Note: 1) You will feel like hitting me with a chappal while reading this, but just trust me and the process.

2) Italic sentences are monologues.

3) Let us just *assume* a lot of things for the sake of emotional drama.

...

"Duniya ka sabse bakwaas idea hai ye, iss ke liye tune mujhe subah ke 6 baje ko uthaya?" Shiva rubbed his eyes sleepily, even though all the sleep had been knocked out of his eyes after listening to Raavi's idea.

"Offo Shiva, isse better solution mere paas nahi hai mere problem ka." Raavi huffed.

Shiva couldn't believe his ears. She really was the dobiest dobi he had ever come across.

"Toh mai tera plan repeat karta hu. Tu Dhara Bhabhi ki surrogate banegi, and jo paise tujhe unse milenge, tu usse apna college year complete karegi, aur baaki invest kar degi future ke liye? Ye tera plan hai, na?" Shiva questioned her, hoping she'd hear how stupid she sounded.

Raavi happily nodded her head, "Haa. It's perfect. Mujhe jo paise chahiye mil jaayenge."

"Tujhe paise hi chahiye na? Toh ye seedhe haath se khaane ke bajaaye tu ulte haath se khaana kyu khaa rahi hai? Ghar se maangle paise admission ke, hum mana thodi karenge." He frowned. What the hell was she even thinking?

"Tere upar ka maala khaali hai, ye pata tha, lekin itna khaali hai, ye nahi pata tha." Raavi said, slightly tapping his head. "Mai mere pati se paise maang sakti hu admission ke liye. Tujhse maange toh laayega kaha se? Ghar ke paiso se na? Aur ghar ke paise pe sabka haq hai, toh itne paise mai akele kaise le lu, sab bawaal machaayenge. Usse accha, agar paise mere account mein aajayenge ,toh mujhe koi guilt nahi hoga use karne se pehle."

Shiva would seriously lose his mind over her reasoning, one, due to lack of sleep, and two, due to her baseless explanations.

"Insaan ko jab neend kam padti hai, toh woh pagal ho jaata hai. Tu so ja, pure 13 ghante ke liye, phir apna muh khol mujhse baat karne. Ye gande plan ka bhoot utar jaayega tere sarr se."

Shiva scoffed and dug his head in the pillow to avoid hearing any more blabber that came out of Raavi's mouth.

"Bhootnath, tujhe toh mai baadme dekh lungi."

....

Shiva woke up to his family hugging each other and feeding sweets to Raavi.

Oh my god. What did she do?

He got distracted by the bowl of sheera on the dining table, and began gorging on it. It was his favourite, apple sheera with toasted cashews, just how he liked it.

It was the best sheera he had ever had in his life, it didn't even have any of those god forsaken raisins or elaichi buds in it. Heavenly.

Suddenly, Gautam came up to Shiva, and hugged him, "Thank you Shiva, humari baat nahi ho paayi thi kal, but thank you humare liye ye karne ke liye. Tum dono ko" He nodded towards Raavi.

Shiva's confusion was evident, so Gautam had to clear it out, "Raavi surrogacy ke liye maan gayi."

If the bowl of sheera was in his hands, it would have shattered on the floor. Shiva stomped towards Raavi and dragged her to storeroom.

"Ye kya kiya tune!? Tune surrogacy ke liye haa boldi?" Shiva exasperatedly said.

"Shiva, maine tujhe subah hi bola tha na, mere paas yahi ek raasta hai." She explained.

"Abe akkal ki dushman, tere paas 100 raste the, tune ye wala kyu chuna? Tu ghar se paise le leti, bank se loan le leti, mama se paise borrow karti, apne dosto se udhar le leti, lekin ye kyu kiya tune?!" Shiva slightly yelled, frustrated at her impulse decisions.

"Shiva! Tu chup rahega thodi der? Maine kaha na, ghar se le nahi sakti, bank ka loan chukane me zyaada time lagega, mausapa ke paiso se unka ghar chalega, aur mere dost saare sapole hai, unse paise nahi ke sakti. Tu kyu nahi samajhta?" Raavi stomped her foot in anger.

"Tu dobi hai, ye pata tha, itni dobi hai, ye nahi pata tha. Ye baat mujhe samjhaani kyu pad rahi hai tujhe?" He felt like pulling out the hair on his head.

"Kyuki tu mera dost bann gaya. Aur ek dost dusre dost ko hi samjhata hai." Raavi smiled, way too sweetly.

"Hatt. Mai koi dost nahi hu tera. Tu dushman thi aur hamesha rahegi." Shiva scrunched his face up.

"Mai na, sirf apne doston ke liye unka mann pasand khaana apne haath se banati hu, aur ye jo," She reached forward and swiped off the sheera crumbs that were sticking to Shiva's lips, "sheera bahar tune itne maze mein khaaya hai, woh maine banaya hai. Toh ho gaya na tu mera dost?"

Shiva's brain stopped working the moment her nimble fingers touched his lips. It took him a few seconds to shake out of his reverie.

"Mai.... Mai koi dost wost nahi hu tera. Tu-" He stopped mid sentence to walk away, but was stopped by her fingers on his wrist.

"Shiva. Jokes apart. Mujhe sach me kisi ki support ki zaroorat hai. Bohot important decision liya hai maine, aur haq se sirf tujhse support maang sakti hu. Aaj check up schedule kiya hai Dhara di ne, mere saath chalega?" Raavi requested, hope evident on her face.

