From The Inside - Part 1
"Virat, where is that idiotic brother of yours? Call him, message him, heck shoot him but tell him I NEED him NOW!" Jeevika waddled up and down the length of her room clutching onto the swollen mass of her stomach. "Virat! I don't hear any calling; you Vadhera brothers are completely use- argh" Jeevika struck her hand out to hold the back of a chair. Virat instinctively stood behind her and helped her sit down.
"Bhabhi, right now you need to calm down and re-" Jeevika looked up shooting daggers with her eyes. "Calm down? CALM DOWN? I'm having a BABY! Your Neanderthal brother's baby!" Virat sighed and moved towards the door, trying for the umpteenth time to call everyone, someone, anyone who would pick up the phone. It was just his luck that fate would find him to be the only one at home whilst his normally sweet and angelic Bhabhi went into labour with the devil's spawn.
He looked over towards Jeevika, registering her use of the breathing techniques she'd learnt in the ante-natal classes. 'Nobodies picking me; oh God, oh God she's going to murder me, she is going to murder me.' "Bhabhi, maybe the signals not good in here, I'm going to try outside." Taking advantage of her inability to get up, Virat made his escape, but not without hearing Jeevika cursing and screaming after him. "Virat! Virat! I know what you're doing; I know! Don't you dare leave me, or I promise to kill you in your sleep!"
Virat walked down the corridor towards the main lounge area, all the time keeping an ear out for Jeevika's blaring screams. 'Dadaji had to give today itself off to all the staff? That old man is first on my hit list.' He made his way towards the door, in hope that his currently most hated person in the world would walk in through the door any second; but alas Viren was nowhere to be seen, or heard. "What do I do? What do I do? Come on Virat, think. You went to one of those stupid ante-natal classes with her; come on you must remember something... Ice cubes! I'll give her ice cubes."
Virat made his way to the kitchen where he raided the freezer of the ice cubes before turning and running towards the sound of a very angry and very hormonal Jeevika. "Bhabhi here." He presented the tray of ice cubes to Jeevika who looked bewildered by the whole situation. "Ice cubes? Virat what the hell am I supposed to do with ice cubes?" Virat smiled, which disappeared as soon as he caught site of Jeevika's stare. "Do you remember that class that I went to with you? That fat lady said something about eating ice cubes or something..."
Jeevika grabbed the tray from him and popped one in her mouth. Virat smiled at himself; he'd managed to calm Jeevika, but that was until she again started to fidget about and scream and curse, which from Virat's perspective was not a very pretty sight. 'Pregnant lady... screaming... baby... Idea! I'll search online, there must be something...' Virat ran out of Jeevika and Viren's room towards his own where he picked up his laptop and ran back. "Virat, what the hell. I'm having a baby and you want to sit and facebook your friends?"
"Bhabhi, as you know I have never done this before and neither have you and it kinda sucks that the people who have done this before are currently not here and not picking up phones. So here's my remedy- the internet." Jeevika popped another ice cube in her mouth whilst she started pacing back and forth, giving Virat wary looks every now and again. "Bhabhi, you need to eat, drink, relax, sleep, yadda-yadda-yadda... We already know all of this, you daft machine!" Virat was at wit's end, he couldn't take it anymore.
Just then, Virat's phone rang and without any hesitation he picked up. "Hello?" There was no sound and Virat was ready to give up. "Virat... son... line bad... what's wrong?" He recognised his mother's voice and breathed a sigh of relief. "Ma, Bhabhi's having the baby. The baby is coming now. What do I do?" Again there was silence on the other end. "...baby now?... should... another two weeks... we're stuck... heavy rain... take her... hospital... on your own..." Once Virat deciphered his mother's message to him, he nearly collapsed in frustration. "Ma, I am going to cry. I can't do this... Ma? Ma!"
"What's happened, why did Ma cut the phone?" Virat turned round to face the calmish Jeevika. "They're stuck; the weather's really bad which is affecting the line. We're on our own..." Jeevika wanted to cry; she wanted to shout, scream, swear and cry. "Virat I can't do it; I really can't do it. You do realise there is a completely new life inside of me, and I can't do it alone. I want this thing out of me now." Virat walked over to Jeevika to stand in front of her. "Bhabhi, remember you've come this far. My little nephew's been in there for eight and a half months, surely you can last a few more hours? And besides when Virat is here, why fear?"
