Shivaay Singh Oberoi was in for the shock of his life, and it all started with a razor.
One crisp Mumbai morning, feeling adventurous, Shivaay stood in front of the mirror. Anika had casually mentioned the night before, "You'd look really handsome without that beard, Mr. Oberoi. Clean-shaven, like when I first met you."
Shivaay, eager to impress his wife, decided to give it a shot. "Why not? Change is good," he told himself, though his reflection in the mirror looked back at him with suspicion.
After twenty minutes of careful shaving and a few dramatic sighs, he emerged from the bathroom, baby-faced and victorious.
"Shivaay!" Anika gasped when he walked into the bedroom. She clutched her heart like she was in a dramatic soap opera.
"What?" Shivaay asked nervously. "Too much?"
"Too much? No, no!" she said, her face breaking into a grin. "You look... you look amazing! Like a hero from one of those cheesy rom-coms!"
Shivaay smirked. "Told you I can pull off any look."
Anika tilted her head, admiring him. "You could make a potato sack look good. But this? I love it!"
What Shivaay didn't expect, however, was the avalanche of opinions from his billion fangirls worldwide.
The first sign came when he opened his social media. His latest selfie—posted with a casual caption, "New look, new vibes!"—was flooded with comments.
@ShivayKiDeewani: "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOUR BEAUTIFUL BEARD?!"@BeardLover007: "Shivaay, nooooooo! We demand the beard back!"@MrsShivaayForever: "This is a national crisis. #BringBackTheBeard."
Shivaay frowned. "National crisis? Really?"
Rudra, scrolling through the comments over Shivaay's shoulder, burst out laughing. "Bhaiya, you've officially broken the internet. Look at this meme! They're comparing you to a baby!"
"Rudra!" Shivaay growled.
Anika peeked over their shoulders, giggling. "Mr. Oberoi, you've gone viral. I think people are lighting candles for your beard."
Sure enough, hashtags like #BeardlessShivaayFails and #ShivaayTheBabyFace started trending.
Shivaay, thoroughly shaken, decided to regrow his beard.
Over the next two weeks, he endured awkward stubble, incessant teasing from Rudra, and Anika's half-joking protests. But finally, the beard was back. Shivaay posted another selfie, captioned, "The king returns."
This time, the fangirls had a new opinion.
@ShivayKiDeewani: "Um... okay, but now it's too thick."@BeardLover007: "Nooo! It's hiding your jawline and cute dimples. Shave it again!"@MrsShivaayForever: "What is happening?! We can't keep up. #ShivaayConfusion."
Shivaay stared at the comments, utterly baffled. "What do these people want?!"
"Welcome to the internet, bhaiya," Rudra said, patting his back. "They don't even know what they want."
"Mr. Oberoi," Anika said, sliding onto the couch beside him, "why do you care? You're Shivaay Singh Oberoi. They'll love you no matter what."
"Exactly," Rudra chimed in. "Plus, you've already got the most important fangirl sitting right here." He pointed to Anika, who blushed.
Shivaay smiled, finally relaxing. "You're right. If my wife loves me, I don't care about anyone else's opinion."
Just as Shivaay decided to ignore the fangirl drama, a new hashtag started trending: #ShivaayWithMoustache.
"NO," Shivaay said firmly, slamming his phone down. "I'm drawing the line. No moustache experiments."
Anika and Rudra burst into laughter. "We'll see about that," Anika teased.
Little did he know, the next morning, a deepfake of him with a moustache would go viral. But that's a story for another day.
