Snapshots - Oberoi Family Edition

7. Cracked Porcelain

A/N: Requested by JignaPaul and 104shivika

Anika wiped her face and made her way out of the bathroom after throwing up her lunch. This happened for the 9th time this week. She would eat a meal only to throw it up an hour later. This unborn kid of hers wanted her to eat nothing other than fruits, bread and pickles (which sounded gross when the craving passed), none of the nutritious, healthy and real food. The bathroom had become her second home as she was either throwing up or crying because of her insatiable cravings. Out of all the edible substances in the world, she craved black coffee and white wine incessantly. Alcohol was off-limits and the decaffeinated coffee didn't make the cut. So crying in the bathroom it was. On top of that she had this constant backache that wouldn't let her sleep. Someone said "pregnancy is supposed to be the most beautiful phase of a women's life". Bullshit!

Standing in front of the mirror, Anika loathed herself. Her once-clear skin was breaking out badly, her face was puffy, she was bloated, her legs looked and felt like elephant's and she had ridiculous stretch marks and fat deposits all over her body. Now she knew it was part and parcel of pregnancy and she shouldn't worry about it. But she was worried. And no one seemed to understand. Nor care. Anika was the center of the world for everyone but in their own worlds. Her pregnancy meant something or the other to them but what it meant to her seemed to hold no importance.
'My daughter-in-law is going to give us an heir." This sounded nice in beginning, when it came with a lot care and pampering. But over the days Anika begin to realize the baggage that came with it. Was her only identity of "to-be-mother of the heir of Oberoi Family"? Was giving the family an heir her only role? What would happen to her once she fulfilled it? Would she be sidelined once again? Would she be picked up, used and thrown away in a corner like in the earlier days of her marriage? And what if she isn't able to give the family an heir? What happens then? How will they treat her then? How will he treat her?

Anika screwed her eyes shut as the most painful and distressing thoughts came to her mind. Shivaay's behavior towards her had changed. For the past couple months, he would go to work early and come late, crashing into bed the moment he reached. Sometimes he would ask her if she's feeling well and about her cravings. He hadn't missed any doctor's appointments either. But what was bothering her was his lack of interest in her. Earlier she had brushed it aside, thinking it's due to the office workload but she couldn't ignore his distracted eyes and his monotonous tone when he talked to her. It had been weeks since she had a proper conversation with him. Where did those night go when they would bear their hearts out to each other till the break of dawn? Now all he would talk to about were things related to her pregnancy. Wait... Is this it? What he actually wanted? Did he want her as wife just to give him a child? He was overly eager to consummate their relationship, especially after the family thought Anika was pregnant. So did want to have a child and get it over with? One thing that he said was Anika's greatest fear: it's not necessary husband and wife's relationship strengths after having a child, it take turns for the worse as well. Anika worst fear was coming to life and it scared her out of her wits.

She tried so, so hard to not let these negative thoughts cloud her mind. She was doing a very good job and keeping them away, focusing on the happy but her focus broke today. The weight of the all thoughts came crashing down and buried her deep under them. Anika was suffocating.

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Shivaay was driving back home. His muscle memory was controlling the acceleration, breaks and steering because his mind was occupied elsewhere. Files, meetings, eat, audits, presentations, sleep, site visits, more files, repeat. Combined with unhealthy amounts of coffee intake, this had been his routine. He didn't like not being able spend time with Anika right now but he knew she had the company of Pinky, Dadi, Gauri and sometimes Bhavya, Jahnvi and Priyanka. They were better equipped to take care of her anyway. He had no choice. Making up for the time he lost in the company and trying to take a paternity leave, beginning in the last two weeks of Anika's pregnancy, meant that he had to complete 10 months worth of work in 6. And for some reason the entire business community wanted to work extra hard these couple months. As a result, he was working 16 hour days, running on 5-6 hours of sleep for a month and probably another. And in the midst of his perfectly mechanical routine, he got a call from Anika's doctor, asking for an urgent meeting. When it came to Anika and doctors, he was ready to drop everything. So he told Mishra to reschedule his appointments, delegated other work and left to meet the doctor. The doctor had called him as Anika wasn't answering the phone, she was supposed to collect some medicines and take an injection. It was there that he learnt Anika didn't take him with her to her latest doctor's appointment and didn't even bother telling him about it afterwards. What he should've heard from her, he got to know from the doctor. The doctor told him Anika's latest blood samples indicated that she was anemic, had vitamin deficiencies, imbalanced electrolytes and high blood pressure. The doctor wanted to discuss lifestyle evaluation but first had to get her started on supplements. Because with these levels, she could miscarry and a miscarriage in the second trimester could be fatal to the mother as well.