Hello folks, this oneshot has been in the works for quite some time now, but it's been getting delayed because of college and internals, 😕. But, I have a break from tests for this whole week, so, tada!!! Finished this and posting it!!!! 🥳
PS Angst is not my forte, so not sure how this comes across, but constructive criticism is much appreciated.
PPS This oneshot is a result of multiple ideas I've had coming together, so please do let me know if it's not very clear cut.... 😁
PPPS This is the longest story I've ever posted at one go, I think!!!!! 🥰
Epilogue here
https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/topic/5247421?pn=6#158996713
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Present day
Something was going to change, Shiva could feel it in the air. He hadn't felt this restless in months now. He had already called every member of his family up and asked them if they were alright, all except one, the most important one.
He hadn't seen her after that day in the bazaar when she'd run away from the sight of him. He had been heartbroken, enough that he had almost broken his promise to his bhabhi to never touch alcohol again. Instead he'd resorted to crying on the terrace where Rishita bhabhi had found him. The ensuing conversation had made sure Shiva didn't have the guts to face her after that.
But today, today he felt the inexplicable urge to check on her, if not directly then atleast through Krish, the only person of their family she still talked to, because it was their family, no matter how much she denied it.
Shiva looked up from his phone as he heard Krish calling out to him, "Shiva, chal, ghar jaa ke khaana khaa le tu, tab tak main aur kaaka dukaan sambhal lenge". Shiva just stood their silently waiting for his brother to come inside the shop so that he could tell him to check up on her.
He'd just put a hand on Krish's shoulder to start convincing him to do what he wanted when his own phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the caller ID only to realise he didn't recognise the number. Holding a hand up to his brother to stop the questions that were sure to follow his curious look, Shiva attended the call.
The moment he held the phone to his ear, Shiva knew. Shiva knew that whatever change he'd been waiting for was here. And then he heard her, more specifically, her sob. His heart froze as his brain went into overdrive, a thousand words clamoring to be spoken first, and then it was as if muscle memory took over from him, his tongue remembering the name it had longed to speak for months now, longed for and been denied.
"Raavi?"
"Shiva.... "
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Two weeks ago
Shiva had been sat on the terrace ledge, finally letting his silent tears fall when Rishita bhabhi had come up to him. At first he hadn't noticed, but then the sound of her ringing phone had brought him out of his reverie. He had hastily wiped his tears away as she had come and stood beside him after disconnecting the call.
"Meri sunne main aayi thi ki aaj tu bazaar gayi thi Shiva". He had frozen, cursing Dev to hell and back, because who else could it be, as he wondered why Rishita had bothered to talk to him today, today, after her silent treatment ever since she had left. Well, he did know, but still, was this necessary?
Shiva had gone to the market thinking it was going to be like every other day, like every other thing ever since she had left, mundane, numbing, and mindless. Perhaps it was why it had hurt so much to see her, the girl who had been the staunchest customer to their store over years, years of friendship and enmity and love, in another shop. She had been getting groceries from another shop and although he understood why, it was one more thread between them severing and it had hurt, hurt as if someone had shoved a hand through his ribs and squeezed his heart. And it seemed that this pain, at least wasn't one sided, because the moment her eyes had inevitably met his she had teared up, and then turned and run away from him, from him.
As he had remained silent like every day now, Rishita bhabhi had forged ahead, "Tujhe patha hain Shiva, aaj tumhari aur Raavi ki iss haalaat ki hum sab gunegar hain, mera matlab, Krish ke alaava sab, aur iss baat ko jab bhi yaad karti hoon tho mujhe aise lagti hai ki mujhe tumse naaraz hone ki, tumhara beizzati karne ki koi haq nahi hain. Tho aaj se tum aur main ek naye shuruaat karte hain, dost ban ke", and she had offered her hand for him to shake.
Shiva had, but then he had also said that it wasn't the family's fault that he and Raavi weren't right for each other. This was when his bhabhi had laughed at him, leaving him perplexed. She had then said something that had surprised him coming from her. "Tumhara aur Raavi ki rishta ab kis mod pe hain, shahad vahaan se kuch bhi theek nahi kar payenge tum donon, par iska ye matlab nahin hain ki tum donon ka koi mel hi nahin hain Shiva. You guys are practically made for each other, bas, halat aisi ho gayi hain ki shahad vo kaafi nahi rahega".
He had agreed to disagree on that point, but still had stubbornly disagreed that the family was responsible for anything.
"Maanti hoon main Shiva, ki Raavi ko saari dosh Dhara bhabhi ki sar pe lagane ki koi haq nahi thi, par main yeh bhi maanti hoon ki Dhara di aur iss parivaar ne Raavi ke saath baar baar nainsaafi ki hai. Pehle uss se Dev ka sach chupaya, phir uski mana karne ke baad bhi usse emotional blackmail karke tumse shaadi karwaana. Aur phir shaadi ki baad tho hum sab ne, kaas kar Dhara bhabhi ne nainsaafi ki saarein hadh paar kar di, kyun ki jab bhi baat teri aur Raavi ki beech ki hoti thi tho voh sirf teri bhabhi maa banke sochte hain, Raavi ki Dhara di banke nahin."
