Finally, Fest day is here! I am excited coz this will lead to hopefully some light-hearted chapters!
Happy Reading!
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Chapter 19
—————At College————
To say Raavi was thrilled today would be an understatement. It was finally here. The day of the fest. The day of her dance performance. Sameer and she had spent long hours trying to perfect every step, maintain the rhythm, get their sync just right. And finally, it was time for them to see their efforts unfold on stage. Raavi was walking around the stage area making sure everything was set up and supervising any last-minute changes that took place. All participants were allowed to invite their families to watch and she couldn’t have possibly asked her Maasi to come and for some reason, she just hadn’t been able to muster up the courage to invite the Pandyas. Nevertheless, she had decided she was going to give it her best and have a great time. Just as she finished up her last-minute set up, she was on her way to go to the changing room when she spots Dhara and the rest walking towards the stage setup.
"Dhara Di, aap log yahan? Krish ko milne aaye ho, ek min bulaati hoon" said Raavi, about to leave and call Krish.
"Nahi Raavi, hum tere liye aaye hai" said Dhara.
"Tera performance dekh ne" said Dev as Raavi looked at them puzzled.
"Hum tere pariwar hai na, kaise nahi aate" added Gaumbi hugging her.
"Waise Raavi, main bohut hi excited hoon yahan aake, mujhe aur Dev ko apne college ke din yaad aa gaye, chalo na Dev hum woh stall check out karte hai" said Rishita pulling Dev and pointing towards the stall excitedly.
"Don’t worry Raavi, I’ll make sure ki hum tere performance ke pehle aake baith jaaye" assured Dev before being pulled away by Rishita.
Raavi hugged Dhara happily when Dhara said complainingly,
"Waise mujhe tujhse shikayat hai, haan Raavi, tune toh humein bulaya hi nahi, woh toh accha hua Shiva ne bata diya, ki participants ke families allowed hai campus mein, warna humein toh pata hi nahi hota"
"Shiva ne?" asked Raavi curiously.
"Haan Shiva, kehne laga, Bhabhi, Raavi humare pariwar ka hissa hai na, humein jaana chahiye" said Dhara smilingly.
The thought of Shiva considering her family made her heart flutter a little, a tingling sensation taking over her body. She looked around to see if she can spot Shiva when Gaumbi told her, "Shiva nahi aa paaya, woh dukaan mein kisi ek ko rukhna padha, maine bola bhi usko ki main rukjaata hoon, par ussne mere ek nahi suni aur mujhe bhej diya"
Raavi adorns a fake smile but her face was crestfallen thinking that Shiva couldn’t make it.
"Chaliye aap sab, main aapko aapke seats tak chod deti hoon" she said finally leading the way.
After dropping them off to their seats, she went to her changing room, furious that Shiva was not going to be there.
"Bhoothnath kahinka, samajtha kya hai apne aap ko, waise toh har din rehearsal dekhne muh uthaake aa jaata aur aaj jab meri performance ki baari aayi toh dukaan mein baith gaya, stupid gadheda" she said stomping her foot and pacing around the room like an angry kitten.
"Pann tune toh mujhe invite bhi nahi kiya" came a voice from behind her.
"Haan toh tujhe invite bhi kyun karoon, baitha reh dukaan mein" she said in flow, before realising.
Her eyes widened and she turned around to face a smiling Bhoothnath, who was wearing a familiar-looking checkered black shirt. She remembered it was the same shirt she had gotten him that time but he had told her off for it. And here he was today, wearing that shirt and boy, did he look good wearing it, just as she had thought he would.
Snapping out of her thoughts she asked, "Shiva? Tu yahan?"
"Haan, kaise nahi aata main" said Shiva stepping in.
"Aur dukaan?" asked Raavi.
"Dukaan pe zyaada log nahi the, toh maine kaka ko bol diya, ki woh sambhal le" said Shiva casually.
"Bada jaldi aaya tu" said Raavi pouting in anger.
"Haan, ab mujhe pata thodi na tha, ki koi meri raah dekh raha tha" said Shiva advancing towards her.
