An awkward silence filled the room; everybody was unsure of what to say. "Play the rest of it," said Suman Kaki, authoritatively and glared so fiercely that nobody dared disobey her.
The projector screen brightened, and Hetal's camera panned to a house party - Seventeen-year-old Arjun was hosting a small party for his close friends in his luxurious apartment to celebrate winning the Semi-Final Soccer match. A sound system was playing the latest Bollywood hits, and as usual Hetal was filming the whole party.
Jumping into the frame, Raavi said "This party is so amazing, bas ab Bhoothnath aajaye!"
Just then, Shiva stepped in, and phone panned to the door, cheering him, excited cries of "MVP! Finally! Your late!" drowned the song playing in the background.
The scene changed and Hetal showed everyone crowing around the dining table deciding teams to play card games.
"I will take Mona," said Amit.
"Vasu, chal, hum dono ek saath," said Arjun.
"Vishal and I will be a team." said Hardik.
"Hetal can be in Mona's team, and I can be with Shiv---" started Raavi to be met by loud protests and they were heckled. "Hetal is awful at card games. Raavi always wins. Nah -uh."
"Fine. You are all just scared I will clean your pockets out!" said Raavi sticking her tongue out and making way to get snacks.
"Shiva, chal, akela khel" sniggered Vasu.
Shiva's eyes flashed accepting the challenge. "Ye Chipkali hamesha cheating hi karti hogi. Main akela khelunga aur jeetunga."
Hetal's camera filmed the party from various angles, trying to record memorable moments. She stopped near Hardik, her loudest heckler, zooming in and out of face, trying to annoy him. Then, she panned to Shiva's intense face – focusing on playing to win.
Shiva's eyes flashed in annoyance, and he yelled "RAA-VI" breaking her name into two full syllables, "idhar aa!"
She came from the back, rested her chin on top of his head, peeking at his cards and asked "Kya hai? Abhi toh mujhe cheater bola."
"Teri ulti kopdi kabhi kabhi seedha kaam karti hai. Mere cards theek se dekh kar bata, mere jeetne ke chances kya hai?" asked Shiva looking up at her.
"Ohh, that IS cheating." protested Mona
"Chill kar Mona, I am just looking. Besides, Shiva is playing solo, toh itna help toh banta hai" reassured Raavi.
Reaching behind him, he grabbed Raavi's hand, pulling her to sit on his lap. "Waise bhi tujhe teda dikhta hai. Yahan baith aur theek se dekh ke bata."
Settling in, she pointed to one of his cards from his set and said, "Why didn't you put this card down?"
"Look at the card Vishal and Hardik put, how does that card make sense, chipkali?"
Leaning into Shiva further, to prove her point, she switched the order of the cards he was holding and pointed at the result giving him a I-told-you-so look. She lightly poked his head, and muttered aakdoo duffer.
Shiva stared back on his set of cards, muttering "Raavi, apne baal hata - tabhi toh cards dhaang se dikenge". He absentmindedly reached over and pushed her hair behind on the other side of her neck.
"You really can't help him anymore" insisted Mona.
"Ok, fine. I'll just look from now on." said Raavi, raising her hands as a mock gesture of surrender. But neither Raavi moved from his lap or Shiva asked her to get up.
The screen flashed to compiled candid photos of Raavi and Shiva from the party – Shiva watching Raavi laughing whilst sitting on Shiva's lap. Raavi finger combing Shiva's hair sideways moving the thick hair away from his forehead. The last one, a candid shot Shiva and Raavi; she was resting her left arm on Shiva's shoulder, smiling at each other in genuine happiness.
In the present day, Rishita leaned in and whispered to Dhara "Pictures are worth a thousand words, Bhabhi. Are you not seeing what I am seeing?" She indicated towards Raavi, giving Dhara the 'do you really not know what I mean?' look.
Dhara was unable to listen to anything anyone said. She didn't care what video was playing on the projector screen. She was taken in by the unsaid emotions she saw on teenaged Shiva and Raavi's faces. The shy hesitation, the secretive glances, she had observed it since their time at the Haveli, seeing them in very close proximity - it hadn't changed in all these years, then. How had she missed all these signs? She felt awful for fixing Dev and Raavi's marriage in haste, but she mentally sent a thousand thanks to bholenath for giving Rishita, and Hetal the courage to speak up, each for their relationship and friendship.
Raavi and Shiva were staring at each other, perhaps too intently, which is why they didn't notice the next video that Hetal played.
YOU ARE READING
Pandya Store - Shiva Raavi (ShiVi) FF- My North Star
Fanfiction[COMPLETE] Synopsis: "So, Hetal, red chilies fell as two people bumped into each other. To be precise, Raavi stumbled in front of Shiva's bike as he was racing away on an errand. That's where their love story starts, right?" asked Rishita curious ab...
