Haven’t had much time to write in the last few days! I have been super swamped! Happy reading!
Haven’t proofread!
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Chapter 13
——————At Pandya Niwas————
Panic was seen flowing up Shiva’s face as he struggled to cut the already placed video call to Raavi, "Yeh cut kyun nahi ho raha" when her moonlit face appeared on his phone screen, looking puzzled as ever.
"Woh..woh.. galti se lag gaya, main…main.." a flustered Shiva, making an entrance to the conversation.
"Yeh bakri ki tarah, main main karne ke liye call kiya tune" she asked amused at this stuttering Shiva.
How cute did her Bhoothnath look all nervous and afraid. The fact that he was afraid to say something or do something, thinking that it would make her distant from him, was evident on his face. She liked seeing this side to Shiva, but she missed the Bhoothnath who would annoy the daylights out her too.
"Nahi, woh pakode—, haan pakode mast bane the" said Shiva, relieved that he could frame at least one full sentence.
"Acha, bas yahi batana tha?" she said sounding disappointed.
"Haan" said Shiva, thinking what else did she think he called her for.
"Okay, toh main phone rakhti hoon" said Raavi about to quit the call when he screamt,
"Nahi!!" and continued, "Woh, Dhara Bhabhi ko bhi pakode acche laga", cursing himself mentally for turning into babbling bumbling idiot.
"Hmm mujhe pata hai unka message aaya tha" getting slightly annoyed at this fumbling Bhoothnath.
"Tujhe ho kya gaya hai Shiva, tu kabse itna darr darr ke baat karne laga, maana ki main Somnath ki sabse sundar ladki hoon, par itna bhi nervous hone ki zaroorat nahi" she said, being her nautanki self.
"Eh Chipkali, Shiva Pandya kisi se nahi darta samjhi" getting back to his own element, Shiva replied.
"Accha, toh bina hich kichaaye baat karna phir" challenged Raavi.
"Haan toh seedhi baat karta hoon na, tere khaana peena sab sahi hai naa Hardik Bhai ke ghar pe? tu aaram se reh rahi hai? dekh Raavi, agar tujhe wahan rehne se koi problem hai toh tu bata, seedhe seedhe" said Shiva directly.
"Mujhe yahan rehne mein kya problem hogi, main toh aaram se rehti hoon" told Raavi assuringly.
"Acha…" trailed off Shiva, trying to think of something to keep the conversation going.
Raavi also tries to think of how to break the awkward silence that had kept on building. Never would she have thought that Shiva and her would run out of things to talk or argue about and here they were, barely trying to keep it together. She decided to break the ice by asking, "Ghar pe sab kaise hai? Kaki? Dhara Di?"
"Sab acche hai, Maa Kanta Kaki ke saath teerth yaatra pe gayi hai, kuch dino ke liye, aur Dhara Bhabhi tujhe kaafi yaad karti hai, Rishita Bhabhi toh job mein busy rehti hai, aur Dev usse irritate hota hai, jaisa tha sab waise hi hai, sirf ek hi kami--" stopped Shiva hoping not to make her uncomfortable and deciding to change the topic, he asked "Waise teri Mami se baat hui?"
"Nahi, mujhe unse koi baat bhi nahi karni" said Raavi firmly.
"Woh aayi thi ghar pe kuch din pehle, meri aur unki phir se bhains ho gayi, main ladna nahi chahta tha, par unhone sab ko dosh diya tera iss ghar se jaane ka aur unke ghar naa aane ka, mujhe dosh deti toh phir bhi chalta, kyunki yeh saara raita meri wajah se phaila hai, par baaki sab ko nahi bolna chahiye tha, I am sorry par main chup nahi reh saka" explaining to her the whole situation clearly and hoping she wouldn’t get upset.
He had wanted to tell her about it as soon as it had happened, but he just couldn’t get himself to talk to her. But he had decided, the next opportunity he would get, he would tell her about it. Keeping secrets and not communicating with each other, hadn’t worked out for them last time and he wasn’t gonna let it create gaps between them now.
"Yeh Maasi mujhe kabhi bhi chain se jeene nahi dengi, aur tune mujhe bataya kyun nahi?" said Raavi upset.
"Kyun ki tu already kaafi pareshaan thi, main faaltu mein tujhe aur stress nahi dena chahta tha, maami aur mera toh roz ka hai, chalta rahega, tu tension mat le" assuring her.
