this in ages-

QOTD- Who's your celebrity crush?

My answer:

Male- Kunal Jaisingh (brb crying) and Chris Evans (God bless his gorgeous soul)

Female- Surbhi Chandna, Parineeti Chopra, Manushi Chillar, Scarlett Johansson.

I don't know why I have more female crushes than male lmaoo 😂

**

The weekend came and went in the blink of an eye. Annika found herself busier than ever, with her event management company having a small inauguration Puja and finally kicking off. Although only a small number of people had been invited to the Puja, she had gotten wishes from a lot of people, in the form of cards and gifts. Rohit and Mrs. Malhotra, for example, had both sent individual flower bouquets and small notes wishing her best of luck in this journey.

 Annika had introduced everyone in the family to Gauri, her brand new PA, and all had taken an instant liking to her. Except Om, that is. The two had somehow managed to irk each other, and from the very first day had bad blood between them. Nonetheless, Gauri was extremely sweet and hardworking, and Annika loved her already. It was Monday morning now, and Annika and Gauri were on their way to the Oberoi Mansion. Technically, this was their first day of work under Dreamcatchers, and both were extremely excited. There was lots to do, and especially since it was just the two of them handling everything, they wanted to start at the soonest. So today, they were off to make a clear plan of all the upcoming functions, and also get an idea about the dulha and dulhan's taste. 

"Areh baapre," Gauri exclaimed as they got out of their auto in front of the mansion gates, and stared at the vastness with mouth agape, "This is so big, Annika didi. My entire village could fit inside!"

Annika smiled at that. Gauri had a childlike enthusiasm in her that was lovable. She had started addressing Annika as 'didi', and did indeed give off a 'little sisterly' feeling to Annika. 

"I know, it's big, isn't it?" Annika said, as they walked up to the gate. "But you get used to it, gradually."

Gauri widened her eyes at that, and followed Annika in. The ladies of the house sat in the hall, and greeted the two as they walked in. 

"Annika, Gauri, you both are heres! Come and sit, there's so much to do!"

Ushering them towards the couch, Pinky sat them down and started discussing the various events coming up. She was personally very excited for this Shaadi since it would bring about a lot of life into this usually quiet house. Taking out her diary, Annika started noting down all the functions Pinky aunty mentioned, almost as if at light speed. Gauri seemed a little taken aback, not to mention afraid, of all the functions they would have to arrange, that too so soon. Annika noticed this and keeping a hand on hers, assured her that everything would be fine. Having this younger girl around gave Annika the much needed confidence boost, and she was ever so thankful for that. Around three hours later, they had finally set the dates of the functions, made a rough idea of the themes and colors, decided on the kind of cuisines and an estimate of how many people would be attending each of the functions. With these information, Annika and Gauri would be able to hire caterers and workers as such. 

By the time they were done for the day, the ladies were tired. The elders decided to retire for the day, while Annika, Gauri and Tanya sat in the hall, chatting. Tanya was a bit quite in nature, so she mostly listened while Annika and Gauri- the two chatterboxes- talked. Amidst this, Annika's phone rang. It was one of her friends calling, and she excused herself to take the call. 

"Hi Priya, kaise hai tu?" 

"I'm toh okay as usual, but I'm really angry at you, Anni. Why didn't you tell me you finally have a boyfriend? That too Shivaay Singh Oberoi! I had to hear from other people, pata hai?"

Annika smiled at that, twirling her hair around her index finger.

"Sorry yaar, but it was so sudden, you know?" She tried reasoning.

"Sorry se kaam nahi chalega," her friend replied stubbornly. "You have to make me meet Jiju."

"Jiju?!" Annika exclaimed, eyes widening. 

"Of course, your boyfriend will be my jiju only, na? Anyway, you have to make me meet him. That too today itself! Chanda and Neelu can join us too."

"Today? It's such short notice, Priya, and Shivaay is in office right now-"

"Oh come on, Anni, I'm sure he'll listen to you no matter what. Let's meet for lunch? Text me the place soon, I'll inform the other two. Okay now I have to go, see you soon, love you!"

