ShiVi - Redemption

Chapter 17

This was a tough one to write. I am not sure I got it perfectly right. But nevertheless! Happy Reading! Haven't proof read, please ignore any typos!

Chapter 17

—————————At College——————

Raavi and her team were busy setting up the stage for their upcoming events. There was a lot of shuffling around, giggling about random things, fixing the lights, doing the sound system checks, setting up the posters and banners. Raavi was walking around on the stage aimlessly, trying to picture and get a feel of what it would look like, on the day of the event which was only a few days away.

Her train of thought was interrupted by Krish who had come by to check up on her and see if she's ready to go home or so he told her, but in reality she knew he was here to talk to Kirti.

Thinking of a way to give them a chance to spend time together, she tells Krish, "Krish, tu ghar jaa, mujhe naa bohut kaam hai, main Riddhi ke saath wapas aa jaaongi" lying to him.

"Arrey nahi main aap ko aise kaise chod doon, main wait kar loonga, phir chalte hai saath mein" insisted Krish.

"Krish, maine kahan naa main aajaaongi, tu ek kaam kar, Kirtiiii!" said Raavi calling out to her.

As soon as she arrived, Raavi turned to Krish and said, "Tu na Kirti ko leke jaa, mujhe na kuch cheezein chahiye thi fest ke liye, woh tum log market se le lena, aur phir unhe ghar pe chod dena, aur phir uske baad Krish tu Kirti ko ghar chod de, samjha?"

After much persuasion, they both gave in to her and left from there.

The rest of the team along with her, continued to make tiny last minute changes to their setup, cross verifying to see if everything is in order and it's almost 9 pm by the time they all wrap up. Raavi was about to ask Riddhi for a lift on her scooty, when Riddhi gets an emergency call, so she left almost immediately before Raavi could ask her.

——————Outside the college----------

All alone, Raavi decided to take an auto outside and walked out to find one. There are hardly any autos around and as she stood there looking for one, a couple of men came lurking behind her, passing some nasty comments. First, she decided to ignore them, but then the comments continued and one of them tried to come close to her, making her rear back her fist and punch him in the nose, causing him to topple back. The rage that was coursing through her veins had caused the man to bleed profusely through the nose, before the other man tried to attack her, she picked up a stick from the road and hit him with it, startling him. Before both of them could recover, she decides to run away and sprinted from there only to run into a hard, but strangely familiar figure.

She looked up to see Shiva, standing in front of her, looking like he had been in hell for the last few minutes. The color on his pale face was finally starting to appear, as he drank in her presence.

"Raavi, tu theek toh hai? Tu yeh kahan bhaag rahi thi itni raat ko, aur yeh danda?" said Shiva holding her in his arms, trying to decipher what was going on, looking puzzled but relieved.

"Shiva, woh kuch lafandar mere peeche padhe the, toh maine unko pitha aur ek ko toh maine punch bhi maraa", she said sounding scared, but oddly proud of how she had handled the situation.

Shiva looked bemused at what she said, but also looked around to see if he can find the men. He could feel his blood boiling with rage, but they were nowhere to be seen. He stared at her trying to calm his racing heart down, she didn't seem like she was injured except for maybe a tiny bruise on her fist, although she looked a bit shaken by the set of events that took place.

Suddenly he remembered and felt a rush of anger causing him to shout, "TU PAGAL HO GAYI HAI, ITNI RAAT KO AKELE YAHAN KYA KAR RAHI THI TU"

Raavi flinched at Shiva screaming and said, "Shiva, shaanth ho jaa, main bilkul theek hoon"

"Shaanth ho jaaon, shaanth kaise ho jaaon, agar tujhe kuch ho jaata toh, tujhe andaaz bhi hai ki pichle ek ghante mein mujhpe kya beeti hai, tera phone bhi nahi lag raha tha, Krish ne mujhe bola ki tune usse bhej diya college se, tu itni laparwah kaise ho sakti hai" holding on to her arms and shaking her, his intense gaze piercing through her.

