"Hey" Rishab caressed Madhu's messy hair. "Good morning"

"You didn't go to work?" Madhu asked with a frown as she rubbed her sleepy eyes. She was hoping he would say no but to her dismay he said yes.

"I will be leaving shortly. Now come on get up." he helped her sit up on the bed.

"Oh! Then what for you are waiting?"

"For you to wake up"

"Oh! Why?"

"I don't want you to wake up alone in bed today as well and I don't want to miss eating breakfast with you" he said and kissed her forehead.

"Please don't do this!" she said in a regretful tone.

"What? Kissing? You don't want me to kiss you?"

"No. No. Not that. I mean... You don't have to do this..um... staying back for me."

"But you want this right?"

"Yeah.. but... I feel like I am compelling you to do this... Rishab, I know I did a lot of cribbing about being alone and feeling sick.. It's just my hormones... um making me cranky and a cry baby. But I am perfectly alright, after... " she stopped and looked away biting her lower lip.

"After?" he asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"After last night" Madhu blushed as she looked down at her duvet pooled on her lap.

"Last night what, Madhu? Be clear, will you?" he teased her. He tipped her chin up with his thumb and forefinger so that he can look at her eyes.

"After our talk.. "

"Talk? That's not the answer I am expecting from you."

"Okay, fine. After you made love to me I am at ease. Now, stop teasing me and let me get up so that I can brush my teeth and have my breakfast" she said in a pissed off tone.

"I thought I will have a quickie with you before I leave but... " he shook his head.

"But what?" she asked as she scrambled closer to him finding his idea interesting.

"You are hungry... "

"No, not really. We still can have a quickie in bed before breakfast" she pulled him to her by pulling the collar of his T-shirt.

"You sure? Don't keep this little one hungry" he said pointing to her tummy.

"No, I won't. The baby hasn't woken up yet. Once he gets up I will feed him"

"How do you say she is still asleep?" Rishab asked curiously.

"Oh that! I didn't get my morning sickness yet"

"So?" he asked puzzled. He didn't get the connection between morning sickness and his baby's wake up timing.

"As soon as he comes awake he forces me up and makes me run to the bathroom. Such a punctual boy he is just like his daddy" Madhu said stretching back on the bed on her side and placed her head on her palm.

"You won't throw up on me right? While we make love?"

"I hope he sleeps longer and not interrupt his parents' morning romance"

"Seems like you have fixed it's a boy" he said with a fond smile.

"I wish so" she shrugged.

"let's wait and see" he secretly wished and hoped for a baby girl like typical fathers but he won't mind having a boy as long as he or she was healthy.

"Now, come. Let's have a delicious start of the day" Madhu licked the outer line of her upper lip seductively. Rishab groaned before leaning down and f**king her f**k-able lips.

~~0~~

(2 days later)

"Hello"

"Madhu, where are you? Busy?"

"In office, Rishab? Sipping my coffee. Why?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to make sure you weren't driving or busy in meeting."

"So? What brings you to call me? Did you find them?" she asked hoping he had found the true identity of Balraj or Bujang. "Did you find thr girl? What's her name? Haan, Dipali. Did you get any info about her? You want me to meet you at the station? I will come now..." Madhu quickly grabbed her clutch and car key as she spoke with him.

"Will you let me talk, Madhu?" Rk huffed.

"Okay" she said softly and sat back on her chair waiting for him to speak.

"Shall we have dinner out tonight?" Rishab asked.

"Sorry. I guess I heard you wrong" Madhu inserted her forefinger in her ear and shook it so that she could hear him clearly.

"You heard me right? I wanna take you out for dinner so will you?" he asked expectantly.

"Of course, I will but why suddenly?" she asked curiously.

"Simply. It's been quite a while since I have taken you anywhere."

"Okay. So at what time you will come home?"

"You be ready by 8 pm. I will come home, freshen up and we will start moving, okay?"

"Okay cool. I love you" she said with a happy grin. She could sense his smile over the phone. She waited for him to say something but came nothing.

"Rishab? You there?"

"See you at home. Bye" he said and hung up the call. She sighed. Her husband will never say "I love you" when he was in public. "My shy boy" Madhu chuckled looking at her phone and then went back to edit the latest article.

~~0~~

"You aren't ready yet? I told you to be ready by 8 PM, didn't I?" Rishab asked as he walked in locking their apartment door behind him.

"I came only half an hour before. You go shower and by that time I will be done." Madhu said as she brushed her hair. She was still in her bathrobes.

Rishab shook his head at her excuse but without arguing with her he headed straight to the closet to collect his suit.

"Rishab, what should I wear? Dress? Jeans? Or Saree?" she asked his suggestion.

"Whatever you feel comfortable" he brushed off her question and went inside the bathroom.

