"Ye room aisa kyu hai?" Shiva asked when he looked at the messy room, clothes scattered here and there, cartons of carboard boxes laying in one corner, letters and pictures from albums lay open in the middle, books and textbooks with the scattered pages lay flying. "Tere dimaag ki tarah tera room bhi..." But Raavi looked at him and that shut him up, as he stood at the entrance, not knowing where to sit.
He may not have a bathe daily, but even he was not this messy.
"But seriously, what happened here?" He asked, as he saw colorful papers being torn and diaries being destroyed.
"Kuch samaj nahi aa raha tha," Raavi mumbled, but Shiva heard it, somehow used to her soft voice by now. "But what are you doing here?" She asked, sitting on the bed, clearly disturbed.
Shiva looked at her, there was so much he wanted to do for her, so much he wanted to say but neither he had the courage nor any entitlement towards her. After their hundreds and thousands of fights, and his bitter words to her witty ones, Shiva did not know how Raavi was still speaking to him. If he was in her place, and he would have never kept any relations with the angry Shiva, the one who belittled her so much.
One day, he'll ask her why she held onto their weird relationship.
"Chal," He said, still standing at the entrance, the room was so messy that he could not even find a place to step in. "Tujhe lena aaya hu."
Raavi looked at him, tired at his shenanigans', "Shiva, I am not going to go anywhere." She shook her head, running her hand through her hair. "You see this? This is exactly what is happening in my head right now, this is the exact replica of my life." She said, softly as she pointed at the messed up room. "I don't understand what happened." She sighed, yet again, shutting her eyes and holding her head while Shiva looked at her.
He walked towards her, somehow finding enough space to walk through the mess and sat on the edge of the bed, besides her. For a minute or two, Shiva found himself just sitting there, he was not really the one with comfort words or sweet assurances. He was more like the action movie, and Raavi was a rom-com, and they did not match, but right now was not the time to sit back and cry over their differences.
It was time for some action.
So he did what he was best at.
Shiva looked at her, and held her wrist, "News suni tune?" He asked, and Raavi looked at him, teary eyes, tired gaze, but shaking her head at his question. "Keh rahe Somnath mein baad aa rahi hai."
Raavi tilted her head, "Somnath mein baad aa rahi hai?" She asked, a little surprised at the news, weird but if Shiva sounded so serious, it could be true.
"Haan," He shifted closer, and his finger held her lonely tear that escaped her eye, "dekh, ek aur addition." He showed her the tear, and Raavi met his eyes.
They were too close to each other, and that gave them enough time to read each other's eyes. It was a funny business though, reading one's eyes and trying to understand what the person was feeling and Raavi was very bad at that. She could never understand facial expressions or eyes, because if she did, she would have known that Dev was never in love with her. Yet, she met Shiva's eyes, knowing that this man in front of her, was someone she could always understand.
What was there in him that needed explanation?
Shiva has always been a confrontational man, everything he had in his mind was on his lips, rude or not, Shiva never kept anything inside him and Raavi knew that. Yet when she looked at him, his eyes, his black dark eyes boring right into hers, she felt something.
Like they were holding secrets. Something was wrong with this man, he was not the Shiva she knew, or grew up with. He was not the guy she fought with, or hated her, or found ways to insult or demean her. He was someone else.
Who?
While Raavi was lost in his eyes, Shiva found pain in hers. Her always lit, always twinkling eyes now had no color, no joy and no hope. He may be the dumbest when it came to understanding others, but Raavi, he knew her in and out. Inadvertently, Raavi was a huge part of his life, she was the only girl outside his family who was so close to him, and they may always fought, but they were very transparent to each other. Everything about her was known to him and vice versa, they never had anything to hide.
But right now, this was not the Raavi whom he knew, this was a different Raavi. And honestly, although he missed her bright eyes and sassy attitude, the soft eyes and her soft words were growing on him. He missed the original Raavi, he did, but he was in awe with this one too, the way she held so much in her eyes and still managed to live, that was commendable in its own way.
Shiva knew that he was not as strong as she was, and the world would never know that Somnath ki sabsi khoobsurat ladki, Somnath ki ziddi sherni bhi thi. He smiled, just a small smile hitting his lips as he leaned in and wiped her tear's trace from her cheeks, Raavi sitting still and lost in his scent. Ironic, how Raavi hated the smell of spices coming from him and now was stunned by the very same smell, because this was the same smell which had saved her from a near-death experience, registered in her memories out of every other scent in this world.
On the other hand, Shiva's gaze landed on her lips, and for the first time, he gulped, nervously. There was a strong attraction string that was pulling him towards her and he could not get a hold on those feelings. Raavi noticed his soft desirous gaze and instead of pulling apart, she sat still, waiting for him to react first. She had to understand why she was this comfortable with a guy who was never her friend, just a foe.
Just a foe, Raavi let Shiva inch a little more closer, she could not grasp the way her mind just froze on the thoughts and let Shiva enter her personal space. She should be backing off, or stopping him, or anything but for now, this seemed nicer. She shut her eyes, in pure reflex, letting her heart to just go with the flow, this was nice.
