Kindly ignore the typos and spelling errors. Thank you for reading. ❤️
This is a long one shot - Word count is > 5000.
Trigger warning: There are subjects of abuse in this story. Kindly refrain if you don't go well with it.
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Once we dreamt that we were strangers. We wake up to find that we were dear to each other - Rabindranath Tagore.
In the Trance.
November winds were crisp in the tip of the evening. It was half past seven in the night and Raavi had no better thing to do. Her Maasi would be looking for her, the thought clambered through her quixotic mind. She wanted to wait a little bit longer, the terrace seemed quite inviting for her dreaminess. Raavi had spent a fair amount of time around here to experience the familiarity that came along with it. Dazzling days, lovely nights and a joyful childhood. She gathered memories throughout her growing, each moment defined a greater significance. When she prearranged to look back, she always found cheeriness entrance the clouds that swiveled along with her.
With all the joy she had, she always faced a certain brick headed man who held stubbornness in his sleeves and ruggedness through the attitude. He came to exchange blows with her, being deliberate to implant the certainty of belligerent tinge to their equation. They were still the same when it came to the push and pull, she had run home several times, crying about the actions that the stone headed idiot did to her. Sometimes pelting stones at her, sometimes pushing her to the ground and sometimes making fun of her, she had grown up fighting for her esteem in front of him. Raavi nodded her head impossibly. Nothing seemed to change in the twenty two years of her life. Well, the brawls were now more verbal than physical. The thoughts remained all the same.
She looked up at the sky and watched the stars in awe. They still looked as confounding as they were when she was eight. Raavi remembered how she started to take a like for the sky since the age of eight, the age where she began to form and collect memories. She always wanted to remain close to the sky. She made sure that she chose the window seat when she travelled through vehicles, she sat beside the window in the class room and waited to end the day watching the stars and the skies. She had a thorough knowledge about the moon and it's phases. Her apprehension gave in the information about the phase of moon today.
The waxing crescent smiled at her cheerful face. Raavi sighed.
"Dhara Bhabhi will not come, better get back home!"
Raavi heard a raspy countertenor. She closed her eyes, they just had a squabble about an hour ago. Ravi wasn't budged enough to create a dispute with him again. Something told that he was as tired as her. She knew nobody was home for her defense, they were all busy attending her best friend's marriage. Raavi felt a bitterness bite her tongue. She was stuck all alone with Shiva, she didn't want to go home yet and the person she was looking for was not about to come in a while.
"So what? I'll stay till I feel like staying." She retorted. She knew that the person standing behind him will come up with punching words to get fussy with her.
"You think this is your house? Get out before I throw you out from here!"
Raavi rolled her eyes. The man has become so obvious that his assuaged threat seemed boring to her. She folded her hands, not minding his presence for a change. He couldn't be that irritating. Who was she kidding? Shiva was the definition of annoyance to her. He was the fuel to the fire of her frustration. Shiva and calm couldn't be spelled together, at least to her. But she had a tolerable temper today.
"Are you deaf? I'm speaking to you Chipkali! Get out before I chase you...I'm being serious."
Raavi turned towards him and stared at his not so strange expression. He looked frustrated, agitated and annoyed. All those emotions for her? She wondered. His messy hair blew at the swing of the winds, his jade coloured vest and ash trousers swayed shabbily along with his hair. His charcoal eyes blazed with the passing minute. She envisioned a better momentum but all she got was the nasty glares from her childhood enemy.
"What would you do if I didn't go Shiva Pandya?" Raavi was not the one to get afraid of Shiva. Her classmates feared of taking his name, a ballistic rebel that he was! Shiva wore glares for an ornament, he was spectacular in the section of fighting. Everyday, he stood outside the class with a new complaint. Dhara had tried her best to revert him back but Shiva was a pertinacious human who couldn't contain his temper easily. He took away the chance of studies by his own bare hands. Just at the age of eighteen. Raavi remembered Shiva being older to her by an year. He joined the school late, the reason was his rebellion and that was the very reason to end his education.
