I Want To Breathe – A SaiJoshi TS
Chapter 2(B)
As Kunal’s voice, which could be best described as a furious ‘growl’, still rung inside the ears of all those present, Patralekha gasped sharply and took 2 steps back in reflex. She stared at Kunal’s face with an open mouth and shivering hands.
After realizing that his growl had petrified the woman to whom it was intended to, Kunal deeply sighed and closed his eyes. Had it been some other time and some other woman, he would have sincerely apologized for losing his temper but this time was different! It was only Sai who mattered and the vile woman in front of him definitely didn’t deserve any apology.
So slowly opening his eyes,he stared at Patralekha with tranquillity evident on his face and walked towards her.
With a voice as soft as a whisper, yet audible to everyone, he started speaking, “Mrs.Patralekha Samrat Salunkhe, you asked me a genius question about my and Sai’s relationship as I far as I remember. Today, after hearing me scream and growl, you must believe that I have a bad temper but the truth is otherwise. I am a psychiatrist and the most important quality a psychiatrist must have is that he or she must be able to keep their emotions under control, especially their temper. I am 25 years old right now and believe me if you can, I have lost my temper only 4 times including today in all these years. Out of the 4 times, I have blasted someone in absolute rage when it was once related to my mother but the other 3 times, the reason has just been Sai. The first time I lost it was when a guy tried to tease Sai. She slapped him being the lioness she was but this hurt that pervert’s ego and he tried to molest her.” Kunal took a pause and held his breathe as if this memory still shook him. His face was boiling in sheer rage and he was finding it difficult to form words but he said what he wanted to anyhow, “Had it not been for Sai’s attempts to stop me that day, I WOULD HAVE KILLED THAT GUY WHO HAD DARED TO HARM HER.”
He slowly let out his breathe and spoke with some unfathomable feelings. “You know what our friendship is ma’am? Our friendship is not about going for movies, spending time in cafes or even bickering with each other. Our friendship is about care,comfort and conversations. There are times when we used to sit on the water tanks of Satara and talk for hours about our happiness and sadness, excitement and dullness, love and hatred. We used to talk about the small things which we expected from our lives, we used to talk about the things which scared us and we used to talk at length about the madness called love. After days and nights of just conversing, their came a time when we no longer needed only words to converse, our eyes were enough. Just one look at her eyes and I could tell exactly what she needed. Just one look at my eyes and she could tell that I wanted to be hugged. Even now, during her therapy sessions, after all the long talks we have, there comes a moment when we just stop talking and stare at each other, we just look into the others’ eyes. We ask questions and seek answers for them. We try to find everything we lost during the 3 years of separation.When we were separated, at first, I was just a blank body without a soul. I missed her so much that I went numb and couldn’t react to my surroundings for 6 months. But I did show some kind of emotion only once every day, I used to react when I would lie down in my mother’s lap with Sai’s friendship band on my wrist, my mother would gently caress my forehead with her palm while I cried my heart out. My mother and Sai have always been my pillars of strength in my darkest hours. When I was lifeless without Sai, my mother gave me a reason to keep going. When my mother was once fighting for her life and I felt my world get shattered, Sai simply held my hand to show her affection but it was much more to me. In that moment I knew that if Sai is by my side, my world could get collapsed but could not get finished. This is the kind of friendship we share.”
Kunal was just silent after pouring his heart out. A lone tear rolled down his cheeks and his heart was heavy after recalling the painfully beautiful moments he had spent with Sai. In that moment, he wanted to hug Sai and be in her arms for solace but he didn’t even look at her. He just knew that she was as emotional and broken as he was.So, quickly wiping his tear and mentally deciding to not reveal his vulnerability anymore, he once again started speaking to Patralekha, this time not letting her go easy.
“So I have told you all about my friendship with Sai. You questioned its purity and I told you the essence of it. Not that I give a damn about what you think of me and Sai because your opinions are just not important enough. Anyways, it’s my turn now. You, like a big hypocrite, questioned my friendship but then, what about your friendship, if we can even call it that, with your brother in law? Once upon your time, he was your ex-boyfriend, right?”
At this question, the atmosphere of the room completely changed. Samrat stiffened up, Virat and all the elders had a look of discomfort on their faces and Patralekha was profusely sweating.
“Oh my God! This stupid Doctor has just trapped me. How do I answer the question in a way that no one doubts my innocence?”
She did what she did every time, shifting the blame and self-victimizing one self.
“I really don’t know the reason why everyone targets me by constantly bringing up my past with Virat. Yes, we did have a relationship and wanted to plan our future together but things didn’t work out our way and I moved on. I am very happy with moving on with Samrat and I and Virat are just friends now so maybe, you should stop with your non-sense. I am sure Sai is the one who has fed you with all the wrong information and you are now insulting me in front of the entire family. No one has anything to say to Virat, I am the one who has to face all the repercussions of our past.”
“Ma’am, you are again doing what you are a pro at. Very conveniently avoid the actual question and serve everyone with absolute rubbish which makes no sense whatsoever. So let me reframe my question but before that let me clear some things out. Whatever information I have about this house are from my conversations with Sai. About your iconic relationship with Mr. Chavan, Sai definitely does not have wrong information,it’s just that she has half information that too only because she is smart enough to connect the dots, or rather the jalebis Mr. Chavan served her with. So yes, as you said, if you think Sai’s information is invalid, you must give me the right information then. Secondly, I am definitely not questioning only you as Mr. Chavan is equally answerable to all my questions. So stop with this self-victimizing habit of yours because even I can see through you now. Stop shifting your blame on others, particularly Sai,because believe me, any individual with even a little brains can easily understand what you are doing after all you are really not good at being smart.And also, don’t give me counter arguments like- ‘Why should I tell you anything’ because no matter what, I am not letting you go scot free today and since you had asked me a very hypocritical question just some time back, you owe an answer to my question as well.”
With that, he turned towards Virat and started instructing him, all the while, indirectly talking to Pakhi as well. “Mr. Chavan, hear me out for once and for all. I know all about how conveniently you 2 ‘best friends’ have avoided Sai’s questions about your past,served all the family members with half-baked truths and made it appear like Sai is the one who is over-reacting. So I am warning you that today, that I will take nothing but the truth, the absolute truth. So if you and Mrs. Patralekha have plans of lying all over again or avoid my bitter questions, drop that idea immediately. Today’s confrontation was about Sai and Mrs. Bhavani but your mature best friend has turned the topic.”
On hearing this, Virat sighed. He had to do this one day since this topic never seemed to get a closure. ‘Enough of lying and trying to protect Pakhi’s dignity,’ he thought and started speaking, only the TRUTH!
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Hola guys! Uggh, I have a bad headache writing this chp. You see, I hate it when I diverge from my own plans and this is exactly what I have done! I was going to write something different and end the story in the part 2(C) but now, the story will have a additional 3rd chp🤪 It was a TS which means a 2 part story ig, but now I have changed the meaning to a 3 shot story🤣 I am extremely sorry if his chp doesn't live upto your expectations, if you found it annoying and illogical or if you wanted more beizzati. After thinking a little, I realized that Kunal bashing Didi up and down on a day when he is blasting Kaku is not really an intelligent idea. So, I changed tracks, minimized it and wrote something entirely different😔
Also after I update the part 2(C), I will not upload until the 29th of November. I have my exams from the 22nd and being a 9th grade ICSE student who has to study 10 subjects IS NOT COOL😔 So I will be leaving it on a cliffhanger. Enough of my non-sense now.
See ya:-)
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