She let her top drop back down and closed the bathroom door.
Ritu emerged from the bathroom and ran out of the room, of the house, of the building, until she was in front of the sea and shaking off her sliders, burying her feet in sand, running, thumping, flying. Her hair was blowing back, the sea wind was strong and the sun heavy, the wind cold. She was laughing, tears flowing down her eyes.
She ran, ran, ran, until her feet touched the waves. She did not wait for them to come to her. She splashed into them and came to a halt.
“Phew, phew,” she panted, her eyes wide, burning with the force of the wind in them. “Oooooh!” She doubled over, bringing the test back into her line of vision. There were half a dozen matching ones left back in their bathroom. A scream erupted from her mouth and she thumped her feet in glee. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She prayed up into he sky. Then pulled out her phone, swiping and pressing for Nilay.
“Hey, Doctor, how did you know I had landed?”
“Where are you?”
“Just got inside the car, leaving here. ETA shows 25 minutes, god knows how? Is Mumbai sleeping today?”
No, but we will have to catch up on all the sleep we can!She grinned, controlling her face to inject some normalcy into her voice.
“I am on the beach, come down when you are here.”
“What are you doing there at 3 in the afternoon? It must be scorching…”
“It’s wintery.”
“I am already feeling hot here after Milan.”
“Stop being a Diva. Just come.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
Ritu pocketed her phone and realised she was still in her scrubs. She didn't care. A giggle burst out of her. She turned and started strolling, kissing the waves with her feet, skipping, feeling like she had aged 20 years backwards. She set her palm on her belly and quickly removed it. Not yet. Not without him. Ritu smiled. And kept walking. Onwards and onwards, crossing the second, third and fourth beaches. The main beach loomed in sight. The beach where there was a funfair at any given time of the day. It was no different now.
She turned and began strolling back, seeing the sun go softer in the sky. Children were playing football and cricket, vendors were setting up their food stalls, Mumbai was coming alive for another regular evening on Juhu Beach.
“Doctor!”
She turned. And he was running towards her, hands behind his back. The wind was whipped his hair back, his perfect navy jacket flapping. He had come back to Mumbai in his fashion week avatar. Ritu smiled, seeing not NiP but the father of her baby running to her.
“Hi,” she breathed as he came to a halt in front of her. Wind was flapping her hair across her face and he was staring at her, his eyes wide, sparkling, mouth open, panting.
“Why are you roasting yourself here?”
And the obnoxious was back too.
“New hobby.”
“You got tired of roasting me?”
“I’m building an army to do that,” she bit the insides of her cheeks. “What do you have there? Sunflowers?” Ritu cocked her head to the side.
He pulled his hands out. “And ice cream.”
Her eyes widened. A bunch of sunflowers and two cups of ice cream, stacked one atop the other.
“How did you…?”
“It’s true, isn’t it?” His mouth was now open in a whole other expression.
“But how…?”
“We did not do it the natural way but I can show you if you let me take you up.”