He had gotten of the slab and turned around to face her before asking her, "Matlab kya hain aapka bhabhi, jab se ye saara jagda shuru hui hain, tab se to sirf ussi ki side lete hain bhabhi, yahaan tak ki aajkal mujhse voh theek se baat bhi nahin karte hain."
"Shiva tu iss baath ko maan ya naa maan, par Dhara bhabhi ki abhi aise Raavi ki side lene ki ek vajah unki guilt hain. Raavi to iss saare problem shuru hone se pehle hi rokna chahti thi. Jab tune uski diary padi thi, usse dar lagne lagi thi ki kahin tu uski puraani feelings ko, uski puraani nazariya ko leke baith naa jaaye, kyun ki uski nazariya badal gayi thi, usko koi Prince Charming types ladka nahi chahiye tha. Par Dhara di ne usse kahaan ki jo bhi baath ho, tum donon ko aapas main hi suljha leni chaahiye, ki unhe yeh sab main koi involvement nahin chahiye tha. Shahad issi vajah se jab baath bikarne lagi tab uske paas jaane ke liye koi sahara nahin bachi thi. Naa voh kudh tumhe samajh paa rahi thi, aur naa hi voh kisi se tumhari baaton ka matlab poonch sakti thi."
He had stood there as if someone had frozen time, wondering how much she must have cared for this relationship with him, even if not for him, beyond wanting his family, to have tried again and again to talk to him after the one person she had trusted the most had left her to deal with her problems herself. His bhabhi had simply smiled, and asked him to come downstairs and eat before walking away.
And in an ode to his new found friendship, to the woman who had finally let him see that perhaps his bhabhi maa was human too, he had had a meal with the family that day, for the first time since she had left.
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Two weeks ago
She had run away from him today. Raavi knew it had been the cowardly thing to do, but she hadn't had the courage to face him then. Perhaps it was for the best, this distance between them. But it was killing her. Raavi felt empty, as if there was nothing and no one anchoring her, and it was killing her.
It was all her fault really, Raavi had realised her folly within days of letting go of her anger, within days of realising exactly what had caused Shiva to behave as irrationally as he had on the day of the yatra, but it had taken her time to understand that whatever had happened that day had only been a trigger.
Tumhara gussa tujhe bhasm kar dega ek din, she had told him back at the haveli, and it had, but she hadn't known then that she would burn right along with him. But regardless, she had burnt until she had felt like a pile of ashes left to scatter with the winds. It had taken her time and space and a stubborn determination to gather herself back together, but she'd done it. She's made sure to hold herself together, just about, and then she'd thought.
She'd thought of her old diary, of Sneha, of Rahul and Rohan and the yatra, and she'd thought about her own words to him in response to each of these problems her Bholenaath had sent her way. She'd thought and thought and thought, until it became meaningless, numbing, and until she'd figured it out. And then she felt like a child who'd failed a test.
Every time Shiva had lashed out at her the words jungli, gawaar, anpadh, had made at least one appearance. She'd known all along, just hadn't realised it really. She had blurted it out during their fight in a moment of heat, but it had rung true the second she'd sounded it out. Shiva had felt insecure in his own self, had been hurt by her thoughts of him that Sneha had revealed. And she had taken a fistful of salt and rubbed it in his bleeding wounds with her diary. What had she done? What had she done?!! What had he said when he'd come home drunk that day? 'Haan, sharam aati hain na, tujhse shaadi karke teri zindagi jo barbaad kar diya maine'.
She had made Shiva, Dhara Di's Shiva, who had never once cared about what this world thought of him doubt himself, wonder if he was enough. And that was unforgivable.
She had been a coward, yes, but this distance? She would much rather once again scatter the ashes of herself that she'd painstakingly gathered, than go near Shiva and hurt him again. Main zameen hoon, par tujhe to aasmaan chahiye na, he had asked her, but now she was lost in the skies she'd dreamt for herself, lost without her anchor, without him.
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Present day
As Shiva pushed his bike to go faster yet, as he felt Krish clutch onto his shoulders tighter, even as a part of his mind wondered and worried about what had happened to her, he felt his thoughts stream themselves into a calmer undercurrent of what-ifs as they had for a while now.
Even after his realisation that Raavi had truly wanted their relationship for their own sake, not for the sake of his family or society, Shiva had still managed to believe that if they hadn't seperated, one day or the other, she would have resented him for holding onto her. But he hadn't been able to ignore what may have been.
What if they had truly started off as strangers, he had wondered? Hum na, ajnabee ban jaate hain Shiva, she had said, grinning at the thought of losing their enmity, their rivalry. He had replied saying that wasn't possible, Ajnabee ban ne ke liye phir se bachpan main jaana padega, kyun ki mere bachpan ki har hisse main tujhse ladai ki kisse hain. No, not that, cutting her out of the story of his life would make it truly as berang as she'd always called it.
