AshNI POV
Nidhi is confused. Here she was angry that he had not told her and he was asking her why she had not told him!
"What should I have told you?"
Ashutosh is confused now. What did she mean? Did she think he knew? How could he have unless she told him?
He places his hand on her belly.
"About this!"
She seems confused.
"What...that I haven't been eating...you really care?"
Ashutosh does not know what to make of this now.
"Of course I care, Nidhi...what rubbish are you talking..and anyway I wasn't talking about your going hungry!"
"What are you talking about then?"Why don't you just tell me straight?"
Ashutosh took a deep breath and blurted out.
"That you are pregnant!"
Nidhi can't believe her ears.
"Are you joking? You are telling me I am pregnant. And I don't know?"
Ashutosh realizes that she clearly does not know.
"Are you telling me that you are close to ten weeks pregnant and that you don't know?"
Nidhi pales and then blushes furiously.
"That can't be it. I mean I have been taking the pill regularly. I mean I missed it once or twice but that doesn't make a difference. Of course I haven't had my you know what. But then I have never been very regular. And besides, I thought it was all the stress!"
Ashutosh starts laughing.
"Are you laughing at me?"
"Well, if my doctor wife speaks like a high school teen, what do you expect me to do? Bachchi ki bacchii rahoge!"
"Don't call me bacchii! And who told you anyway?"
"Dr Sharma? Who else? When you fainted in my arms, all I could think of was calling out to the first doctor available. I forgot that I was one myself!"
Nidhi starts laughing now.
Suddenly both of them are serious.
"Now that you know, are you upset? I know you didn't want ...!"
She places her hand on his mouth.
"Don't say that...the baby is listening!"
Ashutosh cannot but marvel at the transformation.
"It is still sinking in. I don't know how I feel but I am certainly not upset!"
Ashutosh looks at her gratefully!
"Thank you!"
"What for? This is between my baby and me!"
He smiles ruefully.
"Abhi se mujhe paraya kardiya?"
"Nidhi's face changes.
"Maine nahi...aapne paraya kiya ta!"
Ashutosh bows down as if admitting guilt.
"Par tumne bhi toh mujhpar barosa nahi kiya?"
There is a small silence.
"Nidhi, I never wanted to keep it from you. Circumstances conspired against me every time. Your capacity to forgive is immeasurable. I never doubted that. If you could send me chasing after Mallika on knowing of Jagan's threat, I knew you would realize that Mallika needed help once you knew she was pregnant!"
"So why didn't you just tell me?"
"Would you believe me I was looking for implicit faith once again?"
"Would it hurt you to show the same implicit faith for once?"
Ashutosh closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.
"I know, Nidhi. It was a silly thing to do. But it was not deliberate, purely a subconscious thing. I was going to tell you and wanted to tell you. But everytime, when Baba and you questioned my actions, I felt a little let down. Wondered why you did not realize that I would never hurt you deliberately and that there must be a reason for my doing what I did!"
Nidhi looks at him, understanding this complex man just a bit more.
"You remember the other day when you were upset about my helping Mallika. I sensed that Mallika was what was bothering you. But I wanted to hear it from you. I waited hoping you would tell me. I was hoping you would. But I was also hoping I had read you wrong. I wanted it to be something else. I did not voice my fears because I was hoping I was wrong! I thought my love for you was proved beyond doubt, I thought that was what kept you by my side even when Mallika tested us the last time!"
She listens patiently as he speaks.
"I know. I keep demanding too much from you. Whether it is about tea, credit cards or Mallika. I expect you to see my point of view, understand it and accept it!"
Something funny strikes Nidhi and she laughs.
"Tea, credit cards and Mallika!"
"Yes...it all boils down to some principles by which I have lived my life, Nidhi. Nothing more and nothing less. But I realize that I can't impose them on you. But I can't help seeking that acceptance. I have sought it all my life!"
Another crack in the mask! Nidhi puts her hand up to his cheek and caresses him lovingly.
"Asking questions or feeling jealous or being possessive is also acceptance, Dr Ashutsoh!"
He looks at her questioningly
"I have accepted you as mine. And when something comes between me and what is mine, I question it because I have the right to do so. My acceptance has given me that right!"
A new understanding dawns in his eyes.
"I never saw it like that!"
"We need to learn to, Dr Ashutosh. I need to see myself through your eyes and you need to see yourself through mine. Our visions will then merge!"
