Snippets of the Past - A ShiVi Drabble Series

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Disha's mom enquired about the price of the same bangles, and immediately handed the shopkeeper two paper notes. Raavi could only watch helplessly, as the shopkeeper handed Disha's mom the change and the packet of green bangles she dreamt of buying.

Raavi looked at the money clumped in her palms, realising that she didn't even have enough money to buy the bangles. Disha noticed her sad expressions, and gave an evil smirk to her, turning to speak to her while her mother shopped for earrings, "Tune choodiyan nahi khareedi Raavi? Oh, mai toh bhul gayi, tumhari toh mummy hi nahi hai bangles khareedke dene ke liye."

Raavi was heartbroken. Not only did she not get her much desired bangles, the taunt unleashed a plethora of emotions. Was she truly that unlucky? Would she never get what she wanted? Would God always try to take the people and things she loved away from her?

Shiva watched the whole exchange, and saw how the sparkle in his friend's eyes visibly dimmed as Disha walked away. He came closer to Raavi and took her pinky in his.

"Tu uss Disha ki baaton pe dhyaan mat de chipkali, woh chudail hai!" Shiva whispered in her ears, so that she could hear him over the sounds of the fair.

"Sahi toh bola hai Disha ne," Raavi looked at him with tears in her eyes, "Mere paas na meri mumma hai, na meri mumma jaisi bangles."

She showed him the picture he hadn't seen earlier, and started walking away from the shop, crying. Shiva looked at the picture and realised that she had wanted to buy bangles in the shade of her mother's wedding bangles.

In that moment, he decided that he had had enough. If there was one thing he hated, it was tears in his chipkali's eyes, real tears. Yes, he did make her cry sometimes, but he knew those were just crocodile tears because he would never hurt her, just irritate her. His best friend was the biggest nautanki and never failed to use that card gain his sympathy and attention with her nautanki. But this time, she was genuinely sad and hurt.

"Tu chal mere saath!" was the only warning Raavi got as she realised, the next thing that happened was her being dragged by an angry Shiva towards the bangles shop again.

As soon as he reached, he stood on his tiptoes and peeked over the counter to look at the shopkeeper in the eye. "Uncle, abhi abhi jo green choodiyan bechi aapne, same to same ek aur set dikhaaiye."

"Arre beta, woh toh khatam ho gaye hai." he replied. Shiva turned to look at his Raavi, and one look at the wobbling lips of his chipkali made the gears in his mind whir. "Aap phirse dekhiye na, hum aapko 10 rupaye zyaada denge."

Hearing this, Raavi's eyes widened and she tugged at Shiva's sleeves, whispering in his ears, "Gadheda, mere paas paise nahi hai choodiyan ke liye, aur tu zyada dene ki baat kar raha hai?"

Shiva gave her a side eye, mentally rolling his eyes instead. "Tujhe choodiyan chahiye ki nahi?" Raavi nodded her head slowly. "Toh phir aansu poch, apne paise mujhe de aur bas dekhti jaa."

The shopkeeper, eager to earn some extra money, started searching thoroughly and soon found a pair. Shiva picked up the packet and showed it to Raavi, her eyes brightening with joy, the bangles an exact replica of the ones her mother wore, even more perfect and dreamy than the last pair.

When she wasn't looking, Shiva slipped in some extra money from his pocket money so that they had enough money to buy the bangles. He handed him the promised money and took the bangles and made Raavi wear them one by one, each bangle causing her smile to widen and her eyes to shine brighter in happiness.

"Thank you, Shiva! Tu best hai!" Raavi giggled in glee, clinking her new bangles together and twirling under the twinkling lights, and Shiva smiled contently, seeing that she was finally happy. And together, they set off to search for their elder siblings