Without giving Annika time to get another word in, she hung up, and Annika was left biting her lip in worry. Her friends really were too much. Shivaay was in office now, and she couldn't possibly ask him to leave work and come have lunch with her and her friends, right? Fiddling with her fingers, Annika made her way back to the living room, only to be met with a surprise.

"Shivaay?" Annika's face broke into a smile as she saw him standing there, talking to Gauri and Tanya. He smiled back when he saw her, moving forward and giving her a side-hug.

"Hey, what's up?" 

Smiling, Annika asked him how he had come back home so soon. A part of her wanted him to answer that it was because she was here, but she quickly shrugged off the selfish thoughts.

"I have a video conference in some time, so I thought of doing it from home itself, since there's not much work in office today. When did you come?"

"A couple of hours back," Annika replied. Shivaay nodded in acknowledgement.

"You're staying for lunch, right?" He asked, eyeing both her and Gauri, who had been looking up at them in awe thinking what a great couple they made. Annika remembered the phone call at his words, and wondered if, now that he was here, she should tell him about the lunch plan with her friends. Before she could, however, he looked at his watch and started moving away, leaving her feeling a bit dejected.

"Do stay for lunch, okay? I'll see you soon," Saying so, he moved upstairs towards his room. Annika's phone buzzed, and she checked to find a message from Priya.

Time and place?? Quick!!!

Shaking her head, Annika took a deep breath and decided to talk to Shivaay about it. Maybe his conference was after lunch, and he would be able to make it? No matter what, it was worth taking a chance, since she didn't want to let down her friends. And frankly, a part off her wanted to show off her boyfriend for a bit. Smiling at her thoughts, she moved upstairs towards his room. It was open, so she walked in to find Shivaay sitting on the bed and going through a file, attentively. He looked up as she entered.

"Oh, hey," he said with a grin, and patted the spot beside him for her to sit, which she did, "I would have called you upstairs, but I thought you'd call me a cheapda for doing so in front of Gauri and Tanya."

Annika laughed at that.

"Well, thank you for your presence of mind," She said jokingly, and Shivaay smiled, before moving his attention back to the file at hand. After a minute of silence, Annika called him.

"Shivaay?"

He hummed in response.

"Are you busy now?" She asked apprehensively.

"Sort of. Why?" He asked, not looking up.

"Um, I was wondering if we could go out to have lunch?" Annika asked timidly, nervous for no reason. Shivaay looked up at that.

"Lunch? But I have the video conference in a while, love," He said, an apologetic look on his face. "How about you have lunch here, and we go out to have dinner together?"

Annika didn't know why, but his rejection was hurting. Well, it wasn't even a rejection, since she could see he was busy and he would have definitely gone if he could, but still. Smiling brightly, albeit a bit fake-ly, she decided to not tell him about her friend's enthusiasm about meeting him. In that case, he would probably leave behind his work and agree to come. The idea that he would do so thrilled her, but she would never let him put her before work. 

"Okay, it's not a problem. Maybe some other day."

"You sure?" Shivaay asked.

Annika nodded, and placing a chaste kiss on his cheek, left the room.

Once outside, she texted her friend that it won't be possible today, and was replied by a sad emoji. Truth be told, Annika wasn't taking well to the cancel of plans, either. She realized how typical she was acting to the girlfriends who always demanded their boyfriends' attention, and hated the fact. It was Shivaay's fault, though, for always giving her so much attention, and practically pampering her all the time. Which is why, his sudden rejection, that too on a day when she wanted to go out with him, faltered her a bit. Was this what she was becoming? No matter how much she tried not to think about a life post- Shivaay, the attachment to him grew stronger day by day and made her scared. Now, for example- if she couldn't handle one cancelled plan with him, how would she handle an entire life?

Taking a deep breath, Annika decided that it was time she started distancing herself from him, bit by bit, so that when the charade finally ended, the heartbreak wouldn't hurt quite as much.

**

This was written without much thought due to lack of time, so maybe I haven't been able to put the emotions into word very good. Apologies about that. Also, updates are going to be slow (slower than they have been, I mean), since I have my mocks next week.

Also, guys, can someone help me with something? I know the basic functions that take place in a Shaadi, like Mehendi, Haldi, Sangeet, etc, but could someone give me a one-over on the names of the functions, along with the order in which they take place? It'd be great help, thanks💕