Inconvenient Relations (26 page)

“Ahh yes…this one should fit the bill,” he said, holding up sleeveless pjs in baby blue with tiny pink and yellow flowers.
Boy, give me a break! Even her clothes are giving me a high!

“Stop! What are you doing?” she protested as he untied the strings of her hospital gown; her own blouse was in tatters.

“Do you want to sleep in the same linen worn by God knows how many people with the weirdest of disease conditions?”

She shrunk back, making a disgusted face. “Yuck! I need to take a shower!”

“A sponge bath was what I had in mind,” he said.

“No way!”

“Yes way!”

“Then I can do it myself. My right side is not paralyzed!”

He got up and left, disappointed she wouldn’t let him come near her again; but when he came back after almost an hour, he found her crying in pain at the impossible effort of trying to fix the sling on her own.

“Are you crazy? You should have called me. Besides, I have seen almost everything,” he said, snapping it in place with utmost care.

“What?” she blurted, stunned enough not to protest as he buttoned up her shirt, while trying to remain immune to the feel of her silky skin rubbing against his fingers. It was proving to be quite impossible.

“Who do you think helped you change in Vegas after you threw up all over yourself?”

“I did not!”

“You did indeed! But I swear, I did the job with my eyes half closed.” He laughed, seeing her cheeks turn a deep shade of pink.

“I will never go near alcohol again!”

“It seems to bring out the best in you.” He winked suggestively, making her wish she could magically disappear.

“All right…no more teasing if you eat what I prepared for you,” he said.

Her eyes widened with surprise, and she tried to maintain a straight face while nibbling on the very thick
parathas
he had made from scratch, in which the salt had been replaced with sugar. “They are sweet just like you.” She laughed when he realized his error.

“Damnit! Why didn’t you say so? I could have made some new ones.”

“No way! These are the best I have tasted…ever!”

God, she is so beautiful! I want to— Stop it, Shaan!
He wrenched his eyes away from her and frantically fished for the television remote.

“Wow, you are in luck!
The Red Violin
is an awesome movie.”

They watched engrossed in silence as the film traced the history of the famous instrument as it passed through different hands over the centuries.

“Why do all great love stories end in tragedy?” she asked all at once appearing dejected. “Does one always have to sacrifice one’s love?”

“No, that is a myth. I’ll make sure our love story lasts forever and our grandchildren talk about us rather than Romeo and Juliet,” he replied, thankful she didn’t rebut him. Rather she broke into a shy smile and turned her attention back to the screen but then immediately looked away.

It was an explicit lovemaking sequence.

“Oh, you’re such a child,” he remarked, drawing a gentle finger across her cheek. She trembled.

“No, I’m not,” Ruhi pouted, fixing her gaze resolutely back on the screen while he observed her expressive face.

“It’s done and I watched it all,” she said with a smug nod.

“So soon? How long did it take…five minutes?”

“No…two,” she answered, ill at ease.

I’ll make certain our lovemaking sessions last longer, much longer!
“Oh, Ruhi!” he sighed, bending forward to brush her lips softly with his before his brain could deride him. “A get-well-soon kiss.”

She held him tight with her one good arm. “A thank-you hug.”

Synchronicity

“Y
ou don’t need to wear that.”

“What?” she said.

Shaan was leaning against the frame of the bathroom door with his arms folded, watching as she hopelessly tried to hook up her brassiere. She had omitted to lock the door.

“Who are you to tell me that! Anyway, get out!”

Damn! How much longer can I take this?

“I meant to say why bother in this condition, you have to remove it for the exam regardless.”

“Shut up and scoot!”

“Oh, come on,” he said. “Let me assist you my stubborn spouse!”

She closed her eyes in vexed submission, willing herself not to react to his touch as he slowly and deliberately went about his task.

He couldn’t help but admire how the deep wine of the lacy material contrasted with the olive of her still damp skin and how the fine hair on her back stirred erect as his fingers faltered on the hook.

She shuddered.

“Cold?”

She shook her head and muttered haltingly, “We’ll be late for the appointment.”

“This is the first time I’ve lacked hand-eye coordination.” Their eyes met in the mirror. Her visage was hot, flushed.

“Stop staring at me like that!” she said.

“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable?” His hands slid to her hips, wanting to pull those damn jeans down!

She gave him one on the shin.

“Ouch! Now what made you do that?”

Flipping around, she exclaimed, “Will you help me with the shirt or not?”

“I’d rather not.” He gazed intently at her, heart thudding hard against his ribs.

If I kiss you right now, you’ll lose it!

Then do it!

He closed his eyes for several seconds then pulled down his own navy polo over her head; she looked lost inside.

Damn! Damn! Damn! Now who’d be able to resist this schoolgirl?

Assuming a brusque tone, he queried, “Who’s this orthopedist, man or woman?”

Her eyebrows contracted. “The card said Ashley Dupont.”

Good. A woman.

***

“Don’t you have a female doc? My wife gets nervous around men,” Shaan demanded of the pert receptionist at the Happy Bones office upon discovering that Ashley Dupont was in fact a young male physician with exceptionally handsome features, at least by the picture displayed in the posh lounge.

