Pandya Store - Shiva Raavi (ShiVi) FF- My North Star

Chapter 27

How could things go so wrong? Raavi thought to herself. She was in the aangan, cleaning up and bandaging Shiva's scrapes and bruises on his face, and hands. She looked up at Suman Maa, Maasi, Mausapa, and the rest of the Pandya family, tears fell from her eyes, caressing his wounds.

"Shuru se bata, kya kaand kiya tum dono Laila Majnu ne?" said Suman sternly, her gaze flicking between her sons and bahus, "Shiva ko chot kaise aayi?"

"Chod na, Maa, itna bhi kuch nahi hua, iss chipkali ko bas rone ka bahana chahiye," said Shiva nonchalantly, silently willing Raavi to stop crying.

"Kyun chodein bhai? Meri Raavi ke haath mein bruises hai, aur uske baal bhikre hain, kapdon mein daag..." said Prafulla, as Jagat nodded, concerned.

"Theek hai... itna chot nahi aayi hai na, toh, sab sach bata, kya hua?" When silence reigned supreme in Pandya Niwas, Suman knew things had gone really awry.

"Akhri mauka hai... warna main kue main khood jaaungi," threatened Suman, making her way to the well. The rest of the Pandyas looked at Shiva and Raavi in panic.

"Maa, main bolta hoon," said Shiva, resigned to his fate as Krish and Rishita grabbed Suman's wheelchair to stop her.

The seven of them got dressed and left as a group, making their way to the Bollywood themed Diwali party.

Dhara was dressed in a red saree, her look inspired by Aishwarya Rai in the movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Rishita was dressed in a gold saree similar to Priyanka Chopra's Desi Girl, and Raavi wore an outfit resembling Kareena Kapoor's dress in Bole Chudiyan from the movie Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham. The men wore simple dapper sherwanis.

They entered the luxurious elegant ballroom of the BlueFox Resorts that doubled as a dance floor. The grand stairs off the side, led to the first floor where a lounge was set up for people to relax and grab drinks. As soon as they entered, Hetal greeted them wearing a lehenga starkly similar to Alia Bhatt from Student of the Year.

As soon as entered the party hall, Hetal dragged Raavi and Krish to the dance floor and meet some of their common university friends. The rest of them went to socialize with their friends, business colleagues and other acquaintances.

Shiva looked at Raavi, narrating a condensed version of the events, carefully leaving out their private moments at the BlueFox Resorts:

Shiva was at the Lounge, chatting with some acquaintances. As soon as he saw his wife walk up the stairs coming to the lounge area, he got up to meet her. "Raavi, come here, I want to introduce to the Desai brothers– Parth and Saket Desai. They will be selling us the sundried fruits for your energy bars. Parth bhai, Saket bhai– meet my wife, Raavi."

"So, you are Raavi. This young man has been haggling with us to lower our rates, increase production, bending over backwards to get into contracts at rates we would otherwise never agree to," said Parth, good naturedly.

"He is persistent and persuasive... I can see why," quipped Saket, looking at Raavi and immediately understanding Shiva's deep desire to keep her happy.

Raavi blushed and looked at Shiva appreciatively, happy that he took her advice and was doing different things to help Pandya Store and of course, her. After chatting for a few minutes, Shiva excused themselves, much to the Desais' amusement. "They are going to think we are going to some place to make out." chided Raavi, as he hooked their index fingers and took her down the stairs, exiting BlueFox Resorts. He looked at her sideways, as if to ask her 'where-is-the-lie?'

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, though she had an idea where he could be taking her.

Pretty soon it was obvious, he was taking her towards the Somnath Beach to the same park bridge where they spent the evening of their Grad Excursion. Nervous excitement unfurled in Raavi as they reached the exact same spot, where they spent gazing at the night sky almost six years ago.