While Prathima found him odd to look at, she was truly fascinated by his prowess at lovemaking. As she turned eager towards him, so he sought her at every turn and that made them feel that both needed each other for their gratification. So, she signed off the peon and came to be tied up to him. Devoid of the distractions, she began to enjoy his lovemaking even more and soon enough to his delight turned a devil in the bed. Thus, while he found an admiring lover in her, she felt valued by his constancy to her company. As the intimacy of their union made her throw caution to the winds in their coition, it was only time before she missed her periods.
“I'm carrying,” she said that evening.
“Congrats, though that would leave me starving,” he said, and counting on his fingers added in mock desperation. “Let me see from when to when…”
“You don't seem to get it,” she said hesitantly. “You are its father.”
“How do you feel about it?” he asked tentatively.
“I would rather abort it.”
“After all, you're married,” he said in surprise. “What's the problem then? I'll provide for you both for the rest of your life.”
“Thank you, but …”
“What is the hitch?”
“It's risky still.”
“What risk?”
“Why, of its exposure.”
“I don't get you.”
“What if the child is after you,” she said sinking into his embrace as though to soothe his hurt from her comment, “given your features, it won't pass, and that's my predicament.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Don't be upset,‟ she said turning amorous. "No one deserves better to be the father of my child than you, physically and emotionally speaking, that is. If only I'm your wife, it would've been different.”
“Well,” he said, turning melancholic.
And for once, he failed to respond to her eager advances. That night, as his old doubts, till then overshadowed by his exploits, resurfaced, Chandra went into contemplation.
"Her comment hurts, but how can I fault her for that?‟ he thought. "It's not about the abortion; it's her affair, after all. But her reasoning is disconcerting, isn't it? Well, what if, justifying her fears, the child turns out to be ungainly? Though her husband may turn a blind eye, won't that compromise her with others? As she herself said, had she been my wife it would have been a different matter. Why, we met rather late for that, have we not? It won't be long before I take a wife, and what if, as feared, my children were to be born ugly?‟