Shiva watched the scene before him carefully. His brothers and his enemy were sitting and playing cards. Every time she smiled or laughed, a fire burned in his heart. The fire fuelled even more when he saw her leaning onto Dev and whisper something into his ears. Dev smiled and that brought a smile to Raavi's face. Shiva felt as if his entire body had been set on fire. He wanted to break something or crush something with his hands. She had to leave, but he knew one wrong move, his bhabhi would be seriously disappointed. That's one thing he never wished to do in his life, hurt his bhabhi. So he had only option in life, tolerate this maami ki behen ki beti.

Tolerating her presence was one thing, but he couldn't tolerate her flirting with his brother. Raavi's hand brushed against Dev's arm, and Shiva found himself swearing under his breath. His eyes were fixed on how close they were sitting, and he was losing his mind. Suddenly, her eyes moved away from Dev and fell on Shiva. The rage in them scared her and she quickly averted her gaze back to her cards. Dev held her hand and whispered something into Raavi's ear. She laughed. This was it, Shiva decided. He couldn't bear it anymore.

He joined them in the game. Krish was a little surprised because Shiva had refused when they asked him to play initially. Shiva stepped between Dev and Raavi and sat in between them. Krish was happy to see it because he knew Raavi and Dev had been cheating him. Raavi, on the other hand was annoyed. The cards were drawn again and the game started again. Shiva was least interested in the game. He just wanted to keep Dev and Raavi away. Raavi too, had no interest in the game. She just wanted to be near Dev, but Shiva came between them.

She tried to help Dev in cheating by gesturing when no one was looking. Dev took no heed of it and continued playing. The only person who noticed what Raavi was trying to do was Shiva. He shifted closer to Raavi, so close that their legs were touching. She knew what he was trying to do, so she gave him a glare. Shiva smirked and got back to his game. He was now so close to her that he was completely blocking out her view of Dev.

"Main jeet gaya." Krish suddenly called out and showed everyone his cards. Krish left with the money he had won. Raavi started arranging the deck and putting everything back in place. Dev helped her in taking the empty plates back to the kitchen. Shiva was about to leave when he heard Raavi scream. His heart thumped in his chest as he heard it. He rushed to see what the matter was and found that she had cut herself with one of the glasses she broke. Before he could reach her, Dev held her hand and started applying first aid to her wound. She groaned in pain and clutched Dev's arm tightly. Shiva clutched his fists in anger. This maami ke behen ki beti wouldn't leave one chance to touch Dev. After all, she was Anita's family, the same girl who still wouldn't leave any opportunity to touch Gaumbi even after he was married.

After Dev was done, he left to meet up with a few friends. Raavi started to get up to leave, but she was suddenly dragged to the store room and pinned to the wall. There was a nail on the wall which Shiva hadn't noticed and it pierced Raavi's skin near her neck. Shiva didn't notice her hissing her pain. He was absolutely furious with her.

"Dev ko touch karne ke bahane dhoondti rehti hai na tu? Tujhe seriously lagta hai ki main aisa kuch hone dunga?" He asked.

Raavi's hand went to her wound and that's when Shiva noticed she had cut herself. It was a small injury, but he knew how much Raavi panicked on seeing blood. He took out his handkerchief and pressed it against the wound. She hissed in pain. The bleeding stopped. She looked at him angrily because he was the reason she was hurt. She pushed him back.

"Tu maan ya na maan Shiva, main isi ghar mein aane waali hu. Tu mujhe accept na bhi kare toh koi problem nahi hai." Raavi spoke.

Shiva's concern quickly changed into anger. He held her hand and twisted it behind her back and slammed her into the wall again. Their bodies were completely flushed with each other, but neither of them noticed it. Both of them were too busy glaring at each other.

"Dev se dur reh." Shiva warned.

"Tu humare beech ka kaata banna bandh kar de Shiva." Raavi said.

Shiva was enraged further listening to her talk of Dev and her as a unit. Raavi and Dev could never be together. He would do anything to make sure they never got together. She wasn't Dev's, no matter how many times she screamed it in front of him. Raavi tried to push off Shiva to walk away, but he was too strong. She pushed him with all her might. Shiva took a step back and she released herself from his grip.

