Love Letter Part III
Summary: As much as she doesn't want to, Raavi's current goal is to get a love letter from Shiva Pandya.
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Raavi impatiently tapped on the desk as she glanced up every now and then towards the door. The moment she woke up this morning, she felt as though something really, really good would happen to her. She didn't know how to explain her feelings. But everything in her life seemed a little bit rosier, a little bit brighter.
Shiva Pandya was giving her a love letter.
The boy who despised her was finally singing some praises, and she couldn't help but feel excited. In fact, the whole night, she couldn't help but toss and turn in her bed. As much as she wanted to find out right then and there what he wrote, she knew that morning would come soon enough.
She bit her lip as she glared at the door, hoping her glare would scare the door enough to show her Shiva.
"It doesn't matter how hard you glare at the door, he's not coming."
Raavi's hands clenched into fists as she turned with a glare. Like usual, Miheeka was... horrible. Never failing to taunt Raavi or saying something that was absolutely not necessary... such as this moment.
"He's Shiva Pandya," Miheeka turned to the other girls with a smug smirk. She glanced at her nails, "You might as well give me the crown for Somnath's Most Beautiful."
Raavi gritted her teeth as she glared at the door. Yeh bekar ladka kahaan tha? She was absolutely disappointed in him. He promised to write her a letter in front of his beloved bhabi, yet he wasn't even being punctual with the delivery.
She was about to pull out her phone to call Dhara, but she noticed Shiva sauntering into the classroom with his usual swag and glare. Raavi's lips curved upwards as she immediately sat up straight.
Shiva stopped in front of her desk and snorted as he dropped the white envelope on her desk. Raavi picked it up excitedly. In her peripheral vision, she could already see Miheeka turning green with envy.
This is it! Now I'm the prettiest girl of all of Somnath.
Raavi frowned when she picked up the envelope. The corners were stained in masalas, and even the envelope reeked. She glanced up at Shiva, "Is this how you give a love letter to a girl?" she expected him to be a lot more dignified. But then again, this was Shiva, the mannerless street bandar.
Shiva rolled his eyes, "If you really don't want it, I can take it back," as he reached for the letter, Raavi slid backwards and widened her eyes.
This letter was her only lifeline.
She smiled sheepishly and shook her head, "No, it's alright," she glanced down at the masalas with a frown. The envelope was really kilometers away from the cute, beautiful envelopes the other boys had given her. She really felt sorry for Shiva's future wife. There was no hope for that woman to ever get chocolate since Shiva would only ever add spice into her life. "It adds character," she turned to Miheeka and waved the envelope, "I win. Where's my beautiful crown?" Raavi flipped her hair with a smug smirk, "Somnath's Most Khoobsurat is waiting."
Miheeka glanced at Shiva with a glare before turning to Raavi, "Ek second," she snatched the letter from Raavi, "For all we know, this could Shiva bashing you."
Raavi's brows came together in a frown. Though she did not want to admit, that annoying girl did seem to make sense. In her haste yesterday, she forgot to explicitly tell Shiva to not write some sort of hate letter as a joke.
She grabbed the letter from Miheeka and held it to her chest. Turning to Shiva, she pouted, "Shiva, bol," she took a step closer to him, "Tum mujhse ek love letter diya, hain na?"
Instead of responding to her question, Shiva stared straight at her, expressionless. Raavi swallowed worriedly, thinking all about the ways Shiva would've phrased this letter. None seemed too promising. She glanced down at the letter in despair.
"It's not a hate letter," his voice was on the softer side, but it was still clear to hear.
Raavi's eyes immediately widened as she turned to Shiva with happiness. Wow, Raavi, you did it! This bhoothnath finally wrote you a love letter. You really are the most beautiful girl in all of Somnath.
"I don't believe you," Miheeka's words were grated with hate. She turned to Raavi and tauntingly suggested, "Why don't you read it out to the whole class so we all can know just how much Shiva loves you?"
