Taking the steps to at a time, Arnav headed up the stairs to his room. He quietly opened t door not wanting to wake up Khushi, but when he walked in he heard the shower on and knew that she must be awake. He threw his jacket on the recliner and headed over to the cupboard to take out his clothes, but stopped in his steps when he heard the sound of something falling behind him. When he turned around to where the sound came from, he saw a plate of jalebi's lying down on the ground, with the floor covered in the jalebis and Laxmi next to it trying to lick them.

"What the!" he exclaimed as he went towards it but the goat scurried and escaped through the french doors that went to the poolside, and he was left there with a mess of jalebis in front of him. He went around to pick up the mess up, and then he decided he'd call Hariprakash to mop it up so that it wouldn't stay sticky. As he was doing that, the door from the bathroom opened and Khushi walked out. She saw Arnav crouched down on the floor, what was he doing? She thought confused and walked over to him, "Arnav what are you doing?"

"Woh ... I'm just cleaning up the mess," he said picking up the jalebis and putting them back on the plate.

"How did that happen?" she asked confused.

"Laxmi knocked it down," he replied getting up and turning around towards her.

"Where did you get the jalebis from?" Khushi asked.

"Remember last night you asked me to get jalebis for you, so I got them but apparently you were sleeping so I kept them on the bedside hoping you'd eat them when you woke up but seems like you didn't see them and then this happened," he told her motioning to the gooey on the floor.

"But where? There couldn't have been a single sweet shop open that late," she said.

" I uh ... I ...," he started but couldn't get the words out.

"Did you wake up Hariprakashji to make jalebis for me?!" she said in a higher voice and then slapped her head.

"NO NO, of course not," he said and thought about it for a second; how awkward would it have been asking HP to wake up and make jalebis for his wife in them middle of the night, that would've been such an embarrassing moment.

"Don't tell me you called Aman in the middle of the night and ask him to find some?" she exclaimed and turned away from him.

"Aman had nothing to do with it," he said moving towards her, "I made them."

"What the!" he heard from her and she turned around towards him, her eyes wide.

"Arnav Singh Raizada made jalebis?" she asked him in between her giggles and clutching her stomach trying to stop laughing.

"Yeah so?" he asked.

"Wait till I tell Di," she said and made an escape to leave but was pulled back by a tug in her wrists, her back against his front.

"You are not going to tell anyone," he said leaning up close.

"Someone scared?" she said tilting her head to look at him with a pout.

"Why should I be?" he replied.

"Then it won't matter if I tell or not," Khushi said trying to control her smile. Teasing her husband wasn't something she got to do all the time and now that she had the chance, she wasn't going to let slip that easily.

"But Khushi..." he tried reasoning with her and she took that opportunity to get out if his hold as run out if the room with her laughter echoing the halls. And he ran after her trying to catch up, "Khushi careful!" he yelled seeing her look back at him and not noticing the rug a few feet in front of her that was disorientated on the side. Arnav picked up his speed after her and grabbed her hand and swung her around, causing his foot to get caught in the rug and he fell backwards, with Khushi on top of him, her neck cradled in his neck.

"What the hell were you thinking Khushi? What if something happened to you or the child?" He asked her once they were standing up, rage visible in his voice. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, then turned away for a few seconds then back to her. Khushi was trying to control the tears from coming out, but miserably was failing at it and they slowly made their way down her cheeks. With the back of her hand she quickly wiped them off, but that didn't help as many more brimmed her eyes.

"Khushi ...," Arnav whispered and took her into a hug, "Please don't cry," he said patting her head and rubbing one hand up and down her back.

"I.. I'...m s..orr...ryy," she said between her muffled voice, her tears soaking up his shirt.

"You don't need to apologize for anything," he told her, "Just please be more careful; if anything happened to you or the child, I would never be able to forgive myself."

"Now let's get you back to the room, I'll tell Hariprakash to bring up your breakfast," he said lifting her.

*****************************

Arnav opened the door to the room and stepped inside. He had come home late from work, and had silently entered the house not wanting to wake up anyone else. They lights had been out and it's a little bit past midnight. Walking into the room he didn't turn on lights as Khushi was already in bed, Arnav went over to the cupboard and grabbed his night clothes to change into. These past weeks had been hectic, as he had tried to fit in as much work he could, so after Khushi's delivery he could take some weeks off. The past months had been even worse than the earlier ones. All the mood swings had started to kick in, she would cry over the smallest things, he heard an earful from Nani or Di just for loosing his temper easily in front of her, and had also become less shy.

Just last month he had been getting ready for work putting on his tie, and Khushi had come out of the shower, she offered to tie his tie for him, which resulted in her actually removing it and unbuttoning his shirt, telling him to go to work late. But when he had refused saying that it wasn't a good idea and having sex at this stage in her pregnancy might me risky, she had thrown a fit accusing him of not loving her anymore because she was getting fat and he didn't find her beautiful anymore. And of course when Di had come knocking on the door a few minutes later to call them down for breakfast, she had seen Khushi's tear streaked cheeks and ask him what he had done to make her cry. How was he suppose to explain that to his sister?

Now he walked out of the bathroom after having changed and what greeted him on the bed was his wife you was sitting with her back against the headboard and a hand running over her bulging stomach. He closed the door behind him, which made her avert her attentions from where she was staring to him. She motioned him to come into bed with her and he went around to the other side and slid in.

"I thought you were already asleep," he said wrapping a hand around her back and she leaned on to him placing her head on his shoulder.

"I was for some time, and then I heard you come in," she replied.

"I'm sorry to have ruined your sleep," he told her running a hand through her hair and moving it out of her face.

"It's fine," she said, "How was your day?"

"It was good, same as always," he replied, "I have to go to Dubai for some days."

"When are you leaving?" she asked.

"In three days," he answered.

"How long?" she said.

"Only for a few days," he replied.

"You'll be back in time, right?" she said tilting her head to look up at him. He wrapped his other hand around the top of her bump and placed a chaste kiss on her temple, "Khushi the baby is due in two weeks, I'll be back much before that."

She placed her head back against his chest and snuggled closer, "I'm just worried," she told him.

"Everything will be fine, even the doctor said that. There's nothing to worry about sweetheart," Arnav said comforting her.

"But what if it isn't fine and something happens?" she asked in a whisper.

"As long as I'm here, i won't let anything happen to the both of you," he told her, "The doctor did say that this happens during the first pregnancy, all the worried feelings and not feeling like it will be fine. But hopefully after this child, you won't be worried about the next one," and neither will I he added to himself.

"Next one?!" she exclaimed.

"You do want more children right?" he asked looking back at her.

"I do ... but after some time," she said.

"Well we can always practice till then," he said chuckling while she gasped and pushed him away.

[MEMBERSONLY]

singhni_2014-07-22 20:19:53