77 Heartbreaks (Humari Adhuri Kahaani) | SaiRat FF (dark)

Chapter 12: Do Kinaare

Chapter 12: Do Kinaare 

The days after losing her baby — it was as if time crawled for Sai as she struggled to re-establish her life. Every day seemed as if it was painstakingly stretched—it hurt to wake up, she could barely sleep, and every waking moment was a struggle to not hurt herself. Life seemed empty. That very fact made her orphanhood too glaring where moments seemed stolen.

A long time ago, after one of the first fights Sai had in the Chavan Niwas, Virat Chavan had fumed at Sai as he yelled at her in hushed tones, making sure to enunciate each word as he spoke, "Money. Do you think the world revolves around money, Sai? I'll give you the money. What you need in this world is a home to come to & a man to protect you. You're sheltered, right now, you feel the need to throw tantrums whenever things don't go your way. The need to fight back. You have wings. You yearn to fly. How long are we to deal with your rebellions? Your tantrums, need to fix things, right what you vehemently feel is wrong—at the cost of our mental peace."

"I'll give you money. Can you survive on the streets? I bet you'll return in mere hours, if not minutes," he had scoffed.

Sai had been too naive then. Barely eighteen, recently orphaned, trapped in a marriage she didn't want at an age where she didn't know what a romantic relationship was never having thought they'd participate in one before graduating medical school. Her father had always pushed for Sai to be academically strong. He had fuelled her medical dreams. He has instilled independence, strength and fire in Sai.

There had been years Sai hated her father after his demise. Days where she brimmed with anger when she was reminded of him. It wasn't that Sai didn't love her father; but rather, she questioned what provoked him to push her to this hell. The first year, she'd assumed Virat was a gentleman who wanted nothing to do with her and would let her leave once she graduated. The second year, she was proven wrong. In the third year, they tested her limits. In the fourth year, she tried her best to escape. At twenty-two, she did with a horror story to tell.

She'd moved out of the prison that never was home to her, scattered living with a friend or two, rented a house in the outskirts for cheap, lived with terrible flatmates, move to the hostel, then moved out—she'd survived. She had worked odd jobs, barely slept, worked her bones off but she'd survived for a year without anyone. Yet, every day after losing the baby seemed like hell. Waking up every morning seemed like a chore, the struggle futile but worst, her body felt like an unclean place to exist in.

She could tell herself every morning to pick up a fight, push through the day, work her hardest, but how could she... how could she exist in a body he had polluted? How could she exist in a body he forcibly entered? How could she survive when being in the same vicinity as someone of the opposite gender terrified her? How could she survive when her gender would put her down? She was tainted. No matter how much anyone would tell her to look behind her flaws. That she was a person. Sai inherently knew that she would walk on shells her whole life. She would be terrified of someone bringing up her past, judging her, dragging her for what happened to her but mainly she'd overcompensate to be accepted. Virat and the Chavans had done many things to Sai—primarily, they made her hate her identity.

The first time the Chavans' heard of Sai Joshi, who was a thing of the past, was when media hounded Bollywood Superstar Akshay Shinde at the airport. It had been a month since the Patralekha's fall. A month since the family mourned the loss of their grandchild while their culprit appeared on National News preparing to leave the country for a vacation.

The unknown girl, reportedly a Sayee, had been left behind by the superstar while he ushered his wife and aged mother inside the airport. Sayee had been picking her hand luggage from the bag when a journalist jumped over the barricade. This spooked Sayee who fell back against the car, hit her head and the arm, wincing in pain. Instead of helping her out, this gained her media attention, and the terrified girl was hounded by paparazzi looking for their next headline.