Note:Thank you so much for the support guys! Here is the next part. Please do leave your comments/criticisms. Also, apologizing in advance for any mistakes you might find. It's really late here and I don't know how bad it came out to be...😳
Part 9
The next few days began in a similar manner, with Mayank waking up to the sound of Nupur in the washroom. After helping her wash-up, he would get her to eat something. It was getting harder for Mayank to coax her to eat anything and Nupur's increasing loss of appetite wasn't helping the situation at all. Still, Mayank is not one to give up so easily and so he managed to make her eat something. Then, they would get ready, and head to college. With the exams coming up in a less than two weeks, Nupur and Mayank were usually busy with back to back classes. Yet, with the help of Gunjan, Rohan and Ash, Mayank made sure that Nupur didn't go too long without food. And usually by the time they got back home from college, Nupur would be feeling a little better. They would spend the rest of the evening together: cooking, eating, or studying/marking.
Due to Nupur's upcoming exams and the unfinished packing, they stayed home the whole weekend. In the morning, they would cook together and afternoons, they did the packing. Nupur wasn't allowed to lift anything and with the pregnancy fatigue getting to her, she didn't complain. So Nupur would sit nearby and instruct while Mayank did all the labour work. At night, Nupur would sit on the bed and study while Mayank worked on his laptop. The gang also dropped in on Sunday to help them with the packing.
*****************
Next week'
It was about 5 am on Monday morning and Mayank was woken up by the beeping of his cell phone. As he had to prepare some notes for one of his classes, he had set his alarm for 5 am. After snoozing it, he turned to see Nupur's side of the bed empty and then heard some noise from their bathroom. He waited for a few minutes for her to come out but when she didn't, he headed toward the bathroom. Knocking on the door, he called out to her.
"Nupur?" After a moment of silence, Nupur opened the door. She looked worn out, her face was so pale.
"Tum theeko?" and before he could finish, Nupur ran back to the sink. Few minutes later, they were both sitting on the bed with Nupur's head on his shoulder and his arms around her. Once Nupur had told him about how her morning began, Mayank asked
"Nupur, Why didn't u wake me up?"
"Mayank, U didn't sleep till so late last night and u had to get up early as well. So I didn't want to disturb'"
"Nupur'nothing won't happen to me if I lose some sleep. You, yourself had said how you feel dizzy in the morning, what if u had fallen down or something? Please, next time, wake me up, ok?" Before Nupur could answer, she again felt her stomach turning and ran to the washroom, with Mayank following right behind her. After she washed up, Mayank made her drink some ginger tea. The tea helped but she was still tired due to the lack of sleep. Mayank patted her to sleep and then carefully shifted her to the bed. He then freshened up, finished making his notes and got himself ready. It was almost time to leave for College but Nupur was still sleeping. Mayank didn't have the heart to wake her up, she has had a rough night and she was tired. He felt it was better for her to take a day off and rest but he didn't want to leave her alone at home. So he quickly called up Gunjan, who had the morning off on Mondays. He updated her about Nupur and asked her if she can come over and stay with Nupur for the morning and he will be back at lunch. Gunjan happily obliged and soon arrived with Samrat. Mayank gave her some instructions as to what to do and left after kissing Nupur's forehead.
Three hours later'
When Mayank came back, she was still sleeping. After seeing Gunjan out and changing, Mayank sat beside her on the bed, looking at her. Though she was sleeping, the usual smile on her face was missing. He felt helpless seeing her in this position. In the past few days, she had a hard time eating and she was always tired. He had managed to feed her bits and bites but couldn't do anything else. He bent down and kissed her forehead. He then placed his hand softly on her tummy and sat there pondering over what he could do. When she didn't wake up even after half an hour, he tried to wake her up.
"Nupur, get up'you can go back to sleep after," Nupur felt someone caressing her forehead and then kissing it. She lazily opened her eyes.
"Mayank, what time is it?" she asked yawning. "11 am"
"11? Why didn't u wake me up? And how come u r here? I thought u had some important papers to hand in today.." she said as she tried to sit up quickly.
"Aram se'" He said as he held her by the shoulders and positioned himself beside her. Holding her close, he briefed her on what had happened after she had gone back to sleep.
"Sabash Nupur!" Nupur said patting herself on her back. Mayank gave her a typical Mayankwala strange look. "Prof.Sharma has finally taken a day off'that too out of his own will. Nupur, you've finally managed to do the unthinkable'Wow," Nupur said looking at Mayank. He shook his head and placed his hand on the tummy, on top of hers.
