I am back with another installment. There is some mature matter in this particular update, content wise. I hope it doesn't offend anyone. Synopsis - SaaVan at doctor visit and beginning of double date
Episode #6
It was time for Saachi's monthly check-up. Shravan was not going to miss it. He had told Pratap not to give him any new clients, had cleared his schedule for that afternoon and finished reading all the contracts and sending out all the emails and called it a day at the office. Shravan drove Saachi to the Women's Health Office and stepped into the doctor's waiting room. Shravan had never seen so many pregnant women assembled in one place. He felt very uncomfortable. He asked Saachi how long the wait usually was, as he was kind of feeling awkward and all he could do was think about ondas and hens. Saachi told him it wouldn't be long and to pick up a magazine. Shravan picked up the nearest thing on the table, You and Your Baby magazine. He flipped through. Okay, pregnant woman, more pregnant women, woman with new baby – holy moly what is that! Shravan stared at the advert for the Medela Hand Held Breast Pump. Oh no no no, too much information too much information. He tried but he could not put it down, he read the description: tubings, comfort fit cups, oh geez, three levels of suction. He closed the magazine and looked at Saachi aghast. 'Kya hua Shravanji?, 'Kuch nahin, kuch nahin. Interesting magazine.' , he gulped down hard. There are things a man should know, he thought; this is definitely not one of them.
Inside the doctor's chamber, Dr. Mira Agarwal checked Saachi's weight and progress. She draped the cover over Saachi's abdomen and placed the Doppler device on her belly. Saachi once again heard the rapid beating of the baby's heart. This and the sonogram were Saachi's favorite parts of the monthly checkups. She looked over at Shravan to see his reaction. He looked confused.
'Mr. Jaiswal, that is your child's heartbeat.' said Dr. Agarwal.
'Really? Rail gadi jaise sound? Woh chug chug chug chug?'
'Yes sir.'
'It's really fast. This kid is running a 5K already!?'
'No Mr. Jaiswal, this is absolutely normal when the fetus is this size. You are fine Mrs. Jaiswal. Just hold on a moment, while I get the sono ready.'
As Dr. Agarwal froze the screen on an image and measured. Shravan looked at the image of the rajma again. There were various bubbles and what not. Shravan had no idea what to make of the vision.
'Dr. Agarwal, where is the baby? I don't see anything except that little bundle of something but then it moves and disappears.'
'Mr. Jaiswal, this is the baby. ', she highlighted the shape, 'this is the head and these are the legs. Do you see.'
'Doctor, all I see is some little blob and a blinking light like on my phone that tells me I have messages.'
'That blinking light, sir, that is the heartbeat.'
'Sach?', Shravan was gobsmacked. There before him, was proof, that he was going to be a father and what he was staring at was his child. He had created this. That was part of him. He felt very emotional and cleared his throat. 'Doctor, can I have a screen shot?'
'Yes Mr. Jaiswal, I will give you an image scan.', Dr. Agarwal said.
'Ma'am, is there a way to tell if it is a boy or girl?', Shravan asked.
'Shravanji! I do not want to know. Why do you want to know?'
'Nahin, Saachi, it's just that if it's a boy, I didn't see an indication if you know what I mean.' Shravan murmured under his breath, but loud enough for the doctor to hear.
'Oh geez! Doctor, please explain to my husband. Dear God, sometimes I feel as if I am being punished.'
'Me too also yaar being punished.' Shravan mocked right back to Saachi.
'Mr. Jaiswal, at this point in the pregnancy, we cannot see anything in the sonogram as gender organ development is noticeable a little bit later. As it is, in the early days of pregnancy, the fetus exhibits both male and female organs and then later….'
'WHAT!!!! Both?!? Yeh koi multiple choice cheez hai that you can tick D for all of the above? Oh goodness. Saachi, you know about this. For real or is this from some science fiction movie?'
'Mr. Jaiswal, one gender will take over. But, this is true of all fetal development in all cases. We are done in the exam room, if you would come with me Mr. and Mrs. Jaiswal to my cabin.'
Shravan turned and spoke to Saachi. 'Thank god. Can you just imagine – some heshe shehe whoshe whohe baby!! When one gender is decided, I do not have to know which one, all I want to know is, it is just one. Bas. You will just have to tell me that one thing.'
Shravan helped Saachi down from the exam table. He remembered the blinking light. She had it in her. He felt very protective of her suddenly. He wanted to give her a hug at that moment very badly. Lately, he had noticed he had been fighting these urges quite often. One morning, he had not even bothered to move his hand from her waist, it felt like it belonged there. But today, he fought the impulse and gave her a warm smile and held her hand tightly instead as they made their way to the cabin. Saachi also took notice.
The doctor then discussed whether Saachi was feeling the baby move. Shravan was surprised by this question as he didn't think anything that small could register any movement. Saachi said yes.
'Doctor, sometimes it feels like butterflies.'
'Are you sure that's not you just being hungry? Doctor, she is eating everything in sight these days. I mean even more than me, which is saying A LOT.'
'Mr. Jaiswal, it is completely normal. She is taking the prenatal vitamins which always increase an expectant mother's appetite. And yes Mrs. Jaiswal that is an apt description of what it feels like at this stage in the pregnancy. Speaking on the topic of appetite, it is completely normal for you Mrs. Jaiswal to have an increase in urge for marital relations due to your hormones. You should not feel something is wrong.'
'EXCUSE ME DOCTOR?' – Shravan rose from his seat – 'Why is everyone talking about our marital relations! First Niddhi bhabi, then Bunty, now you!! What business is it of yours what relation is there between me and Saachi? Kya rishta hai, how it is, what it is, contract yes, contract no, why do you need to know? If we are friends or if we are not just friends, why are you suggesting she change our rishta due to hormones. Have I walked into the Love Doctor's office to get advice….'