"Woh— woh-- nahi...main" said Raavi nervously, while she took a step back only to be cornered by the wall. She closed her eyes scared at the proximity of where he was standing.
When nothing happened, she opened her eyes to find Shiva holding out a bouquet full of red roses smiling at her.
"Waise mujhe pata hai, tu bohut hi accha performance degi, pann phir bhi, all the best" handing out the bouquet to her, sincerely.
She took the bouquet from him, holding them delicately, caresses them with her fingers and looked at him smiling and said "Thank you, Shiva, yeh bohut hi sundar hai"
She picked up one from the bunch and placed the rest in a vase in front of her dresser. She tried to attach the rose she pulled out to her hair, but failed when Shiva stepped in and took it from her hands. He made her turn to the mirror while he got to the task. She smiled looking at him in the mirror as he navigated his way through the hair clip and finally managed to fix the flower, his eyes never leaving hers too.
"Ab lag rahi hai na Chipkaliyon ki beauty queen" said Shiva teasingly making her elbow him backwards causing him to hiss in pain.
She heard her name and Sameer’s name being called out on stage as the participant after the current performance which started and felt herself panic, "Itne saare log ke saamne main kaise perform——"
"Nahi nahi nahi, mujhse nahi hoga" pacing around, her eyes widening in worry, her heart pounding and making it difficult to breathe.
As she continued to panic, Shiva grabbed her by both her arms and pulled herself into him, enveloping her into a hug, leaning forward near her ears and whispering "Raavi" in a husky tone and saying "Lambi saans le, chal" whilst rubbing her hand trying to calm her, taking deep breathes himself, as if mimicking her actions, causing her to relax bit by bit. She could hear his heartbeats pacing and listening to them seemed to calm her down. A few moments later, she pulled away once she started feeling better, when he poured her a glass of water and made her drink it, rubbing her back lightly trying to get her to relax.
"Waise itne saare log honge bhi nahi, Chipkali ka dance dekhne kaun hi aayega, aur baaki bache kuche ladkiyaan jo aayi hai, woh ek Chipkali ko stage pe dekhe bhaag jaayenge, tu tension mat le" said Shiva smirking at his own joke, clearly trying to evoke a reaction from her.
"Acha toh tu yeh bol raha ki mera performance sirf ladke dekhne aayenge" she responded cleverly with a smirk, raising her eyebrows.
His eyes widened in horror of what she said, a pang of jealousy and anger hit him. But he composed himself quickly before retorting back,
"Nahi main ladko ko pehle hi warning de doonga, ki tujh jaisi Chudail se door hi rahe, unka bhala hoga"
"Oye bhoothnath, tu na—" realizing that she had clearly fallen bait into his trip of distracting her.
Letting it go, she looked at him gratefully, acknowledging his efforts when he said, "Dekh, Log ek Chipkali ko naachte hue dekhne ke liye, naa jaane kahan kahan se aaye hai, tujhe unhe disappoint nahi karna chahiye naa” dramatically trying to lighten the mood and getting smacked on his arm by her.
"Ehh Bhoothnath, aaj toh mujhe chipkali mat bula” she said Raavi complaining cutely.
"Kyun na bulao, tu Chipkali thi, Chipkali hai aur Chipkali hi rahegi" chanted Shiva amused.
"Ayee!" she said pointing a finger at him, but instead of retorting back, she broke into a peal of laughter, and thus, she looked ready to go on stage.
"Raavi, are you ready?" said Sameer entering the room interrupting their moment.
"Haan chalo" said Raavi in a determined voice, paying full attention to Sameer.
Shiva thought it would be best to slowly escape from there, give her the time to get into the zone. As he was about to walk out, his hand was held by her stopping him. He looked up at Raavi who was looking at him smiling saying, "Thank you Shiva". He responded with a smile saying, "Good luck, Raavi, mujhe yakeen hai tu bohut hi acha karegi" holding both her hands in palms and squeezing it a little in assurance and then heading on his way to his seat.
To be continued….
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Softie Shiva is one of my favorite shades of Shiva. And I miss that element of him on the show so much! What do you guys think of ShiVi banter?
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2
Cricket
