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Randhir's world had surely collapsed on top of him, because the doctor was essentially saying that Sanyukta's life would be put in danger if they were to save the baby. He had to choose between the lives of his wife and his child.
He squeezed his eyes shut, taking deep breaths, trying to focus on what he had to do. He couldn't control his tears though... and they came spilling out.
"Save the baby," he said painfully.
He didn't say this because he didn't love his Sanyukta. He said it because he loved her a lot, and he knew that she would never be able to live happily if she lost this baby... she would perhaps even live her whole life in guilt, thinking that it was her fault that she lost the child.
Randhir couldn't live without Sanyukta... but he loved her more than himself. More than his happiness, he thought about hers.
"Are you sure?" the doctor asked. "She could have a hemorrhage, she could go into coma, she could lose her memory, or even die. It is very risky."
Randhir nodded.
"Please doctor, please do it. I'm scared I'll change my mind if you ask me again," he told the doctor.
Then the doctor nodded and took Randhir to sign the paperwork.
After he was done, the doctor placed his hand on Randhir's shoulder reassuringly.
"You can visit her before the surgery. We'll prepare and begin it in thirty minutes," he said.
Randhir wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and entered the room where Sanyukta was sitting up against the pillow, looking bored. She had no idea what might happen to her.
"Randhir!" she called immediately. "What took you so long? Oh... the baby is ready to come out. I think it is a boy!"
Randhir sniffled and sat next to her before taking her hand in his.
"I love you so much," he murmured, placing a kiss on the back of her hand.
"What's gotten into you?" she asked him softly, "Are you okay?"
"Sanyukta you have to do a C-section,"he told her, looking up into her eyes with his own tear-filled ones. "If you don't... then the baby - the baby may not make it. B - but if you do, then you might not make it."
Her lips began to quiver and tears threatened to spill out of her eyes as she looked at him with a pained expression.
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Sanyukta felt like everything had been snatched from her. It was not even a question that she wanted to bring her baby into this world, even if it meant that she would lose her own life... but she couldn't allow the two people she loved the most in this world to suffer. She couldn't allow Randhir and Somya to go through the pain of losing her.
Randhir inched closer to her on the side of the bed, before wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly from her side. He pressed his lips against her cheek as she looked ahead with shock.
"S - Somya will live without me," she told him, tears running down her cheeks. "She- she's a bit used to me now, but she has you... and you had been taking care of her alone for six years."
"Don't talk like that," he murmured. "You will be okay."
She sniffled as his face dropped to her neck, and she could feel the wetness of his own tears on her skin.
"This - this baby... if it's a boy, then treat him well... girls aren't the only ones who should be treated like princesses. Don't - don't ever distinguish between this baby and Somya," she whispered painfully. "Love this baby a lot Randhir. Love your baby a lot... take care of our baby, and don't ever let him feel the absence of a mother. S - Somya will help you."
"Sanyukta please d - don't talk that way," he begged.
He didn't know how much more of this his heart could take.
"And - and you...you need to take care of yourself. Remember, you have two kids Randhir," she whispered. "It's not about you... you have Somya, you have this baby... you have to take care of them and raise them well.. don't go into such a depression that you forget about how much you love them. Don't - don't be upset if I go."
"Stop!" he begged. "Please Sanyukta stop."
She sniffled again and pressed her lips against his head.
"I love you Randhir," she confessed. "I love my kids too... jut as much as I love you... and I know your understanding of my wishes goes far beyond your feelings. I know it wasn't even a question for you to choose the baby even though it must have killed you inside. But Randhir, please don't ever forget that my happiness lies in their happiness."
He removed his face from her neck and his lips quivered.
"Randhir, please give me your phone," she whispered. "I need to speak to Somya."
With shaking hands, Randhir gave Sanyukta his phone and she dialled the home number.
Ishika answered.
"Ishika, please give the phone to Somya," Sanyukta said, her voice cracked.
"Mommy?" Somya asked, "Is the baby here yet?"
"Not yet sweetheart," Sanyukta said, trying to sound calm. "I - I need you to listen to me baby. You have to be a big girl and take care of this baby... and take care of your father too. Somya, mommy might not be able to come back home."