"Madam, if you are finished with your drama, then can we please eat something? My Baby is hungry, haina Baby?"
"Ok, ok'fine, let me go freshen up first," she said trying to get up but Mayank didn't let go of her. She looked questioningly at him.
"First eat this and then you can go freshen up."
"Nahi Mayank, I feel so yucky.."
"Nupur, eat these crackers first and you can get up from the bed after 15 minutes."
"What? 15 minutes?"
"Yeah, it helps with your nausea". Nupur didn't argue further. She was extremely happy with her upcoming motherhood but his morning sickness was not something she enjoyed. She would do almost anything to get rid of it. After finishing the crackers, she sat snuggled up to him on the bed.
"Mayank'"
"Hmm'"
"sorry"
"Kyun?"
"Because of me, you had to take a day off, that too at the last minute. I know u hate doing that"
"Sh..It's alright'look, I do hate cancelling at the last minute but nothing is more important than you and our baby. And within those two hours, I've managed to do all the arrangements so nothing will be affected. Anyways Mrs.Sharma, I know that you are truly happy I stayed home with you."
"Haan but I don't want you to feel bad about missing work."
"Trust me, I don't"
"Sach?"
"Much" and he brushed his nose with hers and kissed on her forehead.
When she went to have a bath, Mayank sat there thinking of a possible lunch that Nupur would want to eat. Fortunately, Shilpa aunty called him at that time and as always, she had the answer to Mayank's question.
When Nupur came down later, he was sitting at the dining table waiting for her.
"Mayank, please I don't want to eat anything"
"Nupur, you haven't had anything except the crackers to eat since the morning. Atleast try this, for my sake and for the baby's sake". She looked from the plate to Mayank's face and she couldn't say no. So she closed her eyes and took the spoonful of food Mayank was holding near her mouth. It was some dish made with green mango and had this sour-sweet taste. She liked it and was able to ingest it without a problem. She grabbed the spoon from Mayank and started eating. She was eating away to glory when she felt Mayank's gaze on her. She looked up at him, to see him smiling at her. When she raised her eyebrows in question, he just shook his head and sat down to eat with her. For once, Nupur didn't talk during a meal and once she was done, she looked at Mayank and said,
"I'm impressed Mr.Sharma. You've become such a great cook these days."
"Thank you". She walked over to his chair and kissed him on the cheek, "No, thank you"
Mayank, ever so softly, pulled her onto his lap. "Mayank'"
"It's not everyday my wife is in such a loving mood, Mrs.Sharma and I'm not going to miss this chance."
******************
In the next few days, things were as smooth as it can get in the Sharma house. Nupur's morning sickness wasn't getting any better but Mayank was getting better at ensuring that her needs are met. After consulting his mother and Bui, he was successful in getting Nupur to retain the food in her stomach. Finally it was time for exams.
******************
It was the night before her last exam: "Economics". After finishing their dinner, Nupur went back to her review session while Mayank marked the papers of his first year class. Around 10pm, Mayank went with a glass of milk to the bedroom where Nupur was studying. After making her drink the milk, he told her to go to sleep and not wait up for him as she had an exam the next day. But she was still awake when he came into the bedroom an hour later.
"Nupur, I think you've studied enough. You should really get some sleep,"
"Just one more chapter Mayank'then I'll sleep"
"Nupur'" Mayank tried to explain but looking at her face, he stopped midway. He went to brush his teeth and get ready for bed. When he came back, he saw her immersed yet again in her books. He lied down on the bed beside her and looked at her. Since he had gotten up early and then didn't get any chance to rest the whole day due to the on going exams, he fell asleep within few minutes.
At night'
When Mayank turned on the bed and moved closer to Nupur's side, he was shocked to find a pillow instead of her. He looked at the clock and it was 1 am. Thinking about the previous week's event, he looked towards the washroom but saw that the door was unlocked. Worry started to take over his mind. 'What was Nupur doing out of bed at this time of the night?', he thought to himself as he headed out the door. He saw her curled up on the sofa, with the Economics textbook in her hand. She was sleeping in an uncomfortable position and the discomfort was clearly visible on her face. He took the book out of her hand, and picked her up. She was disturbed a bit but then snuggled closer to him in his arms. He smiled at her and carried her back to the bed. Just as he placed her down on the bed, she opened her eyes.
"Just go back to sleep," he said, not wanting to start up a conversation in the middle of the night.
