"Shweta? Riddhi?" Dr. Seema says, looking very puzzled.
Both the girls don't say a word but look around hoping desperately that in some way, it would end up being a dream.
But Dr. Seema, standing in front of them, looking very puzzled doesn't fade or disappear. She seems very real, very tangible and utterly bewildered to see her daughter and her best friend at a pharmacy so far from home.
"Is everything okay? Why are you girls here?" She asks again.
Shweta opens her mouth and then shuts it again, much like a fish. Riddhi on the other hand, is unable to lift her eyes from the ground. If her mother were to find about it, she sure would end up grounded until she reached the age of fifty-five.
"Girls! Why aren't you saying anything? Is everything okay?" Dr. Seema asks, her voice now softening with concern.
"Doctor! Do you know these girls? They have just bought a pregnancy test!" The pharmacy owner says, helpfully. He looks at the ongoing drama rather curiously, his paan stained front tooth showing as he grins.
"Pregnancy test?" Seema echoes, the words she uttered more than a hundred times a week as a gynecologist, now feeling very out-of-place and strange. "Why would these girls want a pregnancy test?"
"No, doctor." Chotu quips from behind the girls, showing the pregnancy tests in his hands. "I took these out for them! That didi with long hair, asked me to." He says, pointing at Riddhi. (Didi: Elder Sister.)
Seema looks at the pregnancy test, willing her eyes to believe what she was witnessing. She had never dreamt that Riddhi would do something like that. Sweet, naive Riddhi who had just turned eighteen two months ago. What on earth was she thinking? Did she know about the hundreds of diseases that could possibly be transferred? And a pregnancy test! What on earth was she thinking?
"Girls. In my chamber. Now." Seema says, looking at them sternly.
Riddhi and Shweta both follow her. Chotu hurriedly gives the pregnancy test to Riddhi who puts it inside her bag, absolutely mortified. Shweta, walking in front throws a look of utter panic at her best friend. Riddhi for her part looks equally frightened, her eyes large and scared.
"Close the door behind you." Seema says, her voice rather stern.
Riddhi meekly pushes the door shut.
"What is this nonsense? Tell me girls, why are you fooling around with things like pregnancy tests? And don't you dare lie to me!" Seema says, looking at the girls.
"Shweta's science project." Riddhi squeaks and Seema glares at her.
"Shweta's science project? Riddhi, I am fully aware that my daughter is pursuing humanities!"
"Maa." Shweta says, her voice rather small and childish
"What?" Seema says, looking at her daughter. "Who is that pregnancy test for? Riddhi, what have you been thinking? And for god's sake! Unprotected sex? You girls ought to be studying and focusing on your careers not chasing boys!"
"Maa, it was for me." Shweta says, her voice barely audible.
"For you? You?" Seema says, her eyes widening. "What have you been doing, Shweta?"
"Maa, I swear it's nothing! It was just one time! And my period's late, so I got worried. I swear, maa. Don't be mad!" Shweta says, looking at her mother with pleading eyes.
"Yes, aunty. Please don't be mad at her! She just is very worried about her period." Riddhi adds, desperately.
"It's nothing? You are late for your period which was otherwise very regular! You go around in pharmacies looking for pregnancy tests! And you have the audacity to tell me it's nothing?" Seema says, her eyes widening. "Tell me, Shweta, what else have you been hiding from me?"
"Maa, I haven't hidden anything! It's not like that!" Shweta tries to salvage the situation.
"So, you didn't hide from me that you had sex! For goodness' sake, what are you thinking of? There are so many important things in your life! And you want to throw it all away? Do you know how many diseases you can contradict? Is that what you want from your life? And pregnancy, Shweta? It's no laughing matter? Tell me, are you capable of taking care of a child? And unprotected sex! Have you learnt nothing from the monthly talk I gave you for four whole years until you turned sixteen?" Seema asks, fuming.
"Maa, that's not what I meant. And it was protected, I mean, he had a condom. It's just my period is late and I got worried! And it's not like I've been doing drugs or anything! It was the first time, I swear!" Shweta cries, dying on the inside.
"Well, now you have me worried as well! And who is he? This boyfriend of yours?" Seema asks, now rummaging through the drawers in her cabinet.
"He's not my boyfriend! And it was Vaibhav, Riddhi's cousin." Shweta says.
"Here, take this. I need your urine sample to check your HCG levels. And you both are going to straight home after this nonsense. And Riddhi, what were you thinking? Your cousin, no less! You're the sensible one! Shweta had always been foolhardy. Much like her father, now that I come to think of it. But you? I would have expected you to have stopped her before she dived headfirst into her stupidity exactly like her father!" Seema says, glaring at Shweta and thrusting the sample collector in her hands.
"Maa! Maa, you can't! Please. I'm sorry. Please don't say that!" Shweta says, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
Riddhi looks at the floor, her own eyes filling with tears as she hears what Seema tells her daughter. This is something that will end up cutting Shweta and Riddhi knows it's going to cut her deeper than she'll show.
"Just. Go." Seema says, looking tired.
Shweta's eyes widen for a moment before she realises her mother is asking her to go to the bathroom and not out of her life. She walks into the bathroom, shaking.
Once she comes out, she places the sample on the stand and meekly stands next to Riddhi.
