It had been a week since that day. A week since Shiva had committed the greatest mistake of his life and realised his folly, all in a day's time, as they say. 

It was as if Raavi was broken and the part that made her Raavi had been swept away with the wind. The walls of ice he had put around his heart and his tender, new, feelings had melted away the moment she had admitted to liking him, to wanting to truly move on with him. And then as he had stood outside the door to his room and watched her lie in their bed, eyes open yet unseeing, his heart had burnt. 

He had gone to her to beg for mercy, but she had not seen him, had not heard him. He had gotten so worried something had happened to her that he'd dared to touch her, to gently shake her awake from her world of dreams. She hadn't bothered to look at him as she told him in a blank voice, "Main thik hoon, bas tak chuki hoon, itna pareshaan hone ki zaroorat nahi hai kisi ko bhi", and closed her eyes to go to sleep. When Shiva had gone to sleep he'd tied her dupatta around his hand in the fear that she would leave, because who wouldn't after what he had done? 

And when he'd woken up to find her dupatta still tied to his hand but no Raavi in sight he had lost it. He had run out of his room screaming for her only to be sat down by his bhabhi. Moments later she had walked out of the kitchen with tea for everyone, even him, and then walked right back into the kitchen. His bhabhi had then confessed to how worried Raavi had been when he had read her diary that something of this sort would happen. That he wouldn't understand that she truly had moved on, had wanted to move on with him. It was then that Shiva had understood the magnitude of his mistakes. 

In the week since then it had been the same story, she did all her work mechanically, she only responded when directly questioned, and that too with the shortest answers she could come up with. Shiva hadn't had the courage to see if it would be the same in his case too. And so he hadn't spoken a word to her after that night, until today that is. 

Shiva had eavesdropped on his bhabhi and Raavi's conversation from outside the kitchen that morning. "Raavi, bachi, Maami ki call aayi thi kal raat ko. Voh keh rahe the ki tumhari chacha aa rahe hain kal Somnath main, aur ki voh kal subah naashta yahin par karenge". At first she had hummed in response and turned away to continue with her work, not noticing bhabhi's face fall. Then she'd turned back around full speed, "Kya? Chacha aa rahe matlab? Aur aap Ram chacha ki baat hi kar rahe hain, hai na Dhara di?" Shiva had been pretty sure that was the most words she'd spoken at a time since that day, and he was sure that this was the most animated she'd been too.

Shiva had known about Raavi's chacha, of course he had. The man had wanted to adopt her despite being unmarried and having to take care of his parents as well. When Maami had said she would take care of Raavi, he'd put up one hell of a fight until she'd threatened to go to court. Knowing he would lose any access to her life if the case went to court, he'd  agreed to give Maami custody on the condition of being allowed yearly visits. And ever since, he had managed to spoil Raavi pretty well during his visits, building a strong bond with her despite the distance. 

Just a while ago, he'd come into their room, expecting to go to sleep, quietly holding onto her dupatta like every other night when he'd heard her, "Shiva?", she had whispered. He had stood frozen for a minute before he'd scrambled to kneel by her bedside, wondering if he'd perhaps imagined her calling out to him. But no, she had been lying on her side, eyes wide open and trained right at him. 

"Raavi?", he had whispered back, still in disbelief. And with a curious look on her face she had asked him, "Hmm. Shiva, voh, kal, chacha aa rahe hai na?" He nodded his head, still too shocked for words. After a moment she turned her face down mumbling, "Main nahi chahti ki chacha ko yahaan ki haal bata chale Shiva, unhe bahot bura lagega. Tho please, bas kal ki ek din ke liye mujhe pasand karne ki naatak kar de Shiva, please." She peeked up at him as he stared at her and hurriedly said with her eyes closed tight, "Aur main naa nahi sunungi Shiva." He wanted to tell her so much, that he wouldn't need to act at all, that he was sorry, but she had made a request of him, and nothing came before that. He raised his trembling hand to her head, gently stroking her hair as he said, "Tho maine kab kaha ki main mana karne vala hoon? " She had opened her eyes to look at him, and seeing his sincerity had nodded, whispered a good night, and promptly fallen asleep. 

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Shiva knew something wasn't right. Raavi had faked her joy with her new life to perfection, and he had hidden his guilt and worry for her well enough. They had worked like a seasoned team, each playing their assigned role for the day so perfectly their own family had been confused. Every time one of them had stumbled, the other had taken lead, making it all look so natural that Raavi's chacha had been beaming in joy when he'd blessed them both after breakfast. 

