Baatein Kuch Ankahi si
virat leaned back into his chair in frustration. He tried to concentrate on the case file at hand for the umpteenth time , failing miserably in every attempt. His attention span not lasting beyond 2 sentences, courtesy the heavy workload since last few days coupled with the incident with his wife this morning.
Virat was about to step into his jeep after dropping Sai when he the voice of a girl who was probably Sai's classmate made him stop at his tracks,
"Hey Sai! Yeh kaun hai tere saath police uniform mein? Introduce toh karwa!"
“woh …”, he turned back to see her fumble for an answer. “ Woh Virat sir hai, mere Abba ke department ke ACP .He is helping mef inance my studies. ”
“Ohhhh, Hi sir, mi Mrunaya, Sai-chi maitrin.”, the girl chirped
Before he could reply, Sai dragged the girl into the campus gate, leaving him a little anxious, a little perplexed and just a little insecure.
He wanted to tell himself that her lack of affirmation to their marriage didn’t bother him, that her indifference didn’t sting. But God himself knew that her every witty quip, her every caring gesture drew him to her as effortlessly as the earth is drawn to its sun.
He wasn’t sure if he was falling in love with her. Hell, If he was being honest, he didn’t even know what love was anymore. The first time he fell for a woman was so different than how he felt about Sai. With Pakhi, the love was akin to exhilaration that he felt while driving the car off on a dangerous speed while being on a mission, or the thrill he felt the first time he took a sky dive. It made him feel invincible. But with Sai, his feelings for her didn’t knock him off the axis or shake his existence. His affection for her was like the love he had for his job, for his family and for all the things in life he was certain of. It was rooted so deep within him that it almost like his own extension. That she didn’t feel the same way and probably never would hurt which was strange given that he was the one who set the boundaries in first place.
His brooding session was broken by the moving chair in front of him, where now his wife was seated, her doe-shaped eyes brimming with worry.
“Aap kahan the kab se ?”, her enquiry commenced. “Kitni baar aapka phone try kiya! Uthaya kyu nahi! Aapki tabiyat toh kharab nahi hu ? Waise toh din mein 50 baar phone karte hai poochne ke liye Sai tum college pahauch gayi kya ? Class kitne baje khatam ho rahi hai …tumne migraine ki medicine li ki nahi ..aur aaj…”.
“Bass…”Virat interrupted, “Take a deep breath, Sai. I was occupied with work . Didn’t realize it was this late. And you shouldn’t have come here at this hour .”, he glanced at his watch. “You know this area isn’t safe . You should have just slept”
“What else would I have done? I had to lie to Aai that you had called and made her sleep and everyone else had already slept. I was so sick with worry that I couldn’t even sit still let alone sleep….especially after what happened in the morning”, she murmured quietly.
He ignored the gush of warmth in his chest that he felt at her concern ,” What about this morning? ”
“Don’t act oblivious! You know what I am referring to. Maine kuch galat nahi kaha, humari shaadi shaadi nahi hai , deal hai.”, her reply seemed more like a justification to herself than to him.
“Har baat mein deal laga rakha hai. Tumse toh baat karna hi fizool hai.” , he shook his head disapprovingly, his voice turning colder bythe minute. “ Chalo ghar ke liye nikalte hai.” He moved a step to get up but collapsed back to his chair holding his head like it hurt.
Sai instinctively rushed to him, “ Kya hua aapko ?”, she asked worriedly and checked his temperature. “Aapko toh tez bukhaar hai! Chaliye ghar jaldi, aapko medicine ki zarurat hai.”
“Tumse matlab ? Yeh toh sirf deal hai remember”,he retorted bitterly.
Sai ignored his remark, “Aapko ladna hai toh ghar jaake lad lena , ab chaliye.”
She put his hand across her shoulders. Virat was too tired to object and willingly complied as she helped him walk slowly towards their car.
Next day
The soft voice from the opposite side of the bed woke him. He was still groggy but could make out that it was before sunrise due to the looming darkness in their room. He turned to his left to see Sai ‘s back as she was talking on the phone with someone.
“Hi Mrunaya, Sai here. Hope I did not wake you up. ,” Sai whispered. “Could you please do me a favor ? I need to take a leave today, could you please ask Professor Vaidya for extra notes of today’s Biochemistry class ?”, She paused.
“No nothing serious. My husband has high fever since last night and it is quite unlike him to fall sick. He should be fine in a day or two but I know him well. If I don’t guard the door, he is sure to go to work and I will worry myself sick.”, She said. Mrunaya from the other side must have said something to make her chuckle.
“Yes, the same one.”,Sai smiled and turned to look at Virat while he pretended to be asleep. “The ACP Virat Chavan that you meet yesterday is my husband. Yes, ok. Yes, I will talk to you later, bye.”
Virat felt the mattress move with Sai’s weight as she lied next to him. He could feel her gaze on him even with his eyes shut when she lightly brushed the hair off his forehead. Carefully, she took his hand in hers and kissed it softly .She then entwined her fingers in his, placing them close to her heart and fell into a deep slumber, leaving the man next to him wide awake with feelings and questions he possibly couldn’t begin to decipher.
______
Hi All, Mani this side. I am a silent reader on IF. It has been a while since I wrote something and SaiRat struck me with the right amount of inspiration. I am a sucker for slowburn romances and SaiRat are just that. As much as I love Sai, I can personally relate to Virat more and have written this oneshot from his point of view. Let me know your thoughts!
-Mani
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