Next Day'
Nupur had back to back exams until 1 pm that day and though Mayank had managed to send her some juice and sandwich through Rohan, she only had the time for the juice. So when she was finally free, she basically had no energy left in her. As usual, she accompanied Ash and Rohan to the canteen but the smell of food was just churning her stomach. So she turned back at the entrance itself.
"I feel very nauseous here, so going to go outside for a while. You guys carry on"
"Di wait, I'll get my lunch and come with you," Ash intervened.
"Ash... You stay here and eat. I'll be back in like 10 minutes."
"But Di...you haven't had your lunch yet"
"Don't worry. I have my sandwich inside," she said pointing to her bag. With that, Nupur left. She went out into the small courtyard and sat down for awhile on the bench under the tree. Since it was the last day of exams, the courtyard was almost empty. She took out her sandwich but couldn't take more than a bite out of it. Stuffing it back in her bag, she got up to return to the building. She felt a bit dizzy but she kept on walking. She had just entered the building, when she saw Gunjan heading toward her. Gunjan usually joined them for lunch but due to some meeting, she wasn't able to join them today.
"Di, where have u been? I was looking all over the place for you," Gunjan said.
"I was in the courtyard, Gunjan.," Nupur managed to say and Gunjan could detect the difference in her sister's voice.
"Di, are u okay?"
"Gunjan, I feel dizzy", she said holding her head. Gunjan immediately lead her to the nearest stairs and made her sit. Nupur sat so that her head was between her knees. When she took out her phone, Nupur stopped her.
"Gunjan, don't call Mayank'U know how he is, he would get worried unnecessarily," she said with her head still between her knees.
"But Di'"
"I'll be all right. This is normal in pregnancy..and also, it's probably because I didn't eat yet"
"Di! It's 1pm, you should've ate during your morning break!"
"Gunjan'I did try to eat but I couldn't'I'm not able to keep anything in my stomach today". They sat there for a while like that. Once Nupur felt better, Gunjan made her eat some of the sandwich and drink her juice. When she was convinced Nupur was fine, Gunjan took her home after sending a text to Mayank.
*****************
Next Day Afternoon'
Mayank and Nupur were sitting together in the living room, going through their bookshelf and separating it out. Nupur was getting annoyed with the number of books in her range.
"Mayank, please, please tell me you didn't read through all these books?" Mayank didn't say anything.
"By God, Mayank. If anyone looked at this pile, they would think that you had done nothing in your life besides reading."
"And if they look at your pile of DVDs, they would think we are running a DVD store?"
"Atleast they are not as boring as these books," picking up a book, "Look at this. Physics: Possibility of the Impossible. What kind of a title is this?," seeing that Mayank was not saying anything, she turned her attention to him. He was looking through something and smiling. "Mayank, what are you doing there and why are you smiling like that?"
"Wow, she is so beautiful"
"Kaun?" Nupur moved towards him and tried to look but he moved it away from her sight.
"Angelina'she is an angel"
"Mayank'let me see." When he didn't, she got mad. "Fine, keep looking at her. I'm going to go sleep"
He just moved towards her, and pulling her closer, gave her the book, or rather an album and said, "don't you want to see how beautiful she is?"
"No, I don't."
"Just look at her once na?"
"I don't want to.."
"Look at the short skirt she is wearing'"
She at once grabbed the album and saw the photo. To her surprise, it was a photo of herself from when she was about 3 years old. Dressed in this red and white gagra choli, with the dupatta over her head, she was posing with her hands on her chin. She flipped the pages of the album and found more photos of her from childhood, with Gunjan, Bauji, Bui and even one where she was with Uday Bhaiya and Diya. She couldn't believe that Mayank had these photos. Last time she saw them were before they left for Mumbai.
"Isn't she just gorgeous?" Mayank brought her out of her trail of thoughts.
"Mayank, how did you get a hold of these photos? They were in Morena."
"So?"
"So how did u get them?"
"When I went there'"
"What? U went to Morena in these three years?" He shook his head. "When I came there looking for you."
"But how did u'? Chinki?" He nodded.
"Thief'"
"Hello Madam' I'm not a thief."
"Yes you are! Mr.Sharma, what do you call people who takes other's things?"
"But I didn't take anyone else's photos..those photos and the person in it are mine. Hai na?" She just blushed and he pulled her closer.
"Now, I'm sure u got a story to tell about all these photos and u r dying to tell me. So go ahead." They sat together on the couch looking through the photos once more with Nupur going on and on about what had happened before, during and after each photo.
To be Cont'd
Edited by Ishita16 - 14 years ago
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