"Ae Chipkali! Don't push me to push you out."
"Ah, look who is threatening me? The great Shiva!"
Shiva came a step forward and glared mercilessly into her eyes. He grabbed her wrist, making her yelp in resistance. She struggled under his hold like a fish squirming in the trap of a net. Raavi stared at him, she felt the irritation crawl up her spine. Why was he behind her today? She didn't poke her nose into his business and didn't advise him about being happy. The pressure grew as he tried to drag her out.
"Shiva, stop it. You cannot force me like this." Raavi resisted.
Shiva snared in addition, challenging her to do something. She couldn't believe him! Was he doing this on purpose?
"Why are you being a stubborn arse Shiva? Have I ever forced you like this? Oh yeah, you love being an idiot. Be a man for a change." Shiva stopped at her words. They stood at the entrance that would lead them in his house. Raavi knew he would stop at the trigger.
"Says the person who couldn't stand up for her best friend and attend her marriage."
Raavi's happiness dissolved at his blistering comment. With a force she pushed him away and stared at him furiously. That was a far-fetched line to cross. He did not have the rights to demean her like that! She did not give him one! Raavi was livid at his obstinate ego.
"You don't get to speak like that!"
"You don't get to question me either!" Shiva retorted.
"You were forcing me out."
"What do you expect to do? Celebrate your sad faced presence?" Shiva shouted. Raavi curled her fist, her eyes almost welled in tears, she did not come here to make anybody sad. Why couldn't she make anybody understand of that? She didn't care about what others thought. Or did she? Why did she feel bad when Shiva pointed out the obvious to her? Raavi moved back, taking the support of the wall and slid down slowly.
Shiva gaped at her slowing form. He was known for the bad temper that skidded people. He has been warned by many to have a control over it but Shiva never cared to bother. He listened to Dhara and Gautam, he stayed in consilience only for them. He often lost control and remained indifferent. Raavi had been the target of his wrath since the childhood. They fought like cats and dogs, she never gave up on herself; she came back stronger and gave him a tough every time. Shiva's agitation grew with her presence, he suffered from existential crisis when she spoke blatantly. Her chirpy attitude raised his hackles, it continued to remain the same. But for some reason unknown to him, he regretted his behavior today. Shiva's disposition weakened all of a sudden.
"I shouldn't have done that." Shiva was also known for his honesty, he had never denied his faults.
Raavi looked up. She surveyed his change of mind. Was he throwing his pathetic sympathy at her? She liked it better when he stood in his place, insulting her than undermining her craziness at the cost of her dignity.
"What is it that you want Shiva? One minute you treat me like a trash and in the next minute you..." Raavi stopped, she turned away. She was annoyed infallibly. They shared the same equation, the undulation infuriated her.
"Look, quit being an airhead and get back home." Shiva was soft this time.
"Why? Your royalty wants the entire house for yourself?" Raavi repulsed, she was not used to the diluted version of Shiva. She felt satisfied on noticing the slight agitation tick him off momentarily.
The crickets made noises in the background, she could hear the sounds of faint filmy music being played from far away. Those songs were from her best friend's marriage. Raavi loathed the decision of coming to the terrace.The winds grew pale and unsteady. Shiva stood there like a rock, grinding her through his gaze.
"She was your best friend, Raavi." Shiva sounded astonished.
Raavi frowned. He was never delicate when it came to her but he showed extra concern for her best friend. When he argued with her like the world's worst enemy, he was always kind to her friend. What magic did she cast on him? Was it because...
"She loved math like you did."
Shiva's eyes took the edge off. That expression pestered Raavi. If he was that much concerned he should have turned up to her marriage! Why did he stay back? Who was he here for? And he was chasing her home. He took the liberty of trying to drag her out too. And math? For math? She almost scoffed. That subject went out like a tangent above the head. She had a fancy for the things that included stories and tales but the logic stuff really didn't matter to her.
"Stupid subject for stupid people." She muttered.
"Dare you call math stupid!" Shiva warned. Raavi glared at the fleeting response.