“We do, sir, Dr. Whittaker. But she is in surgery all day.”

“What about someone else? Dr. Dupont looks too inexperienced.” He knew he was clutching at straws.

“Uh…Dr. Roberts is doing voluntary work in Guatemala while old Dr. Hornsby has his usual day off. You know he loves his golf,” the girl replied with a patient smile.

“Damnit!” said Shaan.

“Pardon?”

“Sorry. Can we get an appointment with Dr. Whittaker for tomorrow?”

“Shaan! I don’t want to come back tomorrow,” Ruhi said.

The receptionist was relieved to hear a word of protest from Ruhi. She was starting to get edgy with this very cute but overly demanding husband.

“Sir, the appointments are all booked up a couple of months in advance. Dr. Dupont is seeing you on an urgent basis. You don’t have to worry about his credentials; they are impeccable. As for your wife feeling nervous around him, rest assured he has excellent bedside manners especially with the ladies. He’s French you see,” she said, blushing prettily.

Appears like Ms. Sexy here has a thing going with the juvenile doc.
“Well…” He hesitated.

“Sir?”

“Shaan!” Ruhi glowered at him.
What in hell is wrong with you!

“Oh, all right…but I want to be present in the exam room.”

***

“Bonjour, Mizz Ruhi?”

“Mrs. Ruhi Ahuja,” Shaan edited.
His
bloody photo wasn’t doctored!

She appeared amused.

“A million pardons…but she looks so young!” The young doc observed with a blinding smile.

Stop pussyfooting around and get down to business, Doc!

“Ma cherie, ca va?
Oh your poor face, what happened?”

Shaan gritted his teeth. “It’s her shoulder, Doc!”

“Oh yes, of course. It’s just that her face is so beautiful, an artist’s dream. I would like to draw you sometime if you don’t mind.”

“She has a lot of things she needs to take care of.”
Like me!
“I don’t think she can make the time,” Shaan muttered irritably.

Ruhi glowered at him, but he chose to ignore her.

Fortunately, AD got his act together before Shaan could spew some more lava.

Under the close scrutiny of a pair of hawk-like eyes, the young doctor examined his patient. By some mysterious grace, he seemed now more taken by the MRI films than by Ruhi’s face. He didn’t ask her to disrobe but palpated her shoulder through her shirt and made her go through some range of motion exercises, which she complied with bravely.

“It’s not broken, that’s for sure, just a small tear. Should be a-okay in two weeks, but you have to do some exercises because you don’t want a frozen shoulder.”

“Yes, we definitely wouldn’t want that,” Shaan agreed, and she went pink.

They left after making an appointment for the following week. He admitted that AD wasn’t too unbearable.

Ruhi peeked at him from under her ample eyelashes. “Why did you refuse when the doctor said he wanted to draw me?”

“I just didn’t like his attitude, that’s all.”

“I thought he was very nice especially to someone who is starved of any kind of praise,” she said, letting out a heavy sigh.

Oh my poor baby!

He stopped abruptly in the middle of the lobby not caring if it inconvenienced others and made them skirt around. Gently pulling Ruhi closer, he smoothed her hair behind her ears and examined closely all the various wounds and gashes in different stages of healing. There was one particularly large near-purple bruise on her temple. He fingered it tenderly, wishing it away.

“But that makes me look hideous!” she said, fussing with her locks, but he held her wrist.

“No…they enhance your loveliness even more. I want to see you in every possible form, absorb you in each possible way. You are the most beautiful creature in the world to me, the only woman who matters. Beyond you there is nothing. Without you the world is an empty place. I survive only because I see you every day.”

Her eyes drifted close, her body swayed; she felt lost as though in a dream from which she didn’t want to wake up.

“You are holding your breath.”

“Hmm?” Her head snapped up.

“I apologize for being inattentive and crude. From now on, I’ll make sure to write you an ode every day and read it out aloud when you are safely asleep for I am a lousy poet.”

“Lousy or not, that’s for me to decide. You just keep your word.”

“I will. Now let’s go home. We need to get your exercises going and a few other things.” He winked, hooking his arm around her petite waist.

Abruptly, someone charged through them, nearing knocking Ruhi over.

“Hey watch out!” Shaan called out.

“Sorry, excuse me. I wasn’t looking,” the man hollered back continuing to the exit, his arm wrapped around a wailing baby.

“Oh no! Dadamoni and Anu! What are they doing here? Is
di
all right?” Ruhi exclaimed. “Shaan, please go after him. He may drop the baby.”

“Yeah, sure!” He took a few seconds to reorient before sprinting after his friend, his long legs rapidly eating up the distance while Ruhi hurried behind, her progress hampered by the throbbing bruises on her legs.

They caught up with Sujoy just as he was opening the trunk of his van.

“Sooj, stop!”

With a harried frown marring his usual cheerful features, he stared at them for several moments. “Ruhi, Shaan, you’re here?”

