One Step At A Time - A SaiRat TS

Part 2

The whole family was seated at the dinner table as he made his way down,

“ Virat, ao” kaku called, smiling at him affectionately, as he took his usual spot at the table. He smiled in return, craning his head to look in the direction of the kitchen.

“ Kisko dhund rahe ho Virat, tumhare Sai ko?” Pakhi asked, the stress on the word ‘tumhare’ not missed by him.

“haan” he answered honestly, but before he could catch the look of utter shock on Pakhi’s face, his mother called out to him, as she walked out of the kitchen, carrying a hotpack “Virat, tum aa gaye. Guess what is for dinner today?”

He raised his brow, "kyun Aai, aaj kya special hai?" He asked, curious, looking around at his family, wondering if he had missed something as he had left to work at the break of dawn today. 

His mother beamed at him, "aaj Sai..." she started saying,

"Iss ghar mein toh tere susheel bahu akele rehthi nahi hai, Ashwini, ki har baat usse hi jhuda ho"  Bhavani kaku scoffed, looking irritated at his mother for no fault of hers.

His mother placed the hotpack on the table, looking crestfallen.

"Kaku..." Virat said, passing his mother an assuring smile, "par rehthi tho isi ghar mein hai na. She is part of our family" he said softly, but firmly, telling his family that Sai was as much a part of this family as he was.

Bhavani kaku glared at him,

"Mast ha mast. Virat, tume yaad bhi hai ki aaj kya hai?!"

"Kaku, wohi toh puch raha hu" confused, he looked around at the faces of everyone at the table once more - kaku, his baba, omi kaka, all looked irritated - he just didn't know why.

It was Sonali kaku who answered, "Virat, aaj humare parivar ke kisi sadasya ka janamdin, birthday, salgirah hai"

"Ek waqt tha jab humare Virat ko ghar ke sabi logon ka janmdin toh kya, nakshatra bhi patha tha - aur ab dekho" Omi kaka taunted, shaking his head in dismay as if Virat had let the family down.

Birthday?? Whose? Virat thought, he was sure it wasn't any of the elders' birthday - it wasn't Mohit or Karishma either...

"Virat sir, aap aa gaye" Sai walked to the table, cutting his thought mid-way, greeting him with a warm smile.

He smiled back at her as she placed a paratha on his plate, "thanks" he said.

She nodded in return, moving around the table to serve the others.

Shaking his head, he took a morsel of food. He was about to eat, when, suddenly, struck by a thought, he looked up at Sai, "Sai, aaj toh tumhara birthday nahi hai. Isn't your birthday on xx/xx? " He asked,

As if surprised, that he remembered her birthday, Sai looked up at him, a light smile playing at her lips.

She opened her mouth to say something when Pakhi spoke from the other end of the table, "It's my birthday" she bit out, the anger apparent in her tone.

Surprised, Virat looked at Pakhi, "your birthday? " he questioned, shushing his mind as it started to ask him annoying questions.

" Dada, aap aur Patralekha bhabhi toh ache dost hai na?!" Karishma quipped excitedly, as if she was waiting for a chance to speak, "par aapko toh unka janmdin bhi nahi pata. Yeh kaisi dosti -"

"Karishma!"

Bhavani kaku might have shut Karishma up, but throughout dinner, her words kept haunting Virat.

She was right, he realised, he considered Pakhi his best friend, but he didn't know her birth date.

"Virat!" Startled, he looked up at his kaku, " you shouldn't insult the food on your plate, eat" she said.

Wordlessly, he went back to his plate, lost in thought. He tore a piece of Paratha and dipped it in subji.

"Virat Sir, Rukiye" Sai hurried to his side and removed the cup of subji, "don't eat this. It's very masaledaar and spicy" she said, replacing it with another cup she had just brought from the kitchen.

Surpised, he looked up at her, taken aback that she had remembered that he couldn't stomach too much spice or masala.

"Virat, tumhe teekha pasand nahi?" Pakhi asked, looking despondent.

"Mast ha mast. Ashwini, the only thing you did properly was cook. Par ab woh bhi tumse -"

"Kaku, please" Sai cut in before he could speak, "aap humesha Aai ko kyun sunaati hai? aaj khaana Aai ne nahi, Pakhi didi ne banaya. I tried to tell her, par woh mujhse gussa ho gayi, and she told me to mind my own Business"

Kaku now turned to Pakhi, "Patralekha, humare ghar mein hum sab toh kha lete, par Virat itna masala mirch nahi khata. Didn't you know?  You take care of every member of this house,how did you miss Virat - "

"Vahini" His mother drawled meaningfully, coming to stand beside him, "Virat ke pasand nasapand ka khyal rakhne ke liye uski Patni hai na, kai, Sai?!" She said fondly, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Bhavani kaku looked indignant.

" Kaku, aaj Pakhi ka birthday hai na, why don't we all just eat" he muttered, eager to avoid another confrontation at the dinner table.

Thankfully, everyone agreed with him, and silence dawned at the table, as everyone went back to their dinner.

Sighing, he looked down at his plate - he wished everyone in his family got along together. The way they were having a go at each other, it was tiresome, after a point.

Shaking his head, he looked up at Pakhi, "Happy Birthday" he muttered, the fact that he didn't know it was her birthday, weighing in on him.

She nodded, "Thank you" she said stiffly.

"Sai" he called to her, as she came to his side, carrying a bowl, "ji?"

He looked into her eyes, "Thank you" he said softly, deeply touched by the fact that she had cared to do this for him.

She met his eyes, a smile creeping up her face, as she nodded. Not taking her eyes off his, she served him something from the bowl, he didn't look down at his plate.

A bunch of hair fell down her face, obstructing her view. She placed the bowl down on the table and was about to lift her hand. Without thinking, he lifted his hand to her face, tucking her hair behind her ear.

He let his hand linger on her cheek, and something he had never seen before in her eyes clouded it.  He was drawn to those large eyes, everything and everyone else faded, it was just the two of them -

"Ahem! Ahem!"

Someone cleared their throat loudly, and Virat pulled down his hand, smiling, even as Sai jumped and quickly ran to stand beside his mother, trying to hide behind her.

Throughout dinner, he caught her stealing glances at him, as he ate quietly, smirking, and he could bet on his uniform that there was a crimson glow on her face.

And why are you so happy about it?

He promptly ignored that little voice in his head.

***

Author Notes

1. So first, apologies for that kitchen/dining table drama, but I had super fun writing this!

2. I don't remember Sai's birthday as shown in the episode, so the xx/xx in that part. 🙈

3. A lot of dialogues are in hindi - I thought it had more effect than writing in English.

4. The next would mostly be the last part. Let me know what you guys thought.

Mridz