Part 5
The husband she never knew!
Days are busier and nights are getting longer for both Sai and Virat.
Virat took charge of new mission as soon as he reached the new place. He kept himself busy taking charge of every small thing that he could have otherwise avoided. He retreated back to his lavish quarters where everything was made ready for him without even asking. The first day alone in his bedroom away from Sai, was enough to drive him into the whirlpool of loneliness.
Will she be missing him as much as he is missing her, is the constant question that troubled him. How much ever he tried to distance himself from her, he is unable to stop expecting from her. This is the main reason that was driving him mad when she was around him pushing him to an extent of losing control on her, to extract favorable responses from her. He is terrified that his love for her is so conditional, so demanding and so controlling! For once, he took the decision of freeing her, but it is killing him inside to think that Sai might indeed move on. Will he be able to accept her decision if she decides to move on from him? His recent behavior with her has added to this anxiety. Will she able to see past his mistakes and feel his love for her, he cried to himself. But one thing he is always sure is that, he will be there for her, till she finishes her studies both financially and morally. She becoming a doctor has been his dream too afterall. Unable to stop himself from checking on her, remotely sensing her loneliness, he texted her. "Sai, hope you are studying for your exams well. Call me if you are free."
Sai has not been able to sleep the night Virat left her. Aai had to bring food to her room and explain her that transfers are part of the job and they have to learn to mould their life around it. But only she knows the meaning of this 'planned' transfer by her husband. She retreated to her studies which has been her only getaway, apart from being her dream. Sleep is not wiling to land on her, seeing the empty space next to her. Tears pooled in her eyes, talking to the absentee who she thought would never leave her like this, uninformed and unprepared. This is what he calls responsibilty? duty? or love that he started claiming he has for her. She knows she drove him crazy with her accusations, but why cant he clarify them, sit and talk to her. His silence over all the issues that were eating her from inside has driven her to the point of suspecting his feelings for her. She remembered the hurtful words she spoke to him on their anniversary. She is not proud of what she spoke that day, but those were the questions she wanted answers for. She cannot be his wife without finding a place in his heart. As much as she wanted to be his wife, from the day one, she murmered to herself, she cant allow herself to be his compromise for rest of his life. Samrat's return and his change in attitude troubled her so much that she started to believe in things that she avoided confronting for a while now. Why is he troubled so much that he had to ask for a transfer? Is it because he could not see Pakhi didi moving on, or is it because of the anniversary fight? She hoped it is the latter, because it proves that he is effected by her words. But why doesnt he clarify? She accused, moving her hand gently on the pillow where his head used to rest. Many times she wanted to caress his head, just to feel him and ease the frown that he started to carry everyday in the recent past. She knows he endures her antics, been patient with her, pampered her with gifts, accused her, fought with her. That is the husband she knew, Who sticks to the promises he made to her father, went against his family to stand by her dreams, controlled her and troubled her to the extent of losing her life, but never gave up on her. Is he still the same husband, she wondered when her phones beeped with his text.
"Call him? NO." she snubbed the text, before texting him back "No. I am studying."
Not getting the text back for a while, she called him unable to take the silence. And the call was picked before it ringed!
"Hello Sai!" wished an excited voice , "I didnt want to call you and disturb you but I am glad you called me", he gushed.
From that very first day of their separation, the wife and husband are connected in a way they never had been able to before. It was only them when they spoke to each other, only the details of their day, without the mention of any third person. It has been a week, since they started talking on phone every night before going to bed, steadily increasing in the duration. Last night, on the day before her last exam, they went to sleep together while being online.
Next day Sai finished her theory exams. She has her practicals a week from now. She was in a deep thought alone in the cafeteria when Pulkit joined her.
"Sai, do you want to come to my home today with me?", he offered seeing that she has been aloof these days. "You can spend some time with your tai and harini. We can go somewhere together", he added.
"No Jiju. I am planning to go to Virat sir tomorrow.", she said aloud her inner thoughts, verbalizing what she has been planning to do for a week now. "He is alone there in his new place and I have a break for a week before my practicals start, so I will visit him and come back.", she said surprising herself.
Pulkit was surprised too, to see this wifely side of Sai which came so naturally that he did not expect her to do. "That sounds like a plan Sai!", he said excitedly. "Do you know how to reach there, becasue Virat said it is a remote place. Do you want me to drop you?", he offered.
"No Jiju, I was planning to meet DIG sir to find the details. I myself dont know where he is. There should be someway they can arrange for my travel.", she assured him.
Pulkit felt something has changed within Sai from before. There is calmness and acceptance of the situations around her. The constant restlessness she was always carrying with is not seen now. He felt happy that she is finding peace finally. He wished her luck and promised to call her before she leaves.
Sai took cab to the police station to meet the DIG. She was not surprised when DIG confirmed that Virat indeed asked for the transfer to be reinstated. However, because of the earlier hold, he was sent to the new location on deputation for few months. Sai asked him about the details concerning her travel there. She was briefed on all the formalities and was asked to wait till they prepared the forms for her to fill in. She requested DIG to keep her plans secret as she wanted her to surprise her husband. She was then sent to the administrative office where she discovered her husband again, the man she never knew...in those lifeless papers, she found him in flesh and blood.
