Chapter 21

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"What's taking so long!" Arjun asked as he paced the office floor.  "Dr. Gupta still wasn't back.  "Arjun, stop freaking out!"  "I'm not pregnant!"  "I think I would know if I was pregnant!"  "How would you know?"  "Have you been pregnant before?" he asked.  "No, but, but...I would know!" she said stubbornly.  Dr. Gupta walked in before Arjun could say anything else to Arohi.  "So Arohi, Arjun I think I know what's been making Arohi so sick."  "She's pregnant."  "Congratulations, you two are about to have a baby!"

Arohi looked first at Arjun who was laughing as he picked her up and swung her around.  She could see Dr. Gupta's mouth moving but she couldn't make anything out.  It was all white noise.  She felt like everything was moving in slow motion.  She turned back towards Arjun who was saying something to her.  She could see his mouth opening and closing as he spoke.  Not hearing any of it.  Was she having an out of body experience, she thought as she stared at Arjun with a blank look on her face.  "Arohi"  "Arohi!" Arjun called with a big smile on his face.  Squeezing her as he hugged her again.  Arohi shook her head and turned her blank stare to Dr. Gupta.  "I'm sorry, but did you just say I was pregnant?" she asked.  "Yes Arohi" "You're pregnant and according to what you've told me I'd say you were about 10 weeks pregnant." "We'll have a more accurate due date after your first ultrasound"  "There must be a mistake."  "I can't be pregnant." Arohi said feeling Arjun's arm wrap around her waist.  Arjun turned a confused look towards Arohi.  "Arohi, Dr. Gupta said the test was positive."  "Well the test could be wrong."  "Dr. Gupta gave Arohi a hesitant smile.  "Usually a pregnancy test is pretty accurate but I'm going to send you for blood tests so that will confirm the pregnancy and the symptoms you've been displaying all point towards pregnancy."  "But we've been careful." Arohi said softly.  Arjun frowned at Arohi.  "Arohi, we're going to have a baby!" he said happily.  "It doesn't matter it we were careful or not, we're married!' he said with a smile.  Arohi nodded, her face still expressionless.  She could hear Dr. Gupta and Arjun talking but her mind was too busy trying to process the fact that she was pregnant.  Resting a hand on her still flat stomach she pressed gently against it.  There was a baby inside her.  A small little tiny baby that she would be responsible for.  She could barely take care of herself how was she going to take care of a baby she thought to herself.  "Congrats again and I'll see you two in a month's time."  "Make sure you go for the tests I've prescribed before you come in for your next appointment."  "Don't worry, we'll have everything done." Arjun replied.  Taking Arohi's hand he led her to the door. 