'SHRAVANJI! That is not what she means. Calm down. She means that due to changes in my body, I will be feeling – oh Ramji how do I explain!!! Dr. Agarwal is saying that if I feel more of an urge for 'hua' than the urge for 'nahin', that that is normal. Get it.'
Shravan looked at Saachi from the corner of his eye and his mouth fell open. He felt his face getting hot and his ears were burning.
'Mr. Jaiswal, I am talking about your INTIMATE marital relations with your wife.', Dr. Agarwal said with a raised eyebrow.
'Bas, haan, yes Dr. Agarwal, I understand. But please please, I don't want, I can't have this discussion. The baby is fine, Saachi is fine. I got to see blinking, Light and Sound baby program…it's all good. I am just going to wait outside while you have this discussion with Saachi. Okay? Okay.', Shravan said as he rose up and walked backwards towards the door. He shook Dr. Agarwal's hand and shot out the door. There was sweat on his brow.
Saachi was only in the doctor's office for another five minutes or so and came out to see Shravan sitting in the waiting room, arms crossed, staring up at the ceiling.
'Chalo. I am done.'
'Saachi – you should have warned me about all this. I thought I was going for a checkup, not Love Guru session.'
'Shravanji, this was a completely standard checkup. How come you jump to the conclusion that everyone is talking about our relationship at the drop of a hat. What exactly did Bunty tell you?'
'Nothing. Regular Bunty bakwaas baat. Let's go home.'
Shravan mulled over the events of that visit in his head. It seemed that everywhere he turned and looked and thought, he came back to Saachi and their relationship.
Saturday – Double Date
Saachi left right after lunch to meet Shreya at the mall. She had called Shravan to let him know not to be late to the Hilltop Caf. She had told him how much she looked forward to today as they also had not gone out alone is a very long time. She warned Shravan she was bringing a big appetite. Shravan thought what else is new.
Shravan arrived at the caf and asked for his reservation. He was shown to a nice table near the band, overlooking the wonderful valley. Bunty was already waiting.
'Hi Shravan!'
'Hi Bunty! How was work?'
'Was good. How about you?'
'We are still busy. Seems like everyone wants to go on vacation somewhere. How is bhabi, you still 'just friends?', Bunty smirked.
'Saachi is good. Baby is good. You won't believe the kind of things that go on at OB/GYN office. I do not recommend going without proper preparation. I was thoroughly unprepared. And yes we are still just friends.'
'Okay Shravan. Look around here at the caf. The place is packed with eligible ladkis. Which girl interests you here?'
'What the hell are you talking about?'
'Shravan. Bhabi and you are just friends, na? Since you came back from Mumbai, you haven't gotten back into action. So tell me, who would you like to go up and talk to? Look at that one. She's your 'type', you know like Tara – your ex-'bestest' friend. Go on, jao and let's see how it goes.'
Shravan looked around the caf. There were in fact many young women there. Some of them quite attractive. Many of them on the dance floor. Some even looking his way. But Shravan did not have the desire to talk to any of them.
'Bunty, come on. I am not interested.'
'Oh Shravan. Don't be so embarrassed. I'll go and ask for you.' Bunty got up to leave the table and Shravan quickly grabbed Bunty's arm and yanked him back down.
'Don't even think about it, okay.'
'Why, Shravan? You are not in a serious committed relationship. Why not have some fun?'
'Bunty, I am married.'
'Achha? You are married faithful husband now. What happened to just friends?'
'No Bunty, I meant I am going to be a father and…'
'Shravan save it. You said you were married. That's the first reason that came out of your mouth, not you are a father. Dekh Shravan, even when you were with Tara, you still spoke to and flirted with other girls. You don't even do that now. You treat this rishta with bhabi as a true marriage, you are not looking for another woman, in fact you are not even interested, you call her your wife and in public, do you see yourself? You feel there is a relation, it's written all over your face, but you are such a pighead, you call it friendship.'
'Bunty, yaar, it is...'
'Shut up Shravan. It is NOT. In public, you act like her husband. In private, you act like her husband. She has always accepted you as her husband and gives you those rights and honors the vows of marriage. You do it also, you duffer. You light up when you see her. Your whole face becomes tender. Every time I talk to you, her name is on your lips. You are not interested in anyone else because you cannot imagine yourself without bhabi.'
Shravan was taken aback. Bunty was Shravan's closest friend and knew Shravan inside out. He was the first one to tell Shravan that Tara was not for him. He was the first one to tell him that the one who understood him and let him be the true Shravan was Saachi. And now he was saying that all these feelings that were building inside of Shravan had been visible to the outside world. For weeks, that something more had been plaguing Shravan's mind and here, Bunty had read his mind and laid in all out in plain language. The world could see Saachi was something more. The realization for Shravan was almost there. Shravan saw Bunty was not finished. He held his breath, in his sixth sense he knew what Bunty was going to say.
'This is friendship? Bull. It's something more. This is love Shravan. This is a real marriage. This will exist beyond the life of the paper it's written on, beyond six months, because you never want it to end. Admit it, you love bhabi. You don't know how to live without her anymore and when you remember what it was like before, you never want to go back. You love her. Admit it to yourself and to bhabi.'
Shravan looked at Bunty, his eyes wide after hearing so very clearly what had been fogging up his heart and mind. Bunty smiled back at Shravan. 'I see you agree with me yaar. You are just scared. Who cares when it happened, why it happened. Just be happy it happened. Tell her.'
'Oh Bunty man. How am I going to do this?' Shravan put his face in his hands and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath in and out. When he finally lifted his gaze, he saw Shreya and Saachi standing at the table.
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