Sai was asked to sign the papers concerning the travel arrangements for the spouse of an IPS officer. She then noticed a binder full of documents labelled with her husband's name. She asked the officer whether she could see them and was readily handed over without any questions. There she saw the slice of his life spread out which she never asked him before or had time to ponder on. The Virat Chavan she never knew.
The man who was born just like her and changed over time. Her eyes landed on the birth certificate, showing his age for the first time! He is 9 years and a month older to her, turning 28 just in few days, not that it ever mattered to her but the fact that his birthday is coming soon excited her. The letters "A healthy male child with so and so weight and height" brought a warm smile on her lips. She turned the pages around to see his achievements in school, his grade X and XII certificates showed he excelled in math and languages, Science being his weak spot. Her husband is a mechanical engineer! and a good one too, the engineering degree revealed. For her, he was always a police officer, so an engineer took her by surprise. Then she found his UPSC mark sheet where he topped that year of results. The passport photos in each of these certificates showed him changing...not only in the way his jawline took more sharper edges that made him more masculine and handsome but the fact that the change is natural. It made her accept that he too changes, just like his exterior has been! She teared up, thinking about umpteen times he told her that times changed and he changed whenever she brought up his past. As she was absorbing all the details that she never got to know of her husband, the conduct certificate from his training days attested by her father got her attention. The certificate that bore exceeding remarks from her father, inspector Kamal Joshi screaming to her, reinforcing her opinion about him, sincere, hardworking, passionate and binded by duty. A small comment on things to improve section brought a giggle to lips. "Need to work on controlling his emotions while taking tough decisions but I am sure his sense of duty will guide him in the right way, with experience". Her father knew him, more closely than her and admired him for his abilities. If her father thinks she is in good hands, then it must be true she mused. Gently, stroking on her father's signature as if agreeing with him, he moved to next section of the binder which showed his financial documents, everything bearing her name as nominee.
Their marriage certificate added as a proof for every financial document which showed her rights on him and his property, without any doubt. He registered their marriage, the next day she came to Nagpur! He added her as nominee in all his bank accounts. He opened a fixed deposit on her name with the reason mentioning her higher studies and mature date in 5 years. Tears flowed and covering her gasps with one hand, she glanced at all the documents, showing his commitment towards her studies and future. She now understood what he might have felt when she disowned his money, the right which he was willing to share at any small given chance. She remembered his disappointment whenever she rejected his money or treated it as a loan, and his joy in sharing his hard earned money with her whenever she asked to spend it on the family. If this is not 'real' commitment then what else was he trying to show her, she questioned herself. In these papers, she found the husband she never knew that existed, as a person who evolved to make decisions for himself and his family. There is no point she concluded, holding on to the past when the reality is showing her what he is to her. She had no doubts then, none of her questions for him mattered anymore. This is the person she is married to, who is committed only to her, by heart, by law and by her father. There is no 'deal' here.
Sai finished the formalities for her travel and thanked DIG sir for his extra attention to her needs. He wished her all the best for her studies and asked her to bring her husband to his house for dinner once. She promised him that she would and invited him to visit them for the birthday party that she is planning for her husband in their new location. Finally, finding the ground from where she could fly freely, Sai rushed to home mentally listing down the things she had to do before she leaves to meet her husband the next day.
NOTE: The motivation for this chapter came from two things. 1. Sai's realization of her importance in Virat's life has to come on her own. From my personal experience, I found that self realization is very clear and makes you accept the reality in its purest form, it comes from lot of thought and introspection. It makes you focus on things that are important and automatically removes the noise created by the impressions that mind makes. 2. I want Sai to see Virat as a person who can make mistakes, who can change. She needs to come out of his image as a 'strong' or 'rigid' person who took her responsibilities from this BIG promise made to her father. I wanted her to see him as a man with real emotions that could take control over him. Then she can accept that what he claimed in the past could be the letters on sand.
Also, I saw their relationship as something already established with strong base of belonging. That bond is strong and never shakes. Only the later relationships of love and companionship is tainted by the presence of Pakhi. Once she is out of their equation, they can be true to what exists between them. Hence I chose this phone connection. I dont want Virat to give up on this relationship or Sai, because he could never be able to. He assumed full form of a husband now, he nurtured himself in this role slowly and steadily. He cant be anything else to her other than this. Therefore, his initiation in phone calls. I wanted him to be vulnerable to Sai and her needs. With Pakhi not in the picture, I wanted to show that everything falls in place for them. Just talking would do.
And the entire going through his files, was there in my mind for a long time. There should be someway Sai should know the real Virat, the VIrat that her father knew. Sometimes, a divine intervention is needed to trust something that you have been avoiding. Who better than Aaba to give her that singal! And one more motivation for office plot is to make Sai realize, that her relationship with Virat is not something that she could dismiss easily. Legally, she is that one person who has all rights on him. She needs that confidence to ward off Pakhi. Finances are something which will be bone of contention in modern marriages. Being financially independent but claiming rights on the property that comes with marriage is something wife and husband should both accept is my opinion. This will let them be free and also be binded to eachother. Sai denying virat's finances never went well with him and it should not too. Sai has to realize this, that everything they own, experiences as well as material is theirs both!
Hope I made justice to this plot and doesnt make it trivial or filmy.
Edited by sadiltl - 4 years ago
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