If it was any other boy, she wouldn't denied the request. Love letters contained personal, private information. But because this is Shiva, and because he doesn't like any type of girl, her curiosity won the best of her. She pulled the letter out of the envelope and cleared her throat. She couldn't wait to hear the praises Shiva sung for her.
"I spent a long time on this letter," she announced as she read the letter. She suddenly frowned. Everyone needs to hear this letter. Especially since Shiva wrote this for me. Her eyes zeroed in on the chair in front of her. With a grin, she stood on the bench and looked down upon her audience, "This is so much better!" she cleared her throat again and began the letter.
I spent a long time on this letter. The 'relationship' between me and this girl has run for quite some time. We have a long history and an even longer rivalry. So I had to do my best to capture the feelings, and because we both are such complicated people, I thought I would simplify the letter by using the ABCs as a guide. I just want to say... this letter doesn't cover every single emotion, but it certainly covers 99% of our relationship.
Raavi glanced down at Shiva with a smile. He saw her smile and rolled his eyes. What a cute boy. Raavi's fingers slid over the words she'd just read. He's always telling me how much he hates me, and now he's singing my praises using the ABCs? He deserves more gulab jamuns. She glanced down at the letter and continued, this time with an even louder voice.
Raavi...
Is Always thinking about Shiva
Is a Bechari ladki who dreams of knowing every little fact about Shiva
Is a Chipkali who is obsessed with Shiva
Don't believe me, well, let me show you just how obsessed she is...
Raavi stopped in her tracks as she glanced over to Shiva in shock. He continued to stare at her with his expressionless face, but she knew him better than that. Underneath the mask, he was probably laughing away. She folded the letter and immediately stepped down from the bench. Unfortunately she wasn't quick enough because Miheeka snatched it away from her.
Miheeka turned to Shiva, "He has so much to say," she turned back to Raavi with a smirk, "let us hear the rest of it."
"Never," she tried to snatch the letter back. It was her letter after all, but then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and gulped when she saw Shiva.
"Let her read it."
"But it's my letter!" she argued. "And I don't want anyone to know what's in it."
Shiva raised his brow as he became amused. He leaned closer to her, "But it's my letter, too. I wrote it, and I want the whole world to know about it." He turned to Miheeka and ordered, "Read it."
Miheeka nodded her head excitedly as she jumped onto the bench just as Raavi had done momentarily before. She cleared her throat, "Everyone can hear me, right?" she asked as her eyes glittered. "Alright, here goes!"
Raavi turned away, not willing to witness just how horrible the letter ended up being. But unbeknownst to her, she just huddled closer into Shiva's warmth and grabbed onto his shirt.
Every day, she comes to my house, calling "Dev! Dev!" but
Forget Dev, I know exactly why she comes, it's because she can't live without my attention
Gadhedi truly thinks she is fooling everyone huh? Not me. Not when she's always like "Shiva! Shiva!"
Has that not convinced you yet? Let me tell you some more...
I am never the one to provoke any fight
Just her, she starts the fight just to win my attention. In fact, the other day, she even said she
Knew everything about me... what type of person knows 'everything' unless they're obsessed? Or maybe she's actually in
Love with me. That explains her obsession perfectly and why she always says "Shiva!" more than "Dev!"
Raavi's hands balled into fists. She glanced up at Shiva, completely ignoring their close proximity. She smacked his chest, "Love? Why would I love a bhoothnath like you?" she pointed to herself, "I'm your future bhabi!"
"Bhabi?" Shiva tauntingly asked. "No one here even believes it."
Raavi stood her ground angrily. For so many years, everyone told her it would be impossible to marry Dev. But she knew nothing in the world was impossible, and she knew she would do everything in her power to fight for the man she loved.
"It doesn't matter if no one in the room believes it. I believe it, and I'll do everything in my power to fight for it," she passionately lashed back at him. It was becoming ridiculous. After this whole letter ordeal, she would need to sit back and regroup her thoughts. She wasn't willing to let go of Dev. In fact, now she became even more passionate about becoming Dev's wife. Especially if it meant she would "control" the bandhar into submitting to her. Biting her lip, she added, "Oh, and I don't say your name out of love, I say it out of anger and annoyance!"