She was about to walk away when Shiva held her hand. Raavi was now furious and she tried to free herself from his grip, but in vain. He pulled her towards his and pulled her sleeve up which had fallen down when she was trying to check her wound. Raavi immediately blushed. Even she hadn't realised it had fallen down. She looked into his eyes and his eyes were trained on hers. There was some anger there, but no malice.

***

Raavi thought of the perfect date she just had. Dev had taken her out for lunch. After that, they had ice-cream and he kissed her cheek while dropping her home. She touched her cheek and could still remember the feel of his lips there. Dev was truly a gentleman, unlike his brother. Any random person would have serious doubts hearing that those two were brothers. Dev was gentle, calm and polite and Shiva was all rough and rude. She couldn't remember a time when he had spoken nicely to her. He was all fire, bursting out at her time and again. If only he'd been a little nicer, they could've been friends.

Raavi went out after Dev dropped her home. It was Shiva's birthday next week and she had to buy a present for him as well as a dress for her. Dhara di had planned a surprise birthday party for him and Raavi was on the planning committee. Dhara was on the food committee and Raavi was on decoration and cake. Only Dhara, Gaumbi and she knew about this party. Dev and Krish were both useless when it came to keeping secrets. Perhaps Suman kaki knew as well. She had already ordered a special mango cake for him which was his favourite. He wasn't concerned with decorations of any kind but Raavi was going to make it beautiful. She had already ordered fairy lights and decided on a silver and white colour theme. He was going to love it, but she also knew he would pretend to hate it and get mad at her.

She decided to pick out her own dress first. Shiva's gift needed more thought. Raavi went to the store and looked around for sometime. Her eyes landed on a beautiful off shoulder yellow dress with a slit. Next to it was a short black dress. She loved yellow but Shiva loved black. Since it was his birthday, she should wear his favourite colour. At the end, she decided to buy both.

Then she started walking around trying to find a gift for Shiva. She didn't even realise when she reached Pandya store. Taking a quick peek inside, she found Shiva inside. Raavi felt this intense desire to annoy him. All she'd have to do was talk about Dev and he would be annoyed. She walked in and saw the same expression of irritation on Shiva's face as always.

"Ae hone wale pati ke chote bhai, thoda toh smile kar diya kar kabhi. Smile karne ka tax nahi lagta." Raavi smiled.

She noticed the way Shiva's fingers clenched into a fist tightly. His eyebrows were furrowed and his gaze was so intense that Raavi almost regretted coming here. She enjoyed making him mad, but nowadays she noticed how he would take it a notch higher. His anger wasn't as normal as usual. He looked as he might kill her right then. Raavi would've turned back and left, but old habits die hard.

"Aaj na Dev mujhe lunch pe le gaya tha. Kitna romantic restaurant tha! Phir hum ice-cream bhi khane gaye. Hayye, mujhe toh abhi bhi sharm aa rahi hai." She smiled coyly.

"Agar tujhe jaan pyaari hai toh yaha se nikal jaa."

"Tu bhi na Shiva! Ab toh accept kar le ki main teri bhabhi banne waali hu. Shiva, Dev mujhse pyaar karta hai. Tu jitni jaldi accept karega, tere liye utna achha hoga."

Raavi was dying to hear him call her 'bhabhi'. The defeat on his face would be a spectacle. She was kind though, she wouldn't make him feel like a loser, she would become his favourite bhabhi. No, that would always be Dhara, but she would be his second favourite person in the entire world. Raavi suddenly felt his fingers grip her wrist tightly. He dragged her to the back room and slammed her against the wall.

"Dev tujhse pyaar karta ho ya na ho, teri usse shaadi hone se rahi. Tum dono ki shaadi toh main kisi bhi haal mein nahi hone dunga. Tere liye achha hoga tu chup chap Dev ki life se door ho jaye. Warna main jo karunga tujhe achha nahi lagega."

"Tu humare beech nahi aa sakta. Dev aur meri jodi bhagwaan ne banayi hai. Tu faltu mein villain mat ban."

Shiva slammed his fist on the wall and Raavi closed her eyes in fear. What was wrong with this man? He didn't even wince in pain once. His eyes were fixed on hers. Raavi didn't want to back down in front of him. She held his gaze. They were interrupted when they heard a customer coming in. Shiva went out to attend the customer and Raavi followed. The customer was Jamna kaki who had come in to buy her groceries and she was giving an odd look to Raavi.

Raavi glared at Shiva one last time and left the store.