'Would you mind me joining you and Maan for your sonography appointment tomorrow?' Rano asked stumping a shying Geet and Maan, who still hand his hand on her soft red cheeks.
'You two don't mind, do you?' Rano asked as Maan removed his hands and looked at Geet for an answer, 'Will she allow me to go to the hospital with her?' he thought
'Hmm yeah sure' Geet answered unsurely looking at Rano and then turned towards Maan in confusion, 'Does he want to come with me?' she questioned
Chapter 15
Shortly after her mother's request Sam left to change and never came back while Rano excused herself to the kitchen. Other than the TV playing in the background Maan and Geet sat in silence, trying to squash the tension she tuned to SKYSPORTS 1 where Liverpool played against Wolves. Of course for Maan, half the awkwardness left there and then when all his focus simply shifted to the telly completely unaware of Geet and her movements.
'Dinner's ready' Rano peeped into the living room where Maan sat alone furrowing his brows, it was only after the match ended that he bothered to walk to the kitchen feeling frustrated, they lost 2:1. He was thankful that no one was around when he swore in hate seeing his team loose.
'Where's Geet?' he asked seeing how Rano wiped down the surfaces and Mohinder waited by the door, it was clearly the end of the day for them.
'She's gone bed' Rano said as Maan moved his now cold plated food to the microwave, soon enough Rano and Mohinder left wishing a 'Goodnight' leaving Maan and dark silence. With the ping, the memory of Geet's scan resurfaced. They needed to talk!
Geet lay in bed waiting for Sam, who sat at the edge of the bed whispering to Adi. As she heard Sam giggle, Geet pondered over the day. Maan; the name alone made her feel lighter; softer even. He had such an amazing personality, an aura of kindness and peace. Geet lay feeling her child move around and his introduction came to mind 'Hiya baby, I am your daddy'; he had said that loud and proud; warm and with pride.
'Preggars what are you smiling about?' Sam interrupted her thoughts crawling up to sleep beside her
'EWWW Sam' Geet screeched throwing a cushion at Sam, who laughed out loud
'Gosh baby mommy doesn't like that name, now does she?' Sam giggled pulling Geet's already annoyed cheeks and then rested her face on top of her fat belly listening to the waters running within.
'Baby if you're a girl kick and if you're a boy kiss' Sam muttered against Geet's skin making her feel ticklish, for the next few minutes both held their breaths and waited patiently for some sign, a sign from the baby telling them of his/her gender.
'Bloody hell Geet I told you to find out its gender' Sameera groaned against the pain in her back and neck from the awkward positioning
'For the last time, my baby is either a he or she and not an IT!' Geet ordered pushing her away
'Exactly we would have known had you asked' Sam complained falling to her pillow while Geet chose to ignore once again, this was like the 1000th time they discussed about this, and frankly speaking Geet was sick and tired. The baby's gender should be a pleasant surprise and not a known fact.
Maan walked into his room or rather her room, it was tidied compared to what he left it; not that he was a messy occupier but the candles on the bedside cabinet weren't in a straight line like how it was now, nor were the pictures directionless, rather it now stood uniform looking ahead much to his liking; there was a smiling Geet, and clown Sam pulling Geet by her shoulder and a family portrait which was slightly bigger than the other two photos. Taking one last look at the smiling Geet, Maan entered the bed feeling her warmth rush to his malnourished body.
'Ahh I missed this' he snuggled under the duvet with a smile as her aura patted him off to a beautiful sleep where maybe she visited, as dreams and as colours.
'Geet what do you think about my hair?' Sam asked suddenly, Geet who had turned away in anger few minutes ago immediately rotated towards her again.
'What do you mean?' she asked inquisitively, already on attack mode
'Well ...i... um' she struggled
'DON'T CHANGE YOURSELF FOR A STUPID MAN' Geet shot sitting up as Sam placed a pillow supporting her back
'Sameera we have spoken of this before, when someone falls in love it should be for real and not some constructed fantasy. Your hair, your cheeks, your lips, your body, you on the whole are just perfect' Geet smiled pulling Sam's hand between hers feeling angry and sad at the same time.
I't's not like what you think it is?' Sam smiled goofily remembering all the times she had wanted to go under the knife because someone or the other always found something wrong with her, be it a colleague who suggested a nose job or a previous boyfriend who thought her lips were too thin. Geet had struggled and fought hard to insert confidence into a highly insecure Sam, the phrase the 'weak hide behind an act' was true for Sam. To the world she was a warrior, a flirt probably foolish even but to Geet, she was Sameera, inhibited and self-conscious.