Arohi stared out the window as Arjun talked.  "I can't believe we're going to be parents!"  "This is crazy!"  "I'm going to be a dad!" he said shaking his head in amazement.  "And you're going to be a mom" he said happily turning towards her.  Arohi squeezed her eyes shut.  "A mom"  She was going to be a mom.  Wasn't she too young to be a mom?   "Arohi, what's wrong?" Arjun asked suddenly.  "Nothing." she replied still staring out the window.  "Something is wrong."  "Ever since you heard about the baby you've been so quiet."  "I know it's overwhelming but we're married, this was the next step."  "This wasn't the next step Arjun, there were many many other steps we were going to take before THIS step!" she said angrily.  Arjun stared at her.  "What does that mean?"  "It's just that I thought it would be just us for a while longer."  "We were going to travel, we were going to see the world, what about all that?" she asked.  "And what about, what about my boutique?"  "How can I start a new business if I have a newborn to take care of?!"  Arjun said nothing and then pulling over to the side of the road he turned towards her.  "We can still travel, we can travel with the baby."  "Arohi rolled her eyes.  "And we'll still have time to spend together."  "We're lucky to be living in a joint family."  "Everyone will help out with the baby."  "We'll have to fight to just spend time with him and her."  "As for the boutique you were going to hire staff to help anyways."  "Now we can hire a manager to over see day to day business so you can devote your time to the baby."  Arohi frowned at Arjun.  "I haven't worked so hard on my boutique so I can hand it over to someone else to run!" she snapped.  "That's my baby."  Arjun started at her and taking her hand he pressed it against her stomach.  "No...THAT is your baby!" he said adamantly.  Arohi pulled her hand from his grasp.  "What if I said to you, you give up your career and stay home to take care of the baby!" "Arohi, I have a large established business!"  "You can't compare it to your little boutique."  Arohi stared at him open mouthed.  "I can't believe you just said that!"  "All this time you've been humoring me!"  "You don't really think much of my boutique."  "You're considering it a time pass, something to keep me occupied."  "Something you can have as a tax right off!" she snapped.  Arohi let out a frustrated breath.  "Don't put words in my mouth Arohi!" "I never said that."  "I just stated a fact."  "The fact being my business pays for our lifestyle!"  "Your business hasn't even started yet."  "And I'm not telling you to give it up!"  "You can still be hands on, just not as hands on as you originally planned to be."  "And I'm sure as the baby gets older it'll be easier for you to get more involved with the boutique." "NO!"  "That's not how I imagined it!" she said as tears rushed to her eyes.  "Arohi, sweetheart don't cry."  "You're just overwhelmed" "It's a lot to take in"  "And Dr. Gupta said your hormones are up and down and you'll probably find yourself getting very emotional."  "We'll talk about this tonight when you've had some time to digest everything."  Arohi didn't say anything.  "I've got a meeting in 15 minutes."  "Why don't you drop me off at the office and take my car and I'll get the driver to pick me up after I'm done at the office."  "Once I'm home we'll sit down and talk about things properly." "Everything is going to be okay."  he said reassuringly.  "Now give me one of your beautiful smiles."  Arohi tried to smile but all she could manage was a small trembling smile.  "That's my girl."  Arjun said pulling back out into traffic.  He held her hand as he drove, squeezing it reassuringly every once in a while.  As they arrived at his office building Arjun leaned over and gave Arohi a soft kiss.  "I'm so happy." he said earnestly.  "You've made me so so happy."  "Thank you"  Arohi felt her eyes welling up with tears again.  She'd become an emotional fool she thought.  Arjun kissed each eyelid.  "I'll see you tonight." he said as he got out of the car.  Arohi watched him walk away.  What was she going to do she thought miserably.  What was she going to do?!

"Arohi, how are you feeling?" Her mother in law asked as she walked into Arohi's bedroom.  Arohi quickly wiped away her tears and sat up on her bed .  "I'm fine mom" she replied.  "What did the doctor say?" Arohi hesitated for a second.  "Um, nothing, she just said it was stomach virus and gave me something for it."  "Okay I'm glad."  "You rest and I just brought you up some tea"  "This will help with your stomach." she said placing it next to Arohi. "Let me know if you need anything."  Arohi nodded and thanked her.  Watching as she left and closed the door gently behind her.  Her mother in law was so caring.  Her mom was so caring.  Come to think of it all the moms she knew were so caring.  So selfless and thoughtful when it came to their children.  "I'm selfish" Arohi said softly.  "How can I be selfless, when I am so selfish."  I just don't fit the mom role yet she thought.  Getting up she went to look at herself in the mirror.  She always figured that when she was ready to be a mom everything else would fall into place.  She'd be ready to be selfless and considerate and self sacrificing.  Ready for 3 am feedings, and poopy diapers and loss of freedom.  She would be ready because she'd already gotten everything else out of her system.  She had a huge bucket list and some of those things needed to be checked off before having a child.  Like Skydiving!"  "She certainly couldn't sky dive now!" "Firstly because she was pregnant but even after.  What if she went skydiving and her parachute didn't open and she died!"  Her child would be left motherless! She couldn't have that!  So she could now never, ever go skydiving.  Never mind what was going to happen to her figure.  At such a young age she was going to have to resort to wearing mom jeans!  While her friends were out partying and having a good time in cute short dresses she'd be at home taking care of a baby in her mom jeans!"  What was she going to do?!" she thought to herself as she went back to her bed and laid down trying to pull herself out of her weird silly thoughts.  As her eyes closed she had a vivid image of herself barefoot, pregnant wearing a ratty old dress, holding a child in each arm.  One of them screaming and crying in her ear and the other picking his nose.  Oh my god what am I going to do!

