SaiRat TS - || One Step At A Time || - Update: Part 3, Pg 3 8/2/2021 - Page 3

wow!!!!it was such a wonderful update. loved it.❤️❤️❤️❤️

I absolutely loved it♥️ it was so sweet just Sairat spending time together. Its nice that Sai can be happy and feel cared for thanks to virat even eith aabaa gone. I'd love to see a similar scene where Virat walks in on Sai looking at her childhood pics in a photo album....

Beautiful update... very sweet... 

Very well written Mridz❤️

I really like the way the entire story is Sairat-licious 

Wowww❤️  Looking forward to the next one

Awesome Update 😍😘😍😘

Very nice.....

Please update next part soon....

Originally posted by: notaquitter

Wow, lovely update. You have a way with words. The simple act of their foreheads touching each other and her words to Virat , it was intimate and heart fluttering 😀

Thank you! Yes! These small moments are everything, isnt it? even in the show - I feel small simple moments like these are more special

Originally posted by: raji02

wow!!!!it was such a wonderful update. loved it.❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thanks

Originally posted by: neeraja91

I absolutely loved it♥️ it was so sweet just Sairat spending time together. Its nice that Sai can be happy and feel cared for thanks to virat even eith aabaa gone. I'd love to see a similar scene where Virat walks in on Sai looking at her childhood pics in a photo album....

Thank you! wishlight hi reh jayega shayad - it is not that tought to incorporate - hopefully aisa kuch mil jaye

Originally posted by: emah04

Beautiful update... very sweet... 

Thank you.

Originally posted by: AK_2010

Very well written Mridz

I really like the way the entire story is Sairat-licious 

Thank you so much! That was so intentional - ek certain someone so screen mein jhelna hi itna difficult hai  - dont want her between SaiRat in this story.

Originally posted by: 7APK

Awesome Update 😍😘😍😘

Thanks

Originally posted by: ssoujanya

Very nice.....

Please update next part soon....

Thanks! The next will mostly be te last part - so it will take a little bit of time, as I want to wind up this story nicely. But I will try to update as soon as I can. 

Such a lovely piece of writing ❤️

I especially loved the fact that you pointed out that virat and pakhi does not know the basic things about each other but are supposedly in love...that irritates me so much in the serial.....

Virat's mum is my favourite 😊

Loved sai and virat here....

Thank you for sharing 😊

Originally posted by: Mridzy

PART 3

Sniff.

That miniscule sound coming from somewhere in the vicinity was anough to wake Virat up.  Pushing his covers down, he sat up with a jolt, his eyes immediately going over to the other side of the sinhagadh fort that Sai made a point to put between them night after night.

Where was she? He frowned when he found her side of the bed empty.  

"Sai?" he called to the empty room, quickly scanning the room for signs of her.

Her study table - empty.
The bathroom - lights off.

Now he was starting to get worried.

"Sai??" He called, louder this time,  walking to the door - to his surprise, he found the latch on - which meant Sai had not stepped out of the room.

Turning around he peered outside to the balcony - the soft glow of the balcony lights confirmed his doubts that Sai was indeed in the balcony.

Slowly, and taking care not to disturb her, he walked to the balcony. Sai was seated in the sofa, her back to him, huddled over something, her shoulders slightly slouched. A quick glance over her shoulder told him that she held something on her lap, gazing at it as if in a trance.

He didn't how he knew, but something told him that she was sad. And that saddened him.

He lifted his hand, then stopped as he realised thay maybe Sai wanted to be alone now, which was why she was here - lost in thoughts.

Looking back, he threw their bedroom a look, should he go back?

He turned around and looked at Sai, would she like it if he made his presence felt - was he welcome here now?

Sighing, he took a tentative step forward when she spoke, barely audible, "aap ruk sakte hai, Virat sir"

The corner of his lips curled up in a smile and he quickly walked around to her, "how did you know?"  He asked, sitting down beside her.

She looked up at him now, her large black eyes glistening with tears and something inside of him shifted.

"Sai..." He muttered.