'Sam' Geet started
'It's just that I am bored of this colour' Sam explained flicking her dyed blonde hair
'Honest' Geet stuck out her hand for a handshake, this was their honestly pact
'OK I am bored and Adi was saying something about liking dark haired ladies so I wanted to go back to being an original brunette' Sam weaselled almost hiding her face under the duvet
'Hmm, if you want a change then go for it BUT' she raised her hands seeing an excited Sam hyperventilating. 'But if you change it then there's no changing back for a while. Sam I don't want you to conform to people's choices just do as you please, please' Geet ordered and then suddenly wept at the end alerting Sam
'There there' Sam patted hugging her tight, pregnancy also made woman weak apparently
Maan found himself walking downstairs at the late hours in the night, thirst; thirst had woken him up from his engulfing sleep. Tiredly, he moved to the kitchen only to find the lights on, walking in further he noticed Geet seated at the table tapping away on her phone.
'Hi!' he wished surprised, the sleep that rested on the backseat seemed to have driven away with her bright smile
'Hey' she called back walking to the counter, near the toaster. He had stopped still watching her open the fridge and get out the tub of butter and the bottle of milk. They hadn't spoken, instead he found himself pouring out a glass of milk, putting two spoons of Nesquik chocolate and placing it in the microwave as she buttered her bread and fetched packet of cookies. While working she had a foolish smile, absolutely suiting the Daphne and Scooby Doo T-shirt she had on.
'Good lad, I'll go back to sleep then' Mohinder suddenly announced proudly to Maan before walking back, totally unaware of the fright he caused in the quiet kitchen with his loud arrival.
'I experience pangs of hunger during the night and usually Dad comes and helps' she explained as they heard Mohinder's silent steps
'Is that normal?' he asked concerned, now placing a glass of water on the table for himself
'Yeah it's normal' she smiled soaking in the toast into her hot chocolate that Maan made. Maan smiled as she continued taking small bites of the sloppy toast.
'Maan about what mum asked, iii ...' Geet began after a long wait making Maan frown.
'I mean you don't need to come for the sonography, I'll make up an excuse' she continued staring at the double chipped cookie, the only normal feature in the odd situation. Odd being because of Maan, who practically ran away last few days and now he was there sharing the odd quiet night with her. The thought itself made butterflies fly and not to forget he was a stranger, a month or so ago and now he was sleeping in her bed, in her house, and was ultimately known as the father of her baby.
'Geet today when I introduced myself as the father to OUR baby, I meant every word, so being the dad I would expect MYSELF to attend the appointment along with you' he started emphasising the required words and the butterflies in her belly froze, as if struck by ice.
'I generally want to come' he extended his hands and held onto her soft ones with a warm smile
'That is if you are ok with it?' he queried on second thoughts seeing her still in shock
'NO NO that would be nice, really nice' she smiled amongst the shyness and the heat
'So you'll let me know of the sonography date and the next ante-natal class' he asked with keen eyes
'hmm' she answered as he took her used utensils to the sink and washed them, today had been a learning curve and needless to say, they took one step closer. He liked being around Geet, something he very recently realised. Soon he found himself sitting at the table, opposite to her in silence. The seconds followed to minutes, yet the peaceful silence remained. Etching silence, ebbing silence, comforting silence but silent it was, maybe a little warm and cold too.
'Geet has the infection cleared?' he jumped seeing her get up to leave, a look of confusion passed by before an assuring smile made its way. She was confused but delighted to know that he cared.
'Kind of but 2 days of antibiotics are left' she answered pushing the chair in and he too got up walking alongside silently. Why was their silence so comforting?
'Good night Geet' he kissed her forehead, both hands on her reddened face
'Good night baby' he touched next her growing belly, the urge to place a kiss was high but just the feel of Geet's shiver put him on a leech. So instead he smiled gently forwarding her towards Sam's door and then entered into his. She made him take all the advancements in their relationship, he liked being with her, it was easy and happy.
'Baby you have a daddy now' Geet repeated caressing the same spot he touched on her protruding belly, she smiled despite the tear that dropped down. When Dev walked out, she had envisioned her whole life as a single mother and then came Maan, like a rainbow colouring her depressed life with hope and for some reason, she knew Maan would be there for her baby, no their baby. His 'OUR' resonated in her heart and beat a kick from her offspring. Looks like the baby too rejoiced at finding a father. 'Our baby' she repeated before entering into bed. 'Our baby' she replicated in his deep voice hiding her face between her palm feeling slightly shy, 'OURS' she smiled as resting sleep washed over being.
'Ours', indeed the future was theirs to share.
Next: Sonography (i promise lol)
Notes: I will try to reply to one and all. Please see the warning on the next page, response is a little disheartening. Rashmi i know i said simple this time, hopefully this is simple but i didn't like it, so this is the end product of editing and re-editing lol.
