Chapter 7

raindropsroses

@raindropsroses

[NOCOPY]

Previously: Raavi hatches a plan to ruin Shilpa’s mehendi. ShiVi make some nosy aunties squirm with their antics. Krish refuses to aid her further in stopping Shiva and Shilpa’s wedding, she returns home dejected.

Part 7

That evening, all three families had decided to go to the temple to offer their prayers before the marriage. 

Shilpa wouldn’t move away from Shiva even for a second. She seemed to be doing all that she could to get him to be interested, but he was just bored of his mind.

Raavi had a pout on her face the whole time, she was walking with Anita. Dev was busy on his phone, taking important calls and replying to even more important texts he’d said when asked. 

Krish was also annoyed at how much Shilpa was sticking to Shiva. 

“Meri hone waali Bhabhi, apko Shiva ke saath spend karne ke liye marriage ke baad time hi time hogi, par ab usse mujhe dedho. Kuch kaam hai,” he said walking up to the couple and lightly tugging Shiva’s free hand.

Shiva was thankful for the opportunity to escape.

“Haan Shilpa, mein na iski madath kar detha hoon, varna ye sabkuch ulta seedha kar detha hai,” Shiva said a little too happily.

“Hmm, teek hai, par mere paas jaldi vapas aa jao, baby,” she said pinching his cheek before letting go of his hand.

Shiva turned away from her and made a disgusted face at the endearment.

“Ye sab life long sunni padegi kya mujhe,” he said to Krish facepalming. They both walked to a quieter side of the temple.

“Haaan! Baby, jaaanu, darling, shona, mona, banana! Aadat daal le Shiva,” Krish said with a mock sad face, trying his best to control his laughter at Shiva’s fate.

“Ay gadhede, tujhe bahut hasi aa rahi hai. Ruk!” He reached out his hand to the table next to him and grabbed the first thing his hands touched and threw it at Krish.

Krish ducked just in time, but the plate and it’s contents fell on the person who had just walked up behind him.

They both looked stunned at the person now covered head to toe in sindoor. 

Raavi who was just walking up to the duo to indulge them in another mission to get rid of Shilpa, stood covered in bright red sindhoor.

Krish blinked out of his shock and said, “pehle haldi ka paani, phir mehendi, aur ab ye. Mujhe aisa kyun lag raha hai ki Shiv ji aap dono ki jodi ko ship kar rahe hai.”

Shiva smacked his head, “ay bachhu, tu chal yahan se varna bahut maar padegi,” he said glowering at him.

Krish ran away laughing.

Raavi was in general a very superstitious person who believed in signs from the universe and was rattled by this situation.

She looked down at herself and then reached up a hand to touch her maang. And sure enough, there was sindhoor there too. She glanced up at Shiva with wide eyes.

Shiva took a deep breath. “Ghar jaake naha lena,” he said coolly.

Raavi was astounded at how casually he was dealing with it. 

“Shiva! Aise kaise keh sakta ha? Ye koyi choti baath nahi hai. Ye kud Shiv ji ke ishare hai. Aur meine tv pe bhi dekhi hai, jab hero heroine par sindhoor giraata hai, toh unki shaadi ho jaathi hai. Lagta hai hume bhi shaadi kar leni chahiye,” Raavi said pondering over her own words as she spoke them.

Shiva was stunned, his heart wanted him to say a big yes to that. He wanted to rush to her and hug her for saying the first sensible thing in her life. But then he thought of Dev and Shilpa. Two hearts which would break, and on top of that Gaumbi, Dhara, his own mother and so many others who would be affected by this decision.

“Tu apni filmy duniya se bahar aa,” he said reluctantly.

“Par Shiva-“

“Mujhe kuch nahi sunni hai iss baare mein.”

“Fine! Par mein sabke saamne aise kaise jaungi,” Raavi whined, trying to dust the sindhoor off her clothes.

Shiva pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

Then an idea struck him, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the temple tank behind them.

“Shiva, kya kar raha hai,” Raavi asked worried about what his mind had concocted.

“Kya tu chahti hai ki sab tumhe aise dekhe?” he asked her, both of them standing on the edge of the water tank.

“Nahi, par-“ 

He pushed her into the tank.

“Shivaaaaaa!” She screamed as she fell into it.

She went under the water and came back up to the surface after two seconds, coughing out water. Her hands reached up, “mujhe- mujhe-“ she said in between coughs, struggling to stay afloat.

“Thairna nahi aathi hai mujhe,” she managed to cough out.

“Tujhe dung se kuch aati bhi hai, meri dimaag khaane ke alava?” He rolled his eyes quickly removing his shirt and jumping in after her.

Water splashed on her. “Shiva! Dhoor hat!” She shouted.

“Chala jaaon mein?” he taunted her.

“NAHI!” she screamed as she pounced onto him in the water, hugging him for dear life.

“Bahar nikhlo, Shivaaa,” she ordered, her teeth chattering with the cold.

Shiva smiled, right there at that moment everything felt right to him. Her holding on to him, trusting him to keep her safe, even ordering him around. It was all he had wanted. It was perfect.

Reluctantly, he waddled to the side of the tank and hoisted her up on the wall.

Raavi sat up and immediately reached down to help pull him up, he just smiled and hoisted himself up.

As they both stood up, Raavi realised that the saree she wore clung to her like a second skin, exposing every curve of her body. She peaked up at him before bringing her arms around herself, shivering.

Shiva saw her discomfort and immediately reached for the shirt that he had discarded earlier and put it around her.

She looked up at him with a look of adoration, unable to believe that the Shiva she knew was capable of such tenderness.

They slowly walked towards the inside of the temple, the sindhoor completely washed away in the tank.

When their families spotted them, there were a hundred of concerned questions. 

“Kuch nahi huyi hai, Dhara Bhabhi. Ye chipkali achanak medhak banke tank mein koodh gayi. Phir usse patha chala ki isse thairna nahi aata. Isliye bachani padi,” Shiva said.

Raavi shot him a angry look but kept quiet.

Krish raised an eyebrow at the lie and was about to open his mouth, but one look from Shiva silenced him.

Gaumbi got towels for Raavi and Shiva, they quickly completed the puja and exited the temple.

Outside the temple was a temple elephant. People who came to the temple were taking blessings from it. 

Dhara asked both the couples to stand together to get blessings from it too. So the four of them stood in front of the it.

Looking at the to-be wedded couples, the mahout gave the elephant a garland to put on the first couple.

The elephant took it with it’s trunk and put it on both Raavi and Shiva who were next to each other, with Dev and Shilpa flanking them on either side.

Both of them looked up at the elephant and then each other in shock.

“Haldi, mehendi, sindhoor, hathi,” Krish said as he ticked off with his fingers.

Shiva and Raavi looked at him with the same shocked expression.

Shilpa who was standing next to Shiva, gritted her teeth in anger. She shot the mahout a mean look before removing the garland from Raavi’s neck and putting it on herself and Shiva.

The mahout apologised to all of them and gave the elephant another garland for Dev and Raavi.

The family brushed off the event and left for their homes, exhausted after a fairly eventful day.

Raavi’s head was full of thoughts and doubts about the day. She’d pulled Krish aside as they were leaving and cornered him into telling her what he meant about the haldi paani earlier. He had blurted out the truth.

Raavi wondered if the universe was actually trying to bring Shiva and her together. She again thought back to Dev, again her memory failed to recollect how he had looked that day. She’d hardly seen him during the mehendi and later in the temple.

In those two days, her world had seemed to come to revolve around Shiva. He was always on her mind. She sighed and fell onto her bed.

♥️

Part 8 - Page 20