"Now, you'll both go straight home. Riddhi, you are to make sure she goes directly home. I'll call Shruti and if I find out that you both aren't home within an hour, I'm calling your mother as well, Riddhi." She says, threateningly.
The girls walk out quietly.
Seema looks at the girls walking out, her dark brown eyes raging. She's shaking with anger and a deep sense of failure. As she looked at Shweta, she felt her greatest fear resurfacing, making her want to hide away. She takes in a deep breath, and dials a number to talk to her sister.
"Didi." Seema says, as her elder sister picks up the phone.
"Hello. Namaste. How are you?" Her sister asks, quite jovial.
"I'm fine. I just need to talk to you. Is this a good time?" She asks.
"Yes, yes. Are you okay?" Her sister asks, her voice injected with concern.
"Yes. I'm okay. It's just." Seema says, taking in a deep breath. For all her clinical coldness and professionalism, she was feeling surprisingly very emotional. Shweta had just managed to shake her to her very core and fear was threatening to overpower her. "It's just that Shweta's period is missing." She says, feeling instantly stupid as the words leave her mouth. She was a gynaecologist for God's sake!
"So? You're a doctor, Seema. A gynaecologist, need I remind you? Are you certain that you should be calling me about that?" Her sister snorts on the phone.
"Thankyou. I'd forgotten that." She says, sarcastically.
Her sister laughs on the other end. "Really. What is the matter now?"
"No, she's just been. She's been having relations with a boy. And now her period is missing. And while she's probably not pregnant, I just took her urine sample, I can't help but feel like this is my fault. I feel like I've failed her as her mother. Not being able to inculcate good values in her." Seema whispers softly, voicing her real concern.
"Of course not! What nonsense. You've done a wonderful job raising those two girls. And as for Shweta, it's her age. She is going to have boyfriends and fall in love. For goodness' sake have you forgotten yourself, growing up? And she is growing up as well, you can't possibly erase sex out of the equation. While she is too young and shouldn't have done that yet, it's her decision at the end of the day. And I know, she's got a good head on her shoulders. She's going to fine." Her sister says, reassuringly.
"I know. I know, she's growing up. I just yelled at her right now. She's just too young to know what's right or wrong. And there's no way I'm letting my little baby go through what I did." Seema says, her voice now on the verge of breaking.
"That's where you're wrong, Seema. You can't protect her from experiencing things. You cannot protect her from life. What her destiny is, what's been written on her forehead has already been written. You have to let go and be gentle with your daughter. She's growing up fast and she needs you now, more than ever. Don't make her push you away by scaring her." Her sister says.
Seema bristles at the thought of not being able to protect Shweta. Deep within, she can feel that her sister's words are right. But she cannot will herself to accept it. "Okay. I'll try and thank-you, didi. I need to go now." She says.
"Take care." Her sister says.
*************
"You can do this. I'm right here." Riddhi says as she pushes the pregnancy tests into Shweta's hands.
"Of course, I can do this. All I have to do is pee. It's the result thats freaking me out." Shweta snaps at her grabs the tests as she heads into the bathroom. Riddhi shakes her head wondering for the first time if her best friend was really, truly pregnant. Then she gets an idea and screams for Shweta to come out of the bathroom.
"We need to call Vaibhav." She says as she thrusts the cell phone at Shweta.
Her friend turns pale and she looks horrified, "Why on earth would I do that?" She says.
"To test him. For future references, you know. I know he's my family and all that but you need to find out if he really is in for the long run. Otherwise you need to distance yourself. You're too involved in this, I can tell." Riddhi replies and Shweta's eyes widen.
"He's not my boyfriend yet! I told you that were just casual! We haven't even spoken about a relationship." She protests.
"Either way, Shweta. I know you enough to figure out that you like Vaibhav and that you want a relationship with him, despite what you claim. So, this is the best time to find out if he's the kind of guy who sticks around. If not, you can nip it in the bud before you start a relationship." Riddhi says, wisely.
Shweta begins to protest, only to be quietened.
"She's right." says Shruti; Shweta's elder sister as she walks into the room. Shweta hurriedly tries to hide the tests but her sister scoffs.
"Please. Maa just called me." She says and Shweta feels rather betrayed. It was something that was intensely private to her- not something she wanted to turn into a family drama. She feels very annoyed with her mother at this point.
"She's right." Shruti asserts and further adds "You need to know what kind of guy he is. Go on. Call him."
Shweta looks at her sister and her best friend both of whom look at her expectantly. She wants to tell them they're wrong and laugh off and pretend that she and Vaibhav are all casual. But she knows in her heart that it's not all that casual, at least not from her side. And to think that it might actually be just casual on his part, makes her nauseous. She's not sure that she can simply nip it in the bud as Riddhi put it. This wasn't a freaking bud, she was sure. It was a Rafflesia in full bloom.
But world's largest flower or not, she knows that she would like to see if there's something to be hoped for with Vaibhav. She looks at her sister, wanting to tell her that she's wrong and that there's no need for this but she knows that they're right. She knows that both Shruti and Riddhi are practical and that they both mean well.
Rather nauseous, she grabs her phone and before her fear can overpower her, she dials Vaibhav's number.
A/n: What do you think Vaibhav's going to say? Let me know in the comments! I'd love to interact!