two stories of marriage

chapter 38

Dushyant took a last look at himself in the mirror, as he adjusted his tie and collar after slipping on his wrist watch.

'ishita!' he exclaimed as he put on his blazer and grabbed his bag.

'ishita...' he said as he knocked at the bathroom door.

'haan...kya hua..' replied ishita rather abruptly.

'main jaa raha hoon, aaj late ho jayega, wait mat karna, main khake aaunga..' he informed as he paused to wait for a response.

'ok...bye!' said ishita, even more abruptly.

'bye..' said dushyant, as he sensed something was wrong, but chose to ignore it, because he believed that if something were wrong, she would tell him, right?

The sound of the bedroom door closing caused ishita to let a huge sigh of relief, but when her sight fell on the pregnancy test in her hand, it all came back to her.

'positive?' thought ishita, as she just face palmed herself.

                                                   ***

Past would tell that this would never be a good news for her and dushyant, and just the thoughts of his past reactions, was enough to create horror in her mind.

Purvi and kavin came together home early that evening, shocking mrs khanna.

'arre, tum dono,itni jaldi?' asked mrs khanna.

'haan, woh aaj jaldi free ho gayi, toh maine kaha ghar aa kar ridhi ke saath thoda time spend karlun...' explained purvi.

'yeh acha kiya tumne beta, ab jitne din yahan ho, usmein ridhi ko jitna time dena possible ho sake do...' said mrs khanna in agreement.

'ab koshish toh wahi hai...' remarked purvi, as she took ridhi from mrs khanna's embrace.

'aur kavin, yeh dushyant nahi aaya tere saath?' asked mrs khanna.

'haan, woh, bhai keh rahe the unko kisi se milne jaana hai, toh wahi der ho jaayegi...' informed kavin.

'haan, woh batake toh gaye the subha ki wait na karoon unka, khakar hi aayenge..' remarked ishita.

'toh thik hai, tu bhi soja na, pura din itna kaam karke thak jaati hogi, ab iske chakkar mein kyun thakana aur apne aapko.' Said mrs khanna.

'ab inhe kya batao, baat hi aise hai, zyada delay nahi kar sakti unhe batana...' thought ishita.

                                                                    ***

Ishita was pacing back and forth in the room, as she waited for dushyant.

'uhhmm, dushyant, aapse kuch baat karni hai...nahi-nahi-nahi, aisi nahi, uhhmm, dushyant, aapko kuch batana tha...ok, maybe my tone is making this worse...ishita, calm down, breathe!' she said as she let out a huge breath, and suddenly the door opened for dushyant to enter the room.

'aap!' exclaimed ishita as if she was expecting a ghost to come but rather entered a human being.

'uhhmm, kisi aur ko expect kar rahi thi?' asked dushyant as he looked around.

'nahi...bilkul nahi...' replied ishita abruptly, as dushyant raised a brow at her.

'tum thik ho na?' asked dushyant, as ishita nodded in agreement.

'nahi, aaj, subha bhi, matlab, darri si hi thi...kuch hua hai kya?' asked dushyant, as ishita swallowed in her throat.

'i have to tell you something...' she said with her gaze fixed on him, as she hoped he didn't react the way she was thinking he would.

'ok, what is it?' said dushyant, as ishita, after a deep breath, announced,

'i'm pregnant!' she closed her eyes and bit her lip the second she uttered those words. Suddenly, she felt somebody touching her arm. she opened her eyes to see who it was, as her eyes fell onto his, and she slowly let go of lip she bit.

'are you sure?' asked dushyant, as ishita nodded in agreement and he looked down.

'uhh, do you, want this...child?' asked dushyant as she nodded in agreement, again.

'wow, this is...i don't know..how to react..' he said as he was getting teared up without any tears rolling in, probably because he didn't let them.

'you said you didn't want children...' remarked ishita, as he looked upto her.

'what has changed?' she continued, as her gaze averted from him.

'ishita, main...'

'mujhe kuch force nahi karna aap par, mujhe laga aapko yeh baat batani chahiye, aur maine batadi, baaki aap dekhlo...' said ishita as she removed his hand off her arms, and walked away.

She stopped as he pulled her hand from behind, she closed her eyes as she said,

'haath chodein mera...' she commanded, only for him to pull her towards him, as they were just a metre apart from each other, when she opened her eyes to him.

'bas meri yeh baat sun lo, please...' requested dushyant.

'jab tumne mujhse kaha tumhe bache chahiye, i...was scared, but that doesn't matter, as i promised to always keep you happy, and that's all that matters...so if you want this child, we'll have it...' confessed dushyant, as ishita averted her gaze back to him, and stopped resisting his embrace.

'are you serious?' asked ishita, as dushyant nodded in agreement.

'you don't have to do this...if you...' said ishita, when he placed a finger on her lip.

'you can decide to not have kids because i don't want to, i can't decide to have kids because you do? Not fair..' he said as he lifted the finger off her lips.

'so, we are doing this?' asked ishita, as she was about to burst in happiness.

'we are...' replied dushyant, as a smile crept onto his face.

'i am scared...' whispered ishita, reciprocating with a smile.

'i am scared too...' he replied as he patted her nose lovingly, as she looked down.

The moment had overwhelmed her with emotions, she couldn't hold it in as she just buried her face in his chest and he gave her a tiny kiss on the forehead.

'i love you...' she said, still in the hug, not wanting to leave his embrace.

'i love you, too...' he said as he hugged her tightly.