Originally posted by: by_standerHello wonderful people! Thank you so much for your likes and comments. I really appreciate that you guys take the time to read my story and leave comments and feedback. They really encourage me to continue writing. Please let me know how you like this part. Again, excuse all the errors and have a wonderful day or evening :)
Part 6
Today’s morning in the Chavan family was filled with gloom and melancholy despite the news of Samrat’s return from his post because of last night’s incident. TMK enters the kitchen as the ladies began to prepare breakfast. “No need to make breakfast today. We will have bread butter instead. Samrat will arrive during lunch, so Ashwini, make sure to cook his favorite dishes for lunch. Bechara Samrat, must be dying to eat home-cooked meals. Keep it light though because we also have our family friend coming tonight for dinner.”
“Okay, Vahini. Karishma, can you take the bread slices on the table?” Ashwini put the pan away and went to grab butter from the fridge.
“Ji Kaku.” Karishma replied.
“Today could have been such a happy day in the Chavan mansion, but we cannot even celebrate one day of happiness because of that Jangli mulgi. Her step to this house has become a bad omen for everyone.” TMK says that in front of everyone in the kitchen in disgust. “Make sure you do not bring this up when Samrat comes. I do not want him to worry about that besharam larki. He is coming home for two days, so let him leave on a happy note. Then we will decide what to do with her.” TMK glances at everyone as she says it. Everyone nods their head except for Ashwini.
“Tumhe sunai nehi diya meneh kya kaha?” TMK locks eyes with Ashwini in fury to her indifference.
“Mujhe bohot Kam hay, toh meh woh karne jaa rahi hu.” Ashwini answers and leaves the kitchen with the butter.
“Did you just see her attitude?” TMK says in shock to the ladies in the kitchen. “She still has sympathy for that girl. The girl that ruined her SON’S life and this family. Koi apni sagi bete ke sath aisa nainsafi karsakhti hay, iss Ashwini ko dekhar pata chala. Bahu ko apna banaya aur apno ko pharai bana diya. Chi! Iski ladh pyaar ke karon uss badtammez larki itni chut paya yeh saab karne ke liye.” TMK shakes her head in disapproval.
Ashwini goes to call Sai in her room but notices her on the terrace, sitting on the couch hugging her legs with her head resting on one of her knees. She gently shakes her shoulder to wake her up, “Sai, what are you doing here?”
Sai lifts her head from the soothing voice of her Aai. The unexpected sunlight hits her face and causes her to squint her eyes. “Aai? Kya time hua?”
“It’s 8:00 o’clock. Why are you here?” Ashwini asks her and notices the food from last night, now cold, beside her. “Sai, were you here all night in the cold? Did you sleep here?”
Sai put her foot on the floor and let out a slight shiver. She rubbed her eyes and stood up to hug Ashwini. “Aai, what should I do? How can I face them after they accused me for something that I didn’t do?”
Aai let go of the hug and looked straight in Sai’s eyes, “It is just like you said, they accused of something that you didn’t do so you do not need to feel ashamed. You will face them with your pride and self-respect held up high. Do not lower your gaze in front of them because you did not do anything wrong! Now, go freshen up and come down. We have a lot to do in the kitchen today.” Ashwini said with a smile on her face that put a small smile on Sai as well.
“okay, Aai.” Sai replied. As Ashwini was about to leave Sai called her from the back, “Aai.” She walked over to Ashwini and said, “Thank you for believing me.” Her eyes filled with gratitude for her mother.
Ashwini touched one of her cheeks and kissed her forehead and replied, “Always.”
***
At the breakfast table everyone sat down as Pakhi and Karishma began to serve them bread butter. “Where is Virat?” TMK inquires.
“Kaku, I saw Virat dada leave the house in his uniform earlier. Maybe he went to work early.” Karishma replies.
“Hmm. Bechara Virat. Kitni uljhano me hoga mera beta.” TMK sighs and takes a bite of the buttered bread served by Pakhi when Sai enters the dining room. Seeing her, TMK fumes and orders her to leave the breakfast table. As Ashwini was about to rebuke, Sai stops her and shakes her head not to say anything. She silently walks to the kitchen to finish her chores. Everyone’s face turned into a frown seeing her as they recalled last night’s incident. Sai was tired from last night’s drama and didn’t want to be part of another one first thing in the morning. She also knew if Ashwini tried to defend her then she will also get the heat from everyone. During her days in the Chavan house she has learned that sometimes silence is the best defense, and she has become good at using that.
