Pin drop silence.
Naina expected them to jump out of happiness, but all she got to witness was their shocked expression.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy for them to digest the piece of information she exploded out of the blue.
Sameer instinctively dropped his widened gaze on her stomach, his heartbeats as slow as they could be to not even make him feel alive anymore, his black eyes started to moisture soon when he shiveringly stretched his large hands and rested them on either side of her lean shoulders, carefully lifting his winged lashes to look into her warm orbs and try to understand the alien feelings he was having in his heart -- He didn't realize when he took a step ahead, almost brushing his knuckles under her cascading teardrops, not even blinking his eyes because he knew he would cry.
He audibly gulped down, the wild rush of torrid heat skimming through his forehead to his chest in the form of sweat not bothering him anymore because all he cared about was the sentence he did not expect to hear -- Not at least when they mutually not planned for it.
"Are you...sure?" He paused for a moment before regaining his voice to ask her with heavy eyes.
"Yes!" Naina gently nodded her head and brought her right hand closer to his left palm which was settled on her shoulder. She dragged it down and lovingly squeezed the feeling of overwhelmedness and shock while tucking her lower lip below her teeth, her soft rubbing on the back of his palm moderately tranquilizing his inner turbulence.
Sameer had no clue why he was not able to fight with the furious battle running inside him for the fact that...his wife was...Pregnant.
Even his thoughts were halting now and then and making him feel completely blank, hot droplets streaming down his rugged cheeks without any consideration when he unknowingly moved his thumb on her fleshy skin and tried to understand the depth of those precious words he longed to hear from three-seventy-one days.
He is certainly dreaming.
He is imagining all these beautiful moments out of yearning.
There's no way Naina was expecting their child.
No, it can't be real.
Heck, how can he even believe the information she shared with him?
She has warned him more than ten times to never bring up the unpleasant topic of planning a baby between them before two/three years. She hated and lambasted him in a sharp tone whenever he unintentionally sneered at her regarding her procrastination for the baby he always ached to hold in his strong arms and make her sit on his broad shoulders to show her the gorgeous world from the top with dreams and wonders knitting in her tiny eyes while falling in love with the mesmerizing ocean, its peerless beauty, the deep vastness of color-changing skies, the melodious sounds of birds happily flying around the fluffy clouds to enjoy their freedom.
For him, having a child never meant hindering the growth of her career -- He wanted to embrace a child because he wanted to feel reborn again -- As a child -- he wished to do everything for his baby which he hopelessly longed for his father to do for him and his sister.
People might see him as a peculiar guy with arrogance always worn on his face, but they have never seen the battered Sameer who was recklessly beaten by his own father, almost every night he would return home in a thoroughly intoxicated condition -- Who once wished to elope from his house and hide himself at a safe place, only if he did not have his delicate Elder Sister and weeping Mother at home -- Who was compelled by the endless atrocities to think of murdering his father and get rid of his cruelty and physical abuse permanently -- Who cried his heart out like a vulnerable child and watched his mother and sister suffering from the mental torture and simultaneously struggling to look after their needs -- Who witnessed his fragile sister trying to commit suicide and annihilate herself for once and all due to the heartless man's known as their Father limitless painful beatings.