He picks up her hand and kisses it.
"That's a profound thought!"
She pats her belly.
"I have a wise one in there!"
An expression of awe enters his eyes.
"May I?"
She inclines her head.
He bends his head to her underbelly and kisses it.
"Baby ours, we are so glad to have you. You have brought much needed wisdom along with you. Make us stay wise, baby ours. We look forward to holding you in our arms soon. I have just a little request. Share your Mumma with me sometimes. I have never known a mother after all!"
He feels her rise and rest her face on his head. Her tears trickle down and wet his scalp.
He moves gently and raises her with him.
"Nidhi, I am sorry for all the agony I put you through! I did not mean to. I know Mallika hurt you beyond belief. Believe me, I hurt too. I may not have told you but I still shudder to think how I could have lost you if you had eaten that poisoned food. I hate her every time I see her. But I can't hate or hurt an innocent life that grows within her. I can't not help her knowing that an innocent life is at stake! And I can't shower hatred on her either knowing that it could reach out and affect that innocent life! Any hatred or resentment I feel pales in comparison to that life that is waiting to emerge into this world. I know what it is to be hated, to be not wanted. I would not wish that on any child, Nidhi!"
"You make me so proud of you!"
"As you do me, Nidhi. You can't imagine what I felt when you asked me to go looking for Mallika. The humaneness in you, the unconditional trust you had in me, they touched me beyond words. Believe me Nidhi, I will never betray that trust!"
"I know, Dr Ashutosh..believe me, I do...but indulge me my insecurities...they are the scars left behind from the last time..!"
Ashutosh squeezes her hand.
"I do understand, Nidhi...I do...we don't need to be super perfect for each other...so long as we trust each other enough to share our flaws with. I think we are good!"
Nidhi takes his hand his hand and kisses it.
"Nidhi...I know that we still have issues to deal with...the biggest one being Mallika!"
"Yes, we do...not everything can be sorted out in a day...but so long as we are sorting them out together, I am good!"
"Always together...but Nidhi, she seems to truly repent...she seems to truly wish us happiness!"
"She told me so too!"
"She did?"
"I do peep in on her occasionally during my rounds!"
"I don't know if there can ever be friendship again, Nidhi...because friendship demands absolute trust and that is lost forever! But if we can forge some kind of a working relationship with her for the time she needs our support, I would be grateful to you for that!"
"You don't have to be. Now that there is a baby in my womb, there is no space for hatred or resentment in me either. I don't want negative emotions touching my baby. Yes, I don't know what kind of a relationship we can share with her. It is too early to say. But surely we can help her in whatever way we can. Neither you nor I can be any other way. I think that is what bonds us together, how similar we are despite all our differences!"
Ashutosh takes her in his arms.
"We are in everything together, Nidhi! Never forget that or doubt that!"
"And I accept you for all that you are. Never forget that or doubt that!"
They share a gentle kiss of commitment.
"This is professional impropriety, I say!"
They spring apart as Dr Shamra enters the room with a smile.
"I sent you here to make peace, Dr Ashutosh...not to make love!"
Ashutosh flushes scarlet and Nidhi can't help laughing at the sight!
"If we hadn't done that in the first place, we wouldn't be needing you now, Doctor!"
Ashutosh can't believe his ears. Nidhi speaks to Dr Sharma so familiarly. But then his Nidhi is that way. And they are both women at the end of the day, bonded by their gender!
"Dr Nidhi, I hear Dr Abraham was all praise for you. Good job, my girl!"
AShutosh looks at Dr Sharma.
"Dr Abraham?"
"Didn't you know? She was his scrub. I was told he wanted to meet you and tell you what a bright wife you had. And one who is smitten by you still!"
Nidhi blushes now and peeks at Ashutosh from beneath her lashes.
He turns to her.
"Why didn't you tell me this?"
"When should I have told you? Before or after I fainted?"
Dr Sharma laughs.
"But Dr Abraham...Nidhi, you don't know what a great compliment it is coming from him,..he pulled me up the last time we handled a case together!"
He looks at Nidhi with awe in his eyes.
"Nidhi, this is just wonderful. I am so happy for you...you must have been so excited when you heard!"
She shakes her head in negation.
He looks at her questioningly.
"Aap ke bina kuch bhi accha nahi lagta!"
Indian Mythology
Hindi TV Shows