In the kitchen, everyone does their work in silence as Sai feels the eyes glancing at her here and there. Despite the tension in the room, she continues to do her tasks and ignores those unpleasant gazes. As they finish making lunch, they hear a familiar voice calling them in the living room. Everyone lets out a smile and follows the voice in the living room. Samrat in his army uniform greets everyone with a smile and does pranam to the elders. Everyone gets happy to see him after so long and hugs him. Mansi gets emotional and breaks into tears. Pakhi puts up a smile in front of the family when Samrat’s eyes catches hers. His smile quickly vanishes and comes back when he sees Sai behind her. “Sai, tu kesi hay? Tera badbad bahot miss kiya yaar.”
“Meh dhik hu dada.” Sai replies with a smile on her face, hiding the pain and insult from last night. Sai had grown close to Samrat since his return from ladaak. They became like siblings in a short period of time and enjoyed each other’s company when they are together. Sai is grateful to have found an older brother figure like Samrat in her life who is very supportive of her in every step of the way. When she was little, she would always envy her friends who had siblings and always made prayers to god for a sibling of her own. Meeting Samrat was like seeing those prayers finally getting answered. Despite Sai’s attempt to hide her sadness, Samrat had noticed the painful eyes behind that smile, “Kya hua? Sab dhik hay na?” Samrat asks out of concern.
“Sab dhik hay dada! Actually, kal last exam tha midterm ka, so abhi bi uska tiredness utri nahi.” Sai replies with a grin. Samrat was still not convinced because he was aware of the family’s behavior towards her, but he let it go for now and thought to talk to her later in private. He knows the discrimination that happens between her and Pakhi just because of their background and speaks out about it whenever it happens in front of him. However, he is happy that Virat always takes her side and speaks up for her, so he knew Sai had nothing to worry about. Virat comes home for lunch and gets happy to see Samrat. He hugs him and asks about his trip to which Samrat replies, “Acha tha. Tu aaj bhi kam pe gaya?”
“Haan kuch jaroori kam tha.” Virat replies when his eyes caught Sai’s at the back. He looks away immediately and looks at Samrat with a smile. However, Samrat let out a smile as well, but it was not the same smile he would give him before marrying Pakhi. The once inseparable Shiva and Jiva is now lost since Samrat’s return from ladaak. Samrat is aware of Pakhi’s and Virat’s relationship, but never questioned Virat. He knew what Virat had done was for the family and his happiness. He knew Virat’s intention was at the right place, but his actions caused many lives to ruin. But still, he cannot bring himself up to confront Virat about it. He did not want Virat regret his actions, but he also cannot forgive him for what he had done. Perhaps he would have confronted him if Sai was not in the picture. Because Virat is now married to Sai, he did not want to bring up the past and potentially hurt their marital life. The situation was just too complicated to bring up now. It may as well remain buried in the dark to keep the peace in the family.
“Okay we will catch up on things later, but now let Samrat go and freshen up. Virat, you also go freshen up.” TMK says excitedly. “Ashwini, Sonali, Karishma, get the table ready for lunch. After such a long time, the entire family is together again! Khandoba, kisike nazar na lage meri parivaar ko.” TMK side-eyed Sai after finishing her prayer.
Virat changes out of his unform and steps out of the bathroom when he sees Sai in the room unplugging her phone. He notices her checking messages and saw the name Prof. M on the contact I.D. He sighs and walks to the dresser as Sai walks out of the room looking down on her phone. They both accidentally bump each other’s head hard. Their eyes meet and they both remembered their first bump on their wedding night. Even that day they had arguments and misunderstandings. The next bump also had a misunderstanding between them, and now there is another misunderstanding. Sai thought to herself that in their almost two years of marriage their relationship had not gone far from misunderstandings and arguments. In fact, that is the only thing that had been consistent in their life. She wondered and got depressed thinking about it. She leaned her head to bump her head once more, but Virat walked away. She looked back and was about to talk with him about last night hoping he will listen but was interrupted when TMK called everyone for lunch. Virat left the room without giving a second look at Sai. Sai was left standing alone, feeling dejected and hurt from his shun.
