The Business Trip (Arshi FF)

Unravelling the truth

He puts the phone down and walks towards Khushi in a daze.

"Khushi..are you pregnant?"

A pale looking Khushi was caught off guard, her eyes widening. She was unsure what had sowed the seed of doubt in Arnav's mind and if her throwing up caused him to suspect something. Just as she was about to brush the whole thing off, Arnav spoke up again.

"Don't, Khushi. Don't even think about lying. The Doctor's surgery called about your prenatal vitamins. Khushi, is it true?"

Khushi looked him in the eye before looking away and merely nodding her head in response.

To say Arnav was taken aback would be an understatement. To have Khushi confirm the news had him reeling in shock. In a matter of moments, his whole life had just changed.

As Arnav recovered from his own revelation, he looked up at Khushi who looked nervous more than anything else. Sensing this, Arnav took one step closer to Khushi, reducing all the distance between them and engulfed her in a hug. This was the closest he'd been to her in a while, he thought. He didn't count carrying her limp, unconscious body as one of those moments. Khushi stood still, not responding to his hug but not quite pulling away yet either. He stood there hugging her in silence, hoping to provide her with a sense of comfort. Or maybe he was fooling himself all along and he was the one who needed comforting.

The exhaustion she had felt both physically and mentally over the last month seemed to have caught up with her as she stood there in his arms, hating herself for how comforting this felt, her eyes tearing up. Her bravado over the last few days now felt like a facade, as she let Arnav comfort her in his arms. She felt like she was home.

With his left arm wrapped around her tightly, he stroked her hair a few times soothingly with his right hand, before wrapping himself around her again completely. After a few moments of this, Arnav finally spoke up in to Khushi's ear, breaking their moment of silence. Arnav had never been a man of many words, he'd never speak if it wasn't necessary. However this time, with Khushi in his arms, he felt it might be.

"Khushi, you truly live up to your name, you know that? Spreading happiness wherever you go. I can't believe we're going to be parents..I mean a little kid, our little kid.", he said babbling with excitement, getting somewhat sentimental.

This had caused Khushi to come out of her bubble as she abruptly pulled out of the hug, leaving a confused Arnav behind. Khushi looks him in the eye, hoping her voice doesn't break when she speaks "I never said I'm keeping the baby, Arnav."

Arnav looks at her confused, blinking rapidly in confusion, wondering if he had heard correctly. "What are you trying to say, Khushi?", he asked frowning. He barely had a moment to process her words before Khushi spoke up again.

"I'm saying I don't know if I'm going ahead with this pregnancy and even if I did, I wouldn't burden you with the responsibility anyway."

Wow. Now that was a blow Arnav wasn't ready for. As he struggled to fathom what his wife was telling him, he bought a hand to his forehead, massaging it in circular motions. "You're kidding, right?"

"You think I'd kid about something like this?", she asked him.

The last thing Arnav wanted to do right now was to argue with his pregnant wife but she was no doubt testing every ounce of his patience.

"Look, Khushi. This is probably your hormones talking. You're in your first trimester and I know you're probably nervous but you really need to take it easy. Your diet needs to improve. No more food from outside and we're going today to pick up those vitamins."

As she caught Arnav rambling on, she caused him to stop speaking again with her next few words. Khushi spoke matter of factly "I'm not in my first trimester, Arnav."

"What do you mean? How far along are you?", Arnav questioned bewildered.

"15 weeks", she mumbled.

This caused Arnav to shake his head in disbelief as he did the math, leaving him with a plethora of questions. He questioned Khushi, asking her if she was sure. Upon receiving nothing but an eye roll in response, he asked her the question that was bugging him the most.

"Did you know, Khushi?"

She looked at him with no response, knowing what was running through her husband's mind.

Arnav stepped closer to Khushi and held both her arms this time "Did you know about your pregnancy before I left for New York, Khushi?", he asked her again, probing for an answer.

"What difference does it make, Arnav? What do you want me to say? That I took a pregnancy test the day of our date night at Hakkasan? That I was ready to tell you at dinner that the result came back positive? That I was already almost 3 months pregnant? That I was a nervous wreck the entire time but couldn't wait to break the news to you? Or do you want to know why I didn't say anything when you told me the best news of your life about how your lifelong dream was about to come true in New York and that you had to leave shortly after? What do you want me to say Arnav?" Khushi was exasperated, but her voice didn't falter even once.

Hearing Khushi's timeline of events made him uncomfortable. How had he not picked up on the fact that his wife had something so pressing to tell him? Had he been so lost in his world that he failed to pick up there had been something even bigger playing on Khushi's mind? Despite feeling for Khushi at this point and all that she had to go through, Arnav asked her a question that was bothering him.

"So you didn't tell me you were pregnant with our kid because you found out Sheetal was going to be our model?"

"You didn't actually tell me, Arnav. I found out. And no, contrary to popular belief, the world doesn't revolve around Sheetal and I'm not that petty. I didn't want anything...or anyone to be standing in between you and your dreams. The last thing I wanted was for you to feel like you had to stay back because of some kind of moral responsibility. I didn't want this to be the cause of you sacrificing your goals. Compromising everything for something you didn't sign up for."

"So what then, Khushi? You don't tell me about my own kid? And then what? I go to New York for 6 months, come back and find out I have a kid? Or you never planned to tell me about the pregnancy ever and I'd have never found out? You'd never have told me if I didn't come back right?", Arnav asked her, hurling multiple accusations her way.

Khushi was struggling to keep her calm hearing Arnav's tone and accusations as she fought back with equal spite. "When was a good time to tell you? After you bedded Sheetal or before?"

That felt like a slap on his face. Arnav groaned in frustration, annoyed at the life sentence he was living through for a crime he didn't even commit. Khushi continued, "I have a consultation with a specialist today for advice on the termination procedure."