When they knew (drabble series)(3rd pg13 27/4/22) - Page 8

Ok. Hello people🤗!!!! I know I'm behind on updating a lot of things. (Please dont remind me, college is catching up to me these days🤪) But, but, but! This one is a little gift to my Ritu girl! (@EuphoricDamsel.) For finishing all her exams of this year.... 😆🥳

To Ritu: Not sure if this is what you'd expected, okay? So I hope you love this. 😃

Disclaimer: Anita is positive in this AU. Please do read Metamorphosis before you read this series. (Link on 1st page). Which also means that Anita and Dhara are still friends here. The end might be a little confusing, because this is first draft, people. Sorry😒!

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When Anita Knew...

Anita stood at the store, in the line. After all, only Shiva and Kaka were here, and Kaka was busy bringing stock out of the storage room. Which left her having to face Shiva Pandya. Or the queu. Anita chose the queu. She might be in a bit of a hurry, but that boy had never been fond of her.

Five minutes later, Anita cursed her fate as she realised that there was no longer a queu in front of her. And that Kaka still wasn't free. "Aye Anita? Kya kadi kadi dekh rahi hai? Kuch chahiye ki nahi?!", asked an irate Shiva, his face grumpy as he leant his bare elbows on the counter of the store.

Quickly clearing her throat, refusing to be intimidated by a boy who was nearly a decade younger than her, Anita handed over to him the list in her hands. He took one look at it before placing it on the counter and moving around the store. Picking up things, leaving them by her list, before going to pick more things up, then cross checking with her list.

Anita looked out at the street, hoping she would get everything she needed here, especially the.... "Bas iss Pad ko chod ke list pe likhi saare cheezein hai. Voh wala Brand ka stock kal hi aayega shayad", Shiva told her. Turning around, she raised her voice a little in her agitation. "Kya?! Par vohi tho sab se zyada zaroori hai uss list pe! Abh main Raavi ke liye kal phir..." She trailed off, realising what she'd been doing as she caught Kaka's well meaning yet cautious smile. Well, there went her plans of not having to come back here again tomorrow.

Pulling on her best fake smile, she turned back towards Shiva, who seemed to be staring at her in silence, his eyes too wide for comfort. Wanting to leave quickly, alone that she'd left Raavi at home, Anita took off talking again. "Koi baat nahi. Main kal aake le lungi voh sab. Tu bass yeh sab ka hisaab mujhe bata de", she said, gesturing to the pile of things left on the counter by her list.

He quickly tallied things, and Kaka placed them in the cloth bag she'd brought along with her before handing it to Shiva for a final check. Done with his checking, Shiva held the bag in one hand over the counter before opening his mouth and closing it again, quite like a gasping fish. She raised her brows, wondering what on earth was making him so nervous.

"Voh...", he started, his voice a pitch higher than normal. Clearing it, he started again. "Voh, pads, abhi chahiye ho tho bata dena. Kahin aur se leke de deta hoon. Yaa phir stock aate hi ghar pe delivery de dunga". She was probably staring at him, she realised as a flush rose up to his cheeks, his hand swiping his hair off of his brow before ruffling it again nervously. She chuckled softly before answering, "Nahi, nahi! Uski koi zaroorat nahi hai. Raavi kal tak manage kar legi". She didn't look at his face as she placed the money on the counter before walking out with her bag of things.

"Jai Somnath, bitiya!", Kaka called out to her. And Anita called back, turning slightly to see the happy old man. The last thing she saw though was the sight of Shiva with his eyebrows furrowed and mouth twisting into a frown. As if the idea of Raavi managing things, bothered him acutely.

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That evening, when the door bell rang, Anita was surprised. Truly. After all, it was raining buckets out there, and her Fufa and Fui were out of town. She placed the packet of milk she'd just taken out of the fridge on the kitchen counter, moving instead towards the door. Her special adrak elaichi chai could wait.

Minutes later, she felt some kind of righteous about her previous shock. After all, stood at her door was one Shiva Pandya, closing an umbrella as he stood under the slab overhanging their house door, and with a bag full of what seemed to be groceries. One brown paper covered package right at the top. Three guesses as to what that was.

Still a little frozen, she stood there watching as he glared at the rain for having the gall to touch him. Then, realising that she was blocking his way, she quickly moved to the side, calling him in. "Kya hua Shiva?!", she asked him, her voice squeaking at the end as he turned his head towards her. Clearing her throat, she ploughed on. "Nahi, matlab, achanak se tu yahan?"

The half scowl on his face vanished temporarily, a light blush rising to darken his cheeks, his eyes moving about their hall. "Voh... V-voh..." His eyes settled on a framed photo of their family, taking place of honor amongst Fui's wall of mementos, and he seemed to catch himself short. Turning towards her, he continued. Without stumbling over his words this time. "Voh, yahaan ek aur urgent delivery dena tha mujhe. Aur yeh, iss pad ka stock bhi aa gaya tha, tho socha de hi deta hoon. Phir se tujhe kal aane ki zarurat nahi hogi na?" He waited for a second to see if she would respond, before finishing off with a "H-haan. Bas wahi kaam tha", and moved his eyes back to that photo.

"Theek hai. Ek kaam kar, tu baith jaa. Main chai banake laati hoon, tujhe baarish main nikalne ki zarurat nahi hai." And she wandered off to the kitchen.

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She had been right about her little sister, Anita decided as she continued looking through her sister's open bedroom window. Raavi blinked her eyes open slowly, her hard won sleep lost to the winds once more as she tried to get up at the sight of Shiva standing uncertainly by her bed. He hurried to keep the bag he'd brought along on her bedside table, his eyes on her wincing form.

Placing two, three pillows behind her back so she could sit up halfway, he sat beside her on the bed, folding one leg up with him before grabbing his bag and placing it before her. As her brows furrowed in confusion, he grinned at her. The kind of grin that Anita hadn't seen on his face since Shiva had grown old enough to decide that he was all grown up. Years, in other words.

Slowly, he put a hand inside the bag, pulling out a bar of chocolate with all the fanfare of a magician with his rat-in-the-hat trick. And Raavi smiled. A happy smile that reached her eyes and made her face pink and skin glow. He chuckled, and Anita realised just how much deeper the boy's voice had gotten. Ripping open the wrapper, he handed it over to her before getting up again.

He pulled things out of the bag. A pack of pads that went into Raavi's cupboard, a few more bars of chocolate in her bedside table, a fruit juice too. And then he pulled out a hot water bag, disappearing into her little sister's bathroom with it. Minutes later, he walked out with the bag filled, wrapped loosely in one of Raavi's fluffy towels, and walking over to her, placed it on her stomach. Under her top. Raavi though? Just smiled and pecked him on the cheek before he could move too far away.

Anita giggled lightly, taking a sip of her warm chai. There was another cup of chai on the table, cooling away and waiting for whenever Shiva would deign to leave her sister alone. Months of her suspicion had been confirmed just now, when she'd called up Dhara and found out that Shiva, it seems, did not have any delivery to be at. Forget anything near their own home. Now, she could hold over her friend the fact that she'd figured out her devar before her.

Aahhhh... She did make good chai.

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