HOLDING YOU

Chapter 25- London, here we come!

Kabir's POV...

I get up to drink water but there's no bottle in my room. So, I go to the kitchen and drink water, when I start going upstairs, I hear light sobs from Ashley's room. I knock on the door.

"Yeah." She says. I walk in and find her sitting on the bed with her back against the headboard and her eyes are red. I feel horrible. She had been crying long when I was sleeping in my room.

"Hey, why are you crying?" I rub her back... She's my friend after all...

"I wanted Ava to be born in her dad's presence. What will I do after she's born? How long will I stay here? I want to go back to London, I want my parents to be there..." She wipes her nose.

"When are you due?"

"A few days more... Maybe, a week?" She tells me.

"Fine, it's been a month and we're leaving for London tomorrow. Now stop crying and go to sleep." I tell her.

"Seriously? Yay!!! Thank you, Kabs!!! You're awesome!!" She claps her hands in excitement and throws her arms around my neck. I pat her back.

"Good night, Ash."

"Good night, Kabs." I enjoy this whole Ash and Kabs thing. I like Kabbie better, though...

I book flight tickets for tomorrow evening, technically today evening. I'm too exhausted to pack... I text mom that I'll be visiting and go to bed.

I took a leave today and the whole day was very tiring... We board the flight, reach London and take a cab to mum. The plan is that we'll freshen up and take a rest, I'll drop Ashley at her place and maybe I'll stay here till her delivery, then spend some time with mum and go back to India...

"Shit!" Ashley screams. I look at her and her eyes are screwed shut. There's water spilt in the car... Maybe, we forgot to put a cap on... No, we didn't have any bottles. I gasp as the realization hits me. Her water broke. Ashley is gonna deliver. Holy fucking christ. I breathe.

"Take us to the hospital," I tell the driver, he nods and increases the speed.

"Oh, god." Ash squeezes the sides of her head.

"You'll have a C-section, right?" Please say yes.

"No, natural birth." Wow.

"Oh, okay. Breathe, stay calm, we're almost there." I wonder whether there's a script regarding the labour moment, it's the same thing being told to every woman. But, I don't mind... My brain isn't working enough right now to come up with something creative. We reach the hospital, I take out my wallet to pay the guy.

"No. No. Let it be. All the best to you both!" He smiles... Oh, I know what he's thinking.

"No, it's not like..."

"Kabirrrrr," Ashley screams and smacks my head. I need to set my priorities right.

"Thanks," I tell the kind man and we get off the cab and a few nurses come to help Ash. They take her into the hospital in a wheelchair. I follow them, and just then a guy comes to me and tells me to do some formalities. I finish them and sit on a bench, I call Mum and Ashley's parents. Just then, a nurse comes to me.

"Are you Kabs?" She asks.

"No, I'm Kabir. Oh... umm...yeah... that's me." I'm such an idiot. She gives me a strange look.

"She's calling you."

"Okay." I get up, she tells me to wear some blue coloured robe kinda thing and a shower cap type something. We walk in and I feel uneasy. This is one of those "watch at your own risk kinda thing". Ashley looks like hell. She screaming and crying. Obviously, it's not easy to push out a human being through such a small opening. I sometimes feel blessed to own a dick... The uterus isn't every other person's forte after all... I stand beside her and instinctively hold her hand. She too grips my hand. Today, I understand the difference between holding hands and gripping hands. She screams and her "grip" on my hand increases.

"Ouch. You're hurting my hand." I shriek.

Everything around me stops. The doctors are looking at me, Ashley is looking at me, the nurse is looking at me and the baby too has probably stopped coming out while trying to understand my statement. The silence is more disturbing than Ashley's screams. I take a moment to realise what a ridiculous thing this was to say to a woman who's going through the spine-chilling pain of giving birth... She screams again, thankfully. Breaking the silence.

"You fucking asshole!!!" She screams and hits my arm, she punches my arm. Okay, I deserved it. I give her my hand again and she starts pushing out again. I'm definitely not able to approve leaves for the next month using my hands... I'll probably need leaves instead.

After what feels like an eternity, the doctor says.

"Congratulations! It's a girl!" I smile at the baby. They place her in Ashley's arms and the way Ashley looks at the baby is as if someone just came back after touching death and was rewarded with the most beautiful life anyone could ever imagine. It's an absolutely beautiful moment. They take the baby away to clean her up and Ashley falls unconscious. I run my hand affectionately through her head and leave the room. As I come out. Her parents and mum are standing outside. Mum hugs me and I explain the whole scenario to Ash's parents. They thank me for taking care of her and the nurse comes to us with the baby in her arms. Her parents take her and adore the magical being. I smile, mum tugs at my shirt and signals me that she has to talk in private. I excuse myself and go with her. She holds my hand and guides me to a corner. She looks at me and I realise that she's crying.

"What happened, mum?" I ask her.

"I'm proud of you, Kabir. You are a good human being. I'm so proud to be your mother." My mum hugs me. I hug her back.

"Thanks, mum." She kisses my cheek.

The nurse calls us and says that Ashley is conscious now. We go inside. She's holding the baby girl. Kids have a really good vibe... I go and stand by the bed. She signals me to come closer. I walk to her side, she hands me the baby, this is the first time I've held her. I feel good. I have risen in my own eyes.

"Any name for the baby?" Her mom asks.

"Yes, Ava." She says.

"I want to name her something in your honour, Kabs. You've been  like a father to her, even before she was born." Ashley says looking at me. I smile.

"The only thing you can do is to give her my last name. But trust me, Ava Singhania is going to be a disaster. I already have one in my life... So, drop the last name part." I laugh. Ava or precisely, both the AvaS have to listen to this incident.

"But I want to do something. Anything. Please, Kabir?" She says with hope in her eyes. I think for a moment.

"Will you promise me something?" I look at Ashley.

"What?" She smiles.

"Promise me that you'll make Ava a strong, independent, confident and opinionated woman. That would be a huge honour for me." I tell her.

"Promise." She smiles.

"All the best." I kiss Ava's nose and hand her over to Ashley.

It's been two weeks now and I'm leaving for India. Ashley has started working again at the bank and has bought a house near her parents' place, mum eventually forced me to take over and I'm officially the CEO now, but because I have to be with Siya, she offered to take care of things. Siya. Shit. My phone rings. It's Ash.

"Hey."

"Kabir, I forgot to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"The last night we stayed at your place, Siya came to your place, you were in the shower so she left... It skipped my mind, I'm sorry." Fuck. No, she can't misunderstand this, can she?

"No, it's fine. Thanks."

"Thank you for everything, Kabir. All the best!" She says and cuts the call.

I leave, board the flight and reach India. I've called Siya but she isn't picking up... I hope we're good.