"Hours? Hours! Virat you are as useful as a flipping donkey! You expect me to go through a couple of 'hours' of labour with you? And how do you know it's a boy, huh? What if it's a girl; no matter what it is, I'll poison its mind against you and your brother and your entire family, you mark my words." Jeevika stood holding on to the balcony rail, inhaling deep breaths of the humid air. 'God, just kill me now; there is no way we both can endure the next couple of hours without killing each other or more specifically Bhabhi killing me.'
Jeevika picked up her phone and dialled the number which she knew like the back of her hand. She waited, and waited, and waited only to hear the disconnection tone. Frustrated she threw her phone out of the window, realizing seconds later what she had done. "Virat..." She looked over to him, the tears threatening to fall. "Virat... my phone..." She stretched her arm out towards the direction of the window. "Virat... phone... window... stupid Manvi..." Virat was not prepared for the release of the waterworks. It took him a further half an hour to calm the hysterical Jeevika and finally get her to sleep.
Virat sat on the edge of the bed watching Jeevika sleeping. His was reminded of his own mother. 'It's weird, they'll scream and shout and moan about the pain but as soon as the baby is born, they'll love them like they've known them for their whole lives. I guess this bond of nine months is completely unique. I wonder if Ma was like this... With Papa right next to her, holding her hand. It's strange, until now, I've never understood what it was to be a mother, but Bhabhi... yeah she's threatening murder right now, but I can see the love in her eyes. My nephew is going to have the best parents in the world as well as the best uncles.'
Jeevika began to stir; the last two hours he'd ended up reading up on labour and figured that Jeevika would start having more frequent contractions. "Virat, help me up." He stood and moved towards her placing his arms around her shoulders pulling her up. He offered her the glass of water which she took thankfully and drank. She placed her hand instinctively on her stomach. She moved her hand round searching for something but not finding it. Virat knew straight away when she looked up at him that something was wrong. "Virat, I can't feel the baby. He's not moving..."
Despite the lack of medical training, Virat knew this was bad, he knew this was very bad. Without a second thought he helped her up and grabbed a hold of the baby bag they'd had kept ready for the last two weeks. He held her hand as they made their way out of her room, down the stairs and into the car gradually. Just as he was about to get into the car, his phone rang; checking the caller ID he was beyond glad. "Virat, what's happened; I've had fifteen missed calls from you." Virat peered into the car to make sure Jeevika was fine. "Bhabhi started to go into labour about three-fourish hours ago, and she can't feel the baby moving. I'm taking her to the hospital; when you land, come straight there. Bye." He disconnected the call and got into the car before driving to the hospital.
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Virat paced up and down the hospital room whilst Jeevika silently cried. "Virat, I'm scared. They're not saying anything; what if... what if anythi-" Virat stopped his pacing and looked directly at Jeevika. "Bhabhi, whatever happens from here on out... all I can say is that I'm here, and I won't go anywhere. I'll be right here." She reached out her hand to him which he grasped tightly within his own. "Virat I'm scared."
"To say the truth, I'm scared too. If it's good, it's good; if it's bad then it is bad. What's written in our destinies is our fate, we can't fight it... It's a strange thing, life; it gives us what we want the most and has the awful habit of stealing that away from us. If this is written in your destiny, then what can we do..." Jeevika stroked her stomach, tears flowing from her eyes. "I used to think we were invincible until I lost the most precious thing to me; but I had my family which is something you have. We'll be there whatever happens."
He leant in towards her stomach, whispering to the body inside. "I know for certain that you're written in my destiny. So why don't you stop scaring your mummy, huh. We're all so anxious to meet you, especially your daddy who's gonna shower you with so much love. But not more than me; I'm gonna give you everything you'll ever want, all you have to do is come out." He stood back up and placed his hand on the side of Jeevika's stomach. The stillness sent shivers up his spine, until he felt the faintest of pressures against his hand.
"Bhabhi, did yo-" He was interrupted by a harder pressure against his hand, and then a whimper of pain from Jeevika. She looked towards him and her face broke out into a smile which was soon joined by Virat's laughter. "Virat, my stupid donkey." She held onto his hand whilst he breathed a sigh of relief. 'Thank you, thank you, thank you and thank you.'