She shook her head wordlessly, tilting her head down to her lap. He followed her eyes and found that she had a huge album laid out on her lap.

A little girl, about 5-7 years old smiled widely up at him, her little hands hoisting up a HUGE balloon, probably bigger than her. There was a twinkle in her large black eyes and excitement shone on her face.

The smile on his own lips grew wider, and so did the warm feeling in his heart - he was glad that this joy and excitement hadn't diminished as she had grown - in fact, with time it had only magnified.

" This was taken on my 6th birthday" Sai commented, confirming his thoughts, as she ran a finger over the photograph, "itne saare gifts, but Aaba says I kept playing with this till the air went out. I loved this the best" she said, looking up at him, a smile framing her lips and a faraway look in her eyes as she reminicised. 

Virat smiled back at her, remembering the joy and excitement on her face as he had given her the balloons on her result day and by the lakeside, " of course you did" he said fondly.

Sai found herself gazing at Virat Sir, by now she was used to the softness in his voice in moments like these, but it was the hint of fondness that took her by surprise - and she liked it??

There seemed to be a butterfly dancing around her stomach - biting her lip, she placed her hand on her stomach and pressed lightly, as if to stop it.

"Tum theek ho?"

Ofcourse he asked..

Nodding, she pulled her hand away from her stomach, "Haan" she chirped.

Virat peered at her, she quickly stole her glance away from his and went back to the album, turning it's page hurriedly. The unnecessary high pitch in her tone and the fluster on her face wasn't missed by him nor was the happiness that was slowly spreading across him as if he had accomplished something.

Shaking his head, he looked down at the photograph she had turned to.

It was an older Sai, crouched beside Kamal Sir, an arm thrown casually around her father's shoulder, the big grin still framing her face. Her other hand held a trophy -

"Trophy?" He asked, eyebrow raised, looking at her briefly.

She looked up at him sharply - as if to question him why he was even surprised, but didn't

" Hmm"  she muttered, "This was taken after my 10th results - I stood first in school"

The eyes that he was finding himself increasingly drawn to was now gleaming with pride.

"Of course you did"

She looked up at him, eyebrows raised, "you've already said that, Virat Sir" she pointed out shaking her head, a shy smile gracing her lips.

And he found himself momentarily drawn to those lips.

"I have?" He answered stupidly.

The look on her face said - have you lost it?  But thankfully, she didn't ask - and he didn't have to answer. Because he had none.

Giving himself a mental shake, he quickly rearranged his facial features, "I have" he repeated assertively, "ab tum itne brilliant ho, toh I would have been more surprised if you hadn't topped...." He trailed off, mentally cursing himself for the lame cover up.

She didn't seem to buy it though, she peered  at him for a few seconds, and he gazed right back at her.  Telling her wordlessly how proud he was of her  for everything she had achieved.

She seemed to have gotten the message, because her cheeks had the same hint of crimson now as it had during dinner.

And his heart did the same happy dance as it had during dinner.

He smiled. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she quickly looked down, smiling coyly.

"Budhiya ke baal" she said suddenly.

Virat blinked - budhiya ke baal? What even??

She pointed to the photo, and her other hand holding the candy floss in the photo.

"This was when Aaba got me the budhiya ke baal after my results.... Tab se it has been a ritual for us - after every result Aaba used to get me - "

"Balloons and Candy fl - " He started saying for her.

"Budhiya ke Baal" They both said in unison, giving each other a wide smile.

The chuckles hadn't died down yet, when Sai spoke softly, " Thank you, Virat Sir"

He looked at her, an eyebrow raised in question,

"After I lost Aaba..." Sai looked away, her voice breaking, tears quickly pooling up in her eyes.

Memories of that night still haunted Virat, he was the reason Kamal Sir was dead - Sai's father had taken a bullet meant for him, it was because of him that Sai had lost the person she had loved the most.

Sai cleared her throat loudly, "After I lost Aaba, everything changed for me. Aaba ke saath saath meri saare khushiyan chali gayi. I thought I would no longer be the girl who could find happiness in small things"

The pangs of guilt kept gnawing at his insides with every word she uttered.

