FF: Ankahee | Thread 1| Chapters 1-33 - Page 85

Madhu sat in her bed, staring at her computer screen, waiting for Rishabh to wake up and come online. It had been a month since she had come to New York, and being in a long distance relationship sucked more than Madhu had imagined. It wasn't just the physical distance - the 9.5 hour time-zone difference was an absolute killer! Even though her work here was quite intense and kept her quite busy, Madhu missed Rishabh all the time. She lived alone in a one bedroom apartment that Vikram had helped her sublet when she came to New York by connecting her to his old landlord. The city was great, the apartment was nice, her colleagues were cordial, but at the end of the day she was lonely. She didn't even know how she had become so used to living with Rishabh, that in six months she had completely forgotten what it was like to live alone and not wonder about cooking, cleaning and dressing according to his preferences all the time. It felt...incomplete, like she had left a part of herself back home.

Madhu cursed her decision to come here. Why had she turned her perfectly blissful life upside down? It was a very difficult decision, but still at the time it had seemed rational and logical. Now, she felt miserable and alone. Despite the fact that RK had been so nice and supportive and very different from the kind of indifference she had secretly feared, there were serious physical limitations that made Madhu feel unhappy anyway. Not being able to see and talk to Rishabh at a whim, not sleeping in his arms every night and having nobody to talk to was part of this terrible reality that she had stupidly signed herself up for. Now, they could mostly only speak once a day when Rishabh woke up in the morning and got dressed for work - which was late night for Madhu. Sometimes they exchanged texts and had brief phone conversations, but given their busy work schedules, those were mostly to the point. On her part, Madhu made sure she was home every night and stayed up late until she had spoken to RK, but sometimes RK was busy or traveling and that didn't materialize. Going more than 24 hours without hearing RK's voice made Madhu restless, just as she was right now. She didn't speak to RK the previous night, so right now she was waiting anxiously to see him on video chat again. A couple of hours passed and there was no sign of RK, so she decided to call him on the phone. It was almost 10 am in India! The phone was switched off though, so in frustration she started reading a novel waiting for RK to respond.

Madhu was woken up early next morning by her doorbell - She had fallen asleep over the book she had been reading. She woke up surprised - it was a Saturday morning, and in any case, nobody ever came to her apartment. Sleepily, she opened the door.

"Rishu!" Madhu's mouth was open in amazement seeing RK standing outside her apartment with flowers in his hand. Madhu immediately jumped in his arms, and RK responded with a deep passionate kiss.

"Rishu...it's really you. What are you doing here?" Madhu asked as they walked inside, still slightly dazed

"I am here to see my wife!" RK said with a grin, and pulled Madhu back in an embrace. Soon, their breathing deepened and their passion overtook the moment, combined with the hunger of being away from each other. Madhu ripped off RK's jacket and soon they were on the bed, tearing each other's clothes off.

Quite a while later, Madhu lay in Rishabh's arms with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

"Is this really for real?"

"Ahaan biwi...as real as it gets..."

"Thank you for coming here Rishu."

"So you liked the surprise ahaan?"

"The best surprise ever. So this is why I couldn't reach you for the last two days."

"Actually yeah, I came to US two days ago, but to California. Somebody in my project team needed to come for two days, and since my sexy wife is here, I jumped at the chance. I didn't tell you because I wanted to surprise you. Finished my work and took the overnight flight to New York, and here I am."

"For the first time ever, Rishu, I love your job." Madhu chuckled and kissed her hot husband.

RK left Sunday night after a blissful weekend. It was like life had returned to Madhu's life. If only he could keep doing that every month, Madhu thought she might just survive the remaining five months of her project.

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One month later

Madhu stared at the test in disbelief. It was positive! She reached out for her phone instinctively to call Rishabh, then decided against it. She couldn't tell him this over the phone! This was huge news, even though it had come as a massive surprise. Madhu knew RK would be even more shocked than she had been, and secretly she was a little apprehensive of his reaction. He didn't really like kids. Or at the very least, did not want them any time soon. And what about her? Was she ready for a child? Not at this moment in her life. She was in New York for God's sake for another four months. Which means she would already be five months pregnant by the time she went back home if she stayed the course. Was this practical?

"Am I really thinking about my child as a "practical matter"? What kind of a mother am I? This is our child! This is the most important thing in our life now." Madhu chided herself, then started thinking about how to tell Rishabh. How could she explain that she had stopped taking the pill because she wasn't expecting an...umm...need for it while she was in US and that Rishu's surprise visit had turned out to be...umm...quite productive?

All day at work Madhu went through various ways she could break the news to Rishabh, calm him down and hope he would quickly get as happy about this as she was now feeling. Suddenly, a thought struck Madhu. The coming weekend was a three-day weekend, and Rishu's birthday was this Sunday. Could she actually fly down to Delhi and celebrate the birthday with him in person, as well as break the news. If she took the Friday flight, she could make it by Saturday late night, and she could theoretically spend almost 2 days with RK and still make it back in time for work on Tuesday morning. Madhu immediately checked flight fares - $1100 for a round trip. That was worth it! It would be hectic, but the occasion was too big not to do it. This was the perfect plan, Madhu thought, and bought the ticket!

It was time to return Rishu's surprise to him, with interest! ;)

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Saturday night, 11:45PM, New Delhi

Madhu got into the cab at the airport in haste. Her plane had been delayed over four hours, but she was finally on ground, finally on way to see her Rishabh, and she couldn't wait any longer. Her excitement started bubbling again as she checked her watch.

"Please drive quickly, bhaiya" Madhu asked the cab driver. She was late and she was going to miss Rishabh's cake-cutting. She knew the plan was that all their friends would be at their home right now, enjoying eating, drinking and celebrating with one another. She would get to meet all of them, but most of all, she was excited to be in RK's arms again and to find the perfect moment to tell him the big news.

Madhu checked her watch again - it was midnight and she was at least 20 minutes away from home. She knew Rishabh would be suspicious if she didn't call at midnight to wish him but she couldn't help it now. "Don't worry hubby, I am late but I promise I will make up for it very soon" Madhu told herself and smiled.

It was almost 1230 as Madhu finally paid the cab and got into the elevator of her building. She was home! She fished her home keys from her purse, holding the flowers she had picked up from the airport in the other hand, and gradually opened the door, not wanting to ruin the surprise by making a big entrance. As she entered, Ria's eyes fell on her, who almost screamed but Madhu got to her in time, running to cover her mouth up, and then gesturing for her to stay quiet. That attracted the attention of Rohan, Mukund and Nitin who were also in the living room playing cards over drinks, but Madhu managed to avoid any loud reactions by her hurried gestures to stay quiet. Ria gave her a quick hug and Madhu asked by a gesture where he was. Deciphering that she was obviously referring to Rishabh, she looked around and they both quietly walked inside the house. They ran into Trishna coming out from the kitchen, who had a similar reaction, but Ria and Madhu together calmed her down.

"Where is he?" Madhu asked in a whisper.

"I saw him go towards the patio after we cut the cake." Trishna replied similarly.

Madhu smiled and turned towards the patio even as Ria and Trishna walked back towards the living room. She couldn't wait to wish her RK!

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"Rish..."Madhu's words froze in mid-air as she stepped in the patio and her eyes fell on RK, standing in the corner. With Maya. Embracing Maya. Kissing her.