Please note for sake of moving the story in a particular way, many liberties have been taken with regard to the medical details - for e.g. in this part, it is mentioned that Kamal has gone through an angioplasty whereas in the previous part the discussion was around open Heart surgery, I was supposed to change it but messed up 🤪kindly ignore these discrepancies just like we ignore that Virat in the show does not really do any police work 😆.
Part 12
Getting out of anesthesia has made Kamal Joshi a happy man, he is grinning all over as his daughter sets him up in his clothes and as she helps him unto his bed, her father says, “Toh ACP saab, kaise aana hua? Kal tumhare Aai Baba aaye the”. Virat watches Sai’s face which gives nothing away, does she know? He wonders, but Sai’s father continues talking, “toh Tumne bheja thaa unhe?”. Now she turns and stares at him, Virat has a small smile and says, “Jee nahi, do mahine pehle, maine baba se kaha thaa ki mai shaadi ke liye tayar hun, Aur voh ladki pasand karei. Sai unki pasand hai”. Kamal Joshi chuckles and says, “Toh ACP Virat, kya tum meri beti se shaadi karoge?” Virat looks at Sai and answers confidently, “Jee Haan”. And he looks at Sai daring her to turn away. She takes the dare and stares back, the nurse enters the room and shuts them up, saying the patient needs rest. She also informs Sai that the doctor will make his rounds in some time and that the patient could do with some rest.
They sit outside the room in silence for exactly all of two minutes.
Sai bursts, “Aapne Haan kyu kaha?”
“kiss baat pe?” He asks
“jab Abba ne pucha shaadi ke baare mei, aapko pata hai ki Main ready nahi hun” she is miffed.
“Tumhare Abba ne mujhse yeh pucha ki kya Mai tumse shaadi karunga? Unhone yeh nahi pucha ki kya tum mujhse shaadi karogi?” He replies flatly.
“Toh kya aap isiliye aaye?”
“nahi Main shaadi karne nahi aaya?” He smirks,
She glares asking, “Aap Kyun aaye?”
“Tumhe yeh dene” and from his pocket, he removes a sachet of Horlicks.
She takes it, stares at the sachet for a long time, tears collect in her heart. She has never been so confused in her life. Or that inexplicable combination of happy and sad.
The doctor stops by and has excellent news to report. Her father is doing very well, the angioplasty is a success, and he can be discharged They will be checking on her father through the night, she can go home for the night, her father is fast asleep, when the doctor and she walk out, Virat introduces himself. The doctor encourages them to get something to eat.
At the restaurant, they are seated and order some good old Punjabi food. Thankfully it’s his left shoulder that is hurting. As they wait for the food. She looks around, but his eyes are on her.
“Tum mujhse shaadi Kyun nahi karna chahti?”
“Pata nahi”, she says because that’s how she genuinely feels, using his family or Samrat as a reason makes no sense anymore.
But she also wonders
“Aap mujhse shaadi kyu karna chahte ho?”
He looks at her and shrugs, “Pata nahi”
The food arrives, he struggles with serving for himself. She serves him, asks if he wants more of the paneer? He refuses. He tucks the Biryani and raita and leaves the naan for her, she wonders if he is in pain,
“Bahut dukh raha hai kya?”
“Nahi, it’s just thoda sa uncomfortable. Thoda move karunga it will be fine”
They eat the rest of the meal in silence. They make their way back to the hospital. Sai and her father chat while Virat sits on the doctor’s stool. It’s relatively a small room, but it’s a corner room. Sai informs her father that Usha Mavshi will come in tomorrow to help out, and they start discussing good old days of Maavshi’s cooking. Her father tires in some time.
It’s late afternoon, when Sai finishes all the paper work. Virat and she walk to the car and she offers to drive his car so that he can set some rest. He agrees. He walks into her home and as she washes her face, he sits down in the living room, looking at his phone, she returns to the living room and finds him dozing off on the sofa. She pushes a cushion under his injured shoulder and walks into her room and lies down on her bed.
Her phone buzzing wakes her up in some time, it’s Shilpa messaging that she is making her way to Chandrapur. She wakes up and comes into the kitchen and makes two cup of Horlicks. She turns to see him watching at the door way. They look at each other and he wants to tell her, he will look at her forever, if she gives him a chance and she looks away afraid to give him one.
“Dusra cup mere liye hai?l”
“Nahi mai do cup peeti hun” she grins, And hands him a cup.
He takes it and sips and sighs loudly, she smiles. He steps away from her, worried he might do something she doesn’t want him to. But she so wants him to. She looks at him, but he looks away standing near an open shelf
She immediately says, “Abba chahte hai ki mai aapse shaadi karu.”
He takes a sip with a “Hmm” he checks out the items in the shelf,
His nonchalant attitude bothers her, “Agar hamari shaadi hogi toh meri ek shart hai”.
He immediately looks at her, and says flatly, “I don’t agree”
She stops drinking and stares confused, “Matlab?”
“Mai koi condition ko nahi manne valla. Mai tumse shaadi karna chahta hun, lekin, Mai koi jabardasti nahi kar raha, agar tum mujhse shaadi sirf apne Aaba ke liye kar rahi ho, toh voh tum aur tumhare Abaa ke beej ki condition hai, meri nahi.”
She looks at him surprised, not knowing what to say. He takes the cup from her hand and rinses both their cups.
While he does that, she leans on the kitchen platform with the heels of her hands turned, on the edge of the platform.
“Toh hum dost banke karenge” she asks softly.
He peers into her eyes, “Hum dost nahi hai, Sai. Dost voh hotey hai, jisse hum achi tarah jaante hai, main tumhe dost ki tarah nahi jaanta”
She puts up her chin and says “Toh phir?”
He moves closer to her, and whispers, “Main tumhe jaanta nahi hun, lekin main tumhare liye tadapta hun.” She gasps, he shifts back.
“Agar hamari shaadi hui, toh mai tumhare dost banke nahi, tumhara pati banke rahunga.”
She bites her lip, “Matlab!?l
“I think you know”.
There is a minute of silence..for friendships one can assume..
“So koi conditions nahi, koi jabardasti nahi. Tum sochlo, tum decide karlo tumhei mujhse shaadi karni hai ya nahi. And I promise you, agar tumhara javab na hai, I will walk away.”
She is flustered, but dare she show it. She smiles furtively and asks, “Yeh shoulder ke saath jaaogey, infection ho jaayegi!”
He smirks, “Infection ko rokne ke liye hi sahi, mujhse shaadi karlo.”
She presses her lips “Kya yeh proposal thaa?”
“Nahi.” His phone buzzes. He takes it from his pocket. “Ok, mujhe hotel jaana hai Aai baba ke paas. Main apni gaadi yaha chodhke jaa raha hun. Agle weekend leke jaaunga. Is that ok?”
She nods. He bends and whispers in her ear, “See you soon, Just Sai”
——
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