She could hear Somya breathe more quickly and her heart ached to hear her daughter feel so anxious.
"Mommy what do you mean?" she whispered. "Please come home mommy, you have to!"
Randhir let his head fall onto Sanyukta's lap as she spoke on the phone.
"Somya, mommy might have to go away for a while," she whispered into the phone. "Maybe even a long while... Mommy might have to go to God."
"What?" Somya asked painfully and she knew her daughter was crying. "Mommy why?"
"Somya only God knows why... but you have to promise me that you will take care of your sibling and your father. Do you promise me Somya?" she asked.
"I - I promise mommy," she said painfully.
"B - Be a good girl then," Sanyukta said. "I - I will come visit you... I promise you'll see me again one day."
Maybe in another world, or maybe in her dreams.
"Please come home mommy," Somya begged.
"I will try my hardest to return to you," she whispered. "Take care."
Then she hung up the phone and let it fall on the bed beside her before she broke down crying.
Randhir's face was buried on her lap, and his sobs were muffled in the blanket. She caressed his hair lovingly.
"Be strong," she murmured through her tears. "Please love."
He looked up at her with red eyes before he forced himself to nod.
"Give me a kiss Randhir," she whispered.
He leaned towards her and captured her lips in his, giving her a kiss that was filled with pain, with love, with fear. She kissed him back softly, reciprocating those feelings... but she added comfort into the kiss. She added the feeling that perhaps everything would be okay after all.
The door to her room opened, but Randhir and Sanyukta didn't stop kissing. Instead, they kissed each other more deeply, savouring the feeling, as if it was the last time they were kissing each other again.
"It's time to begin," the doctor finally said from behind, and Randhir reluctantly broke the kiss.
Sanyukta looked up at Randhir painfully and took his hand. She squeezed it reassuringly.
"I - I will be fine," she whispered to him, then turned to the doctor. "Doctor, can you please... please at least tell me the gender of the baby?"
"It's a boy," the doctor said with a small smile, and she smiled widely, a glow taking over her features.
"Randhir, name our boy... name him Raghav," she told him with a smile on her features.
He nodded and brought her fingers to his lips, before placing a soft kiss on them.
"Doctor please save her," he whispered, and then let go of her hand.
"I love you Randhir," she said, looking up at him.
"I love you too Sanyukta," he replied, tears in his eyes.
"Randhir, please wait outside... we have to begin the surgery now," the doctor said and Randhir nodded, walking away from her, from his life.
With one last glance at her, he captured the image of her beautiful face in his mind, ready to cherish it forever.
Randhir waited and waited. A few hours later, the doctor brought a crying baby out for Randhir to hold.
Randhir smiled as he took the baby boy from the doctors arms. He was tiny... and his eyes reminded him of Sanyukta.
"H - How's Sanyukta?" he finally asked nervously, looking up at the doctor, while holding his baby boy to his chest.
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Note: These are fictional medical facts! Enjoy the story for what it is - the love story between Randhir and Sanyukta, and not for science!
Randhir did not think that he would ever be able to appreciate the words "she is alive" more than he would be able to today. He only wanted his Sanyukta to be okay, and nothing else. He was ready to die if it meant that she could be okay.
As Randhir waited for the doctor to come out, he bent his head and placed his hands together, praying after what seemed like a long time. He didn't think he had ever prayed for something so desperately before.
"Perhaps I am wrong for asking this of you," he whispered, tears falling to his hands. "Maybe I am wrong to ask you to give me what is yours... but - but I can't help it."
He sniffled and felt his heart ache.
"I am so attached to her... so attached, and maybe you don't like that. Maybe that's why you want to take her away from me. Or maybe... maybe I hurt her too much in this life, and I'm paying for my mistakes. Perhaps I will never understand why you are doing this, but I... I can't help it. G - God, please hand me Sanyukta. My Sanyukta... I know I sound like a fool to call her mine in front of you, and she - she's so amazing that you want to keep her with you b - but, please let me live in my fantasy," he begged, tears pouring out of his eyes and onto his hands. "P - please God, please for this lifetime... for this one illusion, hand her to me."
