“NO! NO, NO, NO! It’s a waste. Diamonds are the worst investment. If you want to buy me something then buy me silver bonds…”
“Come here, Doctor,” he tugged her to him, and stole the rest of her rant with his kiss. Just like he planned to do for the rest of their lives.
EPILOGUE: The Tale of Nilay, Doctor & the Army
— RITU —
SUMMER
“Phew, phew, phew…” Ritu panted, hands on her waist, eyes on the ceiling, walking from one end of their bedroom to the other. The bathroom door was shut. The wall clock’s second hand had only managed to move from 12 to 4.
“What’s the verdict?” Her husband sauntered in, hands behind his back.
“Why are you walking like that?”
“Like how?”
“Like you are overseeing your Pattern Team and planning to open your sarcasm 101?!”
“Easy, Tiger.” He smirked. “What’s the result?”
“40 more seconds to go.” She gaped up at the clock. “30 now.”
“Ritu, relax.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“How? I am the other half of this team.”
“Who contributed nothing but…”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa… it was a tough moment in that room without you.” He held his hands up, a cup of ice cream in each hand.
“Why do you have ice cream already? We are not even 30% sure. Nilay…” her eyes began to blur. She wasn't a crier, not an emotional person generally. But the hormone shots for this round of IVF had made her lose it. She couldn’t predict what she would do in the next second. She hated it and also loved it, that the shots had brought some semblance of normalcy to her ovulation and hope to their life.
“Don’t cry, Doctor…” he strode to her and engulfed her in his arms, cups held away from her body. She burst into tears on his shoulder, the one place that always made it so easy to let go — “I don’t even want to cry!”
“Shhh, it’s ok.” He kissed her head, the one thing that always made her tears trickle to a close. Today it made them heavier. “I am scared and excited and… I will fly off this spot, Nilay!”
“I am holding on,” he laughed, crossing his arms across her shoulders. His head bent behind her.
“Did you just lick ice cream behind my back?” She pulled out.
“It would have melted on you.”
She grabbed the first cup she could reach. Malai Dark Chocolate Chips. The other was Mango. Sitafal was out of season.
“It can go either way…” She stared at the blurry cup in her hands.
“And that is why ice cream. If it goes as per our wishes, we celebrate. If it doesn’t, we cry into these. Win-win.”
“How many times will we do this?”
“This is the first time, Ritu. Stop talking like that.”
“I know,” she sniffled. “I’ll be upbeat again, give me a minute.”
“It’s time,” his gaze went to the clock behind her. She jumped.