"Just because you don't get it, you cannot call it stupid."
She rolled her eyes yet again. Raavi had been jealous of his smart arithmetical skill back in school. Her best friend and Shiva competed with each other all the time. Though she made faces, she was amazed at their ingenuity. She grew respect for the subject undividedly, she was not ready to admit it whole heartedly, especially in front of him.
"Unlike those Daffodils by who..argh." Shiva ruffled his hair as he sat beside her.
"Wordsworth." Raavi replied, she almost got provoked by him. He was doing the unexpected, making it difficult for her to contemplate. What was she supposed to make out from the series of events? The dark sky seemed less complex than Shiva.
"That's my favorite poem Shiva, don't you dare make a joke out of it."
Shiva gave a smug at her riled reply. She was easy to stir up. He had spent days of fun in merely receiving daggering glazes from her.
"Why did you quit when you loved the subject to the moon and back?" Her question threw him off guard. Was she not the one to insult him with her taunts of studies day and night? Why was she interested to know his reason all of a sudden? To mock him further? Huh, Shiva Pandya never cared enough to get offended. The silence stretched widely, sharpening the lyrics of the song that was being played in the distance.
"Everybody are not privileged like you. People have to make sacrifices to earn a living, Dev deserved it better than me."
Raavi stared agape. She was surprised by his instant reply and angered by his catcall. She gave up on his college studies for Dev? That was an information. The dull light from the terrace fell up on Shiva, revealing his features clearly. His stubble made him look pleasant, clearly taking Raavi hazy in seconds. The thought came back like a cannon ball towards Raavi. Shiva had great potential! He focused in the class the least but managed to ace in the subjects he loved.
She was suddenly mad at Dhara for letting his smartness flow down the drain.
"Does not make sense to me. You were so smart at school."
Shiva raised a lone brow. Did she just appreciate him? She, The Chipkali, who always took a chance to dig at him was now openly accepting his intelligence. Shiva was talking to a stranger indeed. The Raavi he knew would have laughed in front of his face.
"And that concerns you?"
Raavi widened her eyes. Why did she have to blurt like a dumb wit? She gulped down the embarrassment that sored her throat. Raavi felt like a deer caught on headlights. Complimenting Shiva sounded like a provocation. The point that she felt would be undeniable was her concern. Did it concern Raavi? Yes it did. She didn't wish for his life to go down the hill. Despite the thousand comments she made on him, she wanted him to reach great heights. She was not the selfish conspicuous witch who was barbarous enough to find happiness in Shiva's plight.
"You were concerned for me regarding my best friend. Did I question you out?"
Shiva remained mum to her accusation. Raavi never stopped surprising him. He sighed. They were ploughing on each other's personal space for that distinct reason. Shiva swallowed, what were doing? Was it necessary? He should have simply ignored her existence and watched the random TV show he had decided to watch earlier. Had he not come up to the terrace to take a note of her, he would have escaped the indictment pressed upon him.
"We are mutual then." Shiva summed it up.
So they were concerned.
Dhara would be happy to know about this. They were always at each other's throat, now they knew they held consternation. Shiva stared at the starry sky, he found her fascination a little over the top. Her tendency of zoning out when she laid her eyes on the wide sky landed her up in trouble so many times. She stood out of the class, known to the world as a day dreamer. She slept in the bus even after reaching their stop. If not for Shiva screaming at her several times, she would have remained lost in her sleep and gone along with the bus to some unknown place; probably putting herself in danger. Shiva had lost sleep many a nights in the thought of Raavi being pitted into some difficulty.
"Why do you like her so much, Shiva?"
Shiva broke away from the trance. Perplexity knitted his mind and wove him to narrow his brows. He couldn't catch the context of her words. Did she think he liked her? Liked her as in? He refrained from asking. He was not willing to put such a thought if she didn't mean it that way.
"Respect is the right word. She saved me from rustication at school one day. I will never ever forget that."