Randhir didn't know why he didn't just ask... but this one-way conversation was oddly comforting. Even if his wish wasn't granted, at least he felt like there was something up there who was listening.
"I - I love her and I am not doubting your love for her... in fact you may love her more than I ever could, but I am not - not you. Maybe I should - should not ask for her to stay because I might be bringing her down into a world full of misery, b - but what can I do? I can't help it... I'm only human. I - I'll die without her," he begged, his nose getting runny. "So I will fall to my knees and beg you God... take any test of me in all my lifetimes after this one, but please for this one lifetime, please let me be with her."
That was when he heard the cries of a baby, and the doctor walked out of the operation theater with a baby boy in his arms. He couldn't stop a smile forming on his face as he looked at the baby... both of his children had Sanyukta's eyes.
Finally, as he held the baby boy to his chest, he looked up at the doctor, asking the question that he was most eager to know, yet also dreading to hear the answer of.
"H - How's Sanyukta?" he asked nervously.
The doctor smiled at Randhir softly and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"She's okay," he said. "Her body responded to the operation well... we just have to take a couple of tests, and she hasn't gained consciousness yet, but she is alive, and she should be awake soon. The nurse has shifted her to a room."
Randhir breathed a sigh of relief as the doctor told him news that made his heart melt.
"Doctor - she's regaining consciousness!" a nurse called and the doctor ran inside.
Randhir followed the doctor to Sanyukta's room and watched as his beautiful wife stirred on the bed in front of him. Her face was pale due to the operation and it looked like all life had left her. Still, she was the most beautiful girl in his eyes.
With happy tears in his eyes he approached Sanyukta, while holding their baby in his arms.
"Sanyukta?" the doctor asked. "Are you feeling okay?"
"S - Sanyukta?" she whispered, looking at the doctor with a confused expression on her face. "Are - are you talking to me? Wh - what's happening? Where - where am I? Why am I in a h - hospital? W - wait who am I? Is Sanyukta my name?"
Randhir took a step back with shock, as fresh tears filled his eyes upon seeing his Sanyukta in that condition.
170
"Randhir, please step outside for a few moments," the doctor said and Sanyukta looked up with even more confusion. "We have to run a few tests."
"Randhir?" she murmured, and for some reason her heart began to flutter when she said that name. "Randhir... that name sounds familiar... Randhir, Randhir, Randhir."
Randhir had tears in his eyes and he walked to Sanyukta, ignoring the doctor.
"Sanyukta," he whispered, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.
Sanyukta looked up at Randhir and then gave him a look of recognition.
"I - I know you," she murmured and then a thoughtful expression took over her face.
Randhir's lips began to quiver and he sat on her bed, holding their baby in his arms.
"You know me?" he asked. "Do you know whose baby this is?"
Sanyukta glanced down at the baby and her eyes filled with tears. She instinctively reached out to touch it, and Randhir gave their baby to her.
"Is he a newborn?" she whispered. "Is he your baby?"
"Yes... yes my wife just gave birth to him," he answered.
A pained expression took over her face and her head started to ache. All of a sudden, she remembered his face... his face from years ago.
"Farzi," the voice in her memory said.
"MCP," her voice replied to him.
"MCP?" Sanyukta whispered out loud, her eyes wide.
Randhir gulped.
"You remember?" he asked her.
The doctor placed a hand on Sanyukta's shoulder.
"Relax, don't think too deeply," he warned Sanyukta, and then took the baby from her arms before handing him to Randhir.
"What are you doing here?" Sanyukta asked angrily. "You are here to ruin my life? You're trying to ruin my life in engineering college and now you're here too?"
"What year is it Sanyukta?" the doctor asked her.
"Ummm... 2011?" Sanyukta asked.
"It's 2020," the doctor replied. "You are thirty years old."
"I'm thirty?" she asked incredulously. "No way! What?"
Then she pressed her hands to her head and a dizzy feeling overcame her.
The doctor indicated for Randhir to step outside and he nodded.
As he waited for the doctor to return, Randhir held their baby in his arms and smiled softly - he had a ray of hope now. If Sanyukta remembered him as the Randhir she hated in college, it meant that he could win her love again.
