Index to my Works - Page 6

"Riddhima, are you fine? You look tired." Armaan asked her as he gathered her in his arms in the kitchen. It was January 1^st and Mr. & Mrs. Mallik have arranged for a small New Year party as Riddhima insisted. But now he was worried for her. Since morning he had seen her almost running around the house inspecting the preparations, though he was always around her.

Riddhima smiled resting her back on his chest as he put his arms around her waist caressing her bulgy stomach. Resting in his arms and with their bundle of joy in her stomach, she felt blissful. Ofcourse why not? The Malliks are expecting their first child in a week or so. "I am fine Armaan." she whispered slowly.

"I don't think you are. You appear stressed out. Come let's go and rest for some time." He said and rested his chin on her shoulder as he saw her pouring juice into the glasses. Its almost 10 in the night and the guests are done with dinner. Atleast now he wanted her to rest.

"Armaan, the party is almost over. I promise I'll go and sleep the moment the guests leave. Moreover, it doesn't look good if the hostess is not present at the party." She said as she turned around in his hold, placing a short kiss on his cheek. "And my dear hubby, I am fine. Don't worry." She assured him once again. She was feeling slightly dizzy for the past one hour but brushed it aside concluding she was feeling so because she had been working since morning. Moreover, she didn't want to tell her over protective husband about it, for she knew the moment he hears her he would call the party off, which she doesn't want.

Armaan smiled at her flashing his dimples at her. He bent down and brushed his lips over hers softly, holding her by her waist, reminding himself in his mind not to press his body over hers. "I love you Riddhima." He whispered against her lips and the moment he was about to move back, she held his nape and pulled his face nearer, not wanting to break the contact of their lips. He smiled at her tactics and prodded her gently deepening the kiss.

After a couple of moments, Riddhima drew back when she heard giggles form outside the kitchen. But now Armaan was turned on. As he leaned in again to capture her lips, she stopped him putting her hands on his chest. "Armaan, someone is outside the kitchen. Guess its Muskaan. Now you leave." Riddhima said and handed him a tray of juice glasses.

Armaan cursed his friends under his breath. Making a face, he took the tray and made his way out. But the moment he stepped out, he heard a loud noise of trash from inside the kitchen and rushed back. He noticed the broken jug of juice on the kitchen floor and his heart stopped beating when he saw Riddhima bent over the counter clutching her stomach, crying in pain. "Ar... Armaan....It....hurts....pain...." Riddhima's horse whispers brought him back to his senses and he was on a wary.

He scooped her in his arms and ran into the living room. By then most of the guests left except for few of his neigbours along with Rahul and Muskaan. As they noticed Riddhima in Armaan's arms, with her face twisted in pain and eyes full of tears, they rushed to them. "Sorry guys, Riddhima is in pain. I am taking her to the hospital." Armaan managed as tears rushed out of his eyes, looking at her. "Rahul, lock the house properly and come to the hospital later." He addressed Rahul before running out of the house with Muskaan following him.

"Riddhima, don't worry you will be fine. We are on the way to the hospital." Armaan assured her placing her in the back seat of the car. Muskaan quickly settled in the passenger seat and he started the engine wiping his tears.

"Armaan I am fine. It's just that junior Mallik is very eager to come into the world. Don't cry." Riddhima whispered holding her breath. Though in pain, she couldn't help but smile when Armaan started crying for her.

"Yes Armaan, Riddhima is in her labour. Her pain is just normal." Muskaan tried assuring him. She was amused when Armaan, inspite of being a man, started crying for his wife. Though she had known them only for 2 years, they bonded well almost as a family. Initially, Muskaan thought they had a love marriage looking at the love and bonding they shared, but was astonished when she came to know about their perfectly arranged marriage.

Riddhima's screams brought her out of her own train of thoughts and she leaned back holding Riddhima's hand and squeezing it. "Don't worry Riddhima. Just a few more minutes. We are almost at the hospital." She assured her. Riddhima seemed to be coping it but not Armaan. Muskaan chuckled amidst the chaos looking at Armaan shedding fresh tears again.

The car jerked to a halt infront of the hospital and Armaan jumped out of it and ran inside in a flash, leaving a bewildered Muskaan back.

Armaan ran through the corridor to the reception. "Wheel chair.....no, stretcher..... Riddhima.....pain...." He mumbled to a puzzled receptionist, gagging. While the receptionist tried to gather his words to make some sense out of it, he pulled the wheel chair lying nearby and ran out, with the ward boy running behind him.

