Chapter 258: Lady Payal's Conundrum
That very night, as the moon shone brightly through the window, Lord Akash turned in his bed, his hand sleepily reaching for his wife, only to find that she was not in bed beside him.
Sitting up, his hair disheveled and the blanket sliding down his bare chest, his eyes squinted at the darkness until they fell on the form of his wife.
She appeared to be dressed in her long night robe, restlessly walking about in the room.
Then all of a sudden, she paused before the mirror on the wall and stared at her own reflection.
There seemed to be an endearing light in her eyes as she gazed at herself emotionally.
"Payal?"
Gasping with a start, Payal turned about and stared at him, "My lord! You're awake..."
Without waiting for her to speak further, he pulled away the blanket, got out of the bed, and sauntered towards her.
Payal watched him approach and she could feel her heartbeat race with the panic of her rising guilt.
"What is it? Why are you unable to sleep?" he asked her as he reached her.
Payal looked away, guiltily.
Lifting one his hands, he cupped her chin and beckoned her to look up at him, "Tell me, my lovely wife, what worries your mind? Was it a bad dream?"
Payal shook her and then bit her lip, "I've been meaning to tell you..."
She paused, uncertain of how to tell the untold.
"What is it?" he asked again, both his hands framing her face as his eyes tried to decipher the emotion in her gaze.
Payal's hands reached up and touched his hands that were against her cheeks.
"Dadi knows..." began Payal, uncertainly.
"What does Dadi know?" Lord Akash was confused.
"What I have kept from you...and from everyone..." Payal's voice had become barely a whisper.
Lord Akash was beginning to have strange fears rise inside of him as to what Payal was keeping to herself, when she said, "I'm carrying your child."
It seemed like time had been stunned, and everything of the moment had frozen.
As though struck to speechlessness by her words, Lord Akash stared at her, forgetting to blink, his hands still holding her face.
Payal was petrified by his lack of expression, "My lord-?"
Lord Akash gulped in a mouthful of breath and then his lips moved, "You're... My...We're..."
Payal nodded, her expression apologetic, "I'm so sorry I-"
All of a sudden, his lips descended upon hers and she was impaled by his hard kiss.
When he released her, her head felt dizzy but she couldn't believe what she was seeing: there were tears in his eyes.
"You're carrying our child..." he breathed out as though they were the most magical words in the world.
Payal nodded again, her eyes moistening too.
All at once, the ties on his tongue broke loose and a torrent of queries rushed out, "Why didn't you tell me about this before? Why hasn't anyone told me-?"
"No one knows," asserted Payal.
"But you said Dadi-"
Payal shook her head, "I meant Dadi knows because she sees it in me and not because I told her. I have told no one until now. You are the only one who really knows, having heard from the one who is carrying-"
"I can't contain it anymore!" he exclaimed, his face lit with abounding delight as his eager legs stepped away from his wife to turn to the door, "We've got to tell everyone! We've-"
"Its two in the morning," Payal called to him.
He continued towards the door while sparing a happy glance over his shoulder to answer her, "Such news as this cannot be bothered by demarcations of time!"
"You don't understand," Payal asserted.
Lord Akash halted in his steps, his hand nearly on the door handle.
He looked at her, "Yes, I cannot understand why you falter in the expected expression of your joy and hinder the exposure of mine!"
"Forgive me, but I do," Payal said seriously, "Do you know how hard it is to keep happiness caged? I have been holding it constrained within me, struggling to not let it show on my face-"
"But why?" Lord Akash demanded, as he retraced his steps back to where his wife was standing, "Why do you imprison every possibility of your jubilation?"
Payal sighed, "Because it is not the right time."
Lord Arnav was taken aback, "How can it not be the right time? Its-"
"I cannot steal the light, my lord," explained Payal, "Everyone is celebrating the birth of Di's daughter and her imminent Ceremony that is due in two days. I cannot let myself steal the attention that they should be getting-"
"YOU need attention too!" asserted Lord Akash, "You are my wife..." Then he spoke in a gentle voice, trying to coax her, "Di would also want you to get the very same regard that she had won when she'd learnt she was with child!"
Payal bowed her head, "I know Di and everyone will want me to also be recognized in my carrying..." She looked up at him, her moist eyes longing, "But would you not respect my wishes and wait for a while more..."
"What wishes of yours do you seek me to wait upon?"
Payal's voice was firm though pleading, "Atleast till the Ceremony is over, could we keep this to ourselves and make Di and her child the only objects of adoration?"
Lord Akash was torn. He looked away, his hands fisting.
"Please..." Payal beckoned him sweetly, her eyes yearning him to understand, as her hand reached and touched his fisted hand, "If you really love me, you must understand me like how Dadi does..."
He looked at her.
She continued, "Dadi knows I am carrying, I can see it in her eyes, in the way she looks at me. She understands why I have not told it to anyone, though I am certain she is as annoyed as you are at my reluctance to reveal."
"She will respect your wish, I am certain of it," Lord Akash sighed, and then he looked at her, "But couldn't you atleast tell Mother?"
"I want to tell her in person," said Payal, her eyes lighting up at the thought, "I want it to be her surprise."
A warm feeling filled Lord Akash's heart on seeing his wife's eagerness, "You seem excited about telling Mother..."
Payal nodded, her hand taking his and pressing it to her chest, "I feel the moment is finally here. When she learns I have the offspring of her son growing inside of me, she will be overjoyed to accept me as part of her family circle. Because this child is hers as much as it is mine."
Moved by her words, Lord Akash caressed his wife's cheek with his other hand and then he said seriously, "But if, after the Ceremony, you don't reveal it, either I will or Dadi-"
"I know," smiled Payal through her tears, "As soon as the Ceremony is over, the very next morning, you may announce it to the family when they sit down to breakfast. It will be like a fitting gift after the happy event of the Ceremony."
"Nothing's going to stop this father-to-be from telling the world my wife is carrying my child," reminded Lord Akash, as his face leaned down to kiss his wife again.
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