"Katam hogoya?" Raavi and Shiva both turned to Miheeka who seemed annoyed. She waved the letter, "Great, now let me continue."
Maami Ki Behen Ki Beti's obsession for me started early, back then it was
Never Dev. Instead she always went up to me as if I was her god and savior, but I was
Obviously very annoyed with her with clingy behavior. I tried to
Put her at arm's length away from me but she obviously didn't understand nor
Question my actions, because she continued to stick onto me like fevicol. It's absolutely
Ridiculous that I needed to bully her to have her shift her attention to "Dev," but even so, she
Still looks to me, saying "Shiva, look at me!" "Shiva, dekh, I made you food!" "Shiva! Shiva! Shiva!"
"Kyon tum jhoot bolo rahi ho?" she stared up at Shiva angrily. "I cling onto you? Since when?"
Shiva's gaze simply dropped, causing Raavi to follow. Her eyes widened when she realized that she was clutching onto Shiva's shirt tightly. She immediately released her grip and patted his shirt to smoothen the wrinkles. She glanced up at him with a sheepish frown, "Sorry."
She took two large steps backwards, putting a good distance between them. She couldn't completely fault Shiva for his words. Sometimes she did go to the Pandya house for the sole purpose of annoying Shiva and nothing else. And sometimes... she did cling onto Shiva whenever she was scared... but that's because she didn't want to show Dev any of her weaknesses! In Dev's eyes, she needed to be absolutely perfect.
"Well," Miheeka snorted. "He wasn't lying. Guess this means the entire letter is true." Raavi glared up at Miheeka while Miheeka smugly read the rest of the letter.
She becomes very Territorial when it comes to me. She has made everyone
Understand that only she can hurt or bully me. It's because she's obviously obsessed with me, but what's more surprising is her
(Okay, I'll admit, coming up with something that started with an X was pretty difficult. I thought it would ruin the flow of the rest of the letter, but after the stunt you pulled yesterday, I knew exactly what to write.)
X-rated dreams and thoughts of me.
Raavi's eyes widened with shock. X-rated dreams? For that bhoothnath? She shivered with disgust. This was her future devar. And putting that aside, even if she didn't marry Dev in the future, she would never marry Shiva. Not when he smelled like the dukhan. He didn't know a thing about romance, if this letter was anything to go off of.
Don't believe me? Well, she tried taking off my shirt yesterday, and if I didn't stop her, she would've taken off my pants, too
Yes, let that sink in... she was shameless to try to take off my clothes...and it's all because she's obsessed with me. In short, the chipkali has
Zero personality and thoughts beyond her obsession for me...
"SHIVA," she growled as she marched up to him in anger. "Since when did I have x-rated dreams of you?"
She always thought she was a good actress. She knew exactly what to say and how to twist her expressions for the maximal effect. But, perhaps today, even Shiva proved his own acting prowess. He looked at her so innocently, even momentarily glancing over at his other classmates, to win sympathy.
He took a step forward, invading her personal bubble, but her anger allowed her to not care. Bending down, he stated, "Maybe when you tried to take off my shirt yesterday."
"You asked me for your shirt size. Of course I would take off your shirt and see what size you were!" she huffed with indignation.
He snorted. Standing up tall again, he turned one of her friends, "Ey bauna," the girl was shocked when he called her and pointed to herself in disbelief. "Ha, tum, idhaar aao," he motioned for her to come forward. When she finally came forward, he cocked his head to the side, "If someone asked you to tell them their shirt size, and you were at their house, how would you find out their size?"
The girl swallowed nervously. She glanced at Raavi before turning back to Shiva, "Umm... I would go to their closet or ask a family member?"
