The Caged Bird – Chapter 5

Not proofread, advanced apologies for errors.

That night seemed the longest, yet the shortest night for Virat, Pakhi and Sayi, for the next sunrise was destined to change their life forever.

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A man comes and stops near a gate, the nameplate says ‘Chauvan Nest’ he rings the bell, a house-help opens the door and Samrat Chauvan stands on the entrance silently witnessing the chaos.

A woman in her early 30s is seen behind a little girl of around 5 years, few ladies are preparing to go to a temple, Ninad with a young boy along his side are engrossed in files and two men, who seems to be in their mid 50s are instructing workers all around to decorate the house.

Just then the little girl notices Samrat “Samar Chahu”, she runs to him and he picks her in his arms. Now everyone had turned their attention towards the handsome young man standing on the door, except Ninad and that boy.

“How is my little birdie doing?” Samrat asked the little girl

“I am good. What did you bring for me?”

He put her down and searching his pockets, gave her a chocolate “You got your chocolate, now finish your food like a good girl and stop making your mother run around (the little girl was nodding her head cutely and he picked her up again) Now can I get in Miss Pranjali Chauvan or you are planning to keep me out of the house the whole day?”

She gestured him to get in and he was now, surrounded by the whole family. He signed them something through his eyes and everyone took a step back, then he slowly went towards Ninad and that boy and snatched their files gaining their attention.

“Samrat” both said in unison

“When did you come?” asked Ninad

“When you and Ranbir bhai were lost in these files.

“Samrat bhaiya (brother)” he turned towards the voice.

“Ahhaaa….look who is here…..Karishma ji…how are you Karishma ji??”

“When will you stop teasing my wife??” Came a voice from upstairs

“Do you want me to tease you instead Mohit……… ji??? Will I have to send an invitation for you to come down??”

Mohit came down and tightly hugged his brother “I missed you so…so…so much.”

“Keep those cheezy lines saved for your wife. By the way, where is maa and where is our dearest groom??”

“Both are in their rooms, Mansi chachi just had her medicines and Karishma put her to sleep, and nobody saw Virat come out of his room since yesterday.” said Prachi.

“Okay, I see, I’ll be right back”

“Samrat bhaiya, if you are going to Virat bhai, could you please pass this sherwani to him?” Karishma said giving him a box.

“Sure Karishma…..jii”

Samrat took the box from Karishma and ran upstairs to meet his mother and brother.

He silently peeked inside his mum’s room, she was sleeping, he covered her with a duvet and silently walked out  turning off the lights. He then went to Virat’s room, who immediately hugged him.

“Why so gloomy when you are going to become a groomy”

Virat looked towards him with mixed expressions

“okay!! okay!!! I admit that was a bad one, don’t give me that look. But on a serious note, why do you look so unhappy? It’s your engagement today, you are about to get married!!”

Virat still kept silent

“Virat, you know that I’m always there for you, what is the matter?”

“Nothing is happening right Samrat”

“What is not right?? You are getting married in a rich family, Kamal uncle has always been by your side, everything is perfect then where is the wrong??”

“You won’t…….”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. It was a house-help who asked them to come downstairs as the family is waiting for them to go for the engagement. Samrat gave Virat an assuring look and both joined the family to go to the Joshi Mansion.

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The Joshi mansion looked no less than a palace decorated with flowers and fairy lights, the pleasant smell of lavender followed them till the main hall.

Sayi peeped from the window of her room, she recognized a few business associates and the friends of her mother from the cooking club.

Dressed in a lavender lehenga, with matching jewelry and minimal make-up, Sayi was indeed looking like a princess.

Her mother came to her room accompanied by a few house-helps, who had a basket in each of their hands.

“This is the shagun your in-laws sent for you, take a look and inform if you are short of anything, we will arrange it for you.”

She asked to keep all the stuff in the room and once again the room was filled with silence. Sayi, for some reason liked this silence, or she was now habituated to this silence, whatever the reason was, she had accepted her fate.

The sound of the trumpets were heard, which meant the groom and his family had arrived. Sayi just sat in front of the mirror, Usha tai came check her and help her with the final touch-up, then adjusting the duppatta on her head, went to prepare the aarti plate.

Her eyes were glued outside the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, not that she cared, or she was pretending to not care.

No one, not even Sayi herself was able to understand the storm going inside her heart and mind. She was fighting herself, her own thoughts, she wanted to accept her fate, and she wanted to change her fate. Between the war of heart and mind, let’s see who wins!

I’m stuck with assignments, sorry for the delay. Also, I have my exams from 8^th to 24^th Feb, so, I can’t promise with regular updates, but will try my best to upload ASAP.

Thank you for the love and support. I’ll reply to all the comments in this post, the previous ones and the next ones together on Sunday, so, please bear with me.