"Mami ya Anita ko bol. Mai kyu aau?"

"Unhe pehle keh diya toh mere decision pe chad jaayenge, waha pohochne se pehle mujhe ghar kheech ke le jaayenge. Please?"

"No. Nahi. Maine kaha tha tujhse ye bohot bekaar idea hai, mai nahi aaunga." Shiva walked away, to his spot on the terrace.

....

He was shaking his leg restlessly, continuously fumbling with his fingers, wiping his palms on the rough cloth of his jeans.

"Ho kya gaya hai tujhe Shiva? Uss phoolkumari ke decision se tujhe itni pareshaani kyu ho rahi hai?"

Tu jaanta hai kyu.

"Nahi. Ye tareeka bakwaas hai, galat hai, 100 tareeke the uske paas"

Maan le ki tu usse aise kisi aur ke liye pregnant hote hue nahi dekh sakta

"Chup. Kuch zyaada ho raha hai ab. Aisa kuch nahi hai."

Zyaada toh tere dil mein uske liye feelings ho gayi hai.

He took a deep breath. These intrusive thoughts were ruining his peace for the last 45 minutes, since Dhara, Gautam and Raavi left for the clinic.

"Uss gadhedi ko dosti karni hai. Apne pati se dosti karni hai."

Dost maanti hai woh tujhe. Ye badi baat hai. Tu uska saath dene ke bajaaye aise ruth ke baitha hua hai. Uske paas jaa. Usse teri zaroorat hai.

"Ye kis aafat ko mere dil basa diya apne bhagwaan" Shiva looked up at the sky, before going to search for his bike keys.

....

"Mr and Mrs.Pandya, I'm surprised you found a surrogate itni jaldi." Dr.Pal looked towards the three people sitting in front of her.

"Haanji. Ye meri sabse choti devrani, Raavi. Bohot abhari hai iske hum. Bohot." Dhara beamed at Raavi.

"That's nice! Aapke pati nahi aaye? It would be nice if I could speak to the two of you in private, together." The doctor enquired.

Raavi's face fell a bit, but she put on a small smile, "Actually woh-"

A knock on the door by one of the receptionist broke her answer, "Ma'am, there's a Mr. Shiva Pandya asking to meet his wife?"

Dr. Pal looked at Raavi, who nodded affirmatively, and 2 minutes later, Shiva entered the room.

He sat down next to Raavi on the sofa, not before noticing the happy smile she gave him.

"Now that you are here, I'd like to speak with them for a while in private, so if you two could step out for a moment?" She ushered towards Dhara and Gautam, leaving Raavi and Shiva sitting in front of her.

"Okay Raavi, I will be asking you a few questions, and Mr. Pandya, you can be seated for it if you like." The doctor flipped through her notes, glancing up at them for a while.

"Have you ever given birth?"

"No." Raavi answered.

Dr. Pal simply nodded. "Alright, have you experienced pregnancy before? Was there any complication in the previous pregnancy, that lead to a miscarriage?"

"Doctor, I've never been pregnant." Raavi answered straight forwardly.

"Never been pregnant? Okay." Dr. Pal was a little skeptical.

"Are you sexually active? Or have you been recently."

Shiva awkwardly looked away, while Raavi simply stared at him, before turning to answer Dr. Pal, "No, and no."

She asked a few more question about Raavi's cycles, medical history and general health questions.

"Raavi, are you sure you are doing this of your own accord? Shiva, I hope you haven't talked her into this, or have been forced into this yourself?"

"Maine toh kaha tha isse ye bewak- oof" Shiva felt Raavi kick him under the table, before changing his answer, "Nahi. Maine isse kuch nahi kaha, aur na hi mujhe kisine force kiya."

"100% sure. I have my reasons, but haa, apne marzi se kar rahi hu." Raavi nodded confidently. She wasn't gonna back out now.

The doctor gestured for the ward boy to call in Dhara and Gautam.

"Mr and Mrs. Pandya, as a reproductive endocrinologist, aapko bata du ki hum usually unn surrogate mothers ke saath aage badhte hai jinhone pehle bhi full term pregnancy ke baad janam diya ho."

Dhata and Gautam exchanged a look, before Dhata said "Hume Raavi pe poora bharosa hai."

Dr. Pal chuckled. "It's not about trust, Mrs. Pandya. There's no harm in having Raavi as your surrogate, but I would still suggest ki aap kisi surrogate mother ke saath baat karle, kyuki agar koi complications aati hai, we will not be responsible as we have warned you before hand."

The couple nodded affirmative, and Dr. Pal signed off a form. "Alright then, aap legalities puri kijiye, usme baad only I can proceed further. Raavi, tum rukh jaao, I need to do a few tests."

Shiva stayed back, and after quite a while, Raavi emerged out from the room, ready to leave.

As they sat on the bike, Raavi couldn't help but ask Shiva a simple question." Tu kyu aaya? Nahi aane waala tha na? "

Shiva smirked. "Woh kya hai na. Ek chudail ne zabardasti chipak ke dosti ke jaal mein fasa diya. Ab dosti ho gayi hai toh nibhani padegi."

Raavi smiled at him, not knowing that he could see that smile from the rear view mirror.

"Theek se baith. Gir gayi aur haath pair naak toot gaye toh mujhe mat kehna"