What if he hadn't misplaced his hatred for Maami? What if it hadn't taken seeing her hanging from a fan for him to realise that Raavi was Raavi, her own person, a naive, fool of a person, but still a wonder in herself? And as he thought on these what-ifs and discarded them for the reality of being them every time, he had begun to wonder if it was what she had done, because it was hard to believe she hadn't dreamt up these very scenarios while she lived with her head in the clouds.
Was it why she had been so willing to compromise, to adjust and fake-it-till-they-made-it? Perhaps it hadn't felt as wrong to her as it had to him, after all Rishita bhabhi had married the man of her dreams and still had to compromise. And slowly, despite him trying to stamp it out repeatedly, a stubborn hope had risen in his mind. That she had truly wanted things to work out between them, but in all the glory of being the dobi she was, hadn't realised that she'd never need to compromise with him, not when he was willing to love her as she was.
But what was the point in hoping when he'd driven her away already? Shiva knew Raavi, and although she was one of the most forgiving people he had come across in his life, Raavi would not forgive someone who had questioned her character, hurt her self-respect. And Shiva had.
As they finally reached the place she'd asked him to come to, Shiva realised that it was his tree. She had known, of course she had, and called him there, to his place of solace. Just as he turned the bike around the last corner she was there, in front of his eyes again after what felt like forever. Hunched over, shivering and crying, but there. Now that she was here he would make sure that nothing, no-one hurt her, not even himself.
After all, he was her Chattan Pandya.
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Present day
Raavi couldn't hold herself back anymore. Not after what she had heard today. Maasi had come home from the bazaar in one of her moods today, and Raavi had decided that today was going to be another ignore Maasi ma day, because she hadn't had the strength for a not give in to Maasi ma day. Then her Maasi had dropped a bomb on Raavi's head.
Her Maasi ma had gone on and on about getting Raavi married as soon as possible, about finding a dulha for Raavi who was better than Shiva, better than Dev even. And when Mausa pa had finally asked Maasi ma the question she had been begging to but avoiding, "Prafulla, itni bhi kya jaldi hain? Ek baar jaldbaazi karke hi hamaari bacchi ki yeh haal hui hain, yaad hai na tujhe?"
Her Maasi turned around in her anger, pointing a finger at her Mausa pa, "Maine nahi, aapne jaldbaazi ki thi. Maine tho saaf saaf mana kiya tha aapko, ki meri phool si bacchi ki haath ko uss jungli jaanwaron ke haath math deejiye. Par aapne meri baath kahan suni? Iss baar main kudh doond lungi apni bacchi ke liye ladka, aur aisa dulha doond launga ki voh Suman behen, bas muh kol ke dekhte reh jaayenge!!"
"Arrey, par kyun?!!", he repeated.
"Kyun ki maine aaj uss chokri Rishita ki muh se yaa baath suni thi aaj bazaar main, ki Suman behen uss Shiva ke kiye ladki doond rahi hain!! Aur uss nalayak Dhara ko bhi chup karaaya, ye keh ke ki pehle shaadi ki nateeja hi kaafi tha!", saying so, her Maasi ma plopped herself on their couch, apparently finally out of fuel.
Raavi had stood there for a moment, letting her Maasi's words sink in, and once they had she had made a run for it, ignoring the frantic calls of her name that followed after her.
Raavi had realised and regretted her mistakes every second since she had realised it. She had first thought that perhaps this distance was better for Shiva, that it would keep him away from the pain her thoughtless words had given him. But with time, her longing for him had increased. As she slowly realised that everyone had someone or the other to hold onto, to hold them, whereas she had no one when once Shiva had held her gently enough to wonder if he'd gone mad. So she longed for him, for them, with all their faults and flaws.
She hadn't realised when she'd come to his tree, how she'd come to his place of solace, because of course she'd known, right from their childhood. Raavi simply hadn't had the guts to ever come up to him when he was worried enough to come here. But today, no, she could stand losing him to her own mistakes, but not to another woman, no. She simply couldn't survive that.
She had ended up borrowing a chaiwala's phone to call him, and she'd only managed to get her location to him before she'd collapsed into sobs, huddling against his tree. She only had to hold herself together until he came, she told herself, until she could beg him to please, gather her falling pieces together and not let go.
And as Shiva turned the last corner, as he rushed towards her not even bothering to park his bike properly, concern and worry and relief on his face, she got up and threw herself into his outstretched arms. Now that she was here, she wouldn't ever let him go, and neither would she let him push her away.
After all, she was still his chipkali.
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Krish watched silently as Shiva and his Raavi bhabhi hugged each other. He watched silently as they cried, then talked, then cried some more, and then as they laughed.
And then he pulled his phone out and texted his bhabhi, not Dhara bhabhi, no, but his unlikely yet highly reliable new partner in crime, Rishita bhabhi.
From: Krish
To: Bhabhi no. 2
Bhabhi, mission Shivi success ho gayi hain. Iss mahine ka Dev ka wifi mera, aur uska paise aap ki shopping ke liye. Bachaane math dijiye usse!!
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Hopefully, I'll be doing an epilogue for this sometime soon!!!! 💓
Cricket
