"Shivaaa!!" Raavi exclaimed walking into the store. "Deevv!! Hiii! Why are you both not ready yet? I went home and Dhara bhabhi told me you were here. Come on, we're going to be late for our dinner!"
It had been six months since Raavi and Shiva had finished college. They had become friendlier towards each other and though he still teased her, called her names and refused to speak to her properly, his words didn't have the same bite to them. They had grown closer as well, but if anyone asked, they would vehemently deny it.
Raavi had also found a new best friend in Rishita. They had caught up a week after their initial meeting, to have dinner together and had spoken about the Pandya family, how Rishita met Dev and how they started dating. This had eventually become a weekly ritual for the two, catching up and talking about everything that had happened. Pooja sometimes joined them as well and that always gave them an opportunity to gossip without the boys.
***
Rishita had joined Dev's college halfway through her first year when Dev was in his final year. They'd bumped into each other at the library and like a typical Bollywood story, their college romance had begun. That wasn't the only cliche in their love story, she was the rich pampered princess and him the working middle class son and it hadn't taken long before canteen lunches became coffee dates, long lunches and bike rides. The only thing their story lacked was a villain.
Rishita came from an influential family in Somnath, her father owned the wholesaler market for all culinary needs. He knew of the Pandya brothers well. He wasn't too happy that his daughter had decided to commit to a relationship at such a young age, but that did not mean he was against them being together. The only condition he'd put forth was Rishita had to finish her education at the top of her class.
A few weeks after Raavi and Shiva's leavers bash, Dev had finally introduced Rishita to Gautam and Dhara, explaining their relationship and his commitment to Rishita. Dhara had taken a liking to Rishita and thought she'd be perfect for Dev. She was disheartened that Raavi wouldn't be coming into the family, after all she had liked Dev since she was young, till Dev and Rishita explained how Shiva actually liked Raavi.
***
Dhara had never played favourites with any of her three devars, but Shiva had always held a special place in her heart. He had always been the most vocal about any matter that affected his loved ones, but also internalised his feelings the most and she'd begun to understand that when she'd played with him when he was only little.
For that reason, she had always worried about finding him someone deserving. He deserved the best and she was glad that it was the one girl she absolutely adored, who her devar had fallen for. But of course, no one really knew what Raavi's feelings were for Shiva then. All the family saw was that even though her bond with Dev had gotten stronger, she had started seeking out Shiva more often than not when she came home.
Since finding out his feelings for Raavi, Dhara had also started noticing the care Shiva placed on anything to do with her. The one incident that stood out to her the most was when two months after meeting Rishita, Dev had wanted to throw her a surprise birthday party. He'd asked all their friends to come home and Raavi was left to bring her to Pandya Niwas at the set time. The party was a success and everything went smoothly till Dhara had served dessert. Dev had ordered a cinnamon cake which was Rishita's favourite and Dhara, having forgotten about Raavi's allergy, had served her a piece. Just as she was about to take a bite, he bit off the bite on the fork and swiped the plate from her hand.
Raavi had been upset as she had really wanted some cake and both Dhara and Gautam had given Shiva an earful. He had walked out of the house without saying a word to anyone and as Dhara had gone to feed Raavi herself, she'd gotten a whiff of the cinnamon and stopped halfway to her mouth. She realised then that Shiva knew of Raavi's allergies and had eaten the cake to prevent anything from happening. But what stood out the most was when Shiva returned, he had a bakery box in his hand with Raavi's favourite coffee cake. Apologising to Dhara he handed her the box and went to change.
***
Waiting on the swing with Krish, Raavi spoke to him about her work at the bank and his college studies. Dev and Shiva were getting ready so they could all leave together. A sense of deja vu flitted over Krish as he looked at the scene before him. Shiva had made an effort to dress up again and it was obviously a success hearing the hitch of breath on his side.
Finally leaving for the dinner they had organised, which was in celebration of Dev completing his MBA. Deciding to reminisce, they had booked dinner at the same restaurant, from six months before. Sitting behind Shiva, Raavi comfortably held onto Shiva's waist and moved closer to him to retain some warmth in her body. They stopped off to pick Rishita up and made their way to the venue where Krish was waiting with Arjun, Shay and Pooja.
***
Raavi had realised that there was something different about her bond with Shiva. She had started enjoying spending time with him. The wall of misconceptions she had built around Shiva had started crumbling away when she got to know him better. He was like the waves of the ocean, destructive when in anger but soothing when calm. His abrasive behaviour hid a heart of gold that very few had the privilege to witness and she had become somewhat greedy in trying to see the whole picture instead of the tiny glimpses she'd been fortunate to spot.
Her feelings had also started changing, like leaves, the dislike she had festered in her heart for him, had yellowed and withered and after a long season of hibernation, there was a peek of like shooting through.
Raavi had never had a mean and possessive bone in her body. She was happy to share, forgive and forget and never quite took things to heart, but in the past few months she realised she had a slight streak of meanness, that only came out on certain occasions.
She had become possessive over the time she spent with Shiva, never wanting any interruptions. The last couple of weeks in college, everyone had seen a different side of Raavi peeking through; a mean Raavi that wasn't afraid to lash out at the smallest instigation.
It had all started with Shiva having decked up for the leaver's bash where he and Pooja had been the talk of the night. She hadn't minded having his name mentioned with hers since she knew Pooja was with Shay, however, the aftermath of that night was the amount of girls following Shiva around at college. Shiva who was ever the recluse was suddenly very much in demand and that meant that Raavi would have to wait for hours before she could talk to him.
Eventually getting angry, she had pulled a first year into a deserted classroom and firmly told her that Shiva was off limits and to pass on the message to all other girls in the school. Pooja who had heard of the incident through the college gossip vine had gleefully passed on the information to Rishita.
