A/N - We didn't reach the vote goal for the last chapter but Fitoor did cross 50K reads and I couldn't be more grateful. Thank you for all the support and love! I honestly would have quit writing Fitoor (and I almost had) if it hadn't been for the surprise fan messages and fan arts; not just on wattpad but on e-mail and instagram. All my love to you <3

I hope you do enjoy reading the last chapter of Fitoor (this is mostly a light chapter which I hope brings a smile on your faces). Prologue (which has some juice) coming up soon! 

40 | Chaalees

Six months had passed and Tara was eight months pregnant. Everything was sitting perfectly. They were settled in a quiet area of Bangalore. With Lekh's educational background in IT and his given foreign education, it wasn't very hard for him to land a job. Plus, it didn't hurt that he came from an important business family with much influence.

Things were very peaceful in their end. The change in place had a positive impact on her health, she felt better and freer. Lekh and her took morning and evening walks every day without fail, taking in the fresh airy breeze of Bangalore. It was good. It was more than good.

The baby would be here in a month, maybe even less if they were to follow the doctor's words. The health care facility here was also excellent. They didn't have to rely much on Lekh's parents for finance. Working in a good company also meant good perks for Lekh. Their health care was free and so was the rent which happened to be their two highest expenses right now.

Tara was also two months in in an online course for designing. She was learning online tools like Photoshop and Illustrator. She already had exceptional artistic skills and her strong aesthetic sense gave her designs an edge even though she was an amateur. With every design she made, she felt content with herself. She felt productive and important. A feeling very foreign yet extremely satisfactory.

Living away from the Rajput mansion had also given Lekh had Tara to learn mundane things about each other, like husband and wife. Like Lekh had learned that Tara loved to be kissed on her forehead when she woke up. Tara had learned that Lekh liked hot milk and cereal for his breakfast. They learned that neither of them liked Indian television much but thoroughly enjoyed old Bollywood movies. Tara had learned, in much annoyance that Lekh liked to listen to English music whereas she was a diehard fan of Indian classical and begrudgingly had to tolerate Lekh singing in the bathroom. Tara had also learned, in most unfortunate circumstances that Lekh could not sing well.

"You are scaring the baby." She commented as Lekh sang another English tune she was unaware of while buttoning his shirt. She looked at him in sweet annoyance, still very annoyed of his singing though.

Lekh laughed, "Not at all, the baby kicks every time I sing. She likes it." He boasted confidently. For some reason, Lekh was sure it was going to be a girl. Tara on the other hand believed it was going to be a boy.

"He kicks in frustration! He wants to come out soon so he can run away to avoid your singing!" Tara loved mocking him, Lekh always made his best cutely offended face when she did. He came and sat next to her and put his ears on her belly.

"What did you say?" he asked raising his eyebrows. "Oh? Is it? So you are saying mommy is wrong and I am a brilliant singer?" Lekh pretended listening to the baby talk. Lekh hit him gently on his head and laughed. He did that every time Tara disagreed with him, Lekh would pretend the baby was speaking, usually pro-him.

He kissed her gently on her forehead and finished buttoning his shirt as Tara continued to observe him lovingly.

"Come home soon today, we need to visit the doctor." Tara said, getting up, her hands on her belly. The weight of it disabling her from standing up properly.

"Are you sure we aren't having twins?" Lekh asked as he helped her up.

"You better hope not." Tara groaned. Lekh laughed. Tara looked like she was having twins, her belly huger than other pregnant women carrying single babies.

He kissed her on the cheek, "I'll be home by five and then we can go."

After Lekh had left, Tara struggled to sit back on the sofa. She groaned loudly and wondered if she really was having twins. Every time they went to the doctor's, they always asked. It had now turned comical; they wouldn't miss the nurse's silent laugh when they would ask the doctor for confirmation if Tara really wasn't having twins.

The doctor though, unlike the nurse would want to hit his face on the wall. Both of them had too many questions and most were repetitive. The most repetitive one being if they were twins and if the doctor had missed it.

Tara would refuse to believe it every time.

"If I do have twins as a surprise, I will kill the doctor." She would tell Lekh, fuming every time they left the doctor's office. She really looked big and it reflected on her over all physique. While she was in the Rajput mansion, Tara had remained thinner than a pregnant woman should be and the doctor there was very concerned. When she had shifted to Bangalore with Lekh, her heath had improved drastically and she was eating more and craving much more sugar and also gaining weight. Her face was chubbier and her slim body now looked healthy. The pregnancy glow had a wondrous effect on Tara and she was showered with complements everywhere she went.

