Epilogue

ABHI

It's been months since everything happened. I was actually happy with how things had ended up in my life, except with my sister.

After what she did, I couldn't bring myself to talk to her. We even stopped meeting each other's eyes when we happened to walk past each other in the living room.

I knew she felt sorry for what she did, and I too felt guilty for hurting her. But neither of us could make ourselves talk to one another.

Unable to bear the torture, she accepted a job offer in Canada and decided to leave us. Mom and Dad were heartbroken when they heard about it and tried to convince her to stay, but she was stubborn.

I missed her already, and I hoped that one day we'd be able to patch things up. I was able to give her a hug when she left, at least.

As for Harsha, he stopped coming to the office for a while. I was ashamed of myself for being such a bad friend. I felt guilty, but I just didn't know how to face him after everything that I had done and said to him.

Aadhi convinced me to go meet him and apologize. I couldn't stop the tears forming in my eyes when he hugged me as soon as he saw me at his doorway.

How could I be so stupid and risk losing a friend like him?

Just like that, we went back to being normal. He started coming to the office again and visiting my home once Bharathi left.

Things had been pretty good since then. Aadhi and I grew closer and closer every day, and my love for her grew more. She was like this book you read again and again but was never bored by, no matter how many times you turned its pages.

Usually, Aadhi and Sia tag along with me when we go to the office. Aadhi continued working for Harsha as his assistant, and I let her mostly because we couldn't stay apart for so long.

Harsha even complained once, saying, "Why do I even bother having an assistant when she is in your room all the time?"

Of course, we didn't heed his complaints and continued our secret office encounters, which were so fun.

But that day she was feeling sick, so I left her to rest at home with Sia to take care of her. I came home early because I was worried and constantly thinking about her, but she said she was feeling okay.

Just before bedtime, I was working on my laptop, sitting on the bed and leaning against the headboard with a pillow on my back. I saw her slowly climbing on the bed from the corner of my eye.

She sat on her knees facing me, like she was going to say something. I continued working, waiting for her to open her mouth, but she was taking so long and it was distracting.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at her. She seemed nervous, her fingers fidgeting in her lap.

"I...I wanna tell you something," she said hesitantly, looking down at her fingers and then back up at me. A smile danced at the corners of her lips.

"Okay. What do you want to tell me?" I asked, encouraging her to talk.

"Um..." she started, then looked away, smiling again.

Why is she being so shy?

"I don't know how to say this. This is so hard. God, what is wrong with me?" She groaned, pulling her hair in frustration.

"Hey, Aadhi. Look at me." I moved closer and cupped her cheeks. "You can tell me anything, okay? No rush. Take your time," I assured her, hoping to make her less nervous.

"Okay," she said, biting her lip. "Let's play a game."

"Okay," I agreed, though I was still confused.

"I'm gonna ask you a question, and let's see if you can answer," she said, smirking.

"Fine."

"What's one plus one?" she asked.

"Two," I answered confidently.

"Not mathematically. Think differently. Think outside the box. I'm sure you've heard of this joke."

"What joke?" I asked her, dumbfounded.

"Just think, please. It would be easier for me if you could just...figure it out," she almost begged, biting her lip again.

I thought about it long and hard, but I couldn't think of any joke.

"Here, let's try this. You equal one and I equal the other one. So that makes..." She let the sentence hang in the air, expecting me to finish it.

"Two people?" I asked awkwardly.

She groaned in frustration. "Okay, let's try another method," she muttered, pulling her journal out from under her pillow.

I watched her, confused, as she tore out a few pages and crushed each into a ball. She neatly arranged three of them in front of me.

"So, what do you see?" she asked.

"Three crumbled papers made into a ball."

"Yes, but what's the difference?" she asked me, pointing at a slightly smaller one in the middle.

"Uh...it's small?" I said, unsure about my answer. I just couldn't even guess why she was doing all that.

"Yes." She clapped her hands, looking cheerful. "So, what do you think now? Anything comes to your mind?"

"Uh...it's a small paper ball in the middle of two big paper balls?" It came out as a question, as I still wasn't sure what she was thinking.

She sighed, clearly exasperated. "Why is my husband is so dumb?" she murmured to herself.

"What?! I'm dumb? Who is playing with the paper balls in the middle of the night, huh?" I asked her, annoyed.

"I wish I could tell this to someone else first and ask them for tips about how to reveal big news to your husband," she continued, turning away. She laid down facing away from me.

"Come here." I tried to pull her closer to me.

"Go away. I need to do some thinking," she whined, elbowing me in the ribs when I refused to comply.

Weird. What did I do?

***

In the morning, when I was getting ready for work, Aadhi clung to the bedpost and kept looking at me with those puppy eyes.

"Can't you stay home with me today?" she asked.

"No, Aadhi. I have a lot of work to finish," I said, knotting my tie and glancing at her reflection in the mirror.

"It's just that I feel like I wanna be with you today," she said, sighing.

"I'll come home as soon as I can," I promised, walking over and wrapping my arms around her.

"Okay," she agreed, returning the hug. It took a long minute for her to release me.

As soon as I reached my office, I called Nija and Harsha in for a personal meeting.

"I need someone's insight on this. Gosh, figuring out Aadhi is harder than any other business mystery."

