two stories of marriage

chapter 33

A few months later...

It was 4 in the morning, but that wasn't going to stop her from working. She wouldn't stop until everything looked perfect. It was after ten final checks, that she took a deep breath and stretched, relieved for it was the end of this one. Suddenly, a coffee mug was placed on her table. A smile came on her face knowing exactly who it was that brought it, as she looked up to him,

'iski kya zaroorat thi, dushyant? abhi 12 baje toh dekar gaye the..'

'ishita, ab tumne apne aapko thakane ki kasam kha rakhi hai toh thik hai, mujhe khayal toh rakhne do...' he replied as he seated himself on the edge of the table.

'ab kaam hua khatam?' he asked, as she took a sip from the mug and nodded in agreement.

'bas, sone jaaungi thodi der kele...office jaane se pehle uthadoge?' asked ishita, as she stretched her neck.

'inn mahinon mein kab tumhe uthake nahi gaya hoon?' replied dushyant.

ishita chukled lightly, as not only was she happy that she got to do what she loved, she was happy to have him around more. It made her grateful that even though she got late what she wanted, atleast now he's around.

Suddenly, they both heard some noise, as they glanced at each other, as if saying 'not again', as they both knew what it was...

                                                      ***

'purvi?' asked ishita as she entered the room to purvi, who was sitting on the bed, exhausted, caressing the baby girl in her arms.

'phirse ro rahi hai?' asked dushyant, as she nodded, while kavin was applying bam on his forehead.

'aapko toh pata hi hai, din bhar soti hai yeh aur raat ko roti hai.' Replied kavin.

'main toh abhi hi aayi thi, subha ke liye itne videos daalne the inhe, 2 baj gaye mujhe wahan edit karte karte!' explained purvi, who from an intern had been promoted to a video editor, although it was the workload that upgraded.

'arre par chup ho toh gayi thi yeh 1:30 baje tak...' remarked ishita.

'haan bhabhi, ghanton tak gudh mein lekar baitha, tab jaakar chup hui. Bas baam lene utha, aur yeh shuru ho gayi!' replied kavin as he caressed the back of the baby.

'tum dono so jao, kuch ghante baad nikalna hai tumhe office ke liye. Ridhima ko main dekh leti ho tab tak.' Said ishita as purvi looked at her hesitantly.

'nahi di aap kyun takleef karogi...koi baat nahi chup ho jaayegi yeh thodi der mein, don't worry.' Assured purvi, as she was rocking the baby in her arms side by side.

'haan bhabhi humein aadat hai, hum dekh lenge..' said kavin in agreement.

'arre tum dono ko sakht zaroorat hai neend ki, haalat dekhi hai apni!' stated dushyant.

'lao,do mujhe!' commanded dushyant to purvi.

'arre bhai...' said purvi hesitantly.

'bhai ki baat nahi manogi?' said dushyant, as an exhausted purvi was not at all in the condition to argue, and gave ridhima to him.

'arre dhyaan se...' said kavin, as dushyant was holding the baby in his arms.

'tu sooja shaanti se, presentation deni hai aaj!' commanded dushyant, as ishita switched off the lights, mumbling a good night, and ishyant left. While kavi looked at each other as if saying, 'did we do something wrong', but the sleep found its way much easily than they anticipated as they were exhausted.

                                                                        ***

It was 7 in the morning and baby ridhima had started to doze off to sleep in dushyant's arms. While ishita had fallen asleep on his shoulder, still holding onto the baby, and dushyant's head was resting on ishita's. Only for them to be awakened by dushyant's alarm, which he quickly snoozed as he caressed the baby to go back to sleep after the slight noise.

'layiye isse mujhe dijiye, aapko office ke liye bhi nikalna hai..' said ishita, as she got up.

'haan, ek second, dhyaan se...' said dushyant, as he handed the baby to ishita, who was now resting in her arms.

'ekdum purvi jaisi lag rahi hai..' remarked ishita.

'uski naak toh dekho, ekdum kavin jaisi hai...' said dushyant, as they both smiled at the baby.

'abhi isko dekh kar koi bata sakta hai kitna bawaal karti hai yeh raat ko!' remarked dushyant as ishita chuckled.

'sahi mein, abhi dekho kitni cute lag rahi hai!' remarked ishita.

'hmm...' said dushyant, as they both were busy admiringly gazing at the baby.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a very delicate knock on the door. They looked up to find purvi, who just smiled looking at her baby sleeping peacefully, as she was handed to her by ishita.

'thank you..' she said, before leaving.

'uski koi zaroorat nahi hai...' replied ishita

'kavin kaisa hai?' asked dushyant.

'maine usse uthaya nahi, bhai woh do raaton se nahi soya hai mere overtime ke kaaran...aaj thoda late chala jaayein office toh...' requested purvi.

'haan main usse wahi kehne waala tha...acha kiya, sone do usse.' Said dushyant, as he himself got up to get ready.

'tum bhi thodi der aur aaram karlo..' suggested dushyant to ishita.

'haan di, aapne raat bhar kaam kiya, phir isse bhi dekha..'

'arre soli na thodi der, bas kaafi hai. Tum dono bhi niklo, der ho jaayegi.' Assured ishita.

'pata hai roz subha isko dekhte hoon na, toh sochti hoon na hi jaon...' said purvi, as ishita chuckled.

'woh so rahi hoti na...' she joked to distract purvi, who she knew often felt guilty for leaving her baby away like this.

'isse yahan chod do, woh kavin...' purvi's explanation was stopped by ishita who just nodded in agreement.

'thank you so much...' purvi said with so much gratitude, as she planted a kiss on ridhima's forehead and said,

'bye, ridhi!' before leaving.

While ishita fondly gazed at the baby girl, as deep down she tried to make peace with the fact that this was the closest she would get to ever having one of her own.