"Theek hai, ab Mujhe so jaana chahiyye, kal Sameer ke saath rehearse bhi karna hai, bohut kaam hai" she said in a flow, looking at the clock.
Hearing his name, triggered Shiva who went muttering like "Haan ab iss gadhede ke chakkar mein, mujhe good night bolna padega, bas yahi dekhna baaki tha"
"Kya badh badh kar raha hai" asked Raavi innocently, pretending like she hadn't heard every single word of what he said.
"Kuch nahi, tu sojaa, good night Chipkali" rubbing the back of his head, relieved she didn’t hear anything.
"Good night, Bhoothnath" she said with a faint smile, making Shiva happy hearing her term of endearment for him.
——————At Hardik’s place————
Raavi opened her diary to add her view on today’s events.
"Aaj ka din kitna accha tha, maine kitne dino baad, khulke dance kiya, I felt so free. I think yeh fest mein perform karna accha decision tha, finally mujhe aisa lag raha ki life mein cheezein theek ho rahi hai, dheere dheere"
"Aur Shiva? Gadhedha, pata nahi kaisi kaisi harkatein karne laga hai mera bandar. Ek minute mera bandar?"
"Bada aaya, aise behave kar raha tha, jaise kuch hua hi nahi, aur main bhi kitni badi gadhedhi hoon, Shiva ko imagine karte hue dance karne lag gayi, mujhe aage se thoda dhyaan rakhna padega.
Aur woh bhoothnath kitna protective ho raha tha mere liye, jaise pehle karta tha. Kitna sudhar gaya hai Shiva. Mujhe toh yakeen nahi ho raha tha"
"Kitni ajeeb baat hai, jabse hum ek rishte mein bandhe the, tabse humaare beech dooriyan hi dooriyan rahi, jhagde hue, seedhe muh kabhi baat nahi hui
Abhi jab rishta hi nahi raha, hum ek doosre se directly baat karna seekh rahe hai
mujhe nahi pata iska anjaam kya hoga, but for now I like where this is going"
"Ooops! bohut late ho gaya, kal mujhe itna saara rehearse karna hai, soo jaati hoon"
—————At Pandya Niwas—————
It was noon around 2 pm, Shiva had come home to have his lunch. Krish had informed him that Raavi and Sameer were gonna rehearse at 3.30 pm at Hardik Bhai’s place and ever since he had heard it, he hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything else in the dukaan today. He had been so lost that Kaka had to literally apologize to several customers on his behalf for giving them the wrong orders.
Krish had even told him Kirti and he would join them only after 4pm, so Shiva was even more concerned for Raavi, since they hadn’t found out much about this Sameer.
So here he was, having the lunch Dhara had served, thinking of ways in which he could enter Hardik Bhai’s house without making it seem like he was there to spy on them.
An idea struck in his mind, making his eye light up. He called out to Dhara asking, "Bhabhi, woh kal Chipkali ne jo dabba diya tha, woh aap mujhe de do, main wapas kar deta hoon, waise bhi mujhe wahan paas mein dukaan ka ek order deliver karne jaana hai"
"Shiva, tu kyun pareshaan ho raha, Krish hai na, main usse de doongi" said Dhara.
"Arrey nahi Bhabhi, Krish college mein hoga naa" said Shiva
"Raavi bhi toh college mein hogi" said Dhara questioningly.
"Nahi Bhabhi woh ghar pe hogi" Shiva added swiftly and then bit his tongue.
"Acha? Tujhe kaise pata?" asked Dhara, looking right through Shiva.
"Woh Bhabhi—" began Shiva, trying to make up an excuse.
"Rewa de, rewa de Shiva, seedhe seedhe bol tujhe Raavi se milne ka bahana chahiye" said Dhara wisely.
"Bhabhi main—" started Shiva with another desparate attempt to come up with some logical explanation but Dhara cut him off saying,
"Acha, main uss dabbe mein Dhokla bhi daal deti hoon, leke jaana Raavi ke liye" relieving him off the pressure.
"Thank you Bhabhi" added Shiva meekly, grateful for her.
Shiva was feeling cheerful after his lunch, as he went back to the dukaan, with the tiffin his Bhabhi gave him, happy that he had a legit excuse to go see Raavi.
To be continued….
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What is Shiva upto?
A tiny chapter this time, because I have no time. But I just wanted to say I appreciate all of your feedback. It’s been so overwhelming! Thank you all :)
Pati Patni Aur Panga
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