Arjun walked into their bedroom and shut the door gently behind him as he looked over at a sleeping Arohi.  Walking over he smiled down at his sleeping beauty.  He didn't know if he was imagining it but since he'd found out she was pregnant she seemed to look even more beautiful, more radiant to him.  He couldn't believe he was going to be a father.  He'd been thinking about it lately.  A colleague at work had brought in his 1 year old son one day and Arjun had found himself thinking about his own son.  What would he look like, would he be a mix of the two of them.  And then seeing Rohan yesterday had got him thinking that maybe they might be ready to start a family of their own.  Him and Arohi had decided to wait and after talking to her last night he had agreed to wait and he wouldn't have minded waiting either.  But it turns out god had other plans for them.  And Arjun was ecstatic with those plans.  He knew Arohi was nervous, but he also knew Arohi.  Sure she was a little self absorbed and childish,he thought smiling.  But she also had so much love inside her and once their child came he knew she would shower him or her with all of it.  She would be a great mother.  Seeing Arohi stir Arjun waited for her to open her eyes.  Arohi slowly opened her eyes and stretched.  Seeing Arjun's face she smiled and as he sat down and leaned over to kiss her, she melted into his kiss.  "How are you feeling?" he asked pulling away.  "Fine!' Arohi said and then her eyes widened and she quickly moved back.  OH MY GOD! she thought to herself  I'm pregnant.  Momentarily she'd forgotten the news that had just shifted her whole world.  "Arjun stood up and loosened his tie.  "I'll take you for those blood tests tomorrow afternoon." he said walking to his closet and pulling out a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt.  "And dad just reminded me that mom and dad are coming over for dinner tonight.  So this is great, we can break the good news to everyone tonight." "NO!" Arohi yelled as she stood up.  "Sorry,"  "I just meant that I think it's too early to tell anyone."  "Don't they say to wait until a certain time has passed?"  Arjun stared at her with a confused look on his face.  "Um, Arohi, this is our family."  "Why would we hide it from them?"  "They're going to go crazy when they hear our good news."  "And I'm sure you'll probably tell Neha..."  "NO!"  "I don't want to tell anyone yet" Arohi said with a frustrated sigh.  "Why not?" Arjun asked dumbfounded.  "Because I don't"  "Why do we need to broadcast it, for all we know the pregnancy test was defective, once we go for the blood tests we'll know for sure."  "Are you crazy?!' he asked shaking his head and coming and standing in front of her.  "You're pregnant!"  "It's as simple as that."  "Didn't you hear what Dr. Gupta said...everything points to you being pregnant."  "I'll believe it when I see the test results" she said stubbornly.

"Arohi, I understand you're surprised and shocked and this wasn't quite how you imagined things were going to be, but this isn't a bad surprise either."  "It's actually probably the best surprise of our life!"  "We love each other and out of our love we made a baby."  "A symbol of that love."  Arjun reached out and touched her stomach.  "Once you see this baby you'll realize that nothing else matters but him or her."  "I know it."  Arohi stared at him and slowly nodded.  Maybe he was right.  Maybe she was just over analyzing things.  Her emotions were just everywhere.  In a few days when it had sunk in she'd realize just how happy and lucky she really was.  "I love you." she said putting her arms around Arjun's neck and pressing her head into his chest.  "I love you too babe" he replied pulling her close.  "It's all going to work out, you just see."  Arohi nodded but pulling back she said "Can we just wait a few more days to tell our families?" she asked.  "I just want to wait a little bit longer." Arjun opened his mouth to argue but then suddenly shut it.  "Fine, whatever you want." he said with a smile.  And then sitting down on the bed he brought her tummy close to his face.  "Hi little one."  "It's your dad."  "How's it going in there?" he asked making Arohi laugh.  "You let me know if you need anything." he said kissing her tummy.  Arohi looked down at him as he looked up at her with pure love in his eyes. 

