Reconciliation

Chapter 13 : Baby Shower

Avni was discharged after four days.

Her breathing had normalized and both the babies looked in good health too. Moreover, she was fussing in the hospital about having to eat ice chips to satisfy her food cravings. Neil was getting good food from the canteen and Ali's café but she only got a bite of the latter's.

"Why are you even sitting here?" Avni almost yelled, when Neil was eating sambar dosa sitting on the couch and she had to drink a vegetable soup. "To give you company!" Neil said, protesting a little.

"No one cares about me." Avni said, crying as she forcefully pushed the soup away. "Hey hey hey. Avi no...Avi please don't cry." Neil cooed her immediately after consuming the last bite of his dosa. "You stay away from me Khanna!" She shrieked and lied down, turning her back on Neil.

Her bad mood stayed so until she was taken back home and carried upstairs to their room by Neil. Ali had come to meet her and hugged the life out of her to congratulate her about the twins. On Neil's insistence, Ali had prepared special delicacies with less of spices specially for Avni.

"Sit comfortably and eat." Neil told her when she was about to pounce on her food. He did receive loads of compliments from her afterwards, how he was the best husband and how she and the babies were lucky to have him. "Didn't you hate him a day ago?" Neela Ma asked, frowning over Avni's mood swings.

Avni was now in the twenty fifth week of her pregnancy. Her baby bump was definitely very visible and uncomfortable too. Her organs totally felt out of place to her and she had this constant urge to pee all the time.

Dr. Dipika had said that the babies were now utilizing their lungs and their skin would be getting more 'skinnish like'. They sure did move around a lot and once or twice Avni did scream out in pain too.

Their babies remained calm during the day but at night, just when Avni would be about to sleep, they would shift inside of her constantly. She felt one of the babies kick her too, perhaps a little more enthusiastically.

"I can see the feet moving." Neil whispered bracingly when Avni cried out in pain and he consoled her. "If one of them doesn't become a footballer, I'm disowning him or her." She said, tears streaming down her cheeks as she clutched the bed sheet tightly.

"Shall I take you to the hospital?" Neil asked, worried seeing her in so much pain. "Call Dipika!" Avni almost shrieked and threw herself in Shweta's arms who came in their room at once.

Dipika had advised Avni to take a little walk. Apparently the buns in the oven felt relaxed when they experienced motion. Avni was supported by Neil who had his arms wrapped around her shoulders as she took little steps into the room itself, definitely feeling at peace.

It would have been a bearable baby bump had she been blessed with a single baby. The twins made it difficult and only she knew how she was not swearing and controlling her tongue in front of her mother in law.

Avni almost felt like collapsing under the weight attached to her body but walked somehow, now supported by Shweta and Neil both. The enthusiastic little tyke had calmed down and wasn't kicking anymore, much to her relief.

Neil stood awake the entire night, putting Avni to sleep and talking to his babies in hushed tones after she had slept. "Baby please don't trouble your mommy." He whispered over and over again, kissing her belly after each command.

He kept his warm palm over the spot where he felt a little shift in the babies' position and caressed that spot, as if putting his baby to sleep through an impenetrable barrier. 

His focus then shifted to the mother who looked visibly strained with the pain today. He peppered her face with feathery light kisses and massaged her head until the creases on her forehead loosened.