"Shiva, main bilkul theek hoon, aur mujhe kuch bhi nahi hua, itna overreact mat kar" trying in a desperate attempt to calm Shiva down and wiggle out of his hold.

"Main overreact kar raha hoon? Tu itni selfish kaise ho sakti hai, tune ek baar bhi nahi socha, tujhe agar kuch ho jaata ko hum sab ka hota, mera kya hota, tujhse yeh ummeed nahi thi, Raavi, tujhe pata hai mujhe kitni fikr ho gayi thi" he scolded her harshly.

She looked at Shiva in disbelief and said, "Tu mujhpe gussa kyun nikaal raha hai, meri thodi na galti hai, ki woh lafandar mujhe mil gaye, aur maine unn se nipat liya naa aaj, toh phir? "

"Raavi, aaj sirf do log the iss liye tune unn se nipat liya, agar zyaada hote toh, kitno se nipat leti tuu, haan, tujhe yeh akele aane ka kya bhoot sawaar ho gaya, mujhe phone nahi kar sakti thi, chod mujhe nahi toh Krish se toh keh deti, hum sab hai na, toh akele kyun chali aayi" said Shiva, clearly pissed off at her carelessness.

This resulted in her, lashing out at him, "Mujhe kisi ka ehsaan nahi chahiye, aur waise bhi, Kis haq se main bulaati tum logon ko, kya bacha hai humaare beech, tune mujhe apne ghar se nikaalata, tune mera saath chod diya tha, toh kaise bulaati main tujhe, Aur tujhe meri itni si bhi fikr hoti, toh hum aaj bhi saath mein hote, ab tujhe mujhe laparwah kehne ka yaa aise beech sadak pe daant ne ka koi haq nahi hai" she snapped back at him, nastily.

They had all watched Shiva throw Raavi out of the house and hadn't done anything. She knew they had loved her and cared for her, but she couldn't go running to them for everything, not anymore.

But she knew she regretted the words she uttered, the instant they escaped from her mouth. She had thought Shiva would be proud of the way she had tackled the eve-teasers, but instead he had gotten angry at her, causing her to spit out fire in the heat of the moment. She looked at him and he looked like someone had slapped him in the face. He looked broken, broken like someone who had been told that he only had a day to live. Before she could take it all back, he said in a hoarse shaky voice, "Humein ghar chalna chahiye, main tujhe chod deta hoon" climbing on to his bike and waiting for her to sit.

Throughout the entire journey, he didn't utter a single word, nor did he sneak a glance at her through the rear view mirror. His face had hardened, it held no expressions, so one couldn't try to understand what he was thinking. The silence they shared between them seemed like one of the longest and dreadful one so far.

—————At Hardik's house ————

They reached and as she got down, he held her right hand in his and examined her fist to see if there was a bruise. He muttered her, "Iss pe ice pack laga dena, warna kal soojh jaayega, mujhe chalna chahiye, good night" and started his bike and rode away without waiting for her response.

She walked into the house and immediately rushed to her room, locking the door, sat on the floor sobbing, "Mujhe Shiva se aise baat nahi karni chahiye, maine kaise usse yeh sab keh diya, usse kitni takleef hui hogi, mujhe aisa nahi karna chahiye tha"

Realizing she had let him leave like that, didn't sit right with her. She wanted to talk to him and tell him, whatever she said wasn't true. She was just angry at everything that had happened and vented out in frustration. She wanted to take it all back. She wished they could go back to today morning when they were happily sipping tea in silence. Thinking it through, she tried calling on Shiva's phone, but her calls didn't go through as if the phone had been dead or switched off.

To be continued...

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Well, you know I didn't know Raavi had it in her, but there had to be an outburst on her part, because she was the girl who was always loved, always surrounded by people who loved her and it had changed ever since Shiva and her had separated. Well do you think this was expected of Raavi?