That night at dinner Arohi watched quietly as her whole family laughed and celebrated the birth of baby Rohan.  The only ones missing were Di, jiju and the little one in question.  This is the same happiness they're going to feel when they hear about our baby, she thought as Arjun winked at her.  Why couldn't she bring herself to share this news with her family?  Maybe because once she shared it it would mean it was real.  She picked at her food and  stared moodily off into space.  "How are you feeling now?' her mom asked.  "Better" Arohi replied.  "You barely ate."  "Are you sure it's not something more then a stomach flu?" her mom asked suspiciously.  "Just a stomach bug." she replied softly as her mom stared at her.  Oh god please don't guess!  Her mom rubbed a soothing hand along her back.  "Why don't you come over tomorrow, I'll make you a light kitchdi and we can spend the day together." "We can go visit Rohan too"  "He's coming home from the hospital."  Arohi nodded, for some reason feeling a lump form in her throat.  Why am I crying for no reason she thought.  But looking at her mom she realized how much she still needed her.  Would always need her.  And her mom knew how to make everything better.  That's what mom's did.  Made things better.  What did she know about making things better? Nothing!  Her child would not only have a selfish mother but a mother who was probably messing things up all the time.  Forget about making them better.  She slowly laid down her fork and glancing up she saw Arjun staring at her.  Raising his eyebrows as if to ask what's wrong.  She forced a small smile and shook her head.   Arjun gave her a sweet smile and then turned towards her dad who was telling him something.  Arjun was so happy.  He embraced the whole pregnancy thing the second he found out.  Why couldn't she be like that?  Why was she analziying everything.  She was planning on having a baby eventually.  So why not now.  What's the difference between now and a few years from now.  A LOT!  A voice inside her head said as she suddenly felt a wave of panic wash over her.  Standing up she had everyone turning to look at her.  "I'm not feeling well so I'm going to go rest." she said trying not to let the panic show in her voice.  "Do you need me Arohi?" Arjun asked about to stand up.  "No, no, I'm just going to take a shower and then go to sleep."  "I think I just need to sleep this off." she siad already starting to walk away. 

Arohi stood in her shower and let the hot water pour over her.  Spreading her hands on her stomach she still couldn't believe there was a baby inside her.  Hers and Arjun's baby.  Something that should be bringing her so much joy but instead was just making her feel an overwhelming sense of panic.  She let silent tears fall as she leaned against the tile wall of the shower.  Her boutique, no matter what Arjun said she knew she would never be able to run her boutique the way she imagined she would.  All of her plans and ideas would fall by the wayside.  And already Arjun was tlaking about her making all the sacrifices.  He hadn't mentioned any he would be making.  Someone else running her boutique, the very idea made her sick to her stomach.  The boutique was hers.  Why would she have someone else run it!  Next Arjun would be asking her to sell it!  The very thought made her angry.  Turning off the water she stepped out and got herself ready for bed.  A heavy burden on her shoulders weighing them down.  "I can't do this." she thought to herself as she laid down on her bed staring up at the ceiling.  I can't do this.  She didn't now how long she stared up at the ceiling but hearing their door open she squeezed her eyes shut and turned to her side.  She could hear Arjun walk up to her and then she felt his hand against her face brushing away a wisp of hair."  Finally moving away.  She listened to him walk around the room and perform his bedtime routine  and then she felt him get into bed beside her and turning towards her he brushed his mouth against her hair whispering  "I love you."  Arohi felt herself choking up again as he put his arm around her and soon she could hear his even breathing.  He was a asleep.  But for Arohi sleep took a long time to come.  Her mind had taken over and kept asking her what are we going to do.  And she had no answer.