I told them how weird she was acting, and they both looked as confused as I was.

"You're a married man, Nija. Tell me, what's wrong with her?" I asked.

"How would I know what's wrong with your wife? And what do a couple of paper balls have to do with marriage?" he said.

I shifted my eyes to Harsha, rolling them, but he raised his hands, saying, "Don't ask me. I'm not married yet."

I heard my phone ringing in my pocket and picked it up to see it was Aadhi.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked her. She'd thrown up all her breakfast this morning again, so we'd decided to visit our family doctor that evening.

"I am okay. Are you busy? Am I disturbing you?"

"No, I need a break from those papers anyway," I said, unfolding myself from the rolling chair and walking toward the couch. Nija and Harsha watched me curiously.

"Okay. I just...I missed you and felt like hearing your voice," she said.

"Why? What happened? I just left an hour ago?" I said worriedly. It was strange for Aadhi to act this way.

"I know. It must be because of these changes in my body," she said.

"What changes? Aadhi, you are making me worry."

"It's nothing bad. It's..." She hesitated for a moment.

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. She'd only acted weird like this one other time.

"Is it about your ex-boyfriend? Did he contact you or something?" The words came out of my mouth before I could think about what I was saying.

Nija and Harsha both facepalmed, shaking their heads at me.

"What? No!! Why would you say that?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, I am so sorry then. It's just..." I tried to explain, but she cut the call abruptly.

"This is so frustrating," I groaned, throwing the phone on the other side of the couch.

"What? Ex-boyfriend?" Harsha spoke the words dramatically.

"Don't even start," I said tiredly, massaging my temples.

My phone rang again, once more showing Aadhi's name. I picked it up immediately and started ranting some stupid apologies.

"You're going to be a father. That's what I want to tell you," she said, cutting me off.

The line went dead again.

"SHIT!!" I cursed, dropping my phone on the floor.

"What?" they both asked in unison.

"I...I'm going to be a father," I said, unable to believe it.

"You're going to be a father!!" they said in surprise, looking at each other.

"I'm going to be a father," I repeated.

Once the shock dissipated, we all laughed, and they both hugged me, congratulating me. I thanked them and picked up my phone, heading toward the door.

"Where are you going?' Harsha asked.

"I wanna see her...like right now. Take care of that, will you?" I asked, pointing at the stack of papers on my desk before leaving.

"Not again," I heard them both whining.

When I reached home with her favourite chocolate ice cream and flowers, Aadhi was lying on the couch, watching TV and eating popcorn with Sia.

As soon as she saw me, Aadhi glared in my direction and then walked to our room, closing the door behind her with a loud bang.

That made me laugh slightly to myself. I didn't know if it was because I was so happy and excited or something else, but I thought that her tantrums were getting cuter.

Thankfully, she hadn't locked the door from inside, and I saw her lying down on the bed when I entered the room.

I unbuttoned the collar of my shirt, loosening my tie as I walked toward the bed. I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and joined her on the bed, leaving the ice cream and flowers on the bedside table.

I pulled her into my arms, cocooning her with my body, wrapping my arms around her from behind.

"I love you," I murmured, nuzzling my face into the crook of her neck.

"I hate you," she said.

I stifled a laugh when she tilted her neck, giving me greater access.

"You do?" I asked, nibbling her earlobe.

An almost moan escaped her lips.

"I think I can change that," I said confidently, tracing my lips down to her shoulders, leaving a trail of kisses.

When I reached her collarbone, she pushed me away abruptly and sat up. "Don't distract me. I'm still angry with you," she said, almost like she was reminding herself.

I bit my lips to stop myself from smiling and sat up on the bed, facing her. "I brought you this," I said, handing her the ice cream carton.

A smile crept from the corners of her lips when she saw the ice cream, but she quickly hid it.

"How did you know I was craving this? I was going to ask you to buy some for me." Her smile spread and brightened up her entire face as she opened the carton like an excited child.

"I'm acting weird, aren't I?" she asked me, scooping some ice cream into her mouth.

I shook my head, looking at her with a smile.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I asked while she devoured her chocolate ice cream.

She stopped mid-bite and looked at me. "I don't know. I guess I was just trying to find the perfect way to tell you."

She shrugged, looking away, but I noticed a rosy hue spreading across her cheeks. She bit her lip shyly.

"Come here." I grabbed her hand and tugged her toward me. She settled in between my legs, leaning against my chest.

"I still can't believe it," I whispered in her ear as I slowly traced her stomach with my hand.

"We'll need to think of a name," she said, setting aside the ice cream carton as I lost myself in thoughts of being a father.

"Hm..." I murmured.

"Do you want a boy or a girl?"

"I don't mind. I know we will love either of them the same," I said.

"Yeah, I know, but I hope it's a boy. And I want him to look like you," she said, lifting her head to look at me through her thick eyelashes with an angelic smile.

I pretended to think about it for a second. "No, I don't want any competition. Let's have a girl," I suggested, making her giggle.

At that moment, I knew that my life was perfect with her in my arms. She brought every ounce of happiness from the world into my life.

She shone the light into a world that was once filled with darkness, and I could only hope that I would return the favour by loving her unconditionally for the rest of my life.

The End

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