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

Chapter 1

      Standing in entrance of his room, Shiva lazily watched as his family members were putting final changes for his 'engagement' tonight that Suman had sprung on them in the morning. The only person missing was his Raavi, who had gone on a day trip to Keshod to bring back Hetal, their close childhood friend. He suspected that's exactly why his mother had arranged the 'engagement'.

Raavi was his brain's favorite subject. To the outside world, their story had started after he married her, but their history went farther and deeper; having gone to the same high school, and they had same circle of friends, until she went off to university, leaving him behind in Somnath. Though Shiva spent his childhood teasing, bickering, and fighting with Raavi, he secretly relished every moment he spent with her. He knew in the marrow of his bones that he loved her since he knew the meaning of the word. A secret, he kept from everyone. The outer beauty of Raavi did not compare to her inner being. She was an innocent soul whose zest for life and love touched every corner of his being. She had the rare quality of being genuinely happy in the moment; her wide smile, her passion of life, her never give up attitude drew him to her like moth to flame. Raavi was also self-less in her love, she had kept aside her pride and ego and come back for Dhara Bhabhi the minute she found out about her pregnancy. It didn't help that she was such a cute, impulsive jhalli with a penchant for dancing inappropriately at parties.

When they were teenagers, Shiva, Raavi, Hetal had been very close in the manner of true best friends. Despite that, his relationship with Raavi had been different. They had spent practically everyday together, Raavi spending a lot of time at Pandya Niwas, and often coming and going to each other's rooms secretly via the windows. He couldn't simplify his feelings for Raavi by just calling her a friend; she had always been more vital in his life.

However, life threw many curveballs that had been out of his control. Six years ago, there had been a fire in Pandya Store, they had lost almost everything. At that time, he chose to give up his sports scholarship and forego university so Dev and Krish could have a fighting chance at life, but perhaps his biggest loss had been losing Raavi and his friend, Hetal. He shook his head shutting out memories of their fight. He never for a second regretted his decision, but that didn't mean he wasn't aware of his limitations.

In 2021, when she came back to Somnath after completing her university and the mandated internship, a part of him had hoped that they could pick up where they left off, but as usual as soon as they had met, he fought with her. Then, she agreed to get married to Dev. Really? You would have let her marry Dev? Still, he had backed off and let the chips fall where they would, but through some miracle of Bholenath he had ended up marrying her. Though everyone thought he married her at Dhara Bhabhi's insistence, that day, when he saw her almost end her life, he knew he would have done just about anything to make sure she was ok.

Getting married had been the easy part, staying married was harder. They had a rough start, but he thought staying in the Haveli, they were falling back into their old ways. They would bicker, fight but at the end of day, every path they took led them to each other. Or so, he thought. Maybe University had changed Raavi, and she wanted someone more sophisticated, polished, educated...like Dev or her college friends. If that's what she wanted, or rather she needed to be happy. so be it. He refused to hinder Raavi from having the life she deserved. She deserved someone educated who could give her every luxury in the world, who wouldn't embarrass her in front her friends, or didn't lift boris for a living, and would love her to distraction. See Shiva, things always find a way to workout, his inner self scoffed sarcastically.

Jolted of his reverie by the doorbell, he looked around the decorations. He had initially thought his mother was joking about his second marriage in a twisted effort to stop his divorce, but as unpredictable as his mother was, she was serious this time. Somewhere between their public fight, Raavi throwing divorce papers on his face, and going to court for their divorce proceedings, everyone had an opinion on what should happen to their marriage. Suman had decided that the family name had been tarnished and the only way to fix a situation that was fracturing by the second was that she would get Shiva re-married. She was determined to salvage the family name and to get Shiva's life on what she deemed to be the right path. Despite his efforts to explain that he wasn't interested, Suman had been persistent, and bulldozed everyone into an 'engagement' party. Suman had also claimed the girl she chose was a better cook, more beautiful, vivacious, and sweeter than Raavi. As if that was possible, Shiva mentally scoffed.