AbhiGya Omnibus of One Shots : Season of Love |COMPLETE|

34. Paternal Reaction

A/N : Inline comments are love, so are your final comments on how you feel about the whole story after you read it. Looking forward to lots of both as you read each chapter!

Happy Reading!

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"Well in that case I would like to have a look at the ultrasonography report" I demanded with my jaw clenched tight, it felt like someone had knocked breath out of my lung - after I heard Dr. Mishra's revelation.

"That's it Abhi, I got the test done, at the clinic of your preference to make you see sense, now you want to see the ultrasound report? Do you not trust me at all?" asked Tanu with disbelieve in her eyes. I couldn't comprehend at that point - why was seeing the report so necessary? It's not like Tanu and I never made love, maybe we did make a pact to be physically distant as long as I was married to Fuggy, but getting drunk and going over-board - that is in perfect sync with my character - then why did I not believe her? Why was I hell bent in proving her wrong, why did I want to hear she isn't pregnant? Just so that I could go to fuggy and tell her I was right? Or so that I can go and tell her, at least I have never physically cheated on her? Or maybe because I could just go and tell her that now her reason to leave me has been proven null and void - it could be any of them.

"I have to see it Tanu, I am not believing this jack-shit otherwise" I replied with gritted teeth, but this time Fuggy spoke before her. "Tanu, let him see the reports nah, I know you're saying the truth, let him be satisfied too, he will accept you wholeheartedly then", my wife pacified the so-called mother of my child. Tanu agreed reluctantly.

When I saw the first glimpse on the monitor, one would think, my paternal instinct would cloud my rational judgment, I am sure that is what Fuggy must have assumed for sure, but nothing happened - I was just staring at a blurred video of a bad scan, I turned to look at Tanu, she wasn't even looking at her baby, she was looking at me, waiting with bated breath for me to accept the content of the scan and give it my name, then I looked at Fuggy, and she was transfixed at the screen with so much emotions in her eyes, that for the first time I felt that moving blur in the screen was human, a baby - my baby, but acceptance hadn't settled in my heart yet. I just stared at the mix of emotions in Fuggy's eyes, there was hurt, dejection, pain, and to my surprise even maternal instinct for Tanu's child - maybe that was because, unlike me, she has already accepted the child as mine. She was ready to sacrifice everything for this child, even our marriage - something she couldn't walk out of, even for her own sake, owing to her mother's health. But today this child and his future, is more important to her than her own mother? The child who is the living proof of her husband's infidelity? What kind of a woman is Fuggy I wondered in awe. She saw me staring at her and quickly rubbed the silent tears that were escaping her eyes and turned around and walked away.

I instinctively followed her, leaving a confused Tanu behind. I found her standing in the garden outside the hospital, but I couldn't walk up to her - I stood there rooted, suddenly the two feet distance between us seemed metaphorical - One probable mistake, though I still don't think I have slept with Tanu, and Fuggy is a lifetime apart from me. It didn't matter any more whether she had said the truth by the lake that night when she confessed her love to me, or not. It didn't matter whether I love her or not - either ways, we are late. The distance between us is so vast that even if the universe shrunk, it couldn't get us any closer. We insulted destiny and made a mockery of marriage - today was pay back time.

I couldn't reach her, I just slumped onto a bench right next to me and stared at nothingness, suddenly feeling hot tears running down my cheeks. I was alarmed, what did it mean? Did it mean I have accepted Tanu's child as mine? Does it mean I have accepted that maybe I did sleep with her and cheat on Pragya even physically? Or did it mean that I am already lamenting Fuggy's impending departure from my life? I didn't know.