In the early hours of the morning, Shiva woke up on a secluded corner of the beach with Raavi sleeping serenely clutching his pendant and one of her legs draped over his waist. Chipkali. He had asked her last night many times if she wanted to go home, she stubbornly shook her head and finally settled to move to a very private corner of the beach beside the rocks, so as to not disturb themselves. He tightened his arms around her, rubbing the mole on her cheek and pushing her hair back. He noticed she was perfectly comfortable here, with just him. She had trusted him to keep her safe, protected; showing she had more faith in him that he had in himself.
In sheer frustration, he had given her the divorce papers, but as the days to the consequence of his actions loomed closer, he was left with just one question, how on earth was he ever going to let her go? You are so used to her, he thought to himself, her pure hearted innocence, her optimistic and sunny nature, her nautanki, her big wide smile, snuggling up in his arms, their natural chemistry...he wanted every part of her. Was there a self-help guide on divorcing women you loved with all your heart but absolutely didn't deserve?
Recalling her words about perception of what she wanted and what he thought she wanted, made him think, could she be happy with him? Though he wanted Raavi to speak up about what she wanted, if he was completely honest, his guilt, the fear of not being able to keep her happy, it was his problem. Asking himself, why she wanted him to speak up first, he ruefully acknowledged that Raavi, too, had her fears and worries and her vulnerability crushed him. He clenched his fist, as his inner voice sounding suspiciously like Hetal whispered You could talk to her...fear ko chod, teri ladki ko pakad.
Forcing himself to relax, he looked down at her, and gently woke her up. She smiled at him, pressed a kiss to his cheek murmuring she wanted to do it yesterday and sat up stretching her arms.
"Your hands should come with a choking hazard warning," he remarked casually, "I was a second away from being choked by my own pendant."
"Good. Its my weapon of choice when you don't listen to me," she said, like a rogue fairy before looking back up at the sky.
"How pretty does the sky look?" she asked, simultaneously tipping her head back to rake her fingers through her hair, and looking at the subtle hues of purple, pink lightening the midnight blue, signifying a new day filled with new hopes and possibilities, was fast approaching. Taking a deep breath, today was going to be a good day, she thought to herself, she could feel it in her bones, clasping her hands in joy.
"Hmm... very pretty" he said, sitting up and looking at her, and taking a photo of her just as she was, in that moment.
"Mera photo liya na? theek se le na?" she said, sitting cross legged, pushing her hair to one side, tilting her head slightly to one side, and gave him a wide smile. He shook his head, taking a photo of her, wondering how anyone could be so pretty.
"Dikha mujhe" she said, leaning forward to grab his phone and inspect the photo.
"Somnath ki sabse sundar ladki ki photo hai. Divorce ho gaya na, toh print karke le ana, uss dayaan ke saath, main autograph kar doongi," she said, naughtily.
"Subah subah teri zubaan kuch zyada nahi chal raha?" he asked her, supressing a smile as at once she nodded 'yes' and came up behind him to wrap her arms around his neck to take selfies.
"Raavi, ye camera mere chehre mere thamana bandh kar," he said grumpily, averting his face. She scoffed, muttering high school se kuch nahi badla, and ignoring him, to do as she pleased.
She looked at her bandar, and something felt different, she thought to herself. Tipping his chin so he could face her, she raised her eyebrow to ask if everything was ok with him, and he just blinked to say yes. Maybe all her pokes and nudges yesterday had worked, and he was going to tell her, he didn't want this stupid divorce. That's it? Her mind asked her, you just want him to talk about the divorce? She wrinkled at her nose, baby steps, you know your bandar... he is like those black and white heroines, isko haar cheez main waqt lagta hai.
"What's wrong? Did you see something creepy?" he asked her, looking at her curiously.
"I was just... thinking. Nothing for you to worry about."
"Oh, believe me, I am not worried, tera upar ka maala khali jo hai," he teased her. She stuck out her tongue, mumbling taang mat kar, and climbed onto his lap and hooked her arm around his neck. He automatically wrapped his arms around her, and they just stared the hues of the night sky change ahead of sunrise.
"Shiva... tujhe ab samajh main aaya ki main kya chahti hoon?" asked Raavi, resting her head on his shoulder, testing the waters again. He sent her a sideways look but stayed silent waiting for the sunrise.