Raavi clenched her fist tightly. She stared at the cold floor of the bricked terrace. Her eyes fell on the pot of red Indian rose. Dhara, Shiva and Raavi had planted it years ago. They broke the pot in a fight, saddening Dhara as a result. The two couldn't take her crest fallen face and they managed to get a fresh plant for her as a token of gift. It was probably the one and only time when they worked together as a team. Yet, they rambled across the floral nursery like bickering dogs, they kept jibing till the owner warned to kick them out. They brought all the insults to find joy in Dhara's face, she was in fact melting on learning about their involvement than their intention to by her the plant. Raavi sighed. She was pinned by their memories, everywhere.
"Why did you ditch your best friend's marriage?"
Raavi rolled her eyes. Oozing concern from an irritating man. Raavi couldn't handle it, he was being over worried for no reason.
"Cause she ditched the guy who loved her to the moon and back because he was from a poor background."
Shiva was glum at her confession.
"So you didn't attend?"
"Will you do the same, if it was for your friend?"
Shiva had been witnessing so much that what she had uttered seemed so unlike Raavi. If it was him on her place, he would have done what Raavi did. There was no other option. Supporting his friend's mistake was not the right thing to do. Shiva knew Raavi was the forgiving type, she never snapped at her friend despite the hundred and one errors done by her. The reason must be bigger, Shiva concluded. He wanted her to answer.
"When I confronted her for breaking his heart, she threatened me. The guy, the apparent looser who she is getting married to today, sent some of his friends to scare me. It was another thing that Dev tackled them away."
Silence invaded them after that. It expanded like a wide spread ripple seen after throwing a stone in the middle of a soundless pond. Something had changed between them, they could sense it and they were hesitant to act upon it. So many boundaries broken and unknowingly, they stirred a warmer course in the cold and icy night. Raavi sensed the layer of comfort when she spoke to Shiva, it was so magnificent that she wanted to speak a few more words to him. How did they manage to judge less in the conversation?
Did Raavi judge? She never did. He was what he was and she...
"Penny for a thought."
Raavi felt surreal. Shiva and Raavi were talking? Like simply talking? Even if they led their conversation indirectly, she was dumbstruck at the possibility of them trying to even speak a syllable without being fussy. Was this a chance to know more about the mysterious guy hiding behind the face of the Goon Shiva? Raavi wanted to explore the opportunity. Who knew when they would speak like humans the next time?
"Let's play five questions."
"Five questions?" Shiva scoffed.
"Short version of twenty questions. But here, you get to let out a secret that you never told anybody."
Shiva ogled at the woman sitting beside him. She must have drunk something obnoxious or she was suffering from some psychological trouble. The two were the only reason why she would believe about Shiva agreeing to her nonplus demand on the heightening night. Why did she think he would let out his surreptitious guard slurp in front of her?
"Why will I let out my secrets in front of your face?" The uneven answer yanked Raavi to raise a brow. He wouldn't agree to her, she would have been surprised if he got along with her proposition in the first go. She let out a knowing smile later.
"Why? You are scared? Or do I smell trouble under your secretive sense?"
Shiva glowered. She was trivializing his propensity, she has been doing that since they learnt to bicker at the age of six. Shiva could remember lucidly. Shiva gave in to her, silently laughing at the fool that she was turning into. He had the chuckle all to himself and Raavi never came to have a knowledge about that. Silly woman! He thought in his head.
"I'm not interested in doing any of that with you, Chipkali."
Raavi smiled smugly. Shiva was not the person to crackle at the minute friction.
"You get to know about mine, Bhootnath. What more assurance do you need? It will remain a secret."
Shiva stirred. Her suggestion twisted his mind momentarily. If he let out his secret, it meant she would let out hers too. That only meant he could bribe her with the shrouded information. Plus, he wanted to know about her too, about the silly stuff she could do in the name of her nonsensical 'Khul ke jiyo' talks.
"Deal."
"I was the reason why you broke your milk tooth in fourth grade." Shiva said. He ignored her dumbfound expression. He did not expect a shower of praise, not when he was the reason for her swollen eyes and grumpy face for an entire month. Shiva even made fun of her in addition, he was pretty ruthless to her.