But Tara knew it wasn't just the pregnancy glow, she really was happy from within and that made her looked merry. Lekh was upbeat too. This Lekh was new and Tara felt like she was getting to know a new man. He had a smile on his lips most times now and his muscles which were always tensed were now always relaxed.

They barely talked about their past though. Indira was hardly mentioned. In the five months that they had been in Bangalore, Indira and Ranjan had visited them once along with Ramya and Arti. Tara always sensed the tension when Lekh and Indira happened to be in the same room and so and so would everyone else. Ergo, they all made attempts to keep the two of them apart. Even Ranjan, who was always somewhat aloof of subtle family feuds sensed it and always diverted the parties from being together.

But in despite Lekh and Indira's cold war, for the first time in several years, the Rajputs behaved like a family and meant it. There was no pretense, no show, just honest and most importantly, sincere. They had all stayed for ten days and everyone had a gala time. Indira for the first time actually helped with chores. She would stop Tara from doing things that were exerting and do them herself instead of ordering her daughters to do it like she usually would. She was making efforts and Tara couldn't be more grateful.

Everything was okay and every morning Tara would stand in front of the small temple they had made in their home and thank God for it. And the she would pray for her baby's good health and Lekh's after that.

And then she would pray for Kartavya's soul, silently, often with tears in her eyes filled more with love than pain wishing he rest in peace.

Tara tried to make herself sit in a comfortable position in the couch, first she tried putting her legs up and then when it was too hard to position she just gave up and stood this time turning to the arm chair which had more height. As soon as she was able to sit, albeit not as comfortably as she would like, she sighed in frustration at the remote which lay on the other side of the living room on the coffee table.

"Come out. Come out. Come out!" she cried in frustration at her belly. Tears had welled up in her eyes already. The highlight of Tara's pregnancy was that her mood swings were on a high and would cry. A lot. At everything.

She got up again, to get the remote. Her maid was supposed to come by now. Tara needed someone at the house all the time especially when Lekh was not there. You never knew when they could be bombed by an emergency. Besides, she really needed help sitting and getting up.

Crying, she walked across the room painfully. One hand on the belly, another on her back. The bell rang just as she was about to pick the remote up.

She groaned loudly, "Couldn't you come a bit early!" she screeched loudly as she started making her way to the door. Again, with one hand on the belly and another on her back. Again, painfully.

She heard a distinct Sorry Ma'am as she reached out to the door. She was hit by a pang of pain. She felt the water break and screamed. The maid, both and goodwill and common sense ran to the neighbour's door for the spare keys sensing that something was wrong and as the neighbor opened Tara's door, she called up Lekh.

Tara is pain and taken support of the shoe cabinet and sat on it while moaning in pain.

"Call Lekh!" she said as soon as the neighbor and the maid got in.

"Already did! Tara, I'll take you to the hospital." The neighbour said, a kind lady and also a mother of three children and hence not shy of the pain that labour accompanied.

Tara groaned in pain, "No way. Call Lekh first. He'll take me."

"I already called him Tara, he's going to meet us at the hospital. Come, please." She put her arms around Tara, helping her to get up.

With great pains and endurance from Tara as well as the neighbour and the maid, in twenty minutes they were in the hospital. The whole ride there was filled with loud groans and curses from Tara at the neighbour to drive fast.

It was extremely painful, Tara was kept getting jolts of contractions and the maid tried her best to calm her down while also quite scared of her boss's very rare, almost violent behaviour.

The doctor had told them that some women experienced more pain than the others although there was no way of telling who suffered more in the parameter of pain. Tara imagined how the pain would be while she was actually giving birth if it was so much before.

Her face was sweating terribly even while the car's air conditioner was on and it was a relief when they had reached the hospital. The neighbour – Mrs. Nair, was extremely glad to have Lekh take on the responsibility of handling Tara but had courteously waited in the waiting room.

Lekh clenched Tara's hand as she groaned in pain and the nurses prepared for the delivery.

Tara, sweaty and tired looked at Lekh, "We may have twins. Be prepared." She said, now crying.

Lekh nodded fiercely and held her hands tighter.

They might really have twins but they would be okay. The birth of their baby or babies was going to be an end to an old chapter of their life and start to a new one.

And they couldn't wait to begin. 

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 Please do vote and comment your thoughts and keep an eye for the last instalment of the book - the prologue. Much love and thank you for reading. x