He had won it once after all, so why wouldn't he able to do it again?
171
Randhir sat on a bench in the waiting area, and a nurse came up to him to take the baby for observation. Randhir kissed his baby's forehead and stroked his small face lovingly before handing him to the nurse.
"We just need to monitor the baby as well for a little while," the nurse told him. "Don't worry you will be able to take him home soon."
When the nurse left, Randhir took out his cellphone and dialed the home number. Ishika answered.
"How's Sanyukta?" she asked.
"She's okay, just recovering," Randhir told Ishika. "Let Somya know that her mom is fine but she needs to take some time to recover so won't be able to come home right away."
"Daddy!" Somya screamed in the background.
"Speak to her yourself, she's been crying for the last few hours," Ishika said.
"Daddy is mommy okay?" she asked painfully, and Randhir felt his heart ache.
"Yes baby your mom is okay. She'll need to recover though because she had a surgery... she won't be able to come home right away," Randhir said to her.
"Ishika mommy and I are going to come to the hospital," Somya said defiantly.
"Somya stay at home and relax. Daddy will bring her home when she is okay," Randhir said to her sternly.
"No!" Somya denied. "We're coming!"
Randhir sighed.
"Fine, you two can come... then you will get to meet your baby brother too," Randhir said softly.
"Brother?" Somya gasped. "Is he tiny?"
"Come see for yourself," Randhir said with a light chuckle.
"Bye daddy!" Somya exclaimed.
"Bye baby," Randhir replied and then hung up.
Inside the room, after Sanyukta went through a variety of tests, the doctor pulled a chair next to her and sat down.
"Sanyukta you just had a surgery," he told her. "You must be feeling very strange. I know it must be so abnormal for you, but there is no way we can hide this from you."
"What's going on?" she gasped.
"Relax," the doctor said, looking at her with a serious expression on his face. "You just had a Caesarean Section. You were pregnant. The baby that Randhir brought into your room, that was your baby."
The doctor examined her face to see her reaction.
"It must be shocking, but you would have noticed your body by now. You will be lactating, your weight is more than normal, and you have incision marks on your stomach," he told her.
Sanyukta's eyes widened.
"W - What?" she spluttered. "He said that it was his baby with his wife. Did I marry Randhir? Randhir Singh Shekhawat?"
The doctor took a deep breath and nodded.
"Yes," he said calmly. "You two are married and very much in love."
Sanyukta's eyes widened as she gasped.
No way! She would never marry that MCP!
172
"Randhir, come in," the doctor said, coming out of Sanyukta's room after about an hour. "She wants to see you."
Randhir was shocked that Sanyukta wanted to see him - in her eyes, he was the chauvinist that tried to get her kicked out of engineering college. She had no idea about the feelings that developed between the two of them.
"She wants to see me?" he asked with confusion. "Why?"
"We couldn't hide from her that she had just given birth... it's too obvious. So I told her calmly that she had given birth and the baby you were carrying is her baby," the doctor explained. "Then she figured out that you were her husband... and now she's... well she just wants to see you."
Randhir frowned - he didn't want to put so much pressure on her like this, but the doctor was right. There was no way that her body could hide that she had just given birth.
"Fine," Randhir said, "Is she in a good mood?"
"Ah," the doctor said, glancing up as the nurse brought the baby boy out to them. "She will be if you take the baby with you."
Randhir gently took the baby from the nurse. His little boy was fast asleep.
"I guess I'll go in then?" Randhir asked.
The doctor nodded, and lead the way. Once Randhir entered, the doctor left and closed the door behind him.
Sanyukta was propped up against pillows and she was glaring at him with an angry expression on her face. Upon seeing her little boy though, her face softened.
"That's my baby?" she asked.
"Our baby," Randhir said, and then walked to her.
"My baby," she replied, sounding annoyed. "I don't know whose father this baby is but even if you were the last man on the Earth, I would not have a baby with you!"
Randhir smiled and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Shh, baby's sleeping," Randhir whispered.
"What's his name?" Sanyukta then asked curiously.
"Raghav," Randhir replied and a smile reached her face.
"I like that name," she murmured.