Raavi immediately paled. It was almost habitual for her to lose her sense of reason whenever she was with Shiva. Perhaps that's what she would've done as well if it was any other boy who asked her such a request. But Shiva always made her too angry to think. Plus, both of them didn't care if they invaded each other's personal spaces.
Shiva turned to her. Using his white colored fancy pen, he gently tapped her forehead, "Now do you understand why I tell you your head is filled with dust?"
She grabbed his pen and rubbed her head gingerly, "Alright, alright. But your head is filled with more dust. I asked for an appreciation letter! And you can't even do that properly. So if my head is filled with dust, your head is obviously filled with air."
Shiva took a step forward, "Who said I didn't write you an appreciation letter?"
"This isn't appreciating me at all! This is about me being obsessed with you," Raavi glared at him. "Which I'm not!" she added as an after thought.
Shiva took another step forward as she took a step backward, "Chipkali, aren't hatred, obsession, love," her back hit the table. Shiva placed his arms on both her sides and leaned closer to her and whispered, "all the same?" his breath tickled her ear as his voice lowered, "Besides, whether you're obsessed with me, or I am obsessed with you, isn't it just the same?"
He leaned away from her and gently held the hand that held his white pen, "I did write you an appreciation letter, chudail. You're just too dumb to not see it." He took the pen from her and gave her a mischievous smile, something he almost never gave her. It disoriented her to see him in such a way. Luckily, Shiva broke the illusion by tapping her forehead gently with the pen. He took a step back, "See you, Maami Ki Behen Ki Beti."
Raavi frowned and placed her hand on her heart. It was beating fast. That ridiculous devar of mine! She glared at Shiva who was already making his way out the door. Once I become his bhabi, I'll make sure to shower him with 'love' so he's annoyed!
"Well, there goes it. Guess I am the prettiest girl of all of Somnath, after all."
Raavi was broken out of her thoughts when she heard that annoying voice. She turned to Miheeka with a glare.
"What?" she scowled. "That was totally a love letter!" Though it didn't read like a typical love letter, Raavi knew that it was the best type of 'appreciation' letter she was ever going to get from Shiva. She honestly expected him to give her a blank piece of paper thinking he would have nothing nice to say to her. But instead, he gave her that sorry excuse of a letter. And... no where in the letter did he ever tell her that he didn't like her 'obsession.' So, keeping all those thoughts in mind, Raavi knew she won the bet.
Miheeka turned to the love letter, "In what way is this a love letter?" her finger skimmed the letter, "Chipkali... gadhedi... Raavi is obsessed with Shiva," she mocked. "None of these are praises."
"Well... none of those are insults either!"
Miheeka snorted, "Does that mean I can call you gadhedi from now on?" She took a step closer to Raavi, "Because I have no problem calling you that, gadhedi," she whispered.
"Gadhedi?"
Raavi frowned, turning to Shiva. She half expected him to leave, but was surprised when she saw him still in the room. As usual, he sported an angry expression... brows knit tightly together, eyes narrowed into slits, and cheeks puffed out. But, instead of looking over at her, he was focused entirely on Miheeka.
With a snort, he leaned back onto the desk, "A gadhedi calling another gadhedi."
As insulted as she was that Shiva yet again bullied her, she couldn't help but grin when she noticed that Shiva also bullied Miheeka. It was absolute music to her. Every time she insulted Miheeka, Miheeka remained smug. But now that Shiva insulted her, she seemed to finally know her place.
Raavi took a step closer to him and held his hand with a smile. Shiva glanced at her briefly before turning back to Miheeka, "And pretty?" he shook Raavi's hand off and crossed his arms, "A makdee like you aiming to become most beautiful?"
Miheeka's mouth dropped open as Raavi's eyes glittered with happiness. Shiva thinks the same as me? God is really sending me a sign! I even think like a Pandya!
"What did you just call me?" Miheeka angrily took a step forward.
"A makdee," Shiva emphasized. He glared at every girl in the classroom, "Prettiest of Somnath? All of you belong to a zoo." This time, he managed to make not only Miheeka angry, but the rest of the class angry as well.