Wondering where Armaan had disappeared, Muskaan got down from the car making calls to her fellow doctors to arrange the labour room. As she tried to help Riddhima out of the car, to her utter surprise she saw Armaan running towards them with a wheel chair and two or three ward boys running behind him.

"What? What the hell is going on?" Muskaan shouted at the ward boys who were by then panting.

"Doctor, yeh aadmi." One of the ward boys pointed towards Armaan and continued "he just came to the reception, mumbled something and ran out with the wheel chair."

When she turned around, she saw Armaan placing Riddhima on the wheel chair and pushing it to the hospital. "Armaan, stop creating a scene." She shouted at his deaf ears. But all he did was just push the wheel chair, glaring at the ward boys who stood in his way.

"Muskaan aren't you coming?" she heard him say and wanted to pull her hair out in frustration. "Oh, I forgot I am the doctor here." she smirked at him sarcastically and turned to the ward boys who were gaping at them. "Now, get back to your work, she is my patient." She scowled at them.

That was only the start of shocks for her. The moment Riddhima was taken into the labour room, Armaan was adamant that he would not leave his wife. Defeated, Muskaan allowed him inside and soon ordered the nurses to get Riddhima dressed into a gown, while she put on her sterile lab clothes.

As her contractions became more frequent, Riddhima shrieked in pain and Armaan totally lost it listening to her screams. Wiping his own tears, he pulled a rack full of sterile cotton and other medicines to Riddhima's side and yelled at Muskaan and the nurse to apply something to his wife to lessen her pain. He got a water bottle and asked the nurse to make Riddhima have water, explaining that Riddhima's throat would get dry with screaming.

In 20 minutes, Armaan created a chaos inside the room while Muskaan glared at him to control him, but in vain. Frustrated she shouted at him to leave the room but Armaan being himself was adamant. Finally she was left with no choice but to call the ward boys and throw him out of the room. She knew Armaan was scared, but how could she explain to him when he was in not state to listen to anything.

Meanwhile, the contractions in her stomach subsided and Riddhima went into deep slumber totally exhausted. Muskaan pleaded her to try pushing the baby, but she gave up saying she has no energy left. Muskaan instructed her fellow doctor that they would wait for another hour, before resorting to seizers.

"Rahul, where the hell are you?" she yelled at her husband, scaring the wits out of him.

"Why? What happened? Is Riddhima fine?" Rahul asked her anxiously. "I am just entering the hospital." He added

"Good. Come and control your friend. He has completely lost it. His screams and tears are more than that of Riddhima." She shouted.

Rahul smiled and cut the call. This is Armaan, he sighed. But being Armaan's childhood friend, he knew very well the reason behind his extreme behavior. Since their childhood, in the orphanage, Rahul had noticed how Armaan is extremely possessive about the people close to his heart. He could imagine what Armaan might have been going through; the fear of losing Riddhima and inorder to put this fear off his thoughts, he was behaving cranky.

Rahul, when entered the maternity ward, as expected found Armaan pacing just infront of the door, wiping his sweat as well as his tears. He smiled when Armaan tried to peek into the room through a small crevice to get a glance of his wife.

"Armaan" Rahul called him to gain his attention and with that started Rahul's eventful journey of calming down the agitated nerves of Armaan.

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"Rahul, it has been more than an hour." Armaan whined again, pacing restlessly in the now secluded ward. For the past 15 minutes, he could hear nothing but ear crashing screams of Riddhima in the tranquility of the peaceful night. And with every screams of hers, his heart twisted in pain.

"Armaan, shut up or else-" Rahul's voice trailed off when they heard a long final scream of Riddhima followed by a melody of a baby crying. While Rahul beamed with happiness and turned around to look at Armaan, he froze at the sight infront of his eyes.

Armaan slid to the floor on his knees with his head in his hands as tears of apprehension and joy rushed out of his eyes freely. Rahul, with his eyes welled up, went and hugged his dear friend supporting him as always.

"Chal uth sale. You are a dad now. Congrats." He patted to Armaan, while he smiled against his tears.

"Yes, I have a family now- a perfect family." Armaan whispered back.

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Muskaan sighed in relief as she held the little Mallik in her hands. As the nurse took the baby for sterile cleaning, tears escaped her eyes, thinking about Armaan. 'A perfect budhu.' She thought.

"Nurse?" she called another nurse when Riddhima, who was by then in sleep due to sedatives, was dressed again and moved to general ward. "Call her husband inside." She added.

"Mam?" the nurse hesitated "His name?"

"A mad man whom you will find crying infront of the door." She smiled.

