OTHER GROOM... the tale of the rejected guy...

Epilogue

"I will wait for you at the clinic? But Tuli I can pick you..."
"The clinic is around the block of your office. I don't understand why should you drive 4 kilometres to pick me and again drive back?" Tuli sat at the dining table stuffing herself with the breakfast that Shuvo made. "Stop being illogical!"
Her husband huffed looking at the five months pregnant appearance of her with worries. "Fine. Then you will drive slowly. You promise me." He wagged his finger at Tulika.
"Are you pointing your finger at me?" Her eyes squinted.
Quickly Shuvro put his arms inside his pockets and shook his head stubbornly to regulate the topic back "You first promise me that you will drive carefully."
"No. I will have a race with the jock kid next door-" Tuli mouthed and instantly shut her mouth looking at Shuvro. When it came to her and moreover the baby, Shuvro had no sense of humour. She huffed. Damn it was getting on her nerves now! "Yes! I will drive carefully at the 60kmps speed and always-on second gear, are you happy?"
"It's not about being happy Tuli, you need to realise..."
"Oh my god! Aren't you getting late now?"
He stared at her with a poker face and lastly heaved a sigh "fine. Bye. And again drive -" putting his suite over he was about to head out but didn't get to walk till the door as his with yelped.
"Hey! Where are you going? Where is my kiss?" Startled Shuvro stood at the door for a moment and then letting out a chuckle he strolled towards where Tuli was sitting. Looking at him she made a face with a scowling face. "Amar chumuta ke diye jabe? What the fuck! Mr RoyChoudhuri give me my kiss first."
Bending a bit down to match the height of the sitting figure of her. Chuckling lightly he murmured "I love you." Before he planted a kiss on Tuli's puckered up lips and further bending down he planted another one on her a bit bloated baby bump.
"Hm. I love you." She answered with a mock sucking face and genuine shining eyes before he went out.

*

Three years ago they had moved to California as Tuli getting her doctorate degree got an offer in the Stanford University in the research programme. Without giving any second thought Shuvro packed their bags along with Tuli's mother to cross the seven seas.

Pushing back the chair she was sitting on Tuli stood up taking the cereal bowl in her hand. Her work hour was approaching in some minutes. The University campus was not far from the house. And it was yet to be eight-thirty. The school hours started here from nine. Shuvro got a job at one of the corporations in the silicon valley, after two or three months they moved there. His work started before her. The timing was a sick bite in the ass to the comparison of the 'Calcutta-laid-back-work-hour' but no one could complain seeing the amount that entered in their accounts at the end of every month.

Checking the door lock twice Tuli ran down the stairs of their building. California sun was blooming at its brightest. She fished out the phone to call her mother who had flown back to India to attend a wedding.

*

Swiftly Tuli pulled out of her parking spot of the university. She heaved a sigh after changing the lane. She could remember how scared Shuvro was the first time he had driven the car after the accident five years ago. He could not even make it out of their locality without being anxious. His grip on the steering wheel was shaking. The fear, the lack of self-confidence in his eyes had welled up her eyes.
"I can't." He had huffed stopping the car at the side of the road and putting his head on the wheel.
"Yes, you can." Suppressing the crack I'm her voice she had stated in a rigid tone.
His head on the steering was moving to nullify her. "It's not safe. It's not safe." He had kept saying.
Putting her arms around his leaning and trembling figure tightly she had rested her head on his back. "There is not one person more efficient and safer than you, I can think of Shuvro. We will assign a driving teacher again and you will take a class again. But you will definitely drive once again."
"No-" inarticulately he had said shaking his head.
Grabbing him tightly and shaking him a bit firmly Tuli looking at the back of his head had said. "There is nothing in the world you can not do. You are not giving this up."
"How do you know?"
"Because I love you! Because I love you; I am in love with you and I know how much you love driving-" she was giving a speech without realising that be had already stopped listening after knowing that she just said that she loved him. Every hair on his body had stood up in attention as her declaration kept repeating in his head again and again.
Slowly he had sat up straight and looked at her who was still in the mood of prepping him without having a clue what she had already done.
"Are you serious?" He asked.
"Huh? What?"
With the fear of being shoot down gingerly looking into her eyes he had uttered "You said you love me!" And visibly a curtain had uplifted in her eyes. Her rigid determined face softened.
"Why would you even question that?"
"Not just a friend?" He had clarified with his heart drumming inside his mouth.
Now she took time to answer. With an afraid mind that counted in the fear of rejection Shuvro kept watching her. Only he knew how he was gelding himself back from fainting out because in the speed his blood was rushing was immeasurable. He watched all the seriousness gathering on her face and then in a calm voice his wife answered. "I Tulika Sengupta now Roychoudhuri, hereby declare that I am in love with you, in every human way possible." Saying so a beaming smile crept on her face as she added "and also animal and godly ways to... Are you crying?"
Cremation hue shadowed over Shuvro's face and a shooting pain started throbbing around his throat. Tears overlapped his face. He sniffed. "I-I- I"
"Shuvro!" Quickly Tuli's hand cupped his face. "Why didn't you know this? I love you so much!"
"Well, you never said it before."
"Of course I did-"
"Uhu"
"Well, most of the time you were asleep when I said but -"
Shuvro looked up at her with his tearful eyes "Tuli, I love you. More than I thought anyone ever could. But this - I d-d-don't know if you mean it or not."
Inching her face closer and rested her forehead on his. "I always mean it Shuvo. Even if am not saying it." She whispered. "Always."

*

Five years after as the same man pulled out the silver Suv in front of her a smile of satisfaction played on her face. After him getting out of the car both headed towards the gynaecologist office, on the eighth floor of the building. Having hands interlocked in each other they stepped into the elevator.

Tuli still remembered the day five years back when she told Shuvro about the miscarriage and the doctor's worries about her getting pregnant in future. Shuvro didn't say a thing but kept looking at her face that had tears streaming down vehemently.
"Say something!"
"Why are you crying?" He had asked.
"You can put a finger at me that it happened because I didn't want this..."
"Tuli, I am not putting anything at you. I am just happy that you are alive, and healthy, breathing in front of me. And I am alive so I can touch you." Slowly raising his arm he put it on her cheeks to with the rolling down tears. "I love you. Your being alive means more to me than anything else, don't you realise it? Don't you think I already guessed it looking at the effect the accident had on us." Listening to this she had taken his hands in her and leaning her head on them welled up all her tears. Shuvro taking his face near her had kept saying. "Yes, I would like a child for us in the future. But more importantly, I want you in my future. Always have, always will. And if you want a child, I don't care what the doctor says, there are thousands of ways..."

So five years after as they stared at the black and white ultrasonography on the doctor's monitor and the heartbeat of the baby kept booming in the room the Rouchodurys started looking for ways to suppress the overwhelming tears again.
"Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" The doctor chirped looking at the beaming faces of them. Quickly the duo shook their heads. "Its gonna be a baby girl. You guys are going to have a girl."
The grip on each other's hand grew tighter.
"Do we have a name?"
"Yeah." Voice wet with the tears the soon to be father answered.
"It's Ipshita.". The raspy voice of the mother replied.
"The one, for whom we have longed for really long."
The baby figure in the monitor kept throbbing her heart as Shuvro and the Tulika kept looking at her with so many new hopes and dreams.

Thank you so so much guys for so much of your love for the story. I am sorry for not updating this soon enough. I was not really well so could not write.
Anyway.
So here was the update. Hope you like it. Now Vote, comment, and also I have started a new story please give that a read...