Miheeka's face turned absolutely red, "Y-you gawar!"
Raavi immediately stepped forward and grabbed onto Shiva's arm, "I'll accept you calling me any name, but I won't accept you badmouthing mera Shiva." She turned to Shiva and smiled encouragingly. It was her duty to protect her future devar from harm.
Shiva's dark brown eyes were trained on her, and for a moment, she felt her breath become trapped in her throat. Over the past couple of years, he gazed over towards her with that same look. Where his face would become equal parts moody, angry, and even happy. But beyond those emotions, there was something else. Something she couldn't explain.
And just before she could get into knowing the secret behind Shiva's stares, he placed his hand on her hand and turned her head so she was back at looking at the unappealing Miheeka. Raavi rolled her eyes with annoyance.
"Well you can keep him," Miheeka snorted. "You already 'own' him anyway," she motioned towards their close proximity again which only annoyed Raavi further.
She was only this 'close' to Shiva because of their soon to be relationship and closeness of age to Shiva. It was hard not to become best frenemies with Shiva, especially since he was there at her highest and lowest points. He was even the first person to find out about her crush on Dev.
"Besides, someone as smelly as him doesn't even count! Apart from Shiva, every boy here can agree that I am most beautiful," Miheeka flipped her hair.
"You're smelly," Raavi lashed out. She hugged Shiva and cautiously glanced over at him. He probably still smells like the dukhan.... from the corner of her vision, she saw Miheeka's glare and swallowed away all her worries. It doesn't matter... I need to protect Shiva from that chudail's words... She slowly took a deep breath, expecting to be accosted by the masalas and oils from the Pandya Store, but instead, she was surprised to smell a gentle fragrance of roses and sandalwood.
Her eyes widened, "You bathed?" she whispered so only they both could hear.
That stare returned. But this time, it seemed a little softer. She noticed his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. Slowly, he leaned in closer to her and whispered, "Not for you, chudail. My bhabi made me."
"It doesn't matter," she teased. She picked up his hand and smelled it, "Mera cute," she added the word to further annoy him, "does know how to listen to instructions." While hugging onto Shiva tightly, she turned to Miheeka, "At least Shiva smells like a good homecooked meal, you always smell like rat poison mixed with toenails and a thousand year old rotten egg."
"You! What did you--,"
"Bas!" Shiva scowled as he pulled on his ear. He glared at Miheeka before turning to look down at Raavi who was still latched onto his body, "Stop your ridiculous, bakwas chippering. Beauty competition, right?" he pointed to a boy in the classroom, "Who looks better? The chipkali or the makdee?"
The boy nervously straightened after Shiva addressed him. He glanced over to Miheeka who sent him a death glare. The boy immediately started to shiver. Raavi's cheeks puffed out in anger. Who is this girl to threaten him? She thinks only she's scary? I can be terrifying too! Besides, I'm Somnath's best blackmailer!
When the boy turned to her, she made sure to muster up the angriest expression she could. It seemed to have worked because the boy turned even paler.
"R-Raavi is the prettiest..." he choked out.
A smile burst across Raavi's face. Of course I am the prettiest!
Shiva went on, asking every boy in the class, and every, single, last one of them said Raavi was the prettiest, only making her happiness reach the moon and back.
"Well, you have your answer, don't you?" Shiva's glare was trained on Miheeka who seemed defeated and shocked to the core. He glanced down at Raavi and shook her off. Without another word, he angrily stormed out of the classroom.
Raavi stared off at him worriedly. What's the bhootnath up to now?
Before leaving, she turned to Miheeka and flipped her hair with pride. This was truly the happiest day in her life. Every boy in the room, even those who wrote Miheeka love letters, said she, Raavi, was the prettiest. At this rate, even the Moon would blush at seeing her beauty.
"Bye ladies," Raavi said with arrogance, "Somnath's Most Beautiful will grace her presence tomorrow, and who knows," she smirked towards Miheeka, "I may even allow you to pick up a few of my old, scrap clothes."