"I tied your shoe lays together and you fell on the ground."
"You heartless monster!" Raavi shouted as she thwacked his shoulders. She had cried the whole day at the loss of her temporary her tooth, that too her upper incisor. No amount of cajoling helped her that day. On top of that, he left no stone in teasing the moons out of her.
"In my defense, I was young. And you have better and beautiful teeth now."
Raavi rolled her eyes. That did nothing to reduce her shock. Oh, wait. Did he call her teeth beautiful? That wouldn't justify his action. She was melting at his comment but she wanted to be angry. She was walking around like fool the whole month!
That is less in comparison to what she did to him. Her inner voice retaliated. Raavi sighed. He must know the kind of a monster she was to him too.
"It was me who cut your hair when you were sleeping in the class. I had put them in your pencil box too."
It was Shiva's turn to grow wide eyed. He loved his hair more than his dear life. He has never let anybody touch them. How did she dare to do that to him? Gautam took him to the saloon that day, cut his hair shorter than needed. When he opened his pencil box, he found his hair splattered with the sharpener shavings. It was a sight! Shiva was desperate to know the person behind such a heartless action, he was mad to an extreme where Dhara gave him permission to stay at home for a week!
"In my defense, we were just in fifth grade Shiva. We were kids."
Shiva glared, they both were nasty towards each other. There was no place for arguments.
"I placed my dirty, unwashed socks in Maami's handbag."
Raavi suppressed a giggle in an instance. Praffula had almost guessed it was Shiva but Jagat defended him thoroughly. Raavi forgot about the incident since she was busy playing with her friends in a marriage reception. She would have complained about this to Dhara for sure if she knew about it.
"I used to dress up like an actresses and acted in front of the mirror, without anybody's knowledge in my pre and early teens."
Shiva rolled his eyes. What was expected from a dramatic Raavi? He wondered of how silly she looked when she enacted in front of the mirror. She was crazy for reasons more than one. She would have looked like a tiny doll, a part of him thought.
"I got a prank call from a lady when I was in eleventh grade. She apparently told she was having a labor and she didn't have anybody nearby and urged me to help her. I believed her cause my humanity didn't let me sleep peacefully. I roamed around the entire streets to find her and help her out. It turned out to be a prank call."
Raavi laughed loudly, fitting in giggles as she held her stomach. She looked at his face and laughed further. Shiva rolled his eyes watching her have the time of her life, her cackle swelled as the seconds ticked into countless minutes.
"Little did you know Shiva, I had such a fun in pranking you." She laughed further. Realization struck Shiva as she chortled whimsically. She jested him? She held her stomach while he held on to his self control. She would repent for it, he promised in his head. He was not going leave her easily.
"Ae Ghadhedi! Woh tu thi?"
Raavi laughed at his frustrated expression.
"I was running around like a fool you idiot! How dare you!" Shiva shouted. He was not going to spare her. He would take his revenge for sure. He rolled his eyes as she kept laughing like a retard.
"Okay. A serious one. I was the one who helped Tarun and Srishti elope from Somnath."
Shiva was jolted. The good girl Raavi, who was always in the virtuous books of people did something sort of that? He remembered Suman bad mouthing about Tarun and Srishti. Gautam was mad at them too, they were not happy on learning about two young people of the age of Shiva, running away from their family. Shiva did not bother about their motive, he in fact did not mind to be vigilant regarding the issue.
"What about their family, Ms. Asmaan ki pari?"
"Do you know the kind of torture Srishti went through? She had an abusive father and her step mother was cruel to her. I don't think she was wrong to wish for a happy life with the person she loved."
Shiva realized Raavi was not the delicate to be handled kind of glass doll. She was firm when she needed to be firm. Shiva smirked, the wafts dusted off the surge of an imbibing affect. The colors of the night glimmered in resilience, the stars shone in twinkles and the signature fragrance of Raavi drifted his attention. The souvenir was vivid in the chamber of his mind. She smelled like crushed lotus, she was opulent for the dreamers. He was figurative of her diaphanous form, he knew he couldn't handle the subtlety that circled her. Maybe he was wrong, she faced the storms with her fierce brown eyes.