Biting her tongue so as to not berate him first thing in the morning with questions or worse start kissing him into admitting what he was thinking, she took a deep breath trying to distract herself. She needn't have worried too much because in exactly five minutes, a pair of puppy golden retrievers appeared out of nowhere in the shoreline; yipping excitedly, playing, running into the water. She grabbed his chin and pointed to the puppies, "Shiva, wahan dekh na! Itne cute puppies hain! I love puppies."
He was only mildly interested in the cute puppies. Tapping her nose lightly, he warned her, "ab ye mat kehna, tujhe puppies chahiye! Teri har cheez ko haan bol bolke thak chuka hoon."
Without thinking, she blurted out, "waise bhi tere rehte mujhe sirf ye puppies hi milenge," before turning red and averting her face, resting it on his shoulder. God Raavi, kabhi toh kuch sochke bola kar. Gadhi. Dara diya usse.
He cocked his head to the side, "kya... kya matlab hai tera?" digging into her comment. Did she just say what he thought she said?
"Kuch nahi, main bas bakwaas kar rahi thi... tu sunrise dekh na!" she said, hiding her flaming face in the crook of his neck. She really needed to implement counting to five around Shiva so she could keep her hands, mouth, and some thoughts to herself. Sadly, she had a bad feeling she was going to fail spectacularly on that front.
It must be air before sunrise, and his sweet dobi...or maybe he was just hungry because he was feeling out of sorts since he had woken up. The small sane part of his brain warned to reign himself, telling him he'd be very wise not to go down this line of questioning, specially now. But he couldn't control himself anymore than the sun that was just about to rise this morning. His hands tipped her face up and he asked, "tujhe khud ke...puppies chahiye?"
Feeling shy and flustered, unable to meet his eyes, she stayed silent. When he let the question hang between them, not dropping the subject, she lifted two fingers of her left hand, and just said, "boys." Chipkali. His Chipkali. His arm tightened painfully around her, crushing her to him. He lifted her ring finger, and said "girl", before he roughly kissed her.
He lowered her onto her back, his hard body overpowering hers, as his mouth slanted overs hers in a hard, probing kiss. I don't deserve you¸ but I want you the most in this world. Raavi let out a part pant, part gasp, immediately responding to him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly, encouraging him by rubbing sole of his foot with her toe, stroking his tongue in soft caresses. Somehow, that fueled him – he let out a savage growl, and increased the pressure of his lips, as if drinking the first sips of water after a marathon. She let out a gasp, unlocking one arm to tug off his shirt, and he took it off in one swift swipe. His lips latched back onto her, tongue mated with hers deeply, sucking it repeatedly, tugging at her bottom lip, as she helplessly whimpered, softly rubbing his biceps and his chest.
He dragged his lips down her neck, leaving a trail of wet kisses, biting the skin around her pulse hard. She let out a loud moan, her fingers digging into the thick muscles of his back. He whispered, "did that hurt?" and without waiting for a response, he kissed the same spot and softly blew air to soothe her. Raavi hooked her leg onto his waist, and rubbed his back, chest, savoring the feel of him, her nails scraping like soft claws as he moved his lips across her collarbone and up her ear, biting her earlobe. She cupped his cheeks and brought his lips back to hers. She teased him by pecking his nose, giving him light kisses, moving her head slightly just when he thought he caught her lips. Finally, she gave in, kissing him deeply, whispering, "It's just this kurti between you and me. I am not wearing..." she trailed off, watching in satisfaction as his eyes glazed. She rubbed her nose against his, ask the whole world to go away, kiss me exactly like you want to. His hands grazed up her sides, gently framing the shape of her breasts... when his phone rang.
Raavi let out a deep protest, "don't stop" she ordered him and reached down to his pocket. They both grabbed the phone at the same time. He chucked his phone aside, frantically pressing the side buttons to decline the call. He dipped his head to the side, licking the mole on her cheek, cupped the soft flesh of her breasts, through the kurti, kissing the top of her bre...when his phone rang again.
F**k... was the world ending?
"I am going to kill whoever invented the phone," said Raavi irritably. They must have been slow to grab the phone because the phone went silent again, only to ring exactly five seconds later.
"Lets just put this person out of their misery" said Shiva angrily. He laid flush on Raavi, as he stretched out to his right to grab his phone. All of his instincts and reflexes were slower, because Raavi, like frustrated fairy that she was, kept pressing kisses, rubbing his back. "Its Dhara Bhabhi..."
Raavi protested but finally, she let him take the call as he multi-tasked, listening to the call and continuing feather light kisses along her neck, her cheek, collarbone... any place he could. When he hung up, he said, "she was worried because she couldn't find us, and she wasn't sure what else needs to be done for the presentation."
