Chapter 8

nolee3097

@nolee3097

Hey all! I am back with another chapter. This one is not really as good though. I have been struggling with writing for last few days. But nevertheless, here goes! Please ignore any mistakes, haven't proof read. Happy reading!

Chapter 8
——————————Outside Hardik’s house———————— 

After awhile, Shiva feels someone pat on his face a couple of times and slowly opens his eyes screaming. Raavi screams hearing him scream and takes a step back.

"Tu… tu chilla kyun raha hai" stammered Raavi, her eyes filled with fear.

"Ehh Gadhedi, raat ko aise koi dara tha hai kya?" acting as if he’s trying to calm down his heart by rubbing his hand on his chest.

Her eyes widen at his response saying "Tujhe main daravni lagti hoon?" pointing at herself.

"Haan agar chudail se nahi daroonga toh aur kisse daroonga" trying to provoke her, internally smiling to see her all offended. 

"Main chudail!? Khud toh bhootnath ban ke ghoomta rehta hai, gadhedha" feeling a flash of irritation. But then suddenly notices that she got carried away from the fact that he was sleeping outside, “Ek min, Tu yahan kya kar raha hai?"

"Yahan kya kar raha hoon matlab, cricket khel raha hoon, khelegi?" showing off his hand like a bat , "Dikhayi nahi deta soo raha tha, gadhedi" rolling his eyes in irritation.

"Mera matlab hai tu yahan kyun soo raha tha" she asked inquisitively.

"Tujhe usse kya, main kahin bhi so jaaon" retorted Shiva.

She remembers seeing the message on Rishita’s phone and his questions to her.

"Mujhe akele sone mein darr nahi lagta" declared Raavi as-a-matter-of-factly.

He responded with a "Haan toh maine kahan bol, ki main tere liye so raha hai, mujhe toh apne neendh ki chinta hai"

When Raavi looked puzzled at his reply unable to figure out what he was insinuating, he clarifies,

"Main wahan sochte sochte pareshaan ho jaaonga ki tu yahan darr toh nahi rahi, isse accha apne mann kis tassali ke liye yahan so jaaon" all set to lie down on the cot again.

"Shiva tu—“ started Raavi to argue with him.

"Raavi, please kal jhagda karenge iss baar mein, abhi sone de mujhe, kal dukaan bhi jaana hai, tu bhi jaake befikr hoke so jaa” lying down on the cot and closing his eyes shut.

"Shiv—“ she tried again.

"Good night Raavi" said Shiva authoritatively indicating that he wasn’t going to be budge and turning his back on her.

She give me one last glare and walked back into house muttering, "Bhoothnath kahinka" but elated for a moment that he’ll be around and that she is not alone. 

—————————

Next morning, Shiva wakes up to find himself covered with a blanket, he holds it up smiling thinking,

"Yeh Chipkali kitna bhi naraaz reh le mujhse, fikr toh hai usse meri". Suddenly, he hears the door being unlocked and gets up and hides behind a pillar.

Raavi is seen peeking outside the house to get a look at Shiva but unable to find him she says "Yeh Bhoothnath, subah subah kahan chala gaya” looking around in the street, confused that he left without any commotion. She gets a ping on her phone and sees a text from Shiva.

Shiva meanwhile sneakingly is looking at her from behind the pillar, trying to gauge her expressions. His text reads, "Aaj dukaan pe bohut stocks unload karne hai, iss liye mujhe jaldi jaana padha, I hope tujhe acche se neendh aayi, kyunki mujhe toh aayi, thank you mujhe yahan sone dene ke liye aur chaddar ke liye bhi, apna dhyaan rakh, bye"

He sees her grinning reading his message and feels a sense of contentment, but then sees her shaking her head, like she’s trying to shake away her feelings and walking back inside with a serious expression. He is hurt thinking about all the times he hurt her, which has made her feel so alone. The girl who used to always laugh, always wear her heart on her sleeves, do things without giving it a second thought, was now being hesitant and closed off. He leaves for the dukaan, worried about how he would handle and make things right.

——————————At Hardik’s house———————— 

Raavi is finishing up some of her college work, sitting at the dining table and her phone starts ringing. She picks up the call. It turns out to be Hardik Bhai.

"Jai Somnath Raavi, maine tujhe yeh kehne ke liye phone kiya ki main aaj raat tak wapas aa jaaonga aur maine Pandya Store se kuch samaan mangaya hai, toh dopahar tak Kaka usse deliver karne aa jaayenge” said Hardik.

"Arrey Hardik Bhai, Kaka ko deliver karne ki kya zaroorat hai, main khud leke aa jaaonga”, Raavi told him.

"Tujhe Pandya Store jaane mein sacch mein problem nahi hai?” asked Hardik concernedly.

"Nahi, Hardik Bhai, aap tension mat lo, main thodi der main leke aa jaaongi, Jai Somnath” assuring him.

