[ (n.) a tiny, brilliant flash or spark; a small thing; a barely visible trace ]

Rishita was up before the crack of dawn, not that she could get much sleep anyways, her thoughts and emotions were haywire since last night, she was due to getting married soon, that too into a joint family and one of the most prominent families in all of Somnath, it was obvious that there would be a few expectations from her, she did not want to disappoint anybody. Her fear and excitement kept her up all night, while she was happy that she was getting married into such a nice household, but she was quite tensed about the expectations that they may have, Rishita believed that she was a good person, but sometimes having good personality traits were not the only things that were important in life even if they meant a lot. For someone who barely knew what family entailed, marrying into a joint family was quite difficult for her she was afraid that she may end up hurting someone unintentionally.

Apart from the base fears that were common for a bride-to-be, Rishita was feeling quite intimidated about the visit to Pandya Niwas today, she would be going without her parents today for the first time, although she knew that she had to get used to it, the thought of being there without her parents scared her a bit, reassuring herself and taking a deep breath she proceeded to get up and get ready.

The hot water from the showerhead relaxed her almost instantaneously, the fog however resonated with the state of her mind. For some reason, she kept thinking about Raavi. In the past two weeks, from whatever Rishita had learnt about Raavi, she understood that Raavi was very important to each and every member of the family, Suman considered Raavi to be her daughter the fond look and a soft smile that came onto the face of Suman Pandya astounded Rishita, She had not even seen that soft smile on her face for Dhara Bhabi! Although the relationship that they both shared warmed Rishita's heart, she hoped that she would also be able to connect to her mother in law the way Dhara Bhabi had.

Gaumbi on the other hand always said that Raavi was his little girl, Gaumbi spoke of her with such pride, one akin to that of a father when he spoke of his child and as for Dhara Bhabi, she had said that as Dev, Shiva and Krish are her kids Raavi was her baccha as well. Dev had already told her that he considered Raavi as his little sister. Krish was the one who had pledged his undying loyalty to Raavi, whenever Krish spoke of Raavi his face looked like that of a little child who was speaking of their favourite person in the whole world, he would talk of Raavi as though she had bought down the sun moon and stars for him, it was clear how much she inspired him.

As for Shiva, he rarely even spoke when everyone was there, choosing instead to work on the business, to her he seemed to be an absolute workaholic, although she would notice how he would seem to perk up instantly at the mention of Raavi. Even if he never spoke of her, whenever something about her came up Rishita would notice subtle changes in Shiva, he seemed much more attentive, eyes straying away from the laptop screen in front of him and his fingers which used to fly across the keyboard would come down to a snail's pace, she found it very cute! How the ever focused guy would lose his concentration at the drop of a pin whenever Raavi was the topic of conversation.

Stepping out of the shower, she proceeded to get ready for the day, she had to use a good amount of concealer thanks to her sleepless night, she sincerely hoped that no one would be able to figure out if she used makeup or not. Sitting down for a quick breakfast of piping hot chai and batata poha she headed to the Pandya Niwas.

Upon reaching the entrance to the Pandya House, the driver left saying he would part a few paces away at the new shed space bought by the Pandyas for their vehicles. Ringing the bell and waiting outside the house, she hoped that she looked appropriate, she was dressed in a pretty purple Kurti and wide-legged pants with chappals and a little bag hanging onto her shoulders. The door opened while she was looking down at her toenails. "Hello Rishita, Good Morning" Dhara Bhabi's voice greeted Rishita. "Good Morning!" Rishita greeted back not knowing if it would be awkward to start calling her Bhabi.

"I hope you had breakfast Rishita, all of us were just sitting down for our morning tea, do join us for some breakfast if you didn't have any" Dhara spoke, and lead Rishita with a gentle grip towards the house. At first look the house looked like a tornado just passed through, confused Rishita turned to Dhara who had already understood the confusion on her face, Dhara proceeded to explain why the house looked like that.

"We are expanding the house, building a few more rooms, considering that previously it was just me, Gaumbi, Maa and the kids, who used to share a room we didn't have an issue with space, but then we thought that it would be the right time to expand since you and Dev are getting married, we're working on 2 new floors, in fact, one of the main reasons we wanted you home today was so that you and Dev could discuss how you guys would want your new room to be"

"That is a wonderful idea, and I did have my breakfast thank you so much for asking though" Rishita replied. They both soon reached the aangan where everyone was gathered. Gaumbi, Dev and Shiva looked like they were in a serious discussion while Krish and Suman were fighting over Krish and the apparent titliyaan that flocked him amused Rishita sat next to Dhara by the cots.

Gaumbi upon noticed Rishita greeted her "Good morning Rishita, we were just discussing the house layout, why don't you sit with Dev and look through?" Nodding at him, Rishita got up and sat down where Gautam was sitting, as he had busied himself with Dhara. Exchanging pleasantries, Rishita looked at the designs for the house, they all looked so pretty she could not pick one, while looking through these and discussing these, Rishita heard Krish exclaim "Raavi". Looking up Rishita was greeted by a beautiful sight, almost all of the Pandya family had surrounded Raavi at Krish's loud exclamation. The girl in question Raavi was busy answering everyone's questions about her trip to Udaipur, her voice sounded very gentle and calm; that was the first thing that Rishita thought of, her voice was firm and melodious as well.

As Raavi finished hugging Dhara, Rishita could finally see her face. For a second Rishita was stunned speechless, Raavi was so beautiful, her skin glowing like a thousand suns, doe-like honey brown eyes, wide smile and a mole, all while Rishita thought that the Pandya's had been exaggerating how beautiful Raavi looked, they had called her Somnath's most beautiful ladki and as Rishita looked at her she indeed was, dressed in a pretty white floral Kurti, Raavi looked like an angel. Dhara Bhabi called Rishita over to Raavi to introduce the both of them to each other.

"Raavi this is Rishita, Dev's to be fiancé, and Rishita this is Raavi, Shiva's girlfriend and Prafulla Maami's sister's daughter" Rishita smiled at Raavi who was smiling widely at her. Raavi greeted her politely and wished her well and walked past Rishita and straight into Shiva's arms.

Rishita turned around and what she saw deepened her resolve to try and understand this couple. Shiva's arms encircled Raavi tightly and he had his head buried into the crook of her neck, she was standing on her tiptoes and clutching him just as tightly. In a split second, Rishita felt as if she was looking at a completely different Shiva Pandya.