Presen-what? She looked at him cluelessly, he kissed her nose, and whispered "you have a meeting today..." slightly amused that she didn't remember her own meeting.
She pouted, her mind hazily realizing there was a real life beyond this illusion of a world they were in. "I suppose we have to go... soon." He nodded.
"I suppose... we can't do anything much," she added glumly. Did the whole world conspire against her to stop this? He nodded and got off her to sit beside her with his legs drawn up, and arms resting on his knees. Without any hesitation, she moved to sit between his legs to rest her back against his chest and take in the last few moments of this... illusion. Why couldn't this be her reality? She bent her head to hide the tears stinging her eyes. Would he remember that he held up 3 of her fingers for their...?
"Sweetheart, look up," said Shiva, wrapping his arms around her neck and kissing her cheek. Together they saw blue, purple hues scatter out fading and yellow, orange, and red colors seep into the sky to infuse life into a new day's dreams and hopes.
They sneaked back into their room, made themselves presentable and told Dhara that they had gone to the Store regarding her meeting with Chef Vikaas Khanna's team, who had sent some last-minute review material to incorporate into the presentation.
Shiva came into their room, as Raavi organized, checked over her files, and presentation. She had gotten dressed for the day, looking like a dewy rose in pale pink salwar suit, her hair flowing like a halo around her, all complimenting her rosy cheeks and lips.
"All set? Rishita Bhabhi took your sample dishes to the Store," he said sitting beside her.
She nodded and got up to leave. "Tujhe ab samajh aaya main kya chahti hoon?" she asked him, and he stayed silent. Stubborn man.
She rolled her eyes, "Wont you...?" asked Raavi, "wont you wish me good luck?" Just as Shiva moved closer towards her, Dhara Di came by to tell her that Rishita had finished set up and everything was ready for her meeting at the Store.
Raavi nodded, clenching her fists in frustration. Walking out, she paused at the threshold of their room, she turned and beckoned him. He gave her a questioning glance, leaning in as she coolly whispered, "Today is November 3rd, tomorrow is Diwali. If you don't finish what you started on the beach, and by chance I wake up on November 5th the same way I did today, I will personally make sure we are divorced, and you are on the next flight to Mount Kailash..."
Giving an amused Shiva and curious Dhara Di a parting glance, she smiled and left, muttering, Devar – Bhabhi ne dimag kharab karke rakha hai.
Chef Vikaas Khanna's representatives from Chef Helping Chefs program came to visit Raavi and Pandya Store and were impressed with Raavi's presentation and cooking. They reviewed her work, and provided feedback, extended the Program offer for 2 years, wherein their employees would come in every 90 days to offer guidance and feedback. Raavi was supremely pleased with the outcome and felt like she was walking on clouds.
Post the meeting, Shiva had messaged her to come by to the storeroom. Though she was still slightly, cute-wala mad at Shiva, when he had texted her, she practically ran to him. He had congratulated her and fed her jalebi. When she gestured, he have some of the dessert too, he took the piece from her mouth, broken them into bite size pieces, laying them across her lips, neck, collarbone, and ate it off her, teasing her, making her think he would kiss her, but never quite giving her what she wanted.
In response, she lightly slapped his cheek, and told him, he had very bad manners, and needed to be punished so he didn't repeat his mistakes again. When he had provoked her by asking what constituted proper punishment, should he stay away from her for at least 48 hours, or...? She had taken every ingredient needed to make Mango Elaichi energy bars, in her mouth and pressed it against Shiva's, making him taste everything, which ended with him eating raisins off her belly button, forcing them to stop. Unable to stay back after that, she ran back to Pandya Niwas to occupy and distract herself.
"Tu itni pyari lag rahi hai, Raavi!" remarked Dhara Di, smiling at Raavi dancing her way through the house.
"Itni chamak rahi hai, disco ball lag rahi hai," said Shiva entering the house. After spending time in the storeroom, Raavi ran back home, but Shiva, too, had been unable to stay at Pandya Store. He was itching to be with Raavi; her happiness was contagious. So, as soon as he could, he made an excuse and rushed home to be with her. Raavi's pleasure doubled seeing him, as she blushed remembering at how he just ate raisins off her body.
As she went into the kitchen to bring out food for lunch; unable to resist, she turned and impishly asked, "Khana kaise khaega, Shiva?" much to Dhara and Rishita's puzzlement.
He smirked and innocently replied, "Jaise tu khilaegi, Raavi."