"Di, how are you feeling?" Arohi asked.  "Great!' "Now that my baby is here!" Neha said the next day as she held baby Rohan in her arms.  "Isn't he the most beautiful baby you've ever seen!" Neha gushed cuddling him to her.  Arohi smiled and nodded.  "He's perfect."  "And you're a perfect mom."  Neha laughed.  "Is there such a thing?"  "And how can you tell?"  "I've only been a mom for 2 days!"  Neha asked with a laugh.  "I can tell"  "You're excitement."  "Hey di, can I ask you something?"  "Go ahead" Neha said still staring down at Rohan.  "What did you feel when you found out you were pregnant?"  "We're you happy?"  Neha looked up at Arohi with a confused expression on her face.  "Ofcourse I was happy!"  "I was ecstatic."  "We were so ready for our baby and we'd already done a lot of things we had planned to before getting pregnant."  "We were both over joyed to move on to this next phase in our lives."  Arohi nodded as she got up to stand by the bedroom window.  Staring outside she thought about how lucky Neha di was.  "Why are you asking me that?" Neha asked.  "No reason."  "Just wondering." Arohi said her hands drifting back down to her stomach. "Arohi will you hold Rohan I need to go to the bathroom."  "And where's mom."  "Is she cooking again!'  "Arvind said she was cooking all morning yesterday for us too!"  " How much food can we eat?!" she said laughing as she handed Rohan to Arohi.  Arohi smiled down at a sleeping Rohan.  He truly was perfect.  His sweet little face, long long eyelashes.  Little button nose.  He had so much hair she thought touching it lightly. What would her baby look like she thought suddenly.  She hoped he or she had Arjun's eyes.  He had such beautiful big, light brown eyes.  And his dimples.  Her smile.  Her nose.  As she pictured her baby it brought a smile to her face.  The first genuine one since she'd found out she was pregnant. But then the smile disappeared as she remembered how much her life was going to be changing.  A change she was not prepared for. 

A week later Arohi was still not feeling any better about the pregnancy.  Infact she was feeling worse.  "I don't understand why you don't want to tell the family yet!" Arjun argued one night as they got ready for bed.  "Because I'm not ready yet!" she snapped tiredly.  She was always tired!  "That's ridiculous!  When do you want to tell everyone...on our way to the hospital?!  Or better yet when we bring the baby home from the hospital!.  Arohi glared at Arjun.  "Seriously Arohi everyone is going to be so hurt that we hid this HAPPY news from them."  "Let's just tell everyone now."  "You know how happy they'll be."  "Please Arjun let's just wait another week."  "Please" she whispered tears springing to her eyes again.  What was wrong with her she had no control over her emotions or body!  Arjun was instantly remorseful.  "I'm sorry babe" he said sitting down next to her on the bed.  "Being upset isn't good for you or the baby."  "I was reading that..."  You were reading about babies?" she asked.  "Well yeah, I don't know much about them so I need to learn."  "You're lucky with your mother's instincts and all."  Arohi turned away as a fresh onslaught of tears came over her.  What a joke!  Mother's instincts!  She had no mother's instincts!  She listened as Arjun talked some more about what he'd read.  "I'm tired" she finally said pulling away.  "Alright good night" he said helping her lay down and ticking the duvet around her.  "Love you baby"  "Love you too." she said closing her eyes. 

