PART 6
"Pregnant? How can you be pregnant?" Arnav asked confusion
dripping from his voice and etched on his face.
"Huh? You can deny all you like. But I am pregnant with your
child!" Khushi continued crying.
Arnav had been watching out for Khushi since the past two
days when she had kind of fainted in his arms. He didn't know why but since
that night when he had covered her naked body and lulled her to sleep he felt
protective towards her. Today when he had heard Lavanya tell Khushi while they
were leaving the class that they are going straight to the doctor for her he
had not been able to stop himself. He had panicked the entire way, fear
freezing his insides and worry clawing at his mind.
But he had not expected this. This was so ridiculous that it
was not even funny. When they had not done IT and she had not done it with
anyone how could she be pregnant? Arnav quickly drew the right conclusion.
There was some misunderstanding. He had not won all those awards for nothing!
He took her tear drenched face in his hands and started,
"Listen Khushi. It can't be. There must be some other reasons for your
symptoms."
She pushed his hands away, "I heard the doctor tell the
nurse Arnav. It is not because of stress as I had thought. For my father's
rotten cheating behaviour, me moving so far away from home, impending exams,
the fact that I slept with you, that you are my professor, that every time you
look at me in class when you pause I hold my breath, that I can't stop thinking
about you, about us! It's not because of stress damn it! It is because I am
pregnant. You made me pregnant! You took advantage of my drunken state!" Khushi
shouted.
Arnav felt a happy, peaceful feeling travel from the tips of
his toes to the tips of his hair. Since when had he changed so? Since he met
her that fateful night. And she just mentioned that she thought of him as much
as he thought of her. She had been doing a very good job of avoiding him and
the indefinable thing that was between them. If this is what it takes...
He smirked a naughty smirk. The doctor didn't tell her now,
did he?
"Khushi are you really so sure I took advantage of you? You
dragged me to your place. You barged into the shower. You pulled my towel. You
undressed yourself even when I asked you to stop. You pushed us on your bed.
Don't you remember anything baby?"
Baby? Khushi looked at him her eyes throwing daggers. But
she couldn't refute his words. While he was talking she remembered flashes of
what had transpired. He was so right. She was so pregnant. She didn't know what
to do. She covered her face with her hands and said, "I am so my father's
daughter" and cried.
Arnav hated himself then. He pulled her hands away and took
her in his arms. He waited for her sobs to die down.
"You are not him. I am not him. I won't forsake you. Ever"
Arnav told her earnestly, truly promising her a forever.
Khushi took a couple of steps back, out of his arms, "What
do you mean? You are really not thinking what I am thinking that you are
thinking, right?"
When he continued to look at her steadily she started
freaking out once again, "Are you nuts? What makes you think I want it? It was
a mistake. A huge mistake"
"Oh come on baby. Don't call our baby 'it'? That's my seed
you have got in there. The sign of our love...or lovemaking. Whatever you wish to
call it. I will be with you throughout. I will go to the doctors with you.
Bring for you every food you crave for. Hold your hair when you puke in the
washroom. Go shopping with you when you won't fit into your clothes. Gush with
you when we see our lumpy sonographied baby for the first time. I will hold
your hand during labor and will be the first one to hold our baby. What say? By
the way, what do you think? It's a boy or a girl?"
Khushi just stood there numb and horrified while he talked
with something akin to mischief in his eyes.
"You need help!" Khushi shrieked and ran away.
Arnav laughed heartily or sadistically. Reader you take your
pick.
****
It was thankfully a
Friday. Lavanya was going to some distant aunt's place for the weekend. She
would return only by Sunday night.
When Lavanya asked Khushi over the phone where did she run
away from the doctors' she lied that she had lost her Digital Electronic 1 text
and was going to a bookstore at the other end of the city to purchase it. She,
thus, stayed clear of the University and the apartment they shared telling her
only that the doctor asked her to walk and meditate to reduce stress.
She didn't allow Lavanya to voice her doubts if she found
anything fishy.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she entered her empty
apartment at night. Her thoughts were in turmoil the whole day. This was a
welcome solitude.
Alas! Her phone rang. It was an unknown number. She answered
with the hopes that it was the doctor telling her that they made a mistake.
"Hello baby! How is the little one doing?" Arnav asked her
with barely concealed amusement.
"It is all a joke to you, isn't it?" Khushi snapped.
"The apple of my eye can never be a joke to me. So, Khushi
when are we going to the doctor for the first routine check-up?"
"The apple of your eye is not falling from my tree Arnav.