"Rishab?" Madhu knocked at the bathroom door a minute later. "How long you will take? Come out soon."

"I just got in." he shouted so that she could hear him in the shower sound.

"Just come soon and tell me how I look in this dress." she had worn a red color knee length dress. Decent and elegant and not at all vulgar or revealing so she hoped her husband will approve it.

After what felt like eternity for her was just 5 minutes in actual, he stepped out of the bathroom, she waited for him to comment on her dress but he just walked past her as if she was invisible.

"Do I look good in this dress?" Madhu asked following him. He stopped wiping his wet hair and turned to look at her. He looked her from head to toe and nodded his head.

"What does that mean? Good, bad or okay?"

"Fix the last option"

"Why? I thought this red dress will match with my hair coloring" she pouted. She walked to the dressing table shoving her husband away from her way and stood in front of the mirror. She scanned her body keenly. He was right. She looked okay in that dress as it was too tight for her. She surely had put some weight. Though she hadn't started showing up yet her middle region looked rounded in that tight dress.

"Are you going to stand statue in front of the mirror or going to go out with me for dinner?" Rishab asked as he folded his shirt sleeve to his elbow.

"Five minutes. I will change and come"

"It's okay. You look... Good" he said for her satisfaction. He didnt want her to change on his account.

"No. I want to change."

"Madhu..."

"Please. I don't fit in this dress anymore. I have grown fat. Oh God, I don't think I will fit in my pre pregnancy jeans or dresses." she moaned as she tried to take deep breath to quell her panic realizing she will go bigger and bigger in the next few months.

"You are not fat. Just pregnant. And you look beautiful to me like always" he said holding her face in his hand. She smiled happily. "It's a lie. Don't believe him. You look repulsive to him" the bitch hidden at the back of her head snarled.

"But still... I wanna change... this small baby bump... I feel awkward." she said patting to her slightly bulged belly. It looked more like her belly fat than her being pregnant.

"You can't hide the bump for long you know?" he stated

"I will wear loose gowns"

"Still you will show."

"Hmm... I will stay home then. I don't want anyone seeing me fat and ugly... "

"Bullshit! You think carrying a child makes you ugly?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes.. Um... No. It's just..." she trialed off. She didn't know how to explain how she felt about the whole pregnancy thing. Won't every pregnant women feel self-conscious at this time? She wondered.

"What, Madhu?" he folded his arms over his chest and waited for her to explain the reason for feeling awkward. He got offended when she agreed carrying his... No, "their" child made her ugly.

Seeing her nearly in tears, he softened. "You look lovely. In fact you are glowing with the day progresses. Pregnancy becomes you, Madhu" he said to cheer her up but it was true too.

"No! I don't look lovely. I look ugly. So fat. So unattractive." she shouted and threw a pillow at him in her anger.

"I hate it when you throw things at me. It's highly impolite and manner less. So don't do it ever again to me" he warned her in a serious tone.

"I am not coming anywhere with you. You always scold me and make me feel like an errant child" she cried covering her face.

He sighed and sat on the bed. Madhu was always hard for him to handle. And pregnant Madhu was just impossible.

"You should owe it to the women who wanted to have babies but couldn't have one. You are blessed, Madhu...actually we are blessed to become parents then why are you having negative thoughts and worrying yourself?"

"I just feel weird. It's all so foreign to me." she whispered softly sobbing. He looked up at her and felt bad to see her crying. He tried to calm himself down and listen to her issues patiently but will she make it easy on him? Nah!

"Here, drink some water" he handed her a glass of water.

"I don't want." she rudely pushed the glass away. At that moment he just wanted to splash that glass of water on her face and knock some senses to her but he didn't. He just placed the glass on the bedside table and turned other way showing his back to her. He ran both his hands through his hair in frustration.

"You were never weight-conscious, then why do you bother now?" Rishab asked at his wits end. It was always he who asked her to do exercises and keep her body slim and fit.

"I never felt less attractive before but I do now."

"No, Madhu. It's not true. Honestly, you look far more inviting and voluptuous to me now than you did before." he took a step closer to her to reach her and hug her.

"No! I look ugly, wretched and miserable" she said gritting her teeth as her hand reached for the perfume bottle so that she can throw it at her husband for lying to her that she looked beautiful. Seeing Rishab's gaze shifting from her eyes to the perfume bottle she remembered his angry warning of not to throw things at him so she left the bottle and hugged her body with her arms tightly.

"You are indeed miserable. I shouldn't have asked you for dinner at the first place. If I hadn't then I wouldn't have had to put up with your shits" he shouted back at her and walked out of the room slamming the door hardly making her jump in fright.

His hateful words hurt her badly. She roughly wiped her angry tears and marched towards the bed and slumped on it. She curled up on the bed like a small ball and hugging her knees she cried softly.

... To be continued!!!

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