"Arohi, our highschool reunion is in 3 weeks, we need to look amazing!"  "New clothes, new hair styles."  "The whole nine yards."  Tina said into the phone.  "Hmm" Arohi answered as she tried to button up her suddenly too snug jeans.  "What are you doing?" "You sounds out of breath!  "Nothing. Arohi answered pulling her jeans off and grabbing a loose fitting skirt.  She was already becoming fat.  "Anways as I was saying we need to look good."  "Not that we need to really work that hard at it."  "We were already the best looking girls in the school!"  "And some of the girls from our class are already married!"  "Can you believe that?"  "Straight from school to marriage.  "I'm married too!" Arohi said shaking her head at Tina.  "Well, yeah but you're married to Arjun."  "He's hot!'  Arohi sighed.  "And besides these girls aren't just married but have kids too!"  "KIDS at our age!"   "Can you imagine!" Tina said with a laugh.  Yes, she could unfortunately  "I saw Reena Saran at the mall one day and she had two monkeys I mean kids hanging from her."  "They were making so much noise and she looked exhausted."  "She's a year younger then us Aorhi but seriously she looked like an Aunty! " "There' young trendy moms too!" Arohi said quickly.  "Whatever" "I guess I'm just not ready to think about kids ar all!' Tina siad airily.  "That's good because maybe you should think about marriage before kids!" Arohi snapped.  "I'm sure your parents would appreciate that!.  "What are you being so snippy about?!"' Tina asked.  "I'm not!"  "Listen I gotta go!"  ""Okay call me when you're in a better mood!" Tina said hanging up.  Better mood!  She was never going to be in a better mood!  She grabbed her laptop and sat down on her bed. Bringing up google,slowly typing in Abortion clinics in Mumbai.  She stared at the words for a long time before she finally hit enter.  The search engine brought up 1000's of searches.  She slowly hit on the very top listing.  Oh my god what am I doing! she thought as she quickly closed out of the search and pushed her laptop to the side.  She was losing her mind..Abortion!  How could she even think such a thing she thought to herself.  Quickly grabbing her bag she left the house.  She needed to get out of here.  She needed to think.  She headed for the place that lately brought her the most happiness...her boutique. 

Arjun walked into  their bedroom and saw that Arohi was still not home.  She'd texted him that she would be home late and would have dinner out with friends.  Which was good.  She'd been so down lately and he'd been worried.  Being around friends would cheer her up.  He knew she was just feeling overwhelmed with the pregnancy.  But he had no doubt that once she had the baby she would make a wonderful mother.  As he unbuttoned his shirt, Arohi walked in.  "Hi beautiful" he said walking over and settling his hand on her tummy.  "Hi little one" he said moving his gaze to her stomach.  Arohi looked at Arjun and then moved away form him.  "How was your dinner?" he asked.  "Dinner?" she mumbled taking off her earrings.  "Yeah, didn't you go out for dinner with your friends?" he questioned.  "Yes, do you want to see the receipt!"  "Why are you questioning me?"  "Don't you trust that I was where I said I was!" she snapped.  Arjun stared at her like she'd gone crazy.  "I just wanted to find out if you had a nice dinner." That's all"  Arohi paused.  "Sorry, I've just had a long day."  Arjun smiled as he walked over to her.  "How's the nausea?| he asked picking up her hand and kissing her wrist.  "It's better." she replied moving to their closet.  Arjun watched as she took out her pajamas and walked into the bathroom.  She was so tense.  And then he smiled, he knew exactly how to relax her.
 
