Her Pregnancy-#2 -Chapter 16 pg 141 upd 01/08 - Page 43

Chapter 13

"Sure what do you want to know?" he said tentatively as Khushi stared at him with the air of a sphinx analyzing her prey. Had she gotten to know? But how? That's not possible.

She slowly walked towards him and reached out a hand and touched his chest, slowly running her hand up and down in languid movement. "You look tense" she murmured, letting her breath fan across his neck.

He didn't reply. He was tensed about a lot of things and he can't deny that but he wasn't going to indulge her with the gory details either.

"I want to ask you something" her voice sounded throaty, crooning and almost sensual. He felt a familiar heady sensation over powering him, hypnotizing him from further thought.

"Can I hang these on the wall?" She suddenly said chirpily.

Arnav blinked, the spell instantly broken. She was staring at him, her wide eyes expectant and imploring.

"Hang? Hang what?" he was highly disconcerted, his voice betraying the trace of annoyance appeared with the sudden change of track.

Khushi walked over to the far side of the room where a stack of portraits were piled up on a stool.

"These" she held one up and he gaped at it. "what the?"

"I knew that was what you were going to say" she grinned teasingly as she peered from behind the framed photo.

"khsuhi who the hell is that?" he felt his temper rising, already nearing the boiling point from earlier that day.

"What! You don't know? This is Bal gopal ji, the childhood form of Lord Krishna. Baby Krishna" she added and smiled happily.

Arnav stared at her as if she'd sprouted two heads. "Why the hell do you want to hang pictures of a blue baby deity in our bedroom?"

She frowned at him, affronted for being discourteous, a look of exasperation etched on her face. "Arnav, every expecting mother hangs pictures of babies in the room. Hanging Bal gopal ji's pictures are always considered auspicious"

Arnav felt blood draining from his face, his legs felt clammy and he felt like collapsing onto the ground.

"WHAT! You're pregnant?" he burst out, his yell reverberating through the room.

"No silly. But I want to be soon" Khushi said softly, her voice gentle and hopeful; the previous bubbliness vanished for the time being while a tinge of a blush crept up her face. There was a hint of self assuredness and competency echoing through her.

Arnav stared at her blandly, breathing in deeply, taking note of her flushed dreamy face and scrunched up his eyes momentarily. "You want a baby?"

"Yes Arnav, every woman dream of becoming a mother one day" she said matter-of-factly, her voice soft, calm, measured as well as testy; the hypnotic effect back on. When he opened his eyes he realized she had moved much closer to him, her deep startlingly brilliant eyes looking up at him. She reached out and cupped his face, a trace of a smile on her lips.

"I.. You can hang them anywhere you want Khush. You don't have to ask me" He said abruptly, guilt over whelming him in torrents. Unable to stand and watch her any longer, her turned around and stormed into the bathroom, locking it securely before taking in a deep breath.

----

Arnav lay exhausted on the bed, fast asleep, cradling her in his arms like a life jacket. Khushi turned uncomfortably in his arms, his body heat pouring around her wrapping her like a furnace in spite of the air conditioning. Khushi sighed as she looked at his face, so innocent in his sleep, brow furrowed as if something is irking him.

She tried to wriggle away from his clutches but he growled deeply in his sleep, tightening his hold around her. There was no way of escape now; she thought as she patted his cheek. He's disturbed and his mind is far from being calm and she knew it. This was his standard way of sleeping when something bothered him.

She turned around to see the bed side clock pointing to 3.30 in the morning and she was stifling hot. The humidity of Delhi summers did not help. She looked at her sleeping husband as he buried his head in her hair. He had been working half the night, firing calls mercilessly to his assistants and staff, depriving them of sleep. She knew he was worried about company matters, some blunders from his staff and so on. But she knew something else was bothering him far more.

Sighing she placed her head right above the thudding warmth of his heart and drifted to a dreamless, sleep, feeling angry and helpless with herself.

---

"Take the drafts to Patel and inform everyone the meeting is in half an hour'.Then brief them damn it" Arnav slammed the receiver and dialed his PA. "Patricia, schedule after lunch" He listened for a half a second and snapped "Fine".

Aman hurried into the office and placed the files on the desk and looked at ASR. His eyes held the familiar cold and ruthless sparkle, clicking away at a spread sheet on his desktop, his eyes roving around the screen as he took in the details.

"So?" he said softly not looking up from the screen.

"Sir, he's still putting a resistance. Doesn't seem to hear the fact that his company's going to go down. He's not even listening to his own board. This takeover's not as easy as we deduced."

