Pregnant with Ex-husband's baby

Chapter 3

Kavin

“Leave da machan, you just went to meet the girl’s family. There is a fair chance that her parents may reject you. Not all Tamil parents are okay with their daughter marrying a buddying sportsman like you..” My friend Ashok slaps my back playfully to calm me down.

I nod at him, he’s making sense after all. People here aren’t broad-minded enough to risk their daughter’s life to a cricketer who has hardly made a name for himself so far.

I have been lamenting and making a fuss about it the whole weekend and my friends are having a great pass time by teasing me with the girl. At times, which is very rare like now, they also try to console me.

It’s a relief that my parents haven’t talked to her parents yet but I don’t know how long that would last.

My mom really seems to like her and the last time my mom praised a girl so much, she brought her home as the wife of my elder brother. Poor guy didn’t have a say in his own marriage and I fear the same thing might happen to me soon. My elder brother, Kathir’s the obedient one out of all three of us and does almost everything to please our parents but I don’t want to sacrifice my happiness for their sake.

“Or there is a chance that her parents are nothing like the other parents and they are willing to give you a chance..” Another friend, Ranjith claims, earning an irritated glare from me. We are all from the same locality and have been best friends for almost twenty-two years. We play cricket but they are engineers by profession unlike me.

Today being a Sunday they were here in the ground for a friendly match.

“What?” He shrugs his shoulders casually and continues to piss me more, “Tell me what you hate more, the idea of getting married or the girl? Wait what’s her name again?”

“Nithila..” Ashok eagerly answers him.

“Yeah, Nithila.. That’s a very beautiful name by the way..” Ranjith remarks with a smirk and I keep myself from punching his sharp nose that he is so proud of.

“Both..” I grumble in response.

“How does Nithila look like?” He asks and I don’t know why her name coming out of his mouth irritates me a lot more than I think is possible.

“Why do you care how she looks?” I snap but he doesn’t stop bothering me.

“Because if she is pretty and if you are not going to marry her, then maybe I can pursue her in the future. It’s so difficult to see beautiful girls nowadays, you know..”

Before he could end the sentence I whack the back of his head. I let out a few curses in Tamil, knowing how brutal they sound that way compared to when said in English. Both Ashok and Ranjith let out a chuckle on successfully pissing me off.

“Why do you look so angry bro? Are you jealous?” Ashok asks.

“Jealous, my foot..” I sneer loudly. “I am just pissed that he is saying that when he already has a girlfriend..”

His girlfriend, Minu was our school junior who later became a good friend to all of us. I told myself that the anger erupting in me wasn’t because I was jealous but for Minu. Moreover, Nithila was too pretty for Ranjith and no way she was going to say okay to his proposal if that ever happened. She deserves someone more handsome and smart.

“You haven’t answered my question yet. How does she look, machan?”

I know this rascal isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants to know so, I pull out my phone. I had saved her number and if my guess is right her display picture should reflect on my WhatsApp account.

After typing her name on the search bar, I hesitate to show her picture to these two idiots because she is looking extremely gorgeous in the current profile picture and it isn’t gentlemanly to share a woman’s photo with total strangers. I mean, there are my best friends, no doubt in it but they are total strangers to Nithila.

But before I could make a decision about it, Ashok snatches the phone out of my hold.

“Machan, look at her, da! She is so damn pretty..” He said to no one in particular, “And Kavin, you must be crazy to reject someone like her. I am surely going after her if you don’t want her..”

“You can if you want..” I say arrogantly and grab my phone back. At least Ranjith had one in a hundred chances but Ashok had absolutely zero.

Going home, I am welcomed by the delicious aroma of my mom’s hot vadais. The breakfast menu on Sundays has remained unchanged for as long as I can remember because of our common love for Pongal, coconut chutney, sambar and vadais.

When I walk into the kitchen, I see my mom preparing breakfast with her hair tied in a bun using a towel to soak all the water from her long damp locks.

“Amma, it smells so amazing..” When I try to get one of the vadais, my mom swats my hand away.

“Go, get yourself cleaned first. You smell so sweaty..” She scrunches her nose to show her disgust but I somehow manage to grab one before hopping on the kitchen counter and munching on it.

“Why does this taste so yummy today? Did you add a special ingredient to it?” I ask, gobbling the whole piece in one single bite.

She turns to me and flashes a wide grin, “Yes because I am making them for someone special today..”

