by MV Kasi
The stunned nurse was gaping at her. "B-but you had ordered...but you had planned. I-I..." She flustered for a while. Then taking a deep breath, she managed to calm herself, and finally opened the calendar to make the follow up appointment.
Sia regretted snapping at the nurse.
It was quite rare for her to snap at someone. Because losing patience meant losing control. And having control was the only way to ensure that you had control of things happening in your life. And now because of her momentary loss of patience, she had let out the fact that she wasn't married.
The nurse knowing that fact shouldn't really matter that much. But she still felt it was an unnecessary risk.
"I have blocked a slot for your next check up, Miss Sampath. You will get a reminder call and a text message before your appointment," said the nurse, adopting a more professional tone.
Sia nodded.
Meantime, Dr. Rey returned to the examination room with a few paper bags in hand. "Here you go, Miss. Sampath," she said, as she handed the prenatal vitamins along with other medications. "You are running a little low on iron. That's what is causing you to feel a little weak and dizzy these days. I have written down the instructions for the daily prescriptions."
"Thanks," said Sia, placing the prescriptions into her bag.
"Please don't hesitate to reach out to me for any further questions," said Dr. Rey with a tentative smile.
Sia looked at the doctor levelly. "Dr. Rey, I want you to know that I've chosen this hospital and you in particular, because I expect a very high level of service."
The doctor looked disconcerted. "Of course, Miss Sampath. All of our patients can vouch—"
"I've repeatedly told you during all of my visits that I want to keep my medical history including my latest...condition, confidential. I don't want to be discussed, even amongst the hospital staff," she said, looking pointedly at the nurse who was now embarrassed.
Sia knew she was putting the well-intentioned nurse on the spot. But she couldn't afford to take any chances. There were bigger things at stake than some woman's feelings.
The doctor glared at the nurse, causing her to scamper away with a look of shame.
"I understand that Miss Sampath. You don't have to worry about it. It's in our policy to always keep our patient's information confidential. No one outside the hospital—in fact, no one apart from me and the nurse know about the treatment you have been taking so far. Our hospital records, including the appointments indicate that you were undergoing cosmetic procedures," explained the doctor.
"That's good. I'll see you next month then," said Sia.
Then picking up her purse, she walked out of the room, heading towards the exit.
And when she reached the exit door, she drew out her umbrella from the purse.
It had been raining heavily in Hyderabad since the past few weeks. And even though the city was bustling with traffic and the crowds, the dark ominous clouds in the sky made the surroundings gloomy.
Quickly, she went towards the lone car that had been waiting outside for her. It was deliberately parked away from the entrance and garage to avoid scrutiny.
Sliding into the front seat, she closed the umbrella before shutting the door close. And then, she turned to look at the tall, muscular man seated in the driver's seat.
His head was turned halfway, looking towards her, but not quite making eye contact. He was waiting for her to break the news.
She stared at his perfectly flawless features, contrasting with a wicked looking, jagged scar on his cheek. She also noticed that his hands were trembling slightly, displaying his anxiety.
"It's done. I'm pregnant," she announced quietly.
Satisfaction and relief flared in the man's eyes at the news.
"Good. I was worried that you wouldn't conceive through natural means this soon. And that we'd have to try—"
"I know."
"When will the baby arrive?" he asked impatiently.
"Eight and a half months from now. Four months before I turn twenty five."
Frustration tore into his face. "God, I hate this waiting. It's killing me each day thinking about the other—"
"I have been thinking about the same thing too, Varun. But I've told you several times, we have to do this the right way, or we'll risk everything. There's nothing much we can do, or should even try to do, until this baby is born. We have to lay low as much as possible."
"I know," said Varun with a frustrated sigh, resting the back of his head on the seat, trying to stop the now visible trembling of his entire body.
The rain had picked up, and it almost blinded the visibility to the outside world.
Sia and Varun remained quiet, lost in their own thoughts, thinking of the upcoming storm, both on the inside and the outside.
Finally, it was Varun who broke the silence.
"So...when are you breaking the joyous news to the soon-to-be-father?"
CHAPTER TWO
AJAY MANTHENA WAS preparing to step out for what his friends had termed as a fun evening out. Although, calling it an evening was quite an exaggeration. Their evening would definitely last until early hours of the next day.
"God! Jay, you are already becoming boring and serious, without a speck of fun remaining in you. And to think, you are the leader of our pack. Come on man, this is going to be the first of your bachelor parties. Live your life to the fullest. As it is your days are numbered now," said an exasperated man's voice on the speakerphone.
Ajay laughed at his friend's exaggeration.
"Harsha, I just need to drop by at Jo's place for a few minutes to finalize the invitation cards. I should be able to meet you guys by ten," he said.
"Ten! What will you do at Jo's place for that long? Knowing Jo, she'll put you to sleep, and not in a good way. Call her and tell her highness that it's not possible to meet tonight," said Harsha.
Ajay was still staring at the cards that his soon-to-be fiancée, Jyotika had dropped a week before. He was to decide which ones he liked the best for their formal engagement invitations.
