Dearest Shivaay, || Shivika AU FF

𝔸 𝔹𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕙𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕊𝕙𝕠𝕔𝕜

"Bhaiya, the red one! Can I see the red one?" Gauri asked like a child. Her money was in her hand and her eyes were gleaming with excitement. The old man running the shop scowled and reached for the red dress, his unenthusiasm compensating for Gauri's overexcitement.

It was then that the corner of her eyes caught a pretty blue dress on display. "Bhaiya, how much is that one?" she pointed.

The man turned to look at where Gauri was pointing and frowned more. "1000 rupees."

Gauri looked down at the red dress that the man had taken down for her. She felt the material the dress and admired the red color. She smiled to herself and looked up at the salesman. "You know what? Can you pack that dress and those jhumkas?" she pointed towards the peacock earrings that caught her attention when she had walked in. "Fine."

"Anika Didi," Gauri smiled, approaching her sister with a big grin. "Now what, Chutki?" Anika sighed, texting Nikhil to meet her at a restaurant for dinner. She had to consult him about the inheritance funds that Mausi had given her, and so far, the busy lawyer hadn't responded to a single one of her messages.

After Chanda, Nikhil was one of her best friends that she had known since she was waddling around the mohalla. For the man she trusted most to ignore her like this, especially in her time of need, was frustrating.

Anika glanced at her sister to see the girl with something hidden behind her back and a wide grin plastered on her face as though it had been superglued there permanently. "What's behind your back?" Anika asked suspiciously.

Gauri's grin only grew wider as she pulled from behind her, a box wrapped in green wrapping paper. "Happy Birthday, Di! I know we're all going to hand you our gifts at the cake-cutting, but I wanted you to have this before that."

Anika smiled, accepting the gift. "What is this, might I ask?"

"Open it," Gauri urged impatiently. Anika sat down on her bed and Gauri followed suit, an excited gleam in her eye. Anika lightly pulled the patterned paper apart from a white box from Gauri's favorite clothing store–Pashchim Fashion. Anika looked up at Gauri interestedly, and Gauri just clicked her tongue, gesturing for Anika to open the box.

Anika opened the box to find a beautiful blue dress with green mirrorwork. Anika gasped, finding a pair of peacock jhumkas placed neatly atop the dress. "Gauri!" she whispered, putting the earrings aside and lifting the dress. It was a deep blue, her favorite color, and it felt new. She surely hadn't seen this in Gauri's closet a few days ago.

"Chutki, what–how?" Anika fumbled to form a proper question because there were so many in her head.

"Your pani-puri victory got you a brand new, blue-blue peacock dress!" Gauri smiled. Anika froze, her gaze darting from the beautiful dress in her hands to her sister. "That was your money! I gave it to you for you to buy that red one you wanted. You said it was 1800, and you'd saved enough to buy it, but you needed–"

"Oh, question kumari," Gauri chuckled, interrupting her sister's flow of questions. "Breathe for a minute! Let me explain. I was going to buy the red dress I found, and I had just enough money for it. I was just about to ask that khadoos bhaiya if he could pack it up for me, but then I saw this dress. And I thought of you. I saw these earrings and I thought they'd look nice together, and blue is definitely not my color, so I bought them for you," Gauri shrugged.

Anika felt tears in her eyes. When did her Chutki grow to be so big? "And, the best part, Di? I saved 300 rupees!" Gauri said, her chest swelling with pride. Anika's chest, too, filled with pride, but not at Gauri's money-saving.