***
Greetings were exchanged and everyone sat down on the table in an almost replica of the previous time, only this time Arjun sat on the seat next to Raavi and had left a seat between himself and Shiva. Curiously Raavi spoke up,
"Why is there an extra seat at the table? Are we expecting someone else?"
Arjun waiting for the opening spoke up, "I'm waiting for my cousin. She's just come from Ahmedabad and was getting bored so I asked her to come out with us. She's just gone to freshen up. Look, there she is!"
Waving at a waif but stunning girl who looked about their age, he stood to pull out the chair next to him and Shiva.
"Hi, I'm Shivani. This is so exciting. I've been here for three weeks and Arjun has finally decided to take me out. It's so good to finally see who his friends are, otherwise I never would have believed that this loser cousin of mine could actually make any friends."
"Wow Arjun Shiva ni Shivani. Su vaat chhe. Perfect seating arrangement. Playing matchmaking already huh?" Krish spoke up, wiggling his eyebrows.
Everyone had their eyes trained on Raavi, who was watching Shivani, who was looking at Shiva with almost glee.
"We share a name. Oh God. This is so cool. Who knew I'd find someone here in Somnath with almost the same name as me. You'd think it would be more common isn't it?"
Smiling awkwardly, he shook the hand she'd forwarded and then looked round the table,
"What are you all looking at? Let's order some food. And you Krish, you've started talking too much."
Once everyone had ordered, they started catching up. Conversations mixed and everyone spoke at once, so whilst Shivani spoke to Shiva, Arjun tried to keep Raavi occupied, but he could see her glancing over ever so often as she murmured under her breath. Arjun had always been most confused of Raavi's reactions to Shiva and trying to understand her a bit more, he asked her,
"Are you swearing at Shiva?"
"What? No. I'm just talking to myself. Sorry you were saying something."
***
Arjun had always believed that he had very good fortune. He'd always pick the right numbers for school fair lucky dips, he'd won countless prizes for games and had even won the lottery when he'd played once. However, he was really pushing his luck, when he leaned in towards Raavi to ask her about helping him choose a gift for his cousin's birthday knowing that Shiva was watching his every action.
Shivani could feel the daggers in her back and mentally cursed her cousin for roping her into this haywire scheme of theirs. Making Raavi and Shiva jealous did not seem like an ideal situation and it could turn sour really quickly. She had already noticed Shiva clenching his jaw and unconsciously had changed his stance as though he were a boxer facing his opponent. Placing a hand on his closed fist, Shivani smiled and told Shiva,
"Don't worry so much. I don't think Arjun actually knows how to flirt, but he doesn't know the concept of personal boundaries so he is always getting into trouble with girls."
"He's a bit too close to Raavi though. I might change seats with him." saying that Shiva moved to Arjun and leant down to whisper in his ear.
Arjun's eyes widened at the veiled threat Shiva had made and nodding, he moved to take the seat Shiva had vacated. Sitting down, Shiva glanced at Raavi before continuing his conversation with Shivani. No one noticed the slight squeeze Raavi gave Shiva's hand before he placed it on the table.
***
Having had dinner, everyone got up to look at the new garden the restaurant had created for a more relaxing ambience. Everyone paired up, bar Krish who was on the phone with Dhara bhabhi and had waved for them to continue. Shivani put her arm through Shiva's and walked ahead with him before he could utter a word, leaving Raavi to walk with Arjun.
This time there was no mistaking the abuse she hurled towards Shiva under her breath, but heeding to the warning he'd received earlier, Arjun kept mum and a slight gap between himself and Raavi. Instead he started lagging behind so he could speak to Krish who had almost caught up to them.
"Krish, your brother is truly scary. Everyone apart from themselves knows of their feelings. Isn't there anything we can do to get them together?"
"What did Shiva tell you earlier that scared you?"
"Raavi is off limits and if I love my life I'd better remember that. What I don't understand is why asking Raavi ideas for a gift for Shivani would make him angry?"
Krish just laughed and put his arm around his shoulder, "That's Shiva for you. Never mind that, Rishita has asked that we need to get Shivani and Raavi together to see if she says anything. Message her and let her know."
***
She pulled him to a stop as her phone pinged and he finally managed to untangle her arm from his. Reading the message her cousin had sent she rolled her eyes heavenward and quickly thought of how to get Raavi to walk with her. Turning she saw Raavi walking alone and called her over. Being more observant, she noticed the lingering touch as Raavi walked next to Shiva, their hands barely touching, but never losing that slightest contact.
Finally she spoke up and asked Raavi if she would walk back with her to the bathroom, Raavi agreed and they excused themselves from Shiva and walked back to the restaurant.
"I never knew Arjun had such cool friends. I haven't had this much fun in such a long time and Shiva is so interesting to talk to. I feel like I've known him for ages. I'm going to ask him if he wants to catch up again sometime this week."
Raavi had been getting more worked up about not having talked to Shiva the whole day and the end of this conversation made her finally lose her cool. Grabbing Shivani by her arm, she pulled her aside,
"Leave my Shiva alone. He is not free to see you anytime. Ever."
"Hey, I already have a boyfriend, one I love very much. But, if you don't mind my saying this, maybe you should tell him about your feelings."
Raavi sighed in relief at that information and replied with a smile, "What's to tell? He's a really close friend. My feelings are mine to sort out. He doesn't feel anything for me."
"Trust me, tell him. You'll be surprised."
***
On the way home that night, Raavi placed her cheek on Shiva's back, feeling the same sense of peace she felt with him for a long time now and she decided that she would tell Shiva.
Edited by Miss.M - 4 years ago
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