He didn't particularly care about the cards, but Jyotika and her family were so enthusiastic about planning every intricate detail of the engagement party, that he felt compelled to participate in some of the planning.
"Be nice, Harsha," he said absently, more on habit.
"Or what? You'll tell Jo? That is quite a threat. She might actually kill me. Simply by conversing with me for an hour, or rather lecturing me about what is possibly wrong with me and my life."
Ajay frowned, still staring at the cards in his hands. "Harsha..." he warned.
But his friend as usual chose to ignore it.
"I seriously don't know how you ended up choosing her as your would-be fiancée, Jay. It's Jo for heaven's sake!"
Ever since Ajay had gotten unofficially engaged to Jyotika two months ago, Harsha had been discussing or rather whining about the same topic, over and over.
"Jo has been my best friend for a long time. We connect well, and we have the same life aspirations, and we also work well together," Ajay replied automatically, his mind most on trying to decide which invitation card to pick.
Deciding to forgo the heavy ornate gold-plated one, he picked up the simpler card that informed the guests of the event, and provided them with the logistics.
"Would you listen to yourself man?" Harsha interrupted. "You are killing me here. You are twenty five, not thirty five! And that nonsense sounds like something Jo would mouth. Have the same life aspirations and work well together? Who on earth chooses their life partner based on that!"
Ajay sighed at his friend's rant. "Harsha, don't give Jo a hard time when you meet her tomorrow, alright? Last time, she took your little joke to heart and is still mad at you."
Harsha, Jyotika and he had known each other since they were twelve. They grew up together in the same neighborhood. But Jo had always been closer to him. And these days due to Harsha's pranks, Jo barely tolerated him, saying that he never took anything serious
ly in his life.
"You used to join me in teasing Jo. I don't know what the hell happened to you during the past two months. You still have time to back out, Jay. You don't even look at Jo the way a man in love...or even a man in lust is supposed to look. "
Ajay was beginning to get irritated with the conversation that seemed to be getting too repetitive over the last two months. "Stop it, Harsha. I already told you. I love Jo, and I know she loves me too. That's what really matters."
Harsha snorted rudely. "Actually, it doesn't. I do agree that you do love her. But as a sister. A bossy and a busybody one at that. It's so very obvious that there's no passion or urgency between the two of you. If you are getting married, then at least marry someone you have the hots for. Someone to look forward to spending the rest of your life with—gag!—just one woman."
A woman's face flashed in Ajay's mind at the words—passion and urgency.
He shook his head to get rid of the other images that particular woman's face brought.
"I'll meet you at ten, Harsha," he said, picking up his car keys, getting ready to head to Jyotika's house. "Oh, and by the way, we also need to discuss the Shah and Co account. They want security extended to ten of their new branches. I'll give you information about the store codes while I—" he broke off midsentence when he saw the intercom phone buzzing.
With an image of a woman flashing on the screen.
"Harsha, I've got to leave now. I have a...visitor."
Before Harsha could ask him any more questions, Ajay hung up, and answered the new call. His building security asked him if they could send a woman up to his place.
Snapping out of his trance, by peeling his eyes away from the woman's beautiful, somber face, he said, "Yes. Send her up," and then waited by the door impatiently.
And when the doorbell rang, he opened it almost immediately, simply to see if his mind was playing tricks on him.
But it was really her.
It was almost like his mind had conjured her in person, simply because he had thought of her a few minutes ago.
CHAPTER THREE
SIA STOOD CASUALLY at the doorstep with her usual unreadable expression.
"Hello Ajay," she greeted politely. "Congratulations. Heard you are getting married soon."
Ajay didn't reply.
She looked at the car keys in his hands. "I didn't really want to interrupt your plans this evening, but I had to drop by to let you know about something important," she said.
When he didn't still respond and looked at her stonily, she decided to rip the Band-Aid off. "I’m pregnant," she blurted.
Her statement made the man in front of her look like he had been punched in the gut.
"What?" he asked in shock, finally responding.
"I'm pregnant. And the baby is...yours," she said in a flat tone.
Ajay didn't move. He stood at his doorstep, looking stunned. As though he was trying to figure out whether or not this was really happening to him, or if he was simply trapped inside a nightmare.
'Welcome to my messed up world,' she thought as her hands began to shake slightly.
Even though she had received the news of her pregnancy a month ago, she still felt shaken.
She thought she had plenty of time before she had to tell Ajay about it. But when she heard the news of his impending engagement to some other woman, she had to move quickly with a plan B. And so far, plan B had several holes in it.
She hated any kind of surprises in her well-planned life. But fortunately, she was quite sure she would be able to manage someone like Ajay.
Ajay still kept staring at her. And when he didn’t ask her in, or move away from the doorway, she walked inside his home.
She sat on one of the sofas. And to distract herself, she looked around his penthouse.
She had been to his place before. Two months ago, to be exact. But that particular night, she had been too busy being consumed by the man in front of her to be able to observe the finer details of his home.