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The nurse didn't had any difficulty in spotting him. She went upto Armaan and said "Congrats. It's a baby girl. Both are fine. You may meet your wife. Room no 401"

The moment the words escaped from her throat, Armaan's face glowed in unfathomable happiness. His chest swelled in pride and he almost started jumping, squealing like a teenage boy. "I am a dad Rahul, I am a dad." While Rahul smiled looking at his friend, Armaan flew into the room in a flash.

On entering the room, he saw Riddhima on the bed, pale with exhaustion, yet glowing with happiness. He wiped the last tear off his eye and smiled looking at his dear wife. Sitting on the bed beside her, he caressed her cheeks. He saw the frown on her forehead and thought maybe she was in a little pain. He planted a soft kiss on her forehead and whispered "I love you Riddhima. Thanks for coming into my life and making it wonderful." As a reflex she smiled in her sleep responding to his tender love.

Soon, equally worn out, Armaan dozed off resting his head on her shoulder, holding her close.

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Muskaan, with baby Mallik in her arms, and Rahul entered the room and witnessed the most adorable sight infront of them. Their faces broke into wide smile as they noticed the faint smile on the faces of the Malliks.

"I'll go and inform Padma aunty." Rahul told his wife and made his way out to talk to Riddhima's parents, who had left the party soon that evening. In the total mess of controlling Armaan, it had totally slipped from his mind.

Muskaan noticed the baby in her arms stirring slightly in her sleep and realized it might be the time for her first feeding. She walked up to Armaan and holding the baby securely in one of her arms, put her other hand on his shoulder shaking him.

"Your baby" Muskaan offered him, as he opened his eyes and looked at the little baby wrapped in a pink blanket.

He stared at the little bundle of joy in Muskaan's arm in awe. She is his baby, he thought with pride. At first, he hesitated to hold the baby afraid to hurt her but Muskaan helped him and the moment he held his baby, his heart beat madly with a sudden rush of blood.

"Wow!! She just fits perfectly in my palms." Armaan exclaimed looking down at his daughter. With her eyes tightly shut afraid of facing the light, her cheeks slightly pink, due to the cold and her fingers fisted, she looked like a copy of Riddhima to Armaan. As fresh tears formed in his eyes, yet again, he bent down and kissed the tip of his daughter's nose. He chuckled when the baby wrinkled her nose and slowly opened her eyes.

The baby stared at the new companion for a moment and the next moment wailed loudly, scaring the shit out of Armaan. He panicked looking at her and turned around to find Muskaan laughing softly.

"I didn't do anything. I swear. She started crying all of a sudden." Armaan explained looking at her, while slightly swaying the baby in his arms.

"Ssh. Don't panic. The baby is hungry. Hold her for a minute, I'll wake Riddhima." Muskaan told him while she tried waking Riddhima. He sighed in relief. For a moment when he saw her crying, his mind went numb and heart stopped beating.

Riddhima woke up the next moment upon hearing a baby cry. As Muskaan helped her sit against the bed rest, her eyes moistened looking at Armaan's desperate attempts to stop the baby from crying, making some funny faces.

"A baby girl." Muskaan whispered in her ears as she noticed Riddhima staring at her husband.

"Armaan" As he turned around hearing her whisper, Riddhima's tears of uttermost happiness rushed out of her eyes as she noticed the happiness that adorned his face. Never in their married life of two years had she seen him that happy.

Armaan grinned at his wife the moment he heard her calling him. As he moved towards her, she passed him a soft smile through her tears. Muskaan took the baby from him and passed on to Riddhima. After making sure Riddhima is comfortable, she moved out of the room closing the door, leaving the new parents with their little guest.

When Riddhima started feeding her baby, she closed her eyes feeling blissful and heavenly while Armaan sat on the stool nearby with his gaze fixed on his perfect family. Opening her eyes she blinked at him. He blinked. She smiled. He smiled. The silence that prevailed in the room spoke volumes while words were long forgotten by them.

"Come here." Riddhima said to him when she was done with feeding her child. He went and sat on the bed, beside her, running his arms from around her body and placing his palms under hers which were holding the baby. He pecked her cheek and rested his chin on her shoulder. Both simply looked at their baby, feeling heaven in their arms.

"Thought of any name?" Riddhima asked him after a few minutes.

Armaan nodded negatively. "She looks just like you. So it should start with 'Ri' as in Riddhima" he whispered afraid to wake the sleeping baby. "Any thoughts?" he added.

"Ria" she said smiling.

"Nice name. Ria" he whispered again looking down at his baby. "Why?" he added.

"Because 'Ri'ddhima is incomplete without 'A'rmaan." She smiled and kissed him.

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😊 Plz leave the comments and let me know ur thoughts.

Love ya!

Sushmita