Maami ki Behen ki Beti ✓

4. mendak jaise

Shiva found Prafulla seated on the swing, reading a book, and his Maama was repairing a table fan, but Raavi was nowhere to be found. "Nahi, Anita dii," He said, still lost in searching for her as he held the bags, "main aata hu, ye heavy hai."

While Shiva entered in, ready for chaos, Anita was shell shocked. She was still at the door, contemplating whether or not Shiva had just called her as Anita dii instead of just Anita in a rude tone. She could not believe her ears and would have almost agreed on being deaf if Prafulla had not screamed angrily behind her, snapping her back to reality.

"Ye jungli saand yaha kya kar raha hai?" She yelled, as Shiva ignored her, scanning everywhere. "Ey Shiva, wahi reh," She said, both scared and angry, "ye mera ghar hai."

Shiva shrugged, eyes scanning the place, "Toh? Maine kab kaha ye bhoot bangla mera hai." 

"Ey," Maami screamed and softened her tone when Shiva glared at her, relaxing, "I mean, itne aache ghar ko tu bhoot bangla keh raha hai?" 

"Haan toh tujh jaisi chudail rahegi toh wahi kahunga," Shiva answered, not flinching once. "Tu chudail, aur woh chipkali," He said, upset on not finding her anywhere, "dikhai nahi de rahi waise," He yelled. He hoped that in case she was upstairs, she might just hear him and come down, "darr ke baith toh nahi gayi na kone mein?" 

Before Prafulla could retort back, his Mama held her, calming her down and then approaching Shiva. "Shiva, kuch kaam tha?"

"Haan woh," He pointed at the sack, laying them down and then his eyes glanced across the kitchen where Raavi was wearing headsets and kneading the dough. Words stuck in his mouth and he watched the girl, hair messily undone, pinned in a low pony and headphones on her ears. "Woh..."

Anita, and both Maama and Maami looked at Shiva, dumbfounded and then at each other. Prafulla even snapped her fingers at him but Shiva was only eyeing Raavi who was busy in the kitchen, but she was offbeat. Nor her lips synched the words nor her feet tapped in rhythm. It was like she was just not affected by anything.

This was not how Raavi would enjoy music.

"Where's the party tonight, on the dance floor... where is the..."

Shiva glanced to his left, mimicking and dancing to the famous song was little Raavi of 13, the little radio in her hands and her feet tapping the floor as she danced around. Her hands imitating the exact same steps from the movie, her lips singing those words and her face brightened like it could beat the sun in its radiance. 

"Mendak jaise gaati hai tu, kisine bataye tujhe?"

Shiva sighed, looking at the entrance, where stood 13 year old Shiva, smirking as he approached Raavi. How is that all the fights were always initiated by Shiva and all Raavi did was reciprocate. He looked at his younger self, this guy would always pin-point at anything Raavi would do.

It was like he wanted her attention.

"Kya problem hai teri," Raavi replied, switching the radio off. "Abh main apne ghar pe sing aur dance bhi nahi kar sakti?" 

"Ye tera ghar nahi, maami ka ghar hai." Shiva rolled his eyes, walking closer to him. "And if you actually sang or danced well, I would not have said anything." 

Raavi laughed, pointing at him, "please, if I sang well or danced well, which I am really great at," Shiva scoffed, "even then you would never appreciate me," Raavi was about to leave when Shiva held her hand.

"What do you mean?"

"Leave my hand."

"No," He name called her and she sighed, "explain yourself."

"I mean you do not like me Shiva, and I still don't know why, maybe you are pretending." Raavi said, looking at him, "and no matter what I do, you will never like it, simply because you do not like me." 

"So you are telling me that you are an amazing girl, but since I hate you, everything about you irks me?" Shiva thought out loud and Raavi nodded, pulling her hand from his grip. "What rubbish."

"Rubbish nahi, truth." Raavi smiled, tilting her head. "You secretly like me, you know that I dance and sing well, but since you pretend to hate me, you pretend to hate all my habits too."

Shiva was confused but more than that, Raavi was enjoying messing with his head. She just wanted to have fun for once and confused Shiva helped her a lot to laugh later.

"So you are saying that if I stopped hating you and like you, I'd like your singing and dancing too?" Shiva asked, his head had stopped making sense and Raavi stifled a chuckle. "So does this mean that I hate you, or I like you or that you are good in all this but I hate you because you are good or I like you because you are good but hate you because I hate you." 

And while Shiva scratched his head, confused, and error 404 running across his mind, Raavi laughed out loud as she left, whistling. 

"Ye Maami ki Behen ki Beti kya keh ki gayi?" Little Shiva held his head, "Do I like her but hate her because she is Raavi or do I hate her but I like her because she is Raavi?" 

Shiva was confused, looking at himself, years back, trying to understand his feelings. Poor 13 year old Shiva, he thought, no one could understand women, not then, not now. But this round was once again a Raavi round, after that evening, Shiva did not speak to Raavi for a week because he thought he actually liked her until Raavi confessed that it was just a joke.

But now thinking about it, Shiva realised that it was no joke. Maybe it was for Raavi but not to him, because Raavi's dancing and singing were out of the world. Sure they were not perfect but it was still musical to him and seeing her this way, he wished to go back to the little Raavi and tell her to keep dancing and singing to her hearts' content.

That very moment he was lost looking at her, Raavi looked at him, their eyes met and she tilted her head and Shiva looked at the people gathered around him.

What is happening to him? Is he going crazy? Does he need help?

"Woh kya?" Maami asked, confused, "ye ek minute se woh pe hi atka hai, oh bhai," She looked at Shiva, "aage bhi bol, kabse khade hai hum yaha, pair dard hone lag gaye."

"Woh?" Shiva looked at Prafulla, "kaun woh?"

"Bhai, hume kya paata," 

"toh woh woh kya laga rakha hai?" Shiva asked, furious now and all those gathered took a step back. "Koi woh nahi, bas ye dene aaya tha." 

"Ajeeb hai ye," Prafulla shook her head as Shiva walked towards the door, Raavi looking at the guy, confused as well. "Ey Raavi, bach gayi tu, warna ye paagal ke saath uss ghar mein rehna padta." 

Shiva turned to see Raavi still looking at him, her hands were covered in the dough and she nodded, asking if everything was okay and Shiva shook his, because it was not.

Everything was not okay.

That 13 year old Raavi had messed up everything.

_

A/N honestly, that happy go lucky Raavi was lost after that wedding disaster. That girl was so carefree, nazar lag gayi...

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