The sooner you understand that the better"
"All my apples will fall only from your tree Khushi. The
sooner YOU understand this the better" Arnav told her seriously.
Suddenly not wishing to argue anymore, she palmed her face
and told him, "Arnav I really do not wish to discuss this. Would you please
discon..."
"What do you wish to discuss about? Let me guess... You are
the kind of girl who loves Pride and Prejudice, right?"
"Huh? Are you really discussing Jane Austen with me?"
"Yeah! Why not?"
"Have you even read it?"
"I haven't but my Di has. And she is absolutely fascinated
by that buffoon called Darcy"
"Don't call him a buffoon. No one can call him that! Wait! You
have a Di?"
The two of them spoke till Khushi slept of sheer exhaustion.
****
Over the next two days Arnav called her every minute he had
to spare. Khushi would debate about answering his calls. But then the
temptation would get too strong to resist. He would always start with enquiring
about 'their' child but they would progress to talking about everything under
the sun. Their families, their favourite books and movies, the places they had
visited, the museum-worthy people they had met, their dreams, everything. She
didn't discuss her father. He didn't mention NK.
The only thing that was troubling him was that Khushi had
not stepped out of her apartment at all. It was unhealthy. He had initially
thought that he would take her to the doctor for a 'routine check-up' and when
the doctor would clear the air he would properly kiss the mouth she would have opened
in surprise and shock.
But instead she had stayed in, talking to him but refusing to
see him.
They were getting to know each other better and that was all
he wanted. She was a whirlpool and he was getting sucked in. But he didn't mind
for a change. Sunday evening as he stepped out of the tube after Khushi refused
to meet him once again he thought he had been selfish for long enough.
****
Khushi looked at herself in the mirror, at her stomach in
the mirror, from the front and the sides. She ran her hands over her stomach.
Oh! She was so confused! There was nothing to be confused about. This is not
what she wanted out of life. She wanted her mother back. She wanted that father
of hers whom she once loved. She wanted to be hugged by Buaji again. The apple
of my eye... Arnav's words rang in her mind like a church bell tolling, bringing
a sense of peace and calm to her.
When she heard the doorbell she simply opened it. Not
checking who was on the other side so absorbed was she in recollecting all their
telephonic conversations.
"You?"
Arnav pushed the door open and invited himself in.
"We need to talk Khushi. It is high time" Arnav said
seriously.
"We have talked for hours these two days Arnav" Khushi was
clearly dodging the subject.
Arnav came close to Khushi, took her face in his palms and
kissed her forehead.
"I am sorry Khushi"
"Why are you apologizing? Both of us made the mistake"
Khushi tried speaking evenly but her heart was beating erratically at his close
proximity and the kiss. Khushi involuntarily leaned in.
"Khu..." He looked into her beautiful doe eyes, saw the faint
blush on her cheeks, felt the softness of her skin on his and lost himself. He
leaned towards her too.
He kissed her on the mouth. Slowly. She kissed him back. Longingly.
Their tongues danced, not battled. Exploring and taking in the warmth their
mouths offered. Kissing as if they had all the time in the world. His hands
held her face while hers held his arms. Not moving anywhere else. There was no
need to rush. This moment would last a lifetime.
They didn't hear Lavanya enter.
He broke the kiss so gently as if she was a porcelain doll.
Still cradling her face he finally confessed, "Khushi you are not pregnant."
"What?"
"Yes Khushi. You don't have to worry anymore"
"How...how do you know? Why are you so... so sure?"
"Because we didn't sleep together that night"
"We didn't... But you...and I... naked... on bed...?"
"That's one story to tell"
"You lied to me! I am...am...not pregnant. I am not pregnant.
Are you sure we didn't sleep? You were drunk too"
"Khushi I was not as drunk as you. I was just teasing you
all this time. Sorry"
"I am really NOT pregnant? Are you sure?"
"Khushi why are you insisting on it so much? Did you miss
your periods these past two months?"
"No...no... I actually didn't... I didn't"
"What you heard at the clinic was a misunderstanding. Your
life is back to normal. As it always was. Nothing has changed"
"Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed!"
She pushed his hands away and
slapped him hard on the face.
"Why didn't you sleep with me? I wanted our baby!"
****
Phew! I tried to give my best. It is extremely difficult to match up to the standards set by the brilliant authors collaborating on this SS. I am sure the coming chapters will be as fantabulous.
I have tried to incorporate something from every chapter written before mine.
Hope all of you like my installment.
Aveiro you next!
Edited by Rasgulla_sp - 10 years ago
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