——————————At Pandya Store———————— 

Shiva is seen unloading boris from the truck into the store, when we see a car stopping and parking outside of PS blocking the only way in for the customers. Fuming at that, Shiva marched onto the person and yelled, "Eeh yeh galli kya tere baap ki hai, ki kahin bhi gaadi khadi kar di, nikaal idhar se"

"Toh kya tere baap ki hai” the car owner responded with equal rage.

Balling his fists, about to burst into anger, “Baap pe, mat jaa samjha, warna———“ stops midway abruptly, realising something and walks into the store asking Gaumbi to handle it, leaves from there without any word, leaving both the owner of the car and Gaumbi baffled at his fleeting figure. 

—————————Two streets away from PS-------------

Shiva is seen walking furiously and he finds a bench in the corner, takes a seat on it. His hands are all shaky. He closes his fists into a ball and is trying to maintain his focus on something else in front of him saying,

"Shiva, shaanth ho jaa, kya kar raha hai, kitna gussa karega, yaad kar Raavi ne kya kaha tha, lambi saans le, chal"

He tries taking a few deep breathes, try to appease his anger, with his closed eyes. 

Little does he know that Raavi who had witnessed this whole event had come following him, trying to find his whereabouts and seen him trying to calm himself here remembering her words. She looks at him in amazement and thinks about how she had told him, his anger was his biggest vice and here he was trying to mend his way.

Shiva is furious with himself that he’s unable to calm himself down, he punches his hand furiously on the bench in frustration when someone holds his hand and says, "Shiva, kya kar raha hai, tu pagal hogaya hai kya" He looked up to find Raavi looking highly concerned at his hand. She gets up and goes somewhere and returns back to two icepacks. She picks one of the icepacks and places it on his knuckles and he hisses in pain while she flinches at his sight. 

"Tu yahan kya kar rahi hai” questioned Shiva.

Not answering his question, she asks "Tu kar kya raha hai Shiva, kis aur ka gussa khud pe kyun nikaal raha" irritably but softly dabbing the icepack.

"Main koshish toh kar raha hoon, aur maine lambi saans lene ki koshish bhi ki, jaise tune bola tha, pann kuch ho hi nahi raha” said Shiva clearing frustrated at miserably failing to keep his anger in check.

"Dobara koshish kar, chal, lambi saans le" trying to indicate to him while she herself took a deep breathe.

And after a few breaths, he feels fine. He’s surprised at himself that somehow this has managed to calm himself down and things get clear in his mind and he says, "Tujhe pata hai, abhi main shaanth mehsoos kar raha hoon, ab samjh mein aaya ki mera gussa shaanth tabhi ho sakta hai jab tu mere saath hoti hai aur mujhe samjhaati hai, mere aag ke liye behte hue paani ki thandak sirf tu hi hai, Raavi”. 

His keen eyes seemed to have developed a sense of calm in them and yet, there was so much intensity in the gaze with which he was looking at her.

Not wanting to make her awkward he quickly changes the subject "Ahem, waise yeh do-do icepack kyun?"

"Ek tere sarr pe rakhne ke liye, shayad tera dimaag bhi thanda ho jaaye isse” scorned Raavi making Shiva chuckle, while she left him and walked away.

——————————At Pandya Store————————

"Gaumbi, Hardik Bhai ne kuch samaan mangaaye the, woh lene aayi hoon” said Raavi entering their dukaan.

Gaumbi replied "Arrey Raavi, tune kyun takleef ki, main ghar pauncha deta na” 

"Koi problem nahi Gaumbi, main le jaaongi” answered Raavi.

"Bohut saara saaman hai, tujhse nahi hoga” said Gaumbi.

A voice came from the outside, "Main le jaaonga Gaumbi, aap chinta mat karo” said Shiva entering the store.

Annoyed at his entry, Raavi said "Iski koi zaroorat nahi, main manage kar loongi” 

"Haan haan, ek kilo wazan toh uthaaya nahi jaata, yeh 7-8 kilo ka samaan kaise le jaayegi, phoolkumari” taunted Shiva.

"Main kaise bhi le jaaon, tujhe usse kya, teri koi help ki zaroorat nahi hai” replied Raavi only to find that his eyes which were calm a few minutes ago were filled with hurt. But he quickly masked it before the rest of them could notice, cleared his throat, composed himself and called out,

"Dev!? Tu Raavi ka yeh samaan chod aayega?"

"Haan Shiva, tu tension mat le, main pauncha doonga” assured Dev to Shiva.

“Khush?” asked Shiva visibly annoyed, to Raavi and walked back into the store and disappeared into their storeroom leaving Raavi, feeling a little bad for refusing him.

But before she gives it another thought, her phone starts to ring. 

To be continued………

=========================================

Who do think called Raavi? Continuing the guessing game! 

It’s hard to separate anger out of Shiva and Shiva out of anger, I don’t want to completely turn him mellow, but also don’t want him bursting into anger at anybody and everybody. So trying to find some balance around.