Before she could hear Miheeka's response, Raavi ran outside. Luckily, Shiva wasn't too far from the classroom. She smiled and ran up to Shiva. She grabbed onto his arm and stared up at him with blissful happiness. Though the letter was not the best, he did help her out by asking every single boy what their opinion was.
When she noticed Shiva wasn't smiling... or even annoyed, the smile disappeared from her face. She pouted, "Are you mad that I'm Somnath's Most Beautiful."
Shiva took a deep breath, "Does she always insult you like this?"
It took her a moment to understand what he was referring to. But when she did, she shook her head, "We always insult each other, so it's okay." Just as she and Shiva had their own fights, she and Miheeka usually had their own unique fights about clothes, makeup, or something else silly.
"It's not okay," his voice lowered. "How dare she insult you like that."
Raavi frowned and stood up straighter, "You insult me too!"
"But you use that big mouth of yours to fight back, don't you," Shiva ran his fingers through his hair. He turned to glare at her, "So why don't you do it for her?"
Raavi smiled mischievously as she motioned for him to lean down closer. When he didn't, she just grabbed his collar and pulled him close, "Guess what I did?" she whispered excitedly. "I hid a toy spider in her backpack. When she sees that, she'll die of shock!" she began to giggle. When she noticed a hint of Shiva's smile, her laughter grew even louder.
"Hey chudail," his voice was low and breathy.
She stopped laughing, and immediately widened her eyes when she noticed Shiva's intense gaze. His gaze dropped to her lips, "You've proved your namesake." His gaze dropped to his shirt and Raavi's eyes widened when she noticed the streaks and smudges of red. "A complete bloodbath."
"My lipstick!" she immediately pulled out her new tube of lipstick, reading to coat her lips again, but Shiva plucked the tube out of her hand and threw it.
Raavi's eyes widened, "Shiva!" she complained as she watched the lipstick fall to the ground. This was her newest tube. Her Maasi-Ma was already annoyed when she found out Raavi lost her other tube of lipstick. "Bhootnath--,"
He gently tugged at the ribbon in her hair. Her braid loosened. Using the ribbon, he gently wiped away the last of her red lipstick.
"You know, chipkali," he muttered. "Clothes or makeup don't make a girl pretty. In fact... boys don't even care about those kinds of things..."
Her heart fluttered seeing the care he put into in wiping away her lipstick, "Then what do they care about?" her voice was a bit higher.
He glanced up at her, his dark brown eyes piercing into her own, "They care about girls who are confident about their natural beauty."
She felt something in her hands as Shiva took a step back. He gave her a smile. No smirk, no mischief, no ridicule. A pure smile.
"You owe me chole, chipkali," he teased, "I'll be waiting," before turning around to walk down the hallway.
Raavi blinked as she watched him get smaller and smaller. He looked so different! Why doesn't he smile more often? Her fists clenched and she only just realized that Shiva put something in her hand. When she glanced down, she noticed he gave her a small bottle of face wash.
"They care about girls who are confident about their natural beauty."
Raavi couldn't help but smile. Her Maasi-Ma would be so happy, especially since she didn't have to spend so much on makeup.
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Notes: Much longer than I originally anticipated which is why there was the delay... Although this concludes 'Love Letter,' this is NOT the end! There's actually a follow-up to this story (instead of making a separate thread, I'm planning on including the story in this thread alone) called 'Post-Script.' Post-script (more commonly seen as a P.S. at the end of letters) is an additional thought. Reading the letter itself is sufficient, but the post-script often adds something new. Likewise, Post-Script will be shown in Shiva Pandya's viewpoint. And a few of those secret (though, some of you have already caught on) goose eggs that I've planted in this story will be addressed there. The question of whether Shiva Pandya liked Raavi will finally be addressed. So, catch the first part of Post-Script on June 1st (and don't worry, that part will get updated on time since I'll be done with my classes)!