"We were in fifth grade when our language teacher kissed me forcefully. Thrice." Shiva stated. His heartbeats grew faster, his spine shuddered in shivers. Splenetic taste curbed his tongue, he resisted the urge to punch the wall as he envisioned the scene in front of his eyes. He looked ahead, staring at the rose plant they had potted together. He remembered many girls who willingly came to him, he wanted to erase the nasty memory. Shiva swallowed.
The chillness hit Raavi's bone differently. She was piqued at the information. She was always the good girl in front of that spineless lady! She remembered how she presented Raavi a star batch for writing a wonderful poem. Raavi gritted as she felt those memories turning sour. She couldn't believe the illusion of time. How did such a fond feeling turn into a puking urge in the matter of few minutes? It was as if somebody forcefully pulled her out from her dreamy land into a world that grinded granites. Was that the reason why he detested poems and stories? Raavi felt a sudden overprotectiveness gush through her. How she wished she could give a black eye to that harpy woman! She was always there in front of Shiva. Smiling at him, patting his hair, pulling his cheeks. Raavi felt tormented, Shiva faced it silently and she could do nothing about it!
And what did Raavi manage to do? She flaunted that senseless batch in front of Shiva. Regret crawled up through her veins. He has been hiding this all this while. The thought crippled her.
"My first girlfriend revived those memories through our first kiss. I tried to rub out those harsh scenes physically. I really couldn't do anything about it. I realized I was using her, I felt more sick."
"It was not your fault. Any of it."
"You were just seventeen, Shiva. And she was not loyal to you." Raavi felt defensive of him. Moreover, that girl cheated on him; leaving him broken altogether. Raavi was always solicitous for Shiva, her fist curled tighter. She remembered how she questioned her audacity to leave him like that.
"Well, I deserved it. I shouldn't have..." Shiva stared into her liquid umber eyes, he felt his words tumbling. He lost the nerve to speak, the pull from the ocean of brown was vigorous. They were a rip current, dragging him along without his knowledge and drowning him against the will. Did she know that he was fond of the brown? That he looked for the sparkle of light in the expanse of hazel dripped vision? Shiva looked away.
"Your turn." He grunted, extending a knee forward with his arm supporting the folded one. She wouldn't care to concern, Shiva was sure. The entire ebbing feeling swelled only in him. He turned aggressive as the suppression kept increasing, the push and pull wore him to frazzle. He had envisioned brown despite being with the person who served him with the black he had loved.
"It wasn't Sneha. It was me who got your rustication cancelled." Raavi admitted.
Shiva was obfuscated, he sucked in a breath at the stunning divulging truth. Shiva looked on to her light casted face, the cold was now familiar and the warmness around her seemed unpredictably atypical. When people said it was Sneha, her best friend; he felt grateful, he did not expect her best friend to help her childhood enemy who made sure Raavi faced the worst of the worst as an experience. He couldn't believe her, he still couldn't.
"Why?" He asked. He never had the urge to question Sneha that way, she was a stranger to him. He respected her a step higher but with Raavi, he was unable to be formal. They had no idea where they stood with each other but they never put each other off in the rough ends. What was transpiring between them?
Not once, a hundred times. Raavi remembered. She saved him from troubles in the school for a countless period number of times. They shared what they shared- fight, robustness and etching arguments. She believed only she held the right to rattle him the way she did, she worked on it tirelessly. Shiva Pandya was her person to mess with and no one held the right to give him the slightest of a scratch as an infliction of harm. When he fought with the guy for grabbing his ex-girlfriend away, Raavi knew she had to act upon it. That girl was not supposed to leave creating a mess in his life. He was way too broken and dejected, something Raavi never wished to see even in her worst nightmare.
She was a dreamer. Her dream consisted of his sturdy face.
"You deserved to stay in the class Shiva, she was not supposed to do what she did. She said absurd things about your fight with that guy. How can they rusticate you for such stupid issue?"