"That's because you chose it," he told her.
Sanyukta glared at him again and Randhir pressed his lips together, to keep quiet.
"Let me hold my baby," Sanyukta said, and Randhir passed the baby to Sanyukta.
He watched as her eyes filled with tears as she held the baby to her chest. She kissed Raghav's forehead softly.
"So under what circumstance did we get married?" Sanyukta asked Randhir. "It must have been for some kind of reason... we can't seriously have chosen to get married."
"As if I wanted to get married to you," Randhir replied to her, trying to make his voice sound cold. "Please Sanyukta, you were the last girl in the entire world who I would have wanted to marry."
She gritted her teeth together and inhaled sharply.
"Then why marry me?" she huffed angrily.
"To make your life miserable," Randhir said and cocked his head to the right. "Duh Sanyukta... I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. That's why I call you Farzi."
"Ugh... you actually married me to make me miserable? And how did we have a child?" she asked him with disgust in her voice. "I would never ever do something like that with you. The thought makes me feel disgusted!"
"We don't have just one -" he started, about to tell her that she had a seven year old daughter, but the door burst open and Somya came running in.
"Mommy!" she screamed and ran up to the three of them. "I missed you Mommy!"
Ishika entered behind her and closed the door.
Sanyukta's eyes widened and the baby woke up with a start, before he started to cry.
Randhir nearly slapped his forehead - he hadn't been expecting Somya to be here so soon. His plan was to stop her and explain the situation to her outside the room, so Somya would be prepared and so would Sanyukta.
"M - mommy?" Sanyukta asked, sounding startled.
173
Somya ran up to the bed and practically jumped on it. Randhir grabbed his daughter and pulled her on his lap, restraining her from leaping at Sanyukta and shocking her.
Sanyukta caressed the baby's stomach as he continued to cry, and Somya looked at the baby with wide eyes.
"Mommy that's my brother?" she asked her mom, and Sanyukta gulped, glancing up at Randhir.
Randhir nodded, confirming her doubt.
"Somya," Sanyukta whispered and Randhir looked up at her with shock.
"Yes that is my name! Mommy can I hug him?" Somya asked excitedly. "What's his name?"
"No," Randhir intervened. "The baby is crying right now. You can play with him later. His name is Raghav."
Somya looked at her father suspiciously, as if it was strange that he just cut into her conversation with her mom. She struggled and crawled out of Randhir's lap and rested her head against Sanyukta's chest.
"Mommy I love you," she said to her mom and Sanyukta involuntarily reached up to caress her hair.
How did she remember Somya's name? Sanyukta herself did not know how. It was almost like a connection that she had to her daughter... just like she had remembered Randhir's name earlier before she even remembered her own.
"I - I love you too," she whispered.
Then the door opened loudly and Anju Agarwal and Vidhushi both walked in as well.
"Somya called me," Anju, Sanyukta's mom said and glanced towards the baby. "Oh is it a boy?"
Sanyukta nodded.
"Ma!" she exclaimed, then glanced at Vidhushi suspiciously - had she gotten close to Vidhushi over the years too?
Randhir got up and grabbed Somya before taking her to Ishika.
"Please both of you wait outside or go home," Randhir told the two of them, trying to avoid a circus in Sanyukta's room. "She just had a surgery, too many people in the room is going to startle her."
"Okay, Ishika mommy we can go home!" Somya exclaimed. "Now I can finish my homework happily!"
"Is everything okay?" Ishika asked Randhir with concern and Randhir nodded.
"Everything will be okay," he answered with a smile.
As soon as the two of them left, Randhir entered the room again.
"Randhir what happened to her?" Anju asked, "She's talking like she forgot a lot of things."
"Amnesia," Randhir replied. "She only remembers until her first year in college."
"Ma! Do you remember I called you and told you some boy forced me to drink alcohol? It was him! Randhir Singh Shekhawat! How did I marry him? I'm bringing my children and staying with you!" Sanyukta exclaimed.
"Sanyukta don't be crazy," Vidhushi hissed. "You love -"
She stopped when Randhir glared at her, indicating to keep quiet.