It was difficult for Sai to say what she felt - sometimes just thinking about her Aaba engulfed her in sorrow - it was hard for her at times to go on without her teacher, her friend, her confidante, her HERO - her Aaba. She was sure that without her Aaba she wouldn't be truly happy again. Virat Sir had married her because he had promised her Aaba that he would take responsiblity of her - but if she was honest with herself, he had gone well above that promise. He had tried to make sure she was happy - and for that she would always be thankful.

The tears that had pooled up in her eyes now flowed down her cheeks freely. She did not bother to wipe them away, " You made sure that didn't happen, Virat Sir. " she said earnestly, looking straight into his eyes, " Right from the ballons and candy floss on my results day to making sure mine and Aaba's dream didn't go down the drain to feeding me dinner when I was studying..."  the memory of Virat Sir taking care of her allergies and then feeding her dinner warmed her heart - it was a wierd feeling - could it be possible that you were so sad that your heart felt heavy, but also be happy enough for your heart to feel light?

" Sai" Virat said softly, lifting his hand to her face, lightly brushing off her tears away with his fingertips, there had been times when she had said that the things he did for her reminded her of her Aaba - and whenever she said that, all he thought about was not causing her more pain - and he had even told her that once. "don't thank me - seeing you happy makes me happy" he admitted, looking deep into her eyes, trying to comfort her with his eyes, his voice. 

Maybe it was the touch of his fingers to her face, or maybe it was the softness in his tone. Maybe it was the hint of tears in his eyes, or maybe it was what he had just said - her heart fluttered, and for the first time Sai felt something she couldn't understand or name. 

Wordlessly, and still looking into his eyes, she lifted her hand and placed her fingers over his on her face, letting herself live this moment. If her unabashed action surprised Virat Sir, he didn't show it - he just smiled back at her, nodding, as if in acknowledgement of what she was trying to tell him. 

Not worrying about anything else now, she closed her eyes and tilted her head forward while he did the same.  When their foreheads touched, all she could hear was his voice in her head,

" agar tumhe bura lag raha hai, toh mein yeh sab nahi karunga" he had said when she had commented this was how her Aaba had looked out for her

" Mujhe nahi pata agar yeh mujhe acha lag raha hai" she had answered, "par bura bhi nahi lag raha hai"

And that had been enough for him.  But not anymore - not for her. Sai opened her eyes and pulled her head back slightly to look at him,  even as Virat let his hand drop to his side, " Virat Sir" she called, he looked at her, eyebrows raised in question, " aapko yaad hai, aapne ek baar bola tha - ki agar mujhe bura lagta hai, toh aap woh sab nahi karenge?"

Virat nodded

Sai shook her head, a smile forming in her lips as she bent down slightly and grabbed his hands in hers - he looked down at their entwined fingers briefly before looking up at her again,

" Mujhe accha lagta hai - when you care for me, mujhe bahut accha lagta hai"

Not a word more was said - they just stood there hand in hand, smiles framing both their faces, eyes locked on each other, hearts full and happy. 

Ik dor tumne thami, ik thami humne

kuch badal raha hai, beshaq hum mein

lagti hai masoon jaisi koi dua

yeh mere dil mein jaane kya hua...

******

AUTHOR NOTES:

1. Phew - The longest part in this story yet - I don't know where I was going with this one, but it ended up okay I guess! Do let me know what you thought

2. This took a long time coming - apologies for the delay,and hopefully, this part made up for the long wait.

3. I had planned this one as the final part - but it kept going on and on, so there will mostly be 1 or 2 parts more. 

4. This had references to events of recent episodes - i had to include the wonderful dinner scene and also the lyrics in italics at the end is from the show - the new lyrics on SaiRat - ofcourse I had to include that!

5. R&R, please. 

Thanks,

Mridz

I'm a fan of all your stories on SaiRat!! Beautifully captured nuances... looking forward to reading more...