Chapter 5

[NOCOPY]

Story till now: Raavi has mixed feelings about Shiva’s marriage with her ex-bestfriend Shilpa. After their haldi, she’d tried to confront him about it but their attention was diverted as the situation had turned into something intense.

Part 5

She rushed home from the godown, her heart thundering in her chest.

That night sleep evaded her again. It had taken her a while to calm her heart, and now she couldn’t sleep.

She couldn’t make sense of her feelings. She’d never felt that way with Dev in all the years that she’d loved him. And now the way she was feeling for Shiva was exactly how all her favourite heroines described love in movies.

“Mein? Aur Shiva se pyar?” she laughed to herself. “Ye toh possible hi nahi hai, mein kaise uss bhootnath se pyar kar sakti hoon. Mein toh Dev se pyar karti hoon. Aaj hamari haldi bhi hogayi, aur-“ she paused as she tried to recollect how handsome he looked today, after a few failed tries she realised that she hadn’t looked at Dev even once that day. She didn’t even know what outfit he had worn. Her entire attention had been on Shiva and then on Shilpa.

She squeezed her eyes closed, suddenly feeling suffocated in the room. She got out of bed, she looked down at her leg that were perfectly fine now after Shiva had worked his magic on them. She pushed away the thoughts of him from her head and decided to take a walk on the terrace.

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The next day morning, Anita found her cuddled with her stuffed bear on the terrace.

“Raavi,” she said as she gently shook her.

Raavi blinked her eyes open, putting up her hand to shield herself from the morning sun.

“Tu yahan raat bar soyi thi? Hum sab do ganton se tujhe doond rahe te, phuyi ka to jaan hi nikhala ja raha hai. Utt!” she ordered pulling Raavi up with her.

She pulled her downstairs as her Mausi joined them. “Ay mara bhogilaal, iska mein kya karungi. Itna laparvaayi ladki meine aag tak nahi dekhi hai. Kuch samay aur hota to mujhe dil ka daura pad jaata. Tu na ye nautanki tere sasural waalon ke liye bachake rakna,” she chided.

“Mausi ma! I know ki aap mujhe bahut miss karogi,” she said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Haan haan, ja jaake mehendi ke liye taiyaar hoja, kuch samay me nikhalni hai,” she said pacified.

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Again, she had found herself in a trance, unable to figure out what was happening with her. Why was she feeling so bad about Shiva marrying Shilpa? Shilpa was a decent girl. She would get along well with the Pandya family too. So why was it affecting her so much? She’d completely forgotten about Dev in those two days. Shiva was running in her mind all the time.

She was exhausted from trying fruitlessly to decipher her own emotions. And added to that was the effect of the two sleepless nights. She sat like a zombie as Anita helped her put on her clothes, jewellery and make up.

“Raavi, teri muh aisi kyun rakhi hai? Kal haldi mein bhi tu smile hi nahi kar rahi ti? Shilpa tujse baat nahi kar rahi hai kya?” Anita asked, even she didn’t know the reason behind why Raavi and Shilpa had a huge fall out.

“Anita dii, mujhe ye shaadi thodni hai!” Raavi said determined.

“Tumhe Dev se shaadi nahi karni?” she asked shocked.

“Nahi di, Shiva aur Shilpa ki shaadi thodni hai mujhe. Vo aise kaise Shilpa se shaadi kar sakta hai. Vo usse jaanta bhi nahi hai. Haan, chaar saal pehle ek do baar hang out kiye the. Par aise kaise shaadi? Pyar naam ki bhi koi cheez hoti hai na? Aur mujhe patha hai ki uss bhoothnath ko kisi se bhi pyar nahi hogi,” she paused looking at Anita to see if she was following her.

Anita seemed shocked.

“Anita dii, aap aisa samjho ki hum ek ladki ko ek badi musibath se bacha rahe hai,” she said smiling too sweetly.