"Sanyu, you have to be with your husband. Now that you're married, you can't come home. Vidhushi is married to your brother now, and whenever they fight, she doesn't pack her bags and leave," Anju said reassuringly.
"What? Vidhushi and Ankit? What is going on in this world?" Sanyukta groaned.
"Randhir, I'm scared," Anju said to him.
"Don't worry, everything will be okay," he murmured, and Anju took the baby from Sanyukta, holding Raghav.
"He looks just like his mom," Anju murmured and Randhir smiled, nodding. "Hey Sanyu, breastfeed the baby! He looks hungry! Why are you just staring at him?"
"B - Breastfeed?" she gasped.
She was not ready to be a mother.
Anju handed the baby to Randhir and then held Vidhushi's shoulder.
"We're going. You have a new home now Sanyu, you can't live with us," Anju said sternly.
Randhir took the baby to Sanyukta and then placed him in her arms as Anju and Vidhushi left.
"What is happening?" she groaned. "How do I breastfeed?"
"Want me to help?" he asked playfully and smirked.
Her eyes widened in shock.
174
"You're disgusting! Get out!" Sanyukta screamed when Randhir made the comment that he would help her with breastfeeding.
"How do you think we had two kids? By staying far away from each other?" Randhir asked with a smirk.
"I - I don't know! I don't know how it happened... gosh I don't know how I got here. It must have been the stupidest thing I've ever done!" she groaned. "But you get out so I could breastfeed my son!"
Randhir nodded and stood up.
"By the way, how did you know Somya's name?" he asked her seriously.
"I don't know," she murmured, "I just kind of felt it."
"Oh...well in front of her we have to act like we are in love," he said to her, "She gets emotional easily."
"How did she not catch on?" Sanyukta asked him, "I mean clearly we are not in love."
"I don't want her to know about your memory loss. So just cooperate... she's seven years old but very stubborn," he told her then smirked before saying, "Just like you... now feed the baby. I have some work to settle too."
"Don't tell me what to do," she snapped.
Randhir smiled at her then walked outside the room, his heart feeling warm.
His Sanyukta was going to be back and he knew it.
175
The next few days passed quickly and finally Sanyukta and the baby were allowed to go home. Randhir visited Sanyukta but had minimal contact with her because he wanted her to rest... when they got home though he knew that it would be a completely different story.
He had to woo his Sanyukta after all.
As Randhir opened the door of the backseat for Sanyukta who was holding Raghav in her arms, she glanced at him suspiciously and then got in.
He had called the driver today.
Randhir got in on the other side in the back and Sanyukta continued to stare at him with a stunned expression.
"You have a driver?" she asked.
"Wait until you see where you live - you'll thank your stars," he told her smugly.
"Yeah right. I'm cursed because I have to live with you," she muttered under her breath.
"Remember you have to act like you love me in front of Somya," he warned.
"How we have two kids I still don't understand," she said, shooting him a glare.
"I wasn't excited to have kids with you either. I told you I married you to make your life miserable," he told her. "But sometimes when a boy and a girl sleep in the same room, things happen."
She looked at him with wide eyes.
"Things happen?" she gasped. "Eww!"
"You're not a kid anymore. Stop talking like one," he warned. "Also remember this. You call your daughter sweetheart and every morning at around six you wake her up... you cook her food too. Don't forget to do all that or she'll find it weird."
Sanyukta huffed with irritation.
"I think my life is over," she groaned.
"Your life was over when you married me eight years ago," he said with a smirk.
The driver finally pulled into their mansion and Sanyukta gasped.
"What? You live here?" she asked, sounding like she was blown away.
"We live here," he answered and then got out of the car before heading over to her side and opening the door. "Now stop acting so strange... Somya will be suspicious. She's smart."
"I still don't believe I could have a kid with you," she mumbled and then got out of the car, holding a sleeping Raghav to her chest.
Randhir wrapped his arm around her waist as they walked in causing Sanyukta's whole body to stiffen.
"What are you doing?" she snapped.
"I told you already. We have to pretend like we love each other. I'm not fascinated with doing this either but for our daughters sake we have to," he said sternly as if it were obvious.
"I hate this," Sanyukta grumbled as they walked in together with the newborn baby.
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