Chapter 9

Ananya Banerjee

@ananya269

Shiva noticed that Dhara and Raavi were still talking about her love life. Dhara had never shown such interest when Raavi did her Dev jaap. Krish and Dev had been taunting him about dating Raavi for the past fifteen minutes. Krish escaped to college Shiva was about to hit him and Dev backed off too.   

When Dhara realised that she had to make lunch, she reluctantly got up and went to the kitchen. She’d rather be hearing more of Shivi love story. Raavi went and sat next to Shiva who looked like he was about to kill her. 

“Ab toh sab jaan chuke hai ki tu mera boyfriend hai, toh thoda smile kar le.” Raavi said. 

“Yeh tu kya story suna rahi thi sabko? Main tujhe follow karta tha, teri pictures dekhta tha secretly?” Shiva said. “Next time aisa kuch kaha na toh maami ko bolunga tujhe kisi gufa mein bandh karde.”

“Aise kaise? Tera murder na kar du uske pehle?”

Dev came to Raavi and Shiva and sat with them. He checked to see if Dhara di was anywhere nearby. When he was convinced she couldn’t hear them, he spoke. 

“Aaj shaam ko main aur mere friends disco jaa rahe hai. Tum dono chaloge humare saath?” Dev asked. 

Shiva couldn’t believe this. Did his brother not know him at all? Shiva and disco had no relationship at all. He was about to refuse when the chipkali stopped him and jumped into the conversation. 

“Of course chalenge!” Raavi said. 

“Bilkul nahi.”

“Ohho Shiva. Itna boring mat ban. Main pehle kabhi nahi gayi hu disco. Bohot maza aayega.” Raavi said. 

“Nahi!”

“Shivaaaaaaaa pleaseeeeeeeee!” Raavi pouted and gave him her most innocent puppy eyes. 

Shiva sighed. “Thik hai!”

Raavi jumped in joy and hugged Shiva. Dev was surprised how easily his brother agreed. He thought his brother and his future sister-in-law needed to spend some quality time together. If things go right, he could finally introduce Rishita to them as his girlfriend.  

“Par mere paas toh disco jaane wale koi kapde nahi hai!” Raavi suddenly shouted and Dev asked her to lower her volume. 

“Main phir shopping ke liye jaati hu. Shiva tere liye bhi kuch le aaungi. Yeh gande kapde pehenke nahi jaa sakta tu.”

Raavi called her friend Kirti and asked her to meet her in the market in ten minutes. Then she rushed out of Pandya house. Shiva wanted to hit himself because of this maami ki behen ki beti. Why had he agreed to this stupid plan in the first place? Now he had to take this chipkali to a disco?

Raavi returned to Pandya house in three hours. She straight went to Shiva and handed him the shirt she’d bought for him. 

“Ae gadheri, yeh disco jane ke liye haa kyu kiya?” Shiva asked.

“Hum jab ek saath dance karenge toh Dev kya jealous hoga.” Raavi laughed. 

Shiva sighed. She was still on about that. “Maine kaha tha na main plan lead karunga.”

Raavi had forgotten about it. She actually wanted to go to a disco, more than making Dev jealous. She had only seen people going to discos in movies. 

“Achha sorry. Tu lead karna waha jaake.” Raavi said. “Ab main chalti hu. Shaam ko mujhe pick up kar lena.”

She hugged him once more and left. Shiva was confused. Why did this maami ki behen ki beti keep hugging him all the time? She kept saying she loved Dev, but he’d never seen her hug Dev even once. He was the bakra. 

“Raavi aayi thi?” Dev asked. 

Shiva showed his the shirt Raavi had got for him.

“Bohot achha hai Shiva. Yehi pehenna. Meri future bhabhi tujhse nazarein nahi hata payegi.” Dev smiled. 

Shiva sighed. Here she was, trying to make Dev jealous and here Dev was already calling her his bhabhi. 

“Shiva tujhe nahi pata tune mujhpe kitna bara ehsaan kiya hai!” Dev said. “Main Raavi ko leke itne tension mein tha ki kya karegi woh. Par use toh tu pasand hai.”

So finally, Dev had spoken his heart. If only he’d said this to Raavi, then things wouldn’t have escalated so far. 

***

Shiva had been standing in front of her house for nearly twenty minutes now. She still hadn’t come down. He was getting annoyed so he went into her house. Prafulla saw him and started doing Somnath jaap in her head. 

“Ae maami, Raavi kaha hai? Tune wapas use kamre mein bandh toh nahi kiya?” Shiva asked. 

“Nahi woh upar ready ho rahi hai.” Anita said. 

Shiva took the stairs to go back. Prafulla was about to protest but Shiva turned back and glared at her. 

“Koi baat nahi beta, tu jaa. Apna hi kamra samajh.” Prafulla laughed. 

Shiva finally went to her room to see why she was so late. But when he opened the door, he was stunned. Raavi was wearing a fitted black dress and she was having trouble with the zipper on her back. Shiva tried to avert his gaze. 

“Anita di, help karo na.” Raavi said, as she thought it was Anita who had come to help her. 

Shiva cleared his throat to make her realise it was him. She saw him, and turned around to hide her back from him, but she there was a mirror in front of her so Shiva could still see her back. This time he didn’t avert his eyes. 

“Tu yaha kya kar raha hai? Jaa yaha se.” Raavi said in a nervous tone. 

But then she really noticed him. He was wearing her black shirt and he was looking so handsome. Raavi couldn’t stop staring. She had no idea he could look so handsome. Shiva came closer to her but Raavi was too busy staring at him. 

Shiva put his arms around her and tried to zip her dress up but the zipper was stuck. Raavi blushed. To pull her zipper he accidentally kept touching the bare skin on her back, and Raavi felt an electricity in her entire body with his every touch. It was a very different feeling and she had never felt this way before. 

“Piche ghum.” Shiva ordered and she turned back. 

Shiva struggled with her zipper and Raavi kept looking at him through the mirror. He lifted his gaze, and their eyes met through the mirror. Shiva took another step towards her and Raavi noticed that they were only a couple of inches away from each other. 

Shiva successfully pulled her zipper up, and moved back. Raavi felt slightly disappointed for some reason. She looked at the mirror and saw that they were complimenting each other really well. She fixed her hair one last time. 

“Kaisi lag rahi hu main?” Raavi asked. 

“Sexy.”

Raavi felt her heart racing. No one had called her sexy before. She blushed, but she tried to hide it by looking for her earring. When she put them on, she looked at Shiva once more. 

“Tu bhi... achha lag raha hai.”

Shiva blushed this time. It was new for them. They’d never really complimented each other. 

“Chale ya aur makeup thopegi?”

“Chal.”

They went downstairs and Maami and Anita were surprised seeing both of them, especially Raavi in such a dress.

“Tu yeh pehen ke jaa rahi hai?” Anita asked. 

“Disco jaa rahe hai hum.” Raavi smiled. 

“Ae Raavi!” Prafulla started. 

“Ae maami!” 

Prafulla smiled. “Nahi nahi beta main keh rahi thi jao ghum ke aao.”

“Lautne mein thodi der hogi maasi.” Raavi said. 

Prafulla was about to burst but seeing Shiva’s expression she controlled her anger. “Koi baat nahi. Yeh Shiva hain na. Mujhe koi tension nahi. But lautna haa? Jitni bhi raat ho, lautke zaroor aana.”

Raavi laughed and left with Shiva.