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

Chapter 5: Tu Chahiye

Chapter 5: Tu Chahiye

The flight to the place she once called home was harrowing to Shivani. A failed abusive married followed by a broken love marriage - Shivani knew heartbreak all too well. She had been blessed to be lucky the third time to have found love in Akshay. Akshay hadn't cared about her failed marriage, her ageing body or the fact that she would come to him with nothing to offer. He had said all he wanted was her. And she was he got. They had married towards the third year Sai had come home, a year following Devi and her husband's marriage and subsequent move. Sai had reunited Devi and her husband Chandrashekhar (Shekar) Sen. Devi had started therapy for her consequent mental breakdowns, medication, and slowly picked her life. It had taken a year for Devi to go back to university, graduate the next year and soon welcome her first child. Shivani thanked the heavens every second moment for bringing happiness to the apple of her eyes. But if Devi was her right eye. Sai was her left. Shivani's lifeforce resided in her nieces. Shivani clenched her rudraksha tighter and she prayed harder than she ever did before, her heartbreaking every second as Akshay's staff rushed around the airport to either book a ticket or charter a flight. For once, even Akshay's calming words wouldn't pacify Shivani.

Shivani calmed down a little bit when Akshay told her that Sai was safe and in the hospital. Safe. Her Sai was safe. Shivani breathed in and sniffled. Safe meant alive. Her Sai was alive. Why did Shivani think of the worst? Because you had been there, Shivani.

It had taken Shivani years of therapy and a loving family she had luckily married to get over the trauma that was her paternal family. Her maayka. Shivani nodded, still praying, as she breathed in deeper to calm down. She couldn't lose her children. She couldn't have another failed marriage. She called Aai in tears. "Dekho na Aai, Sai ne kya kiya," she had sobbed. To her Aai, Akshay's mother, Sai was like Shivani's daughter. Sai would travel hours by bus to surprise her Bua, spend every second weekend with Devi Tai and Shivani in Mumbai during her training at one of the hospitals there, and Shivani would often call Ashwini vaini and tell her to convince Sai to stay over. Sai would then go on a long road trip with her Shivani Bua to university or fly back with Bua whenever Bua had work related to her business. At both Shivani's sasural and her marital home, Sai had her room with clothes that weren't archaic rags and her independence. With Shivani Bua, Sai had been the spunky 18-year-old, the petulant 19-year-old, the semi-decisive 20-year old, the crumbling 21-year old, the heartbroken 22-year old and now the ambitious 23-year old. Sai was Shivani's little one. Shivani often jokes that Sai was her hidden child she birthed at 18. And Sai nodded and played along.

Maybe Shivani should have Sai away with her. Maybe she should have supported Sai whenever she rambled about being "chann dino ki mehman" instead of chastising her over the sanctity of marriage. She should have noticed the marriage was going nowhere. The signs were all there. Sai was 19 when she came to Bua one day and asked her about the pill. Shivani had been super excited for Sai waiting to gush all about her Virat-Sai love story. Sai's smile had dimmed when Shivani had mentioned confession or love. A few days later on the way back from the gynaecologist, Sai had just shrugged it off that it was something married couples did. She was his wife, she had said, and everyone had physical desires. It had been a platonic relationship. Sai, instead, joked about it being a trial marriage.

"Maybe I'll get a divorce after final year, or an annulment," she had joked. "After all, it was a marriage no one wanted, and there are two or maybe three grounds that qualify for annulment. I checked Bua,"

"Then why don't you leave now, Baba," Shivani had asked Sai who was on the verge of tears.

"Aai, I had promised Aai that I would be a good student," Sai had smiled through her tears. "And waise bhi I had promised that I would stay till I finish my degree. Toh how can I break my promise to everyone, even if they didn't believe in me?"