Anu wailed even louder, her chubby arms and legs pummeling her father’s chest. “Stop it, Anu! Dad is not a punching bag!” Ruhi plucked the baby out of his grasp, the dreaded vision of her falling and cracking her head on the hard cement playing in her mind.

“Ruhi injured her arm. But what about you, Sooj?” Shaan said, calmly transferring the baby to himself after seeing her slide down his wife’s less than ample hips.

“Debo got sick last night…vomiting constantly, not keeping anything down. She has a bladder infection, and they want to keep her under observation. I don’t want to leave her alone, especially in her condition,” Sooj explained. “And Anu…the hospital won’t let her stay because she’s a baby and can catch something bad from all that’s floating around. I don’t know what to do.”

“Do? What are we here for,
dadamoni?
And, Shaan, don’t you consider him your best friend? We’ll take care of Anu!” Ruhi declared, putting on an indignant face.

“Uh…but Ruhi,” Shaan said, looking doubtfully at the baby who had found a novel chew toy in his collar.

He was silenced by a withering glare.

“No, not that… Oh god!” Anu tossed away his precious brilliant red Mars pen and aimed it so it landed precisely under a rolling car tire.

Sooj laughed. “She destroyed mine as soon as I got it. Even when I told her it was supposed to contain a tiny sample of Mars dust, she didn’t seem to care. I was furious, but then she kissed my cheek and everything was fine again. Wait till you both have a baby, your priorities will change.”

My priorities have changed already.

Shaan observed Ruhi as she worked on recovering whatever was left of the pen then switched his attention to Anu…to find himself reflected in those crystal-clear black eyes. They were watching him in silence, most of the little face now smeared with spittle, a tiny hand thrust deep inside the throat as far as it would go, bare bottom encased in an overflowing diaper, miniature feet missing a shoe. What could be more precious than what he had here and now, and what he could have in the future? He kissed the sticky little head.

“Off you go, Sooj. Anu is ours tonight.”

***

“Sorry about your pen,” Ruhi said, watching in fascination as Anu tried to chew her toes off in the backseat.

“Naah…it’s all right. I bet it was fake anyway. Do you want to stop at the grocery store to get some baby food?”

“No! Anu can’t eat processed food.”

Shaan frowned at the rearview mirror.

“Ruhi auntie’s going to cook for you!” Anu screamed.

“I think she heard me say food,” Shaan said.

“I think she needs a change.”

***

She did need a change…a big one. Both her adopted guardians stood near the door, leaving her alone on the bathroom counter, fearing the secrets of the dreaded diaper while she stared innocently back at them.

Got to do it.
They ventured in.

“I bet my baby won’t stink this much!” Ruhi stated, wrinkling her nose.

“Correction, our baby! Yeowww!” Shaan feigned a faint. “You certainly don’t need a hockey stick!”

Anu laughed.

***

“Here you go, baby!” Ruhi said, placing a mysterious concoction in front of Anu. “If you eat this, you’ll grow big and smart like your auntie.”

A barely subdued snicker from her spouse was countered with a vile glance.

“Yoooook!” Anu stuck her tiny tongue out.

“Yooook?”

“I think she means to say she doesn’t want to grow big and smart like auntie,” Shaan interpreted with a knowing smile.

Ruhi shook her head. “Oh…no she doesn’t, she…”

Anu hurled the bowl of mashed spinach on the floor, giggling aloud when it upended and the light brown carpet magically transformed into green grass.

“That’s pretty decisive I think,” Shaan commented with a wise nod.

“You put the idea in her head!”

“I didn’t. She probably doesn’t even understand English. Perhaps Bangla but not English. Do you, honey?”

Anu sucked on her fist noisily.

“But I saw it on TV…and the mom…” Ruhi colored violently. Her hand flew to cover her mouth.

“So you are planning ahead…good. Well, let me assure you. If our babies don’t eat what you prepare for them, I sure will,” Shaan said in a low aside. “In fact, I’ll start right now.”

Anu watched with clinical curiosity as he gingerly sampled her food.

“I’ll say yuck is the word.”

“I’ll kill you,” Ruhi cried, stretching out her left arm. “Awww!”

“Sweetheart, take it easy now.”

“Stay away from me,” she warned, getting an ice pack out of the refrigerator.

“Boo-boo?” Anu’s thick mop of curls bounced as she tilted her little head.

“Yes, poor auntie got a boo-boo.”

“Smack!” Anu’s tiny hand blew a loud wet kiss.

“Ohh, darling…will you give me one?” Ruhi asked, bending down and offering her cheek.

But the baby shook her head vehemently and pointed to her uncle.

“That’s my girl,” he said, grabbing for his wife.

“No, Shaan…please!”

“We can’t disappoint a baby, can we? Debo and Sooj have set an awesome precedent!”

His mouth crushed her lips, and she was lost again. Anu squealed and clapped her hands in glee. “She wants an encore.”

“No!” Ruhi shrunk back against the counter, his face had suddenly turned all fuzzy. “You need to get her some food before the stores close for the night.”