This was nice, Shiva thought, forgetting all sort of boundaries, this was nice.
"Tujhe pata hai Shiva, main kabse wait kar rahi hu apne first ever kiss ke liye."
Shiva stopped, as he looked at the balcony, a very excited Raavi and a very annoyed Shiva stood. He remembered, this was Raavi's 18th birthday and he was annoyed that he had to tag along with Dev and Krish for her party and had spend the entire time here, in her room's balcony. Later that evening, Raavi had arrived with a slice of her grand cake for him and he was too hungry to refuse.
"Mujhe laga aaj shayad... but never mind." She sighed, leaning against the balcony railing, as Shiva ate the cake, disinterested clearly. "Kaash..."
Shiva rolled his eyes, "tujhe sharam nahi aati?" He asked, eating the really delicious cake, "tu mere bhai ke sapne dekh rahi hai aur ye sab bakwas baatein mujhse keh rahi hai?" He asked, shaking his head.
"Toh aur kya karu?" She said, pouting as Shiva looked at her. Under the moonlight, Raavi looked really pretty, the gown she wore radiated the blue stormy ocean she was and her long wavy black hair, highlighted the night. "Tere alawa mera aur koi hai hi nahi." She sighed, and looked at the moon.
"Tujhe pata hai na, ki hum..."
"Dost nahi hai..." Raavi rolled her eyes at his nonsensical talk, "jaanti hu, but jo bhi hai, tu hi hai."
Shiva furrowed his eyebrows, eating the cake. He was really mesmerized by her beauty, and the taste of the cake to get away from the conversation.
"But you know what, woh dinn dhurr nahi jab mujhe apna pehla kiss bhi mil jayega." Raavi smiled dreamily, tilting her head and stretching her arms, "Main uski aankhon mein kho jaungi, woh meri aur phir hum ek ho jayenge..."
Shiva scrunched his face in disgust, "ye sab bakwas real life mein nahi hota. Toh sapno ke duniya se wapas aajaa." He snapped in front of her face, breaking her trance, "aur waise bhi, koi tujhe kiss karne aayega toh main usse karne nahi dunga."
To that Raavi looked at him, upset, "kyu?"
"Tujh jaisi chipkali ko kiss karke marr na jaaye woh bechara," He said, chuckling and she narrowed her gaze at him. "Aur waise bhi chipkali ko dhurr bhagana hota hai, kiss nahi karte..."
"Accha," Raavi looked at him, "toh kyu kha raha hai mere birthday ka cake..." She snatched the plate from his hand, mid-way as he was eating it. "Matt kha, warna tujhe bhi kuch ho jayega."
"Ey Maami ki Behen ki Beti," He threatened her, "wapas dede."
"Ji nahi,"
"ey Raavi, de de."
"Nahi."
"Dekh," He blocked her way, as her back hit the balcony wall, "Dede warna..."
At his threat, Raavi quickly put the entire slice in her mouth, making Shiva even more upset and she managed to smile at him, mouthful. "Abh kya karega?" She asked, the cream smacked over her lips as she teased him.
But as he leaned closer, he could not take his eyes off her lips, really wanting to taste them now that she had also eaten the cake. And as they stood really close to each other, Shiva gulped, contemplating what he should do now while Raavi felt weird under his hold, and pushed him away slightly.
She very quickly wiped her mouth, "mera first kiss toh Dev hi hoga," She told him, convincing her more than him, "tu nahi."
"Haan, tujhe karunga bhi nahi." And Shiva may have left in anger, but it was not because he wanted to kiss her, it was because she wanted someone else.
Shiva backed off, immediately as he stood up and averted his gaze around, flustered while Raavi opened her eyes and felt the same as he did.
This was not what he had planned, and this was not what she wanted.
Thankfully, the knock on the door saved them from any awkward conversation and Anita walked in with a sweet smile. "Jai Somnath," She greeted Shiva who greeted her back, with a slight nod and she walked towards Raavi. "Toh, kya kar rahe the dono?" Anita asked, as she folded the blanket on the bed, but Raavi and Shiva met each other's eyes and gulped. Anita was surprised at the silence, and she looked at the adults, "aise kya ho gaya?" She asked, shaking her head, "Raavi? Shiva tujhe lene aaya tha, chal jaa."
Raavi shook her head, "nahi dii, mera..."
"Mann nahi hai," Anita completed the sentence for her, "bachha, mann ko manana padta hai." she touched her chin, "aur abh toh sirf thode dine yaha hai, jaate jaate thodi acchi yaadein bhi saath le jaa?"
Raavi pondered over her words, and looked at Shiva, and at the same time he looked at her.
Never did an eyelock felt this intense to the duo as this one did.
Something had sparked, and that something needed to be flushed down before it created a huge fire and burnt everything with it.
_
A/N
Thank you naadaniyaan for the beautiful cover <3