At lunch everyone refrained taking serves from Sai. Samrat had noticed and asked everyone if something had happened. TMK glared at Sai to which she left for the kitchen saying she will bring the daal. Sai was not succumbing to TMK’s scowls, but rather waiting for the truth to unfold. If she speaks up then it will only turn for the worse, and right now she neither had the energy nor strength to fight against them. Besides, she knew Samrat dada will be hurt from hearing all this. Part of her also wondered if Samrat dada would be on her side, or his family’s side. Virat, the person she trusted the most had gone against her so how could she bear to see Samrat, her brother, turn against her and siding with the family. She didn’t even want to imagine Samrat being against her and lose her last bit of hope. Therefore, she tried to avoid anything that will trigger last night’s incident. TMK replied to Samrat, “What would happen? Everything is fine! Oh hah, tonight we have the Deshmukh family coming over for dinner. You remember them, right?” She quickly diverted the situation.
“Oh yeah, I remember retired Major General Deshmuk! He is a good friend of Ninaad mama right?” Samrat asked to which Ninaad nodded. “Mama, you know he is greatly revered by our officials in the unit. I didn’t know he was back in India. Last I saw him was during his retirement ceremony. Good thing I came back home today!” Samrat beamed with excitement knowing that he will get to meet such an accomplished and well-respected man from the army.
“Yeah, he recently moved back here with his family. He will be so proud to see you joining the army and Virat joining the police force.” Ninaad replies with pride for both accomplished men in the family.
***
The family gets ready to welcome their guests. The ladies are in the kitchen finishing up their cooking when the guests arrive. Mr. Siddharth Deshmuk and his wife, Mrs. Rucha Deshmukh, enters the Chavan mansion with lots of gifts for the family. Ninaad and Mr. Deshmuke salutes each other like the old times, shakes hand and embraces each other in happiness, and TMK, Ashwini, and Sonali greets and hugs Mrs. Deshmuk. They all sit down in the living room when Virat and Samrat walks towards them, greet the couple, and shake hands with Mr. Deshmuke.
“IPS officer, Mr. Virat Chavan, and Major Samrat! Oh, how good to see you both so accomplished in life at such a young age in your career!” Mr. Deshmukh praises them both to which they smile with pride. “Ninaad! What a lucky man you are to see the sons in your family following the same footstep as you and late Nagesh Chavan!” Mr. Deshmuk accolades Ninaad in his deep voice.
“I sure am lucky that our children are proud to serve the country like we were at their age! Young bloods can do so much than what our old bones can do now. They are the ones who will make the future and make our country proud one day.” Ninaad says with pride. “By the way, where are your children? I thought they were coming as well?”
“They are on their way. Both my kids had a seminar this afternoon, and they will be here soon.” Mrs. Deshmuke replied.
“Oh acha, did they also follow their father’s footsteps?” TMK asks.
“Nehi, vahini. They followed their mother’s footsteps and decided to become doctors.” Mr. Deshmukh replied.
“Wah! That is great. Doctors are such great assets of our country just like soldiers. Father served the country by defending it, and the next generation are serving the country by curing it. Mast ha mast. Siddharth! You have raised your kids well too.” TMK replies while Ashwini raises her eyebrows listening to her praising doctors.
As they were chatting, Virat gets a call from his office. He excuses himself to answer the call. Meanwhile, Malini and Mann Deshmukh enters the house and introduces themselves to the family. Pakhi and Karishma comes with a tray of tea and appetizers for the guests.
“This is my bari bahu, yani Samrat ke patni, Patralekha, aur yeh Sonali ke bahu, Karishma, yani Mohit ke patni.” TMk introduces them to the guests.
“Wah! Aapki do bahu kitni sundar aur sushil hay.” Mrs. Deshmuk replies to TMK.
Both families continued their conversation when they heard a loud noise of broken plates in the Kitchen. Everyone got startled at the noise and was about to go to the kitchen.
“Arrey, aap log bathiye. Kuch nayi hay. Shayed kuch tudh gaya hoga. Ashwini can you go and check?” TMK calmed the situation and the Desmukhs took their seats.
“SAI!” Ashwini screamed from the kitchen which now alarmed everyone as they rushed to the kitchen to see what had happened. The family was shocked to see broken shards scattered everywhere and Sai laying on the floor by those scattered pieces. Malini and Mann made ways to see the unconscious girl on the floor and was surprised to see who she was.
Just discovered this ff and I just had to let you know it's so beautifully written. You have put so much thought into the story. I loved it. Thank you for the awesome read
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