"Bloody idiot" ASR muttered his dark eyes still analyzing whatever details on the screen.

"Sir, Mr Mehta would like to speak to you regarding yesterday's mishap. He wants to give his input of the'"

"I don't have time to listen to his simpering excuses. Our quality control department's taken over everything. He has nothing to add. You're dismissed" he added curtly.

---

"Mr Raizada, Dr Gowrikar will see you now" the male assistant at the desk sneered, his voice dripping with disdain.

Arnav glowered at the young man before heading to the doctor's office.

Dr Gowrikar was a pleasant, rotund middle aged man with a friendly smile and beaming eyes. He held his hand and Arnav shook hands briefly.

"You might want to replace your assistant" he said blandly, jerking his head towards the door as he sat down.

"Ah" Dr Gowrikar's smile slackened. "I've been hearing a lot of complaints about him. He's on internship for a few months- second year medical student and I gave him the job out of pity since he said he needed experience on the field. But his interactions with patients are appalling. Shows his lack of enthusiasm for the profession he's chosen, which brings us back to the fundamental problem of our education system." He sighed heavily and shook his head to clear it. "Now is not the time to discuss that" he said as he looked at Arnav with narrowed eyes."Mr Raizada, I hope you had thought about your decision more thoroughly?"

Arnav stared at him for a moment and exhaled a long sigh. "Actually yes. And I'm more confused than ever"

"Mr Raizada, Vasectomy is a big step. You need to acess pros and cons. And it's not going to affect just you" he said emphasizing on the just. "This is going to affect all your family"

Arnav nodded grimly. He knew all about this as he stared at Dr Gowrikar and sighed. This is more complicated than he had expected, especially after what Khushi told him just yesterday. She wanted to bear a child and become a mother. But right now, what he's going to do would shatter her and eliminate chances of her bearing a child forever. On the other hand, what he's going to do would protect her from all the pains and dangers of pregnancy.

"You must remember that a Vasectomy is reversible. But since this decision would affect your family, I'm going to be insolent and ask you, you had discussed this with your wife haven't you?"

Arnav stared at him feeling himself being x-rayed through the doctor's gaze and he slowly shook his head, guilt pouring into him.

"Mr Raizada, as much as it's your body to take whatever decision you want with it, this is going to affect your wife as much as your family life and relationship with her. I highly advice you to think this through and speak to your wife."

---

"Oh you look so tired" Khushi murmured sympathetically as she took his brief case and kept it on the bedside table and turned to take his coat off him.

He shrugged moodily as he let her pull it off his arms. "I'm just tired. It's been a long day"

"And I know exactly what to do to lift up your mood" she smiled sultrily as she sashayed to the closet to hang his coat, adding an extra sway to her hips knowing fully well that he's watching her.

She turned around to find his eyes darkened, his characteristic smirk well in place as he surveyed her with as unmistakable expression. Khushi smiled like a Cheshire cat, swayed gracefully back towards him and began to undo the buttons of his waist coat one by one and pushing it to the floor before taking his hands and undoing the cuff links.

"You don't have time for me these days" she muttered in an faux affronted voice. Arnav let out a small sound, in between a growl and a groan as he pulled her towards him and rained kisses down her jaw line.

"Wait a second Arnav ji, let me finish what I've started" Khushi whispered conspiratorially as she pushed his head away from her and began to unbutton his shirt, running an accidental touch on his chest from time to time. She can visible feel him tauten, his chest muscles flex at her touch. Khushi gave an inward smile as she congratulated herself.

"I'm going to give you a massage" she whispered throatily.

"Massage?" he said in a confused voice and Khushi tried to force back the bubble of laughter threatening to burst through her.

She half pushed him, half dragged him to the bed and made him sit on it and began to rummage on a small wicker basket near the foot of the bed.

Going around the bed she kneeled behind him on the bed so that she was a couple of feet above him and squirting a bit of lavender oil onto her palm, she slowly traveled her hands over his broad expanse of shoulders, kneading and massaging the muscles as she went.

"Now I want you to relax, completely let go of all that's bothering you and concentrate on nothing but me" she murmured softly, harnessing her best soothing voice.

"Oh I'm concentrating all right" Arnav muttered as his eyes closed and a spike of pleasure as well as a sense of calm settled over him at the feel of her soft small hands inserting pressure on his taunt muscles. He felt her hands running down the back then slowly again up to his shoulders and tension ebbed away for the time being, replaced by a wave of serenity.

"Now tell me what's bothering you?" her soothing voice murmured just above his ear.

"It's business stuff Khushi..you wouldn't understand" he said headily.

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