Chapter 1

IshqKaRang

@IshqKaRang

I seem to be on some kind of roll today. Lol! This SS is the result of me being too lazy to pen down all the different ideas I have in separate OSes so I combined it all together. Hopefully it’ll just be a short story but depending on how inspiration strikes and the response, I might turn it into a full fledged FF. 

For the time being, please enjoy the first chapter and let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Neet

|| ShiVi SS Beauty and the Beast||

CHAPTER 1 Belonging 

All she had ever wanted in life was to belong. She was too little to understand anything when her parents died. But growing up, one of the first words she had learned was – anaath (orphan). Her young mind had decided that if she called her Maasi, Maasimaa and Mausa, Mausapa and loved them hard enough, she would belong with them. But just as she was old enough to understand, she was told that daughters did not “belong” in their parents’ home. A girl’s “real home” was the one she married into. That is where she would “belong”. Her point of reference had always been the Hindi shows that her Maasimaa watched diligently every day. What did it take to be a good daughter-in-law? How to gain acceptance and “belong” in her husband’s family? What did she need to look for in a potential future husband? While other girls were probably more interested in getting their dolls married, 10 year old Raavi had been on a serious mission to find someone to be her husband and the family where she would finally belong. So when a rude Shiva left no stone unturned to fight with her, hurt her and insult her, the caring, protective Dev had become her knight in shining armor. And Dhara di? She was everything her daily soaps had taught her about being a good daughter-in-law. Loving, caring, all-knowing, all-sacrificing, keeping the family together.  Gaumbi and Dhara di loved her like their own. Excluding Shiva, the Pandya family was the family where she knew she would belong. 

But when had life ever gone as per plan? Instead of her Prince Charming, she had gotten married to the Beast. No, if about 2 months of being married to the mystery named Shiva had taught her anything, it was that his beast persona was a façade. There had been numerous moments during their time together where she had chanced upon his vulnerable side. The one that was still that young 12 year old boy whose family and life has spiraled out of his control and he had done what he had done, become what he had become because that was the only way he knew to cope. Only Dhara di was privy to this side of him. The rare occasions she had been exposed to it, had been by accident.

And those accidents had been enough to change her perspective on him. If anything, he was her knight in shining armor – he stood up for her, defended her, protected her all the while not expecting a thing in return. He wasn’t suave and charming and “gentlemanly” but Shiva was honest, true, loyal – things that mattered more than everything else. And however he was, he was hers. For better or for worse. She didn’t really know what to call their relationship. They weren’t friends, they didn’t have that easy flow of communication between them like friends. They definitely were not lovers. Yes, her heart had started doing this weird cartwheel in her chest when he came closer, when he touched her, when she caught him gazing at her as if she was his dream come true, but most of all, when he smiled. It felt like her heart melted, shifted, expanded and repositioned itself every time she saw Shiva smile. But love? She was afraid to consider the possibility. She couldn’t stand another heartbreak. But why did the ache in her heart right now feel as bad as a heartbreak? It felt the same way it did when he had callously said that if Maasi didn’t return the bangles, he wouldn’t take her with him back home. Raavi stared at the papers on her dresser. 

Divorce. The word left a bad taste in her mouth. After the encounter with Sneha on that fateful day, Shiva had returned home drunk, or so Dhara Bhabhi had informed her. All the efforts she had made to reach out to the Bhootnath were in vain. It was as if he had built huge walls around himself and even her voice did not reach him. And then one day, he had handed her the divorce papers and rather formally apologized to her for ruining her life by marrying her. The shock had been too much for her to take. They had often said to each other that they could care less about the other. But this, these divorce papers, felt like indelible proof that maybe he didn’t care. 

The real question she knew was whether she cared. Like Dhara di had asked her when Raavi made the decision to come to her Maasimaa. Pandya family had been shocked at the news of the divorce. They’d tried to reason with Shiva and his response was stoic and solid. They weren’t meant to be together. Maybe it was because Dhara di had seen Shiva drunk and hurting, she stepped in and asked everyone to leave them alone. Dhara di had then talked to her alone, asking her what she wanted the future of the marriage to look like. Raavi had been hurt to the point of numbness and she had lashed out saying what she wanted does not matter – it never did and it never would. And she had left. 

She came to her Maasimaa because.. where else would she go? Her distraught Mausapa had assured her he would talk to Shiva and the Pandyas and sort everything out while her Maasimaa had grabbed the divorce papers in glee.

And that was when Raavi’s anger and hurt had been tossed for a loop – when Maasimaa had happily announced that the divorce papers stated that Shiva was transferring all his shares in the house, properties and even Pandya store to Raavi as alimony. 

So now, she sat by her windowsill, equal parts angry, hurt, frustrated and perplexed as she tried to tease apart the tangled mess of emotions that she was in when it came to Shiva. She was angry at him for closing her out, angry at him for deciding for them, angry at him for even thinking that she would take away what was his from him. But was that anger enough to end their relationship? What was their relationship? Could these few measly papers erase pretty much the entirety of their lives that they’d been in each other’s orbit? She knew that by giving her his share of property in the Pandya family, he was letting her know that he did not expect her to severe ties with his family. Again, the question remained. Did she want him in her life? Did she care enough about him to break his barriers down and drag him out of his self imposed withdrawal and whack him on his head to bring him to his senses?

Was right beside him where she really belonged?