Arohi came out of the bathroom and avoiding Arjun's gaze she grabbed her lotion and started rubbing it on her arms.  Stiffening when she felt Arjun's arms wrap around her from behind.  He nuzzled her neck and softly kissed her shoulder.  "You smell so good." he said kissing up her neck.  "We haven't made love since before we found out about the pregnancy."  "Now that's a new record." he said teasingly.  Slowly he turned her around and lifting her face up to his, he gave her a soft kiss.  As the kiss became more intense his hand traveled to her tank slowly pushing it up.  Arohi squeezed her eyes shut and pushed him away.  "Stop it." she said softly as she took another step away from him.  Arjun looked back at her, his eyes already dark with desire.  Shaking his head as if to clear it he asked "What's wrong?"  "Nothing, I'm just not in the mood"  Arjun hid his surprise.  He didn't ever remember a time Arohi hadn't been in the mood.  "Okay." he said slowly.  "That's fine, you're probably tired."  "Why don't you rest."  "I've got some work I should finish up anyway." he said smiling at her..  Arohi nodded not meeting his gaze.  He moved to his desk and switched on the laptop.  Arohi yawned and felt herself drifting to sleep when she heard. "What the bloody hell is this?!"  "Hmm" Arohi replied.  Slowly opening her eyes.  A clearly furious Arjun stood infront of her.  The laptop in his hands.  "What?" she asked slowly sitting up.  "THIS!!" he snapped turning the laptop around and shoving it at her.  "Abortion clinics in Mumabi" flashed infront of her face.  "SH*T!" she thought she'd closed out of that.  "It's nothing!" she said turning away from him.  The hell it's nothing!"  "What would you be googling abortion clinics for Arohi?!"  Arohi didn't answer, instead stared stubbornly ahead.  "Arohi I don't know what' wrong."  "If it's your hormones, or something else but there is NO WAY IN HELL that I will ever let you abort our child."  "I can't believe you even thought sure a thing."  I've always known you're a a little headstrong and impulsive but this... this is BULLSHIT!"  Arohi glared at him and slowly got out of bed.  Standing to face him.  "What is bull sh*t is you thinking you can tell me what I can and can't do to my own body!"'  Arjun stared at her, his eyes flashing dangerously with anger.  "I can't believe we're even having this conversation!"  "We're married!" he said giving her a bewildered look.  "So!"  "That doesn't mean we have to have a child right away!"  Arohi what you're talking about is killing our child."  "Don't tell me you can be that cold and selfish."  "This baby is mine too!" "You can't do anything without my permission!" he threatened.  "And the only way I would allow this, is over my dead body!"  Arohi glared at him.  "I don't need your permission Arjun!"  "And besides I haven't even done anything yet!"  "But you're condescending attitude shows me exactly what you're going to be like when I have this baby."  "Bullying me to do everything the way you want it done."  "By the time you're finished with me I would have given up everything important to me!"  Arjun listened to her rant.  She'd lost her bloody mind.  Swearing Arjun took a step and grabbed her arm pulling her against him.  His body practically vibrating with his anger.  "Arohi, you do this and I will never forgive you"  "You do this and we're over!" he said through clenched teeth.  "Don't threaten me Arjun!" she said furiously trying to pull away.  "It's not a threat, it's a promise!"  "You take my child from me and you will lose everything."  "I swear to you!"  "YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING!"  Arohi glared at him.  "Are you done?!" she finally snapped.  Arjun let her go and  raked a frustrated hand through his hair  What was the matter with Arohi?  He didn't even recognize her.  When did she become so cold and distant.  "Arohi..." he began trying to keep his voice calm.  "I don't want to hear your voice!" "You've said what you wanted to!"  Arohi snapped getting back into bed and turning arway from him.  Her blood boiling.  Artjun stared at her for a moment and then grabbing a pillow he slammed out of their bedroom.  Arohi's anger soon turned into tears.  Which once started, showed no signs of stopping.

Over the next few days Arohi barely saw Arjun.  He left early for work and came home after she'd already gone to bed.  When she did see him , he ignored her.  Arohi couldn't figure out what to do.  The weight on her shoulders seemed to grow every day and the knots in her stomach only got tighter.  And with each passing hour of each passing day she was more and more convinced she couldn't have this baby.  She wouldn't be a good mom.  But what was she going to do about Arjun she thought.  He would be so angry.  But slowly she convinced herself that she could get him to forgive her.  He loved her after all.  Once he saw that what she'd done was the right decision for them he would calm down.  The day she convinced herself was the day she called and made an appointment for an abortion.

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