“Raavi, teri dimaag teek hai? Bimaar ho kya?” Anita asked as she tried to check Raavi’s temperature.

“Dii, mein teek hoon. Aap please meri help kardo,” Raavi said swatting away her hands.

“Mein aise kuch nahi karne waali, aur tu bhi nahi karegi. Vo Shiva se shaadi karne waali hai, Dev se nahi. Tu Dev se pyar karti hai na, to tu uspe focus kar. Ye pagal jaisi bate chod de,” said Anita firmly.

Raavi was about to try and convince her, but Anita shot her a stern look. She pouted and let it go for now.

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This time Raavi reached Pandya house before time. She wanted to try and beat some sense into Shiva before the ceremony.

But immediately as she entered, she spotted her arch nemesis sitting on the swing right next to Shiva. She was trying to feed him something, but he kept trying to evade her.

“Shiva, khao na. Mein khud banayi hai. Subah se tumne kuch nahi kaya hai,” she said holding out a spoon full of shrikhand to him.

“Shiva ko shrikhand pasand nahi hai,” Raavi quipped walking past them.

Shilpa made a face at her.

Raavi came back with a bowl of gulab jamun and thrust it into Shiva’s hands with barely concealed anger, looking pointedly at Shilpa.

She walked away and went to stand next to Krish.

“Mere hone waali Bhabhi ji?” Krish said.

“Hmm?” said Raavi without taking her eyes off the couple in the middle of the room.

“Maarna math, par kya aap shaadi rokhni waali ho?”

Now she gave him her full attention. Holding his arms she beamed up at him, “tumhe kaise patha?” she asked shocking him.

“Huh?” he said dumbstruck, not expecting to be right.

“Tu mera favourite devar hai na? Teri bhabhi ki help karega na?” she asked.

“Aap Dev se shaadi thodkar Shiva se shaadi karna chahti ho?” he asked instead of replying.

“Nahi baba, sab subah se aise kyun pooch rahe hai,” she wondered out loud.

“Kyunki aapko dekhe saaf lag raha hai ki aapko Shiva se pyar ho gayi.”

Raavi went silent for a second.

“Ey- kya- kya bol raha hai, bhabhi hoon main uski,” she said with an awkward laugh.

She recovered quickly, “acha chal bahut kaam hai. Tu aaj meri partner in crime banega,” she said dragging him to the kitchen.

“Mission Mehendi Nahi Rachne Waali” she announced as they entered the kitchen.

“Pehle, julab ki goliyaan kahan hai?” she asked him.

He looked horrified. “Bhabhi, nahi nahi nahi. Mein ye games nahi khelne waala. Gaumbi ya Dhara bhabhi to patha lag gaya toh, mujhe maar dalenge.”

“Krish,” she said looking directly into his eyes, “ek ghar mein do do nayi bahuyen nahi aa sakti. Tu soch, iss ghar mein sirf teen kamre hai. Ek mein ma soti hai, doosri Dhara di aur teesri meri hogi. Ab agar Shilpa bhi aagayi toh Dhara di toh definitely unki room use dhedegi. Phir soch, Gaumbi aur vo kahaan soyege,” she said with a sad face.

Krish seemed half-convinced. 

But Raavi wasn’t finished. “Aur Shilpa char saal abroad mein rehke aayi hai. Tumhe lagta hai ki vo yahan adjust kar payegi?” she asked him.

“Kabhi nahi Krish. Vo hamare haste khelte parivaar mein bawal macha degi,” she finished with her eyes wide.

Krish’s expression turned stressed. Raavi’s point did make sense, what were Gaumbi and Dhara bhabhi thinking fixing Shiva’s marriage with Shilpa, he thought.

“Julab ki goliyaan vahan hai,” he pointed at the medicine cabinet.

“Acha, ab bakhi ka plan sunn,” Raavi said with a mischievous smile.

♥️

Part 6 - Page 15