Shiva clenched his fist, his breath raged. She did not know. He did not fight with him for his ex-girl friend. His world was set ablaze, the thought drove up his walls even after many years. She cheated on him, he never felt the ache, he felt deserved instead. But when he spoke those words, Shiva was enraged.
Give me Raavi for a night, I'll tell you why your girlfriend chose me.
He was just not protective. Shiva knew it was much more than that. He was consumed in proprietorial fire. Raavi was not a thing to be spoken down upon, anybody who disrespected her faced his wrath. He never supported those who tried to demean the worth of a human in sexual terms, but when it came to Raavi, he felt the spark spreading into a firestorm. His anger knew no limits, he leashed out his frustration on the guy. He kept bleeding, till his friends pulled Shiva back. Dhara, Suman and Gautam did not speak to him properly for almost a month as a punishment for his ruthless behavior. Shiva was confused himself and to know that Raavi saved him from the trouble, blew him away.
She was that worried for him? His heartbeats quickened. She did not even know the reason! He sighed as he found her strangeness ground pulling.
"Your turn." Raavi plunged. They were breaking the ice, it was beginning to reflect each other.
"Why do you think, I had a black fist and Dev did not when he said he handled those losers sent by Sneha's fiancé?"
Raavi's heart thudded thunderously. Her world spun in a spiralling giddy. What was happening to them? She was star struck. The squalling waves settled to a calm after storm, bursting silence like a world in the vacuum. Shiva fought them away? For her? They even apologized to her. Raavi was able to feel the disentangling emotions that she held for him resurface in a whiplash.
So he knew what they did to her? Shiva knew, it was no rocket science to understand that. Why was the equation changing? Why was her dream coming true? Why was she feeling the rawness through and through?
Dev attended the wedding and Shiva did not.
Her stomach did a summersault.
They were mutually into this, the two were surprised to know.
They watched the stars simmering around the crescent in a complete hush. The winds played hide and seek with them. The crickets were prominent with their noises. Songs from Sneha's wedding were faint to their ears, the weight remained loose in each other's presence. They couldn't decipher the depth that gauged their span. The childhood rivals were now each other's anchor. They were so complex, like the integral calculations Raavi had managed to pass by the grace of the universe. Or like the rubix cube that Shiva solved in a few minutes. Simple things never interested them anyways.
Shiva felt her little finger curl under his calloused one. He couldn't breathe. This felt like a hasty pie in the sky. Shiva did not have the courage to call it a dream, he did not want wake from the chimera. He breathed harder as he sunk into the profound expanse.
"Daffodils means a lot Shiva. Seeing beauty in the simplest things brings a joy, a happiness and state of trance...like, for example..."
"How does it feel to find a million stars in a group of flowers?" She excited. When she turned to him, he found her eyes boring into hers. As though he found a cluster of constellation in her orbs. Raavi saw herself clouding around the stars with immense satisfaction. She was invited by the breeze and settled to dance to its tune in her head.
Shiva never understood the concept of stars, flowers, rain and it's essence. He keenly observed things but never acted to add a poetic tinge to it. Raavi on the other hand smiled at the simplest things that attracted her attention. The poem suited her, her vision was enthralling.
"I don't hate the subject. I never did."
Raavi saw the truth engraving his vision in a full fledge. Did Shiva hold on to the subject because she was fond of it? The trance grew transcending, Raavi was in the world of castles. Silence chirped a tune to the gleaming enchantment. Their world was glimmering in the essence of reality.
"Shiva!" They heard Dhara's joyful voice.
Shiva and Raavi broke away immediately. They waited for a minute until Raavi decided to get away. She did not expect for the events to turn differently. Raavi tucked in a strand of her hair before she got up to leave. She turned to look back at Shiva. His raven eyes were fixed on her, drinking in her features, scooting her cheeks in red.
On watching his grin, she turned away to break into a beguiling smile.
And for the first time, she was grateful to Sneha for getting married.
***
Kumkum Bhagya
Tu Dhadkan Main Dil
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