But before leaving he had turned around and invited the two of them to meet his family and stay with them for a few days. After all, although Maami had been the one to have brought up Raavi, his house was technically her maayka too. Raavi's face had fallen the moment he had turned around and left. She had turned to meet his waiting gaze and in them, he saw something that told him just how much he had to apologize to her, longing. A deep, yearning, longing. If not for him, then atleast for the relationship they could have had if they had both tried to the best of their abilities. 

She had turned away and went into the kitchen to help bhabhi with the clean up then. The whole day Raavi had been distracted, not blank the way she'd been till the day before, but distracted, as if she was pondering on some thought too deep to be seen easily. He had wanted to talk to her, to tell her that he hadn't been faking his satisfaction with their relationship. He wanted to clear all their misunderstandings, but Gaumbi had sent him off to the shop instead. 

It had been late in the night when he'd come back and he'd been expecting to see a sleeping Raavi, but instead she'd been waiting up for him in their room, only the side of her face showing under the light from the night lamp. "Raavi, kya hua? Tu theek tho hai na? Abhi tak soye nahi tu?" He had questioned her rapidly as he knew that Raavi rarely, if ever, slept this late unless she was alone in the house. 

"Main thik hoon, bas tera intezaar kar rahi thi."

He had gone and sat on the floor by her bedside as she had pulled some papers out from under her pillow and held them out to him. He had taken the papers from her, wondering what they could possibly be about when he caught sight of something that made him freeze. Divorce papers. Raavi had just handed him divorce papers. 

He looked up at her to see her turn her face away from him. "Kya hai yeh sab?", he asked her after taking a deep breath. " Vahi, jo tumhe chahiye tha Shiva. Iss rishte se aazadi. Iss maami ki behen ki beti se aazadi."

He drew in a sharp breath as she continued. "Main maanti hoon ki maine bhi iss shaadi ki faisla apni majboori ki vajah se li thi. Par jahaan tu apna parivaar ki vajah se iss rishte se muh modh nahi paatha, main kar sakthi thi Shiva. Mausa pa nahin maante tho bhi, kam se kam Maasi meri saath de deti. Mujhe laga ki tu acha insaan hain Shiva, mujhe tumhari aadat lagne lagi thi, tu acha lagne laga, aur mujhe laga ki shahad yahi kaafi hain, ki jo kuch bhi hain hum baad main dekh lenge. Par rishton ko nibhaane ke liye sirf achaayi kaafi nahin hoti hain Shiva. Isiliye aaj main tujhe iss rishte se aazaad kar rahi hoon. Zindagi main pehli baar main teri baat maan rahi hoon Shiva. Kal subah sabse bataake nikal jaaungi main iss ghar se. Hamesha ke liye."

As she got up on her knees and turned away from him to climb off the bed Shiva kept his eyes glued to her, and the Raavi he saw then was someone Shiva knew he had seen only once in his life before. On the day of his wedding. And he knew then that this was his last chance to make things right between them. Because Raavi had accepted defeat, but Shiva couldn't let his Gauri lose, ever. 

"Aur agar maine kahaan ki mujhe aazadi nahi chahiye iss rishte se? " Raavi froze in her spot, back still facing him. "To main vahi kahungi jo tune hamesha se mujse kehte aaya hain, ki naa tujhe meri aane ki khushi hoti hain, naa meri jaane ki ghum." Shiva took another deep breath as he walked around the bed to face her and said "Raavi, agar tujhe galatfahami hui thi ki sirf achayi se rishta nibhaya jaa sakti hain, to mujhe bhi galatfahami hua tha, ki tujhe main pasand nahin hoon. Mujhe tu pasand aane lagi thi, aur uss vajah se mujhe teri diary ki baatein itni chub gayi. Agar tune mera baat samajhne main galti ki hain to maine bhi vahi galti ki hain. Par jahaan tune sab kuch suljaane ki koshish ki, maine sab kuch uljaa diya Raavi. Shaadi ki din shahad maine sirf bhabhi ki kehne pe tera haath thaama tha Raavi, par aaj main tumse tumhara haath pakadne ka hak maang rahi hoon Raavi." 

He stood opposite her, waiting, waiting, until she finally looked up at him and whispered "Shiva", as she finally shed the first tear since that day a week ago, a lifetime ago. And as he held his arms wide open for her she threw herself into them, sobbing her heart out. And at last, when she had finished shedding her tears, as Shiva held onto her still, she said, "Aaj se yeh Raavi  tumhara Gauri hain Shiva".
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And I'm done with this! This is my second published piece of fan fiction, ever, by the way. The first being Metamorphosis, another piece on Shivi...