BONUS 5
If anyone thought a baby shower in the Singhania household would be a calm, sweet event with pastel balloons and gentle background music they clearly didn't know Maya or the chaos she attracted.
Four months pregnant, glowing like a goddess, and armed with raging hormones, Maya stood in the center of the grand living room decorated in hues of lavender and ivory. The theme was "Little Sunshine", but nothing about the atmosphere was subtle.
There were cousins dancing like it was a sangeet, aunties fighting over the best seat near the snacks, and a loud dhol player who clearly misunderstood the memo about soft background music.
Maya stood with a fake smile plastered across her face as yet another overly excited aunty patted her belly and asked, "Beta, what do you think it'll be? Boy or girl?"
Before she could answer, Rudra appeared by her side like her personal savior. "Human," he said dryly, pulling Maya closer.
Maya blinked, then snorted. "Professor humor."
Rudra leaned in, whispering in her ear, "You looked like you were about to throw the diaper cake at her."
"I was," Maya muttered, rubbing her temples. "If one more person tells me I'm glowing, I swear I'll cry."
"You are glowing," Rudra said with that half-smirk that still made her weak.
"Shut up."
He kissed her temple, then offered her a tiny cupcake. "Peace offering?"
She bit into it and sighed dramatically. "Okay, you get to live another day."
Across the room, Veer and Raj were up to no good, placing bets on how long it would take before Maya snapped. Spoiler alert: not long.
Because just then, Diya arrived with a game Guess The Baby Food..And the first thing Maya had to taste?
Mashed peas. Cold. Slimy. Mashed. Peas.
She gagged. Rudra stepped in to hold the bowl, only for her to dramatically shove it into his hands. "YOU try it, genius."
And because Rudra was smart enough to know better, he took a spoonful, made a face that could terrify math students, and declared, "This should be illegal."
Everyone laughed. The tension broke. Maya smiled.
That smile was all he ever needed.
By the end of the event, Maya was exhausted but full of warmth. She stood by the window in her pastel pink dress, hands on her bump, watching the fairy lights flicker across the garden.
Rudra came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, chin resting on her shoulder.
"Did you survive?" he teased.
"Barely," she whispered.
He kissed her cheek and softly said, "One day, we'll show these pictures to our baby and tell them how their mom almost flipped a table over mashed peas."
She laughed. "And how their dad ate it for me."
"Anything for you, Mrs. Khadoos," he murmured.
And just like that, in the middle of chaos, noise, and too many baby onesies...
They had their moment of peace.
At her 9 month of pregnancy ~(Time skip)
Maya had been unusually restless all evening. Her mood swings were hitting harder than everβone moment she was smiling at Rudra for no reason, the next she was threatening to throw a cushion at his head for breathing too loudly.
Rudra, in all his Professor glory, was walking on eggshells. Literally. He tiptoed around the room like she might explode if he sneezed.
And explode she did.
Well... not literally.
But her water broke at 3AM, and with it, all hell broke loose.
"RUDRA!" Maya screamed, wide-eyed and panicked, looking down at the soaked bed.
Rudra shot up from sleep, blinking like a dazed owl. "What?! What? What happened?! Did someone break in?!"
"MY WATER brOKE, YOU IDIOT!"
The poor man stared at her, then at the bed, then back at her.
"...Are you sure?" he asked dumbly.
Big. Mistake.
"RUDRA SINGHANIA IF YOU ASK ME ONE MORE STUPID QUESTION, I SWEAR I'LLβ"
"I believe you! Yes! Confirmed! A hundred percent!" he stammered.
And then he did what any smart husband in a crisis would do.
He panicked.
Within five minutes, the mansion was in chaos.
Maya was screaming from the bed.
Rudra was shouting for the driver.
Diya was yelling from the other room.
Veer was half-asleep asking if the Wi-Fi was down.
Amidst it all, Rudra dashed into the bedroom again, shirt half tucked, eyes wild. Maya glared at him.
"What are you waiting for?! I CAN'T WALK, RUDRA!"
"Yes! Right! You're pregnant! No not pregnant you're... active! You're LIVE!"
"WHAT AM I, A BOMB?!"
"YES! I MEAN NO!"
Before she could strangle him, Rudra took a deep breath, marched forward, and swept her into his arms bridal style.
"You're gonna drop me, I swearβ" Maya shouted.
"I will never drop you, Mrs. Khadoos."
"You dropped me LAST MONTH down three stairs!"
"THAT WAS ONE TIME!"
As he carefully descended the stairs with a very pregnant and very angry woman in his arms, Maya gripped the collar of his kurta.
And thenβ
SHE GRABBED HIS HAIR.
Hard.
"OW OW OW !MAYA! I NEED THAT TO TEACH MATH!"
"SHUT UP AND GET ME TO THE CAR BEFORE I EAT YOU ALIVE!"
He yelped like a kicked puppy but didn't stop running toward the car.
Outside, everyone scrambled into action. The driver was awake, the car was waiting, and Rudra gently placed Maya in the back seatβpanting, sweating, and gripping his wrist like a wrestler.
"If you EVER try to get me pregnant againβ" she began.
"We haven't even delivered the first one yet!" he squeaked.
Diya shoved a pillow between them to stop Maya from actually throwing punches.
At the hospital, things didn't slow down.
The nurses tried to calm her, but Maya's rage was already world-famous. She refused the wheelchair and almost kicked Rudra when he tried to help.
"Stop touching me unless you're giving me a baby epidural!"
"Yes ma'am," he squeaked, standing frozen.
"I swear to God, I'm never doing this againβ" she hissed as another contraction hit.
"I don't think you can threaten the baby out of existence!" Rudra said, panic rising.
She grabbed his hair again. "STOP TALKING!"
"Okay, shutting up, shutting up!"
A nurse pulled him away gently. "Sir, please wait outside."
"She's not safe alone!" he gasped.
"No sir. You are not safe in there."
And as Maya disappeared behind the curtain, Rudra collapsed on the waiting bench, muttering:
"She's going to kill me. I'm not going to be a father. I'm going to be a ghost."
*Target vote 70