“For who?”

“You guess..” I watch her smirk before she turns away to adjust the temperature of the hot oil on the stove.

“I don’t know. Is it for appa?” I tease her back.

The smirk quickly turns into a frown, “I said someone special and your appa isn’t special..”

I couldn’t stop but chuckle to see the fake annoyance on her face. I know my dad is always special to her but she wouldn't agree on it in front of us.

“Your appa and I have invited Nithila and her parents for lunch..” She adds and this time it’s me who frowns but mine is not fake like hers.

“But why? I thought you were done meeting them..” I run my hand over my face. Nithila coming here was still okay but her parents, oh god, I cannot go again answering every damn question her father has to ask me.

“Yeah, we have met them, now it’s their turn to meet us..” She turns around to make another batch while still talking to me. “So, get ready. They will be here in an hour and after lunch, you are taking Nithila out..”

“What?” I grumble and slide down the counter. "I cannot take her out, ma. I have plans with my friends.."

Her eyes narrow and she points a finger at me, “Then cancel all those stupid plans because nothing is more important than taking Nithila out..”

Great! Just great!!

I let out a loud breath, wanting to scream. But knowing better, that my mom’s words are final in this house, I slump my shoulders and go to my room to do as she says.

*

“Please come, how are you all?” My dad says as we all stand at the door to receive Nithila’s family. My mom greets everyone and together my parents escort them inside.

My eyes catch glimpse of Nithila dressed in a baby pink saree with matching bangles covering the whole of her wrists and earrings dangling from her small delicate ears. My mom envelops her in an enthusiastic hug and kisses her forehead, “You look so beautiful, my dear..”

“Thanks, aunty..” She smiles and tucks her hair behind her ears. I guess she does it whenever she is shy.

My dad greets Nithila with a warm smile, the one which is reserved for only people he really likes.

“Hi, Kavin. How are you, bro?” Nithila’s brother, Nilay is already too friendly as he pats my shoulder on seeing me.

“Good, man. Thanks..” I smile at him and greet the other sibling, Nadhiya, and their parents to show my respect even when I hate their presence so much.

It’s not them that I hate, they seem like nice people but it’s the way that I’m being forced into this marriage with their daughter that I hate the most.

“Hi..” Nithila breathes out nervously when we are the only two people left in the portico and I notice that her cheeks are almost the same color as her saree.

“Hey..” I stuff my hands which have for no reason become damp, into my pant pockets and walk behind her to the sofa where everyone’s already settled. Her brown-black hair, half of which she has secured using a clutcher is brushing past her waist, leaving me wondering how the hell she managed to grow them so long.

Averting my eyes from her back, I take a seat next to my brother who is engrossed in talking to Nilay. Nithila is pulled by my mom to sit next to her.

I watch our parents do most of the talking and every once in a while my eyes travel to Nithila, who is playing with the edge of her saree and only talking when she is asked something.

“So, what have you decided Mr. Prabhakaran?” My father asks her father and for a second, I hold my breath inside.

Nithila’s father laughs nervously before speaking, “We like your son, Mr. Ravi and we like your family even more but the final decision is up to the kids, after all, they are the ones going to spend their lives together..”

For the first time, I am impressed by Mr. Question bank for talking so sensibly. All I do is pray that Nithila doesn’t like me so that I will be left alone until my mother comes up with another suitable girl for me.

“That’s right..” My dad nods his head, “And if the kids like each other, then we will proceed with the wedding arrangements, what do you say?”

My dad’s words kill all sorts of hope inside me. He looks desperate to get me married at any cost.

“Absolutely, Mr. Ravi..” Nithila’s dad agrees, giving me a brief smile.

“Our daughter will be very lucky if she got married into your family.” Adds Nithila’s mom to my mom.

“Actually we will be the lucky ones to have Nithila as our daughter-in-law..” says my mom in reply to her.

‘Enough already..’ I bite back a scoff, witnessing all the drama happening around me and subtly take a long glance at Nithila from the periphery of my vision to read her reaction. She’s talking to my anni but from the calm and composed look on her face, there is no way she is going to say ‘no’ to this wedding.

'God, is there no way out of this?'



Translation:

Tamil- Language that’s spoken locally.

Machan- Dude/ Man

Da- Again means dude/man.

Amma- mom

Vadai- South Indian savory. (Imagine a spicy donut.)

Appa- Dad

Anni- Sister-in-law