Hai Tujhe Bhi Izazat

Epilogue

Aaradhya was worried as she cooked the dinner. Abhi went to attend a conference in Mumbai three days ago and was coming back today. She has not been feeling well since then. She understood the symptoms. And today when she received her reports, it was confirmed. She was pregnant. But they have not planned it. She was happy but she remembered her conversation with Abhi.

They will celebrate their second anniversary in four months. They have decided to think about starting a family after three years at least. There were many things they wanted to do first. The most important thing was to start their hospital. They have planned everything and it is all going well till now. But it needs their time and full focus.

What if Abhi is not ready for this responsibility now? She knows him well. If she wants to keep the child he would agree with her without any hesitation. But she wants him to keep it because of his own will. She wants him to be happy about it, not to take it as a burden.

She was so busy with her thoughts that she did not notice him entering the kitchen until two pairs of hands engulfed her in a tight hug from behind.

"I missed you," he mumbled kissing her head softly.

Aaradhya smiled turning towards him, hugging him tightly. He must be tired from all the travelling, she will talk to him about it tomorrow.

"I made all your favourite dishes," she told him.

"Where is Maya Aunty?" he asked. He loves when she cooks but he doesn't want her to cook all by herself. The hospital is hectic itself. He is a terrible cook so they have hired a house help.

"She went to a relative's marriage," she told him, turning off the stove.

"You don't need to exhaust yourself with all this work," he told her, taking out the plates.

"What are you doing? Go and sit there. I'll do that," she said taking the plates from him.

"I said you don't have to exhaust yourself...."

"I heard that. And I am not tired. Just go and sit there," she said rolling her eyes.

They had their dinner with Abhi telling Aaradhya about everything that happened in Mumbai, leaving the detail of how one of the female nurses tried to flirt with him on every chance she got. And Aaradhya shared her routine, leaving the obvious detail.

"Are you alright?" Abhi asked when he saw her eating beetroot salad without him forcing her to eat it. She would do anything but eat it. They had a deal, he would buy her an ice cream after eating that tasteless thing, as she called it. But how was she eating it herself now?

"I... I... am fine. Why?" she asked looking like a deer caught in the headlight. Why was he asking her that? Did he see her report? She remembers keeping it in her almirah.

"Ok. Now seriously, what is wrong?" he asked looking at her expression. He asked a simple question, that too playfully. But her behaviour tells him something is not right and she is not meeting his eyes, something she does when she hides something.

"It's...I..." Aaradhya could not stop herself from crying. She started crying and Abhi panicked.

"Aaradhya! What's wrong? Don't cry, please. It's fine..." he said, offering her water and she sipped it slowly.

After some time when she was comparatively calm and her crying had stopped, she looked at him with glossy eyes.

"I...I had some tests done. And it came positive. We are pregnant," she finally told him.

It took him a second to absorb the piece of information he just received.

"So why are you crying? You....you don't want to keep it?" he asked a little hesitantly.