At least not the living area. His bedroom and bathroom, she remembered pretty well...
Tearing her thoughts away from that night, she continued her perusal of Ajay's place.
The penthouse looked like a typical bachelor pad with lots of leather furniture and modern electronics. A huge, brown, leather sectional recliner was placed at the center of the room. It faced a large television set that was surrounded by even larger speakers. And on the opposite side, a tall glass window covered almost an entire wall.
She had vaguely remembered seeing a breathtaking, brightly lit city view that night. Before Ajay had pulled her inside his bedroom and kicked the door shut.
She moved her gaze to his kitchen.
For someone who was a bachelor, Ajay's kitchen looked well-equipped with several modern appliances. A tall bar counter height dining table was placed next to a long breakfast island. It was large enough to accommodate over a dozen people easily.
Ajay probably entertained a lot. Because unlike her, he was the kind who would love having people over.
The exterior of his apartment building screamed exclusive and high-end. But the entire decor of his penthouse was veering towards comfortable, and it was tastefully furnished without screaming look-at-me, or I'm-so-successful.
It suited him.
It looked normal and inviting without being sprinkled with useless, expensive showpieces.
The walls had several framed pictures of him with other people. In some of them, he appeared to be quite young. He looked happy in all of them, flashing his dimples with a naughty smile.
She didn't have a single picture of her own childhood memories. Her aunt—who was actually her adoptive mother—hadn't been interested or the type to take pictures. All she had were a few class pictures from the various schools she had to change...
"Mrs. Sampath, while we are indebted to you for the large donation to our school, we cannot continue having Sia at our school. There are way too many complaints—"
Her aunt looked towards her angrily for a brief moment, and when saw the usual blank expressionless look on her face, she turned back to speak with the school principal.
"Sia is just adjusting to her new school. She has already changed schools twice this year. If you let her go, I don't know if anyone else would be willing to take her in."
The school principal looked sympathetic but shook his head. "I'm really sorry, Mrs. Sampath. But we can't allow other students to be exposed to that kind of behavior. Our school is one of the best private schools in Boston, and we take our reputation very seriously."
"Sia is a good girl. Her grades are excellent. She only acted that way because she had a few crushes on some of those boys. I'll make sure she doesn't repeat it again," her aunt promised.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Sampath. But it's not just about having a few crushes. She had sex with ten different boys within three weeks of school," he stated.
Her aunt inhaled sharply with shock. But she continued trying to convince the principal. "Please, I'll increase the donation. You must know that teenagers are usually hormonal—"
"Mrs. Sampath, Sia is not a teenager. She's only twelve! We don't want to risk accusations of statutory rape, even though the boys were under aged too. They all swore that Sia had insisted and coerced them to perform those acts with her."
At the age of twelve, she had been diagnosed of having sex addiction.
And later, as she grew older, she had other addictions added to the mix.
She recalled seeing a few pictures of herself during that time. And most of those pictures were taken by others, and uploaded on the social media, bragging about their booze and dope filled parties.
Clearing her head to get rid of those memories, she continued looking around. Her eyes stopped and fell on the cards lying on a side table next to her.
They appeared to be Ajay's engagement invitations.
Mr. and Mrs. Ram Mohan invite you to their eldest daughter Jyotika Ram Mohan's engagement ceremony to Ajay Man
thena. We cordially request—
"We used protection that night," Ajay's voice interrupted her.
She dragged her gaze away from the cards to look at him. He looked as though he was finally managing to pull it together.
"Condoms are not effective always," she murmured, looking back at the cards with a lot of interest.
There was a loaded silence.
"I'll need proof that the baby is mine. I'll also be picking the doctor and the hospital to get the paternity tested," he stated.
Sia nodded, still looking at the cards in utter fascination. "Of course. Whenever it's safe enough to do the test, I'll let you know."
Peeling her eyes away from the cards, she looked at him expressionlessly. "Look Ajay. This visit was only to inform you. You don’t have to worry about being responsible in any way," she said, subtly stressing on the word, responsible.
She had known Ajay for only eight months. But during that time, she had gathered enough information about him to know what made him tick. And what triggered his protective instincts.
"What do you mean?" he demanded with a frown.
"Exactly what I said. This is more of an FYI visit, rather than me trying to claim some rights or support for my unborn child."
His jaw clenched slightly. "It will be my unborn child too, and I will want to do more than simply support. We both need to—" he broke off when his phone began to ring loudly on the coffee table between them.
Ajay's fiancée's face was flashing on the screen.
Jyotika, his pretty fiancée was a complete opposite of her. The one time they had bumped into each other, she could feel the warmth and love radiating from Jyotika towards Ajay.
In a perfect world where life was fair, Ajay would soon be married to Jyotika, and they would live a happy normal life, like a regular happy couple.
Unfortunately, life was never perfect. Or fair.
"I know you must be busy. I've got to leave as well. I'll keep in touch," she said, and then paused deliberately. She stared at him with a serious